Swiss Company Register: How to Check a Swiss Company

You have a company name from an invoice or a CHE number from an email signature. Five minutes in the Swiss company register and three other free federal registers can tell you whether the entity is active and who is recorded as able to sign for it. You can also review recently published changes.

Start with the four checks below. Each register answers a different question.

A five-minute company check

1. Search the UID directory at uid.admin.ch. Confirm that the identifier matches the company and note its current status.
2. Open the Zefix entry at zefix.admin.ch. Check the legal name, legal form, registered office, and link to the cantonal register.
3. Read the cantonal extract. Find the relevant registered people and check whether their signature is sole or collective.
4. Search SHAB at shab.ch by name or UID. Read recent publications and follow up on any event relevant to your decision.

Together, these checks confirm the entity's official identity and recorded status, including its signing arrangements. They do not prove solvency. Treat financial health and commercial fit as separate checks.

UID: confirm identity and status

The UID (Unternehmens-Identifikationsnummer) is a nine-digit identifier assigned by the Federal Statistical Office. The format is CHE followed by nine digits grouped in threes, like CHE-123.456.789. The final digit is a check digit. If someone gives you a UID and it validates in the directory, the entity was assigned that number. It either exists now or existed once.

A UID may appear with the suffix MWST, TVA, or IVA when the entity is registered for VAT. VAT status is useful context, but it is not a reliable revenue test on its own. Businesses can register voluntarily, and some activities are exempt. The UID directory shows the current status and the relevant registration dates.

You can look up any UID at uid.admin.ch. Search tools may display the number with or without punctuation. Strip it before comparing two identifiers. The result shows whether the entity is active and gives its legal form. It also gives the registered address. For current activity and company size, check the company's website and other recent sources.

The Swiss UID guide covers the check digit, the VAT and register suffixes, and the cases in which a company gets a new UID.

Zefix: search the Swiss company register

The Swiss company register is kept by the cantons: each of the 26 runs its own, and Zefix (Zentraler Firmenindex), at zefix.admin.ch, is the federal index that searches all of them. Search by company name or UID, then use the result to confirm the legal name, legal form, registered office, and recorded status. The result links to the full cantonal extract and the company's SHAB publications.

A purpose clause describes the company's permitted scope and is often much broader than its current work. Use the company's website and recent activity to understand what it sells today.

The cantonal extract: check signing authority

Zefix gives you the overview. The cantonal commercial register gives you the full extract (Handelsregisterauszug). This is where you find the names and functions of all registered persons, such as board members and managing directors. The extract also names any auditor and records signature authority.

Signature authority in Switzerland comes in several forms. Kollektivunterschrift zu zweien (collective signature to two) means the person can bind the company only if a second authorised person co-signs. Einzelunterschrift (sole signature) means the person can sign alone. Other forms include collective signature to three or more, and limited prokura, a restricted commercial power of attorney.

Before sending a contract, check how the relevant signatory is recorded. A collective signature to two requires a second authorised signature. A sole signature allows one registered person to bind the company, although the company's internal approval process may still involve other people.

Each canton maintains its own register online. Geneva's is at ge.ch/ecohrcinternet. Zurich, Vaud, Bern, and every other canton have equivalent portals. Zefix links directly to the relevant cantonal page for each company. What each section of the extract means is covered in How to Read a Swiss Commercial Register Extract.

SHAB: review published changes

SHAB (Schweizerisches Handelsamtsblatt) is Switzerland's official gazette of commerce. It publishes notices arising from commercial register changes and proceedings such as liquidation or bankruptcy. Search by company name or UID at shab.ch to see what has been published and when.

Read the entries as events that need context. A new address may be routine. A bankruptcy notice calls for immediate follow-up. A capital change or a new board member tells you that something changed, but the notice alone rarely tells you why.

Entries to watch for:

• Schuldenruf (call to creditors): a proceeding in which creditors are asked to register their claims. Read the full publication to determine whether the company is in a voluntary liquidation or in financial distress.
• Konkurs (bankruptcy): insolvency proceedings have been opened. Verify the current status of the proceedings before acting.
• Kapitalerhöhung (capital increase): the registered capital has changed. The form and reason for the increase require further investigation.
• Organschaftliche Änderungen (management changes): new board members or a change in management. A reason to refresh your contact data for the company.

Debt enforcement extract: order one for a company

The registers above do not show whether creditors are pursuing a company. For that, ask for a Betreibungsauszug, the debt enforcement register extract (extrait du registre des poursuites in French). It lists the debt collection proceedings opened against the company in the last five years.

1. Find the debt collection office (Betreibungsamt) for the company's registered seat. EasyGov finds the right office and sends the request for you.
2. Attach a document that shows your interest: a signed contract, an invoice, an offer or correspondence with the company. Without a credibly shown interest, the office refuses the request.
3. Pay the fee. An extract costs CHF 18 with delivery by post or electronically.

The extract covers one office's district, so after a change of seat the older proceedings stay with the previous office; the SHAB shows when a company moved. Anyone can open a debt collection without proving the debt exists, so a single entry is weak evidence on its own. Several entries from different creditors, or entries that reached the seizure or bankruptcy stage, say more. A Swiss-wide extract is planned but not yet in force, so for now each office answers only for its own district.

What these checks can establish

These registers give you the entity's official record, including its status and registered representatives. Use current company information to assess commercial fit and reputation. For financial health or higher-stakes decisions, consult specialist sources.

The registers leave these questions open:

• Revenue and financial health (Swiss companies below a certain size are not required to publish accounts)
• Employee count and operating scale
• Current products and services beyond the broad purpose clause
• Reputation and customer references

Choosing which companies to check

Public registers help once you have a company to check. Prospex helps you decide which Swiss companies are worth checking in the first place.

Describe your target customer and add a few companies you already work with. Prospex builds a shortlist from public company data and explains why each company matches.

See an example list.

If you are working with register data

Two other identifiers appear in register exports and can cause confusion. The EHRA ID is the commercial register's internal row number and the CH-ID is its predecessor. Both identify an entry in a register, while the UID identifies the entity across Switzerland. A branch office has its own UID and its own EHRA ID. A company registered at two seats, as Nestlé S.A. is in Cham and Vevey, has one UID and two EHRA IDs. The Zefix REST API guide covers where each one is used.