What you should know about your details in the Dutch Business Register

In the Business Register, you can check who you are doing business with, whether a company is bankrupt and who is allowed to sign on behalf of an organisation. This makes doing business safer.

KVK records various data, such as the company name, contact details and information about certain persons who make decisions on behalf of a business or organisation. Each registration is given a unique KVK number.

Request information

You can search for companies and organisations in the Business Register by trade name, address or KVK number. This basic information is available free of charge. If you want a document with more extensive information, such as a Business Register extract or financial statements, this will cost money.

Public data

Most details are public so that anyone can find out whether a business exists, who is responsible and from where the business operates. The register lists all businesses and organisations that are currently active, as well as those that have stopped trading. The latter is useful, for example, if you want to know who is responsible for repaying past debts.

Public data includes:

• name of the business or organisation
• contact details such as visiting address, telephone number, fax number, email address, and internet address
• details of branches
• officers and signatories
• curator in case of bankruptcy
• number of employees
• company activity
• legal structure
• start date
• branch offices

Non-public data

The Business Register lists visiting addresses but also residential addresses. The visiting address is the place where your business or organisation carries out its activities. Your residential address is normally not public.

Sometimes the business address is the same as your residential address. Think of the baker who lives above the bakery, a consultant with an office in the attic or the hairdresser who cuts hair at home. So in those situations, the Business Register lists your home address as your visiting address.

Do you have a sole proprietorship or are you in a situation of threat or probable threat? Then you can have the visiting address removed from the Business Register. This is also known as 'shielding'.

There may be private addresses in the Business Register of people who have an important role in your company or organisation, such as owners or (managing) directors. If so, it is good to know that almost all those private addresses are shielded. Except one: the home address of the person who keeps the records of the company or organisation, which is public.

Who has access?

Details that are not public, such as home addresses or shielded visiting addresses, are only available to people who have permission to view them. Think of lawyers, civil-law notaries, or bailiffs. The agreements on this are explained in the Commercial Register Act 2007 (Handelsregisterwet, in Dutch). Employees of, for example, the police or the Fiscal Intelligence and Investigation Service FIOD (which investigates tax fraud) also have access if they are investigating suspicious cases.

Preventing unwanted advertising

Some businesses and organisations use public data for advertising and marketing. This can be annoying: you may not be waiting for unwanted mail or e-mails, sales over the phone or at the door. Often, these actions are even prohibited if you have not given permission. If a business harasses you over the phone, you can file an objection with the Consumer & Market Authority (ACM). Want less mail and sales at the door? Then turn on the non-mailing indicator in the Business Register.