Swiss company register extract: how to get it and check the company

In short: in Switzerland there is no “visura camerale” (company register extract) to order: the Commercial Register is public by law (CO art. 936) and entries can be consulted online, free of charge, starting from Zefix, the central index of companies of the Federal Commercial Registry Office. The register tells you that the company exists and who represents it, not whether it is solvent or appears on sanctions lists. For that, the Foreign Company Check by Veryfy (€14.90, single payment) adds checks on sanctions, PEPs and negative media.

How do you obtain the register extract of a Swiss company?

The typical problem: a Swiss supplier or customer asks you for a deposit, or sends you a contract, and you do not know whether the company is the one it claims to be. The equivalent of the extract is the entry in the Commercial Register.

According to the Federal Commercial Registry Office (UFRC), which keeps the central register of companies, the actual registers are cantonal: article 928 of the Code of Obligations (CO) entrusts the keeping of the registers to the Cantons, with the Confederation exercising high supervision. Zefix is the central index that brings them together, updated daily according to the UFRC page. The practical steps are these:

1. ask your counterparty for the full company name and the IDI/UID number (format CHE-123.456.789);
2. search for the company on Zefix, or in the IDI register (uid.admin.ch), which lets you search by name or number and filter by seat, legal form and status;
3. open the entry and read the name, seat, legal form and registered persons;
4. compare the seat and company name with the invoice, the contract and the IBAN.

By law (CO art. 936) the register is public: entries, notices and supporting documents are public, and entries, articles of association and deeds of foundation are made freely accessible via the Internet. Other supporting documents can be consulted at the competent register office.

What is the IDI/UID number and how is it used?

The CO (art. 930) provides that legal entities entered in the Commercial Register receive an enterprise identification number, under the federal law on the enterprise identification number. It is the stable number to use for searching: company names look alike, the number does not.

The IDI register is kept by the Federal Statistical Office and includes very different legal forms, from sole proprietorships to corporations, as well as associations and foreign enterprises. Not all entities in the IDI register are entered in the Commercial Register: if your counterparty has a number but does not appear in Zefix, ask for an explanation.

Be careful with sole proprietorships: under the CO (art. 931) they must register only if they achieved a turnover of at least 100,000 francs in the last financial year, so a sole proprietorship that is not registered is not, for that reason, irregular.

Is consultation free? How much does a certified extract cost?

Online consultation of entries is free, as seen above. For the certified extract we do not give an amount: the UFRC page read on 31/10/2026 states that “only the Cantons are responsible for fees” of the Commercial Register and does not list any rates. Ask the register office of the canton where the company has its seat for the amount.

One caution: the same page warns that invoices appearing to come from the UFRC are in circulation. If you receive an invoice from a federal authority for register entries, do not pay it and report it to SECO (fair-business@seco.admin.ch), as indicated by the UFRC.

SA, Sagl, GmbH: which company are you dealing with?

The register shows the legal form, and what you can read depends on that form. According to the CO:

• Public limited company (SA, in German AG): capital company for whose debts only the company’s assets are liable (art. 620). Share capital is at least 100,000 francs (art. 621).
• Limited liability company (Sagl, in German GmbH): capital company of a personal character; only the company’s assets are liable for its debts (art. 772). Share capital is at least 20,000 francs (art. 773) and members are entered in the register with the number and nominal value of their shares (art. 791).
• Sole proprietorship: enterprise of a natural person, entered in the register only above the turnover threshold seen above (art. 931).

Minimum capital is a requirement for incorporation, not a measure of what the company is worth today. For that, financial statements are needed, and the register does not publish them as such. The reasoning is the same as for an Italian company register extract: see company register extract or solvency report.

What is the FUSC and why look at it?

The Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce (FUSC, in German SHAB) is where entries are published, according to the UFRC page. Under the CO (art. 936a) entries are published electronically in the FUSC and take effect upon publication. If you want to know when a change, for example a change of directors, took effect, the publication date is the one that counts.

Do you have a Swiss contract to sign or a deposit to pay? Before making the bank transfer, also check sanctions, PEPs and negative media: Foreign Company Check, €14.90, single payment, no subscription.

What does the Swiss Commercial Register NOT tell you?

The register has a precise function: under the CO (art. 927) it serves to record and publicise legally relevant facts and to protect third parties. It is not a judgement on reliability. It does not tell you:

• whether the company pays its suppliers on time;
• whether the company or its directors appear on international sanctions lists or among politically exposed persons;
• whether there is negative news about the company;
• how much it turns over today: for that, financial statements are needed, and the Commercial Register is not meant to summarise them.

Signals to look into, none of which is proof in itself: a company registered recently and with no history, a recent change of seat or of the persons representing it, a seat different from the one on the invoice, an IBAN held by a different party. With a new supplier the same cautions apply as for new supplier without filed financial statements: advances and payment terms in proportion to what you know.

What does Veryfy’s Foreign Company Check add?

The Foreign Company Check (€14.90, single payment, report in Italian) starts from the IDI/UID number and returns, in a single check:

• data from the Commercial Register: name, identifiers, seat, business status, date of incorporation;
• business sector (NACE classification) and contacts, if registered;
• summary financial statements where available: employees, revenue, net equity, total assets;
• a search by company name on international sanctions lists, politically exposed persons and negative media.

What it does not include: shareholders, beneficial owner and protests. For a Sagl, the registered members can be read in the register entry; to understand who really controls a company see how to check who really controls a company.

Free Swiss register or Foreign Company Check: the comparison

What you are looking for	Zefix and cantonal registers (free consultation)	Foreign Company Check (€14.90)
Name, seat, legal form	Yes	Yes
Business status	To be read on the entry	Yes
Registered members of a Sagl	Yes, on the entry	No
Articles of association and supporting documents	Articles online; other documents at the register office	No
Summary financial statements (employees, revenue, net equity, total assets)	Not the purpose of the register	Yes, if available, in summary
Sanctions lists, PEPs, negative media	No	Yes, by name
Language of the result	That of the register	Italian (report and service)

The two tools do not replace each other: the register gives the detail on persons and documents, while the Veryfy check adds screening for sanctions and negative media and summarises financial statements in Italian.

And if you need to check a Swiss director?

The Foreign Person Check (€9.90) searches first name, surname and, if available, date of birth on international sanctions lists and PEP lists. It does not return register data on the person: positions and related companies are read in the Commercial Register. The date of birth helps tell apart people with the same name.

The same logic applies to the United Kingdom, explained in English company extract: Companies House.

Sources

• Federal Office of Justice, Commercial Register, Zefix and RegiX (UFRC page), read on 31/10/2026.
• IDI register, Federal Statistical Office, read on 31/10/2026.
• Fedlex, Code of Obligations (RS 220): art. 620, 621, 772, 773, 791, 927, 928, 930, 931, 936, 936a and 950, Italian consolidated text as of 01/10/2026, read on 31/10/2026.
• Fedlex, Commercial Register Ordinance (RS 221.411): list of permitted abbreviations of legal forms (SA, Sagl), read on 31/10/2026.

Before paying a supplier or signing with a Swiss company, read its entry on Zefix and then complete it with the Foreign Company Check at €14.90: register, summary financial statements, sanctions, PEPs and negative media in a single check, in Italian and with a single payment.