How to Verify a Company in France? An Ultimate Guide?

In terms of the world economy, France is the 7th largest economy and third in Europe after the UK and Germany. It has a stable business landscape, attracting investors from other parts of the world. The government of France has established policies and devoted major resources to attract foreign investments. These policies and incentives have promoted overseas trade, benefitting the French economy. If you are a business in France or want to verify a company in France, you need to comply with the standard regulations. Collaborating with businesses here can be full of challenges, and to eliminate the potential risks, it is essential to conduct due diligence through the business verification procedures. In this comprehensive guide, let’s explore the company verification procedure and the beneficial owners of France.

How to Verify if a Company is Registered in France?

To verify a company in France, you have to first collect essential business data so that you can screen it against the official registries. The parent registry in France is Infogreffe. On this portal, you can get the information on a business you want to verify. This portal website provides access to multiple official business registers in France:

• Registre du Commerce et des Sociétés (RCS)

This is the central trade and company register. Here you will have information about the commercial companies in France. On this register, you can search for company information, including registration details and legal frameworks. The RCS comes under the commercial court, where businesses must be registered when they are established. Besides having the company’s legal information, this register also informs you about new companies. It aims to ensure a stable and secure business world within France.

• Registre des Bénéficiaires Effectifs (RBE)

RBE is the register associated with the ultimate beneficial owners of organizations and legal entities. Here, you can access names, dates of birth, identification numbers, addresses, and also the extent of the UBOs. However, access to sensitive personal data and confidential financial information is only limited to those who justify legitimate interests.

• Répertoire des Métiers (RM)

This additional register on the Infogreffe portal contains data on small businesses and persons such as mechanics and artisans. Businesses with under 10 employees must be registered with this registry. In addition to that, businesses involved in crafts, manufacturing, and other skilled trades must be registered with RM, which is essential for ensuring compliance with legal and regulatory standards.

Step-by-Step Guide to Verify a Company in France

At the Infogreffe portal, you can follow the following steps to verify a company in France:

• Open the portal: When you open the Infogree website portal, you are given the search option on the home page.

• Search Options: To verify a company in France, you have two options if you go for the normal search.

• Company: To verify a company in France, just enter the real (registered) name of an organization you want to verify. After adding a specific entry, the portal will automatically give you the required information.

• Manager: Other than the company name, you can also get data on a particular business by searching the name of its manager. 

• Advanced Search: A company in France can be verified through different input parameters. In the advanced search option, you have numerous options, such as:

• SIRET code: It is the 9-digit number that is registered to every registered business in France by the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE). When you enter the SIRET code, you will be directed to the respective company.

• Other Search Parameters: Other parameters in the portal include department, municipality, postal code, companies, establishment, and field of activity. 

When you search for a particular company using any of these options, the following results are given to you:

• Official Business Name
• SIREN code
• Physical address

Challenges of Business Verification in France

To verify a company in France, you can face different challenges while navigating through the portal. A few of the business verification challenges are listed below:

• Paid Documents

One of the biggest challenges of the French company portal is that it provides paid documents only. In the documents section, there is a comprehensive set of options available but when you search for a particular business, you have to pay a certain amount to get the data for company verification in France. To verify a company in France, the know your business helps you retrieve the business data.

• Understanding the Legal Terminology

The legal documents and terminology used on the portal are advanced. A normal user will find it difficult to comprehend these terms, which ultimately disturbs the business verification procedure. For example, if you are on the portal for the first time, you may not be acquainted with terms like “SIRET,” “KBIS,” and “denomination.” This causes confusion and complicity when trying to interpret the given information.

• Language Divide

Language is one of the main obstacles to company verification in France. Although the portal is synced with Google Translate, some of the web pages do not provide information in English. For example, when you order official documents, you press the order button, and you are taken again to the infographic on the same page. The subtitles of the infographic are in French, making it difficult for non-native speakers to understand.

How to Verify an Ultimate Beneficial Owner UBO in France?

In France, the threshold for the Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO) is mainly set at 25%. This simply means that the person or persons that own up to 25% of their revenue and voting rights are declared as the official and legal UBO of the company. To verify a company in France, you must get accurate and updated UBO data to confirm the legitimacy of a business and see whether it is compliant with anti-money laundering regulations. The business registry of France does not have complete Ultimate Beneficial Owners data. This partial unavailability of information on ownership structure elevates compliance risks and negatively impacts Know Your Business Check.

Conducting AML Checks on Businesses in France

Comprehensive anti-money laundering (AML) checks are conducted in two different ways. A business can not be considered safe and reliable if these checks are not performed. The AML checks are essential for both the company and the individuals behind the company. This is because, due to the complexities of the corporate framework, the risk of financial crimes is high. However, to verify a company in France, performing background checks on both of them mitigates the risk of criminal activities, ensuring smooth and transparent business operations.

France Business License and Certificate Verification

Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution (ACPR)

ACPR is the regulatory body responsible for registering and licensing financial institutions. This body operates directly under the supervision of the Banque de France, ensuring compliance with the essential regulatory requirements in France. The ACPR works closely with the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) for financial regulation in the market. Besides monitoring compliance with financial regulations, the ACPR also conducts investigations and imposes sanctions on institutions that are not compliant.

Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ)

Autorité Nationale des Jeux is the regulatory body for gaming and gambling in France. It looks at all types of gambling, including both online and casinos, lotteries, sports betting, and horse racing. Businesses that deal in gaming and gambling must get an official license from ANJ to ensure their legality. The main goal of ANJ is to ensure that the legal gambling offered in France is secure, upright, controlled, and free from any type of manipulation.

Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF)

AMF is the regulatory body that controls financial markets. It oversees and protects the investors by ensuring the proper functioning of financial markets and maintaining transparency. This registry contains a list of registered companies, investment organizations, and financial intermediaries. It plays a key role in monitoring financial disclosure, approving IPOs, fighting market manipulation, and maintaining compliance.

Read More: How to Verify a Company in Japan? An Ultimate Guide

The KYB – Your Partner In Business Success

Business verification is a procedure full of hassles. While it can be difficult to verify a company in France, the KYB assists you through the process. You can avoid the problems of navigating the numerous resources, language obstacles, and incomprehensibility about the type of documents and SIRET codes by relying on the unified platform of the KYB. We consolidate the data from more than 250 countries and states with comprehensive databases of more than 300M organizations. Our software is API integrated that retrieves the business data in just a few minutes. We apply dual checks to businesses and persons, eliminating the possible risk of crimes. 

Contact us today and verify the legal standing of any registered company in France.