Business Registers in Luxembourg: Registre de Commerce et des Sociétés (RCS), RESA & RBE

Overview

Luxembourg's company information sits in the Registre de Commerce et des Sociétés (RCS), operated by Luxembourg Business Registers (LBR). The Grand Duchy combines open access with selective monetisation: filed corporate documents (articles of association, annual accounts, board resolutions) are available online at no cost, while certified register extracts and official copies carry a fee.

Luxembourg's position as a leading investment fund domicile means the RCS contains an unusually high proportion of holding companies, investment vehicles (SICAVs, SIFs, RAIFs), and special-purpose entities alongside traditional operating businesses. Cross-border KYB workflows often pair Luxembourg with neighbouring Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

For KYB and AML professionals, Luxembourg is rich and accessible for company data and corporate documents. Beneficial-ownership information is restricted to authorised parties following the European Court of Justice's November 2022 ruling.

Official Registers

Registre de Commerce et des Sociétés (RCS)

The RCS is Luxembourg's central commercial register. It contains registration data for virtually all legal entities operating in the country: commercial companies, partnerships, sole traders, civil companies, non-profit associations (ASBLs), foundations, investment funds, and branches of foreign entities. The register has operated under the authority of the Ministry of Justice since 2003, with day-to-day management delegated to Luxembourg Business Registers (LBR), an economic-interest grouping comprising the State, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Chamber of Skilled Trades.

The RCS was fully digitised between 2006 and 2007, and today all filings and consultations occur electronically. The register is entirely public: anyone can search by company name or registration number and access filed documents in PDF format at no cost.

Entity search. The LBR portal exposes search by company name, RCS registration number, EUID, or registered office address. Results return identity, status, legal form, and a list of available filed documents. Search is free and requires no authentication.

Register extracts. The RCS distinguishes two formats:

• Electronic extract (Extrait RCS électronique): PDF generated on demand, signed digitally by LBR. The default option, delivered within seconds. Customers can choose the language (French, English, or German).
• Paper extract (Extrait RCS papier): physical certified copy, ordered through LBR for cases that require a wet-stamped document. Delivery takes a few business days.

Information available through the RCS includes: company name and trade name, registered office address, legal form, RCS registration number and EUID, date of incorporation, share capital, identity of directors, managers, and authorised signatories (with dates of birth and addresses), articles of association, statutory amendments, and annual financial statements.

The Law of 23 January 2025, effective 1 February 2025, established LBR as an active gatekeeper for the RCS. LBR now performs automated and manual consistency checks on all incoming filings, cross-references declarations against the national population register (RNPP), maintains live interconnection between the RBE and the RCS, and may proactively update the register from other official sources. Ongoing monitoring flags anomalies for manual review. As part of the same reform, all natural persons registered with the RCS — shareholders, directors, auditors — are required to provide their Luxembourg national identification number (matricule). The matricule is used for identity verification and cross-register linkage; it is collected but not disclosed publicly.

Luxembourg Business Registers launched a redesigned public portal on 25 August 2025.

Recueil Électronique des Sociétés et Associations (RESA)

The RESA is the official electronic gazette where company filings are published. Articles of association, statutory amendments, board resolutions, mergers, and dissolutions are published in RESA after submission to the RCS. Consultation of RESA is free and requires no authentication. Legal acts only become enforceable against third parties from the date of their publication in RESA, which makes timely publication essential for corporate transactions.

REGINSOL (Register of Insolvency)

REGINSOL is the official register of insolvency proceedings in Luxembourg, managed by LBR. It records bankruptcies, judicial liquidations, and reorganisation proceedings for entities registered with the RCS. The register is publicly searchable alongside the RCS portal and is updated as proceedings open or close. REGINSOL data is part of the standard due-diligence picture for creditworthiness and AML assessments.

Registre des Bénéficiaires Effectifs (RBE)

The RBE is Luxembourg's central register of beneficial owners, established in March 2019 under the law of 13 January 2019. It is managed by LBR under the authority of the Ministry of Justice. All entities registered with the RCS (except sole traders, temporary commercial companies, and joint ventures) must declare their beneficial owners within one month of any relevant event.

The register contains: names and surnames of beneficial owners, dates of birth, nationalities, countries of residence, and the nature and extent of beneficial interests held. Addresses and national identification numbers are collected but not disclosed to most users.

Following the European Court of Justice ruling of 22 November 2022 (the Luxembourg Business Registers judgment), public access to the RBE was immediately suspended. The court found that unrestricted public access constituted a disproportionate interference with fundamental rights to privacy and data protection. Luxembourg enacted new legislation in December 2024 to formalise restricted access.

Today, access to the RBE is limited to:

• National authorities (prosecutors, CSSF, tax authorities): full, unrestricted access
• AML/CFT obliged entities: access via secure platform with LuxTrust certificate and signed agreement with LBR; consultations are logged and retained for five years
• Persons with legitimate interest: professional journalists and NGOs focused on combating money laundering may apply for access

Access is granted to information only, not to supporting documents.

Registration and Publication Requirements

Obligations for companies

Registration with the RCS is mandatory for all commercial companies upon incorporation. This includes: public limited companies (SA), private limited companies (SARL and SARL-S), partnerships limited by shares (SCA), general partnerships (SENC), limited partnerships (SCS and SCSp), cooperative companies, European companies (SE), and civil companies.

Annual accounts must be filed by all capital companies (SA, SARL, SECA, cooperatives, SE) and by partnerships and sole traders with annual turnover exceeding €100,000. Filing must occur within one month of approval and no later than seven months after the financial year-end. Accounts are validated through the eCDF platform (electronic gathering of financial data) using the standardised chart of accounts (plan comptable normalisé, PCN) before submission to the RCS.

Small, medium, and large companies have different disclosure requirements based on size thresholds (balance-sheet total, turnover, and employee count). Small companies may file abridged accounts; large companies must file full financial statements and are subject to statutory audit.

UBO obligations apply to all registered entities except sole traders, listed companies (which need only declare the regulated market), and temporary commercial companies. Declarations must be filed within one month of incorporation or any change.

Obligations for sole traders (commerçants personnes physiques)

Any natural person carrying on a commercial activity must register with the RCS. Registration is completed electronically using a LuxTrust certificate. Sole traders must maintain accounting records, but only need to file annual accounts with the RCS if their annual turnover exceeds €100,000 excluding VAT.

Sole traders are not subject to UBO obligations, as they are natural persons rather than legal entities.

Non-profit associations (ASBLs) and foundations

Non-profit associations (associations sans but lucratif, ASBLs) and foundations must register with the RCS and file their articles of association. An ASBL acquires legal personality upon publication of its statutes in RESA.

The law of 7 August 2023 modernised the framework for ASBLs and foundations:

• Minimum two founders (reduced from three)
• Mandatory filing of annual accounts within one month of approval
• Categorisation by size, with simplified accounting for small associations
• Abolition of the annual member-list filing requirement (replaced by an internal register)
• UBO declarations required for all ASBLs and foundations

Associations that fail to update their RCS data within six months of a request from LBR and have made no filings for at least five years face administrative dissolution without liquidation.

With Topograph

Topograph queries the RCS, RESA, and (for obliged entities) the RBE through one API, returning Luxembourg company identity, officers, accounts, and beneficial-ownership data in a single call. The same API powers a web application for analysts.

Available Data

Company Profile

• Legal name and trade name
• Registered office address
• RCS registration number and EUID
• Legal form
• Date of incorporation
• Registration status
• Share capital
• Activity sector (NACE code) when available

Legal Representatives

• Name and address of directors, managers, and authorised signatories
• Roles and powers
• Appointment and expiry dates

Shareholders

• Name and address
• Number and types of shares

UBO (Ultimate Beneficial Ownership)

• Names, dates of birth, and nationalities
• Nature and extent of beneficial interests
• Access subject to a legitimate-interest request to the RBE

Available Documents

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