Business registers in EU countries

Greece

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Greece

Background to the establishment of the national register

When was it established?

The General Commercial Registry (Geniko Emporiko Mitroo - G.E.MI.) was established under Law 3419/2005 and became operational on 4 April 2011. Law 3419/05 was subsequently repealed and replaced by the recent Law 4919/2022.

When was it digitised?

The Registry was established as a digital electronic register and maintains all the documents and data submitted by companies in digital form.

What is the current applicable legislation?

It is governed by Law 4919/2022, which is divided into two parts: Part A (Articles 1-14), which sets out the provisions on the establishment of companies of all legal forms in Greece, and Part B (Articles 15-59), which sets out the provisions on the documents and data submitted by any form of entity, branches in EU and third countries, as well as matters relating to access, the issuing of documents and data, the relevant sanctions, etc. https://www.businessportal.gr/backOffice/backOfficeFiles/2022-04-21-115740s02218f074dd98ef8bc23788fcfdb4d6.pdf

What information does the business register offer?

The Registry records all disclosures of business documents and data for limited liability companies and sole proprietorship companies, branches in EU countries as well as branches in third countries. These disclosures are referred to in the relevant company legislation and in Directive (EU) 2017/1132. The website of the General Commercial Registry serves as the ‘National Gazette for the disclosure of commercial information’. Natural or legal persons or associations of such persons as referred to Article 16(1) of Law No 4919/22 are obliged to register in the General Commercial Registry.

You can search on the Registry website for information disclosed by the following types of business:

(a) Public limited liability companies (anonymes etaireies - A.E.), as provided for by Law 4548/2018 (Government Gazette, Series I, No 104).

(b) Private limited liability companies (etaireies periorismenis efthynis - EPE), as provided for by Law 3190/1955 (Government Gazette, Series I, No 91).

(c) Private capital companies (idiotikes kefalaiouchikes etaireies - IKE), as provided for by Law 4072/2012 (Government Gazette, Series I, No 86).

(d) General partnerships (omorrythmes etaireies) or limited partnerships (eterrorythmes etaireies) (ordinary or with a share capital), as provided for by Law 4072/2012.

(e) Cooperatives governed by civil law (astikoi synetairismoi), as provided for by Law 1667/1986 (Government Gazette, Series I, No 196), which include mutual insurance associations, credit cooperatives, building cooperatives and energy communities.

(f) Social cooperative enterprises (koinonikes synetairistikes epicheiriseis) and cooperatives of employees (synetairismoi ergazomenon), as provided for by Law 4430/2016 (Government Gazette, Series I, No 205).

(g) Limited liability social cooperatives (koinonikoi synetairismoi periorismenis efthynis), as provided for by Article 12 of Law 2716/1999 (Government Gazette, Series I, No 96).

(h) Economic interest civil law companies (astikes etaireies me oikonomikou skopou), as provided for by Article 784 of the Civil Code and Article 270 of Law 4072/2012.

(i) European economic interest groupings, as provided for by Council Regulation (EEC) No 2137/1985 (OJ L 199, corrigendum L 247), that have their headquarters in Greece.

(j) European companies, as provided for by Council Regulation (EC) No 2157/2001 (OJ L 294), that have their headquarters in Greece.

(k) European cooperative societies, as provided for by Council Regulation (EC) No 1435/2003 (OJ L 207), that have their headquarters in Greece.

(l) Branches or agencies which foreign companies in the form of public limited liability companies, private limited liability companies and partnerships limited by shares that have their head office in an EU Member State, have in Greece.

(m) Branches or agencies which foreign companies whose headquarters are in a third country and which have a legal form similar to one of the foreign companies referred to in (l) above, have in Greece.

(n) Branches or agencies through which natural or legal persons or associations of such persons that have their principal place of business or their headquarters abroad and that do not fall under points (l) or (m) carry out commercial transactions in Greece.

(o) Consortia, as provided for by Article 293 of Law 4072/2012, (p) profit-oriented sole proprietorships which have an establishment in Greece and which: (i) are regularly engaged in the carrying out of commercial transactions in their name; or (ii) distribute goods or services or act as agents for their distribution, with a business risk, either through organised infrastructure or through the employment of third persons.

Who has the right to access the register?

1. Documents and data that a company or branch submits as part of a company’s establishment, the registration of a branch or the submission of information are stored by the Registry in a searchable machine-readable format or as structured data.

2. Any interested party may receive, exclusively in electronic form, certificates, copies or extracts of documents and data from the files of those obliged to register, upon submitting, exclusively in electronic form, an application to the competent Registry department, in accordance with Article 11 of Law 2690/1999 (Government Gazette, Series I, No 45). The above-mentioned certificates, copies or extracts are issued exclusively in electronic form. Similarly, any interested party may request copies, extracts or certificates of the documents and data which are kept in the file and which are not published on the Registry's website. The Registry is not required to issue copies of documents and data from the files of those obliged to register, if such documents and data were submitted on paper before 31 December 2006.

What information is recorded in the Greek business register?

Which types of data are stored (which entities are registered in the public register, information on insolvency proceedings, financial statements...)?

The documents and data that are published and that can be disclosed to any third party concerned are at least the following:

1. The following documents and data are published in the Registry with regard to the companies referred to in Article 16(1)(a) to (c), (e) to (g) and (i) to (k) of Law 4919/22, whose headquarters are in Greece:

(a) the instrument of constitution, statutes and, where necessary, the management’s decision of approval;

(b) amendments to the statutes and the full consolidated text of the statutes;

(c) the appointment, termination of office and particulars, as provided for by Article 33(2), of the persons who either as a body constituted pursuant to law or as members of any such body:

(i) are authorised to represent the company in dealings with third parties. In the event that this concerns more than one person, the relevant entry must state whether these persons can act alone or whether they must act jointly;

(ii) represent the company before a court of law; and

(iii) take part in the administration, supervision or control of the company;

(d) at least once a year, the amount of the capital subscribed, where the instrument of constitution or the statutes mention an authorised capital, unless any increase in the capital subscribed necessitates an amendment of the statutes;

(e) the accounting documents for each financial year which are mandatory under Council Directives 86/635/EEC (OJ L 372) on the annual accounts and consolidated accounts of banks and other financial institutions, 91/674/EEC (OJ L 374) on the annual accounts and consolidated accounts of insurance undertakings, and 2013/34/EU (OJ L 182) on the annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements and related reports of certain types of undertakings, amending Directive 2006/43/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council Directives 78/660/EEC and 83/349/EEC;

(f) any change of headquarters of the company;

(g) the winding-up and revival of the company;

(h) any declaration of nullity of the company by the courts;

(i) the appointment and particulars of the liquidators, in accordance with Article 33(2) and (3);

(j) the financial statements for the opening and the closing of liquidation and the removal from the Registry;

(k) the number of partners’ shares as well as the full particulars of the above-mentioned persons.

2. The following documents and data are published in the Registry with regard to sole proprietorship companies as referred to in Article 16(1)(d), (h) and (o) of Law 4919/22, whose headquarters are in Greece:

(a) memorandum of association and amendments thereto, in consolidated form;

(b) object;

(c) company name and short name;

(d) full address of headquarters;

(e) the particulars of partners, in accordance with Article 33(2) and (3), the appointment of a managing director and the extent of the managing director's powers. If the persons referred to in the first paragraph hereof are legal entities, the data published are the Registry number, if any, the key identification particulars, such as company name, legal form and headquarters, and the particulars of the natural person representing the legal persons;

(f) withdrawal or exclusion of a partner;

(g) any change to the rates of participation of partners in the company’s profits and losses;

(h) the winding-up and revival of the company;

(i) any declaration of nullity of the company by the courts;

(j) the appointment and particulars of the liquidators, in accordance with Article 33(2) and (3);

(k) the annual financial statements, if the circumstances described in Article 1(2)(b) and (c) of Law 4308/2014 (Government Gazette, Series I, No 251) on the application of the Greek accounting standards arise;

(l) the financial statements for the opening and the closing of liquidation and the removal from the Registry.

3. The following documents and data are published in the Registry with regard to branches in the EU as referred to in Article 16(1)(l) and (n) of Law 4919/22:

(a) the instrument of constitution and the statutes if they are contained in a separate instrument, together with the amendments thereto;

(b) an attestation from the register in which the company has been registered (certificate of good standing from the competent authority or from the commercial register of the country of origin);

(c) the postal address of the branch;

(d) the indication of the activities of the branch;

(e) the register in which the file referred to in Article 21(2) has been opened for the company, as well as the European unique identifier (EUID);

(f) the company’s name and legal form, and the name of the branch if different from the name of the company;

(g) the appointment, termination of office and particulars, as provided for by Article 33(2) and (3), of the persons who are authorised to represent the company in dealings with third parties and in legal proceedings as:

(i) company bodies constituted pursuant to law or members of such a body, in accordance with the disclosure requirements of the company under Article 14(d) of Directive (EU) 2017/1132 (OJ L 169) relating to certain aspects of company law;

(ii) permanent representatives of the company for the activities of the branch, with an indication of the extent of their powers;

(h) the winding-up of the company, the appointment of liquidators, particulars concerning them and their powers and the termination of the liquidation in accordance with disclosure by the company as provided for in Article 35(h), (j) and (k), insolvency proceedings, arrangements, compositions, or any analogous proceedings to which the company is subject;

(i) the accounting documents (financial statements) of the company, as prepared, have been verified and published in accordance with the law of the Member State by which the company is governed, in accordance with Directives 2013/34/EU (OJ L 182) and 2006/43/EC (OJ L 157) on statutory audits of annual accounts and consolidated accounts, amending Council Directives 78/660/EEC and 83/349/EEC and repealing Council Directive 84/253/EEC;

(j) the closure of the branch.

3. The following documents and data are published in G.E.MI. with regard to branches in the EU as provided for by Article 16(1)(m) and (n) of Law 4919/22:

(a) the instrument of constitution and articles of association if they are contained in a separate instrument, together with the amendments thereto;

(b) the postal address of the branch;

(c) the indication of the activities of the branch;

(d) the law of the State by which the company is governed;

(e) a company’s registration number in any register the keeping of which is provided for by the law of the Member State by which the company is governed;

(f) the legal form of the company, its principal place of business and its object and, at least annually, the amount of subscribed capital if those particulars are not given in the instrument of constitution or articles of association;

(g) the company’s name and the name of the branch if different from the name of the company;

(h) the appointment, termination of office and identification particulars of the persons who are authorised to represent the company in dealings with third parties and in legal proceedings:

(i) as company bodies constituted pursuant to law or as members of any such body,

(ii) as permanent representatives of the company for the activities of the branch, with an indication of the extent of their powers and whether they may exercise these powers alone;

(i) the winding-up of the company, the appointment of liquidators, particulars concerning them and their powers and the termination of the liquidation in accordance with disclosure by the company as provided for in Article 35(h), (j) and (k), insolvency proceedings, arrangements, compositions, or any analogous proceedings to which the company is subject;

(j) the company's accounting documents, such as the financial statements, as prepared, verified and published in accordance with the law of the Member State by which the company is governed. In the event that the law of the Member State does not provide for the preparation of accounting documents in a manner equivalent to Greek and EU law, the accounting documents, such as the financial statements, for the activities of the branch, are required;

(k) the closure of the branch.

Which documents are submitted/stored (files, document collections, statutes, minutes of general meetings, etc.)?

The following documents are submitted:

  • Financial statements in ESEF
  • Financial statements in XBRL and xHTML
  • Minutes of General Meetings or Meetings of Partners or of the sole Partner in pdf format
  • Minutes of the Board of Directors or Managing Directors and/or Managers in pdf format
  • Electronic declarations of legal representatives without paper format
  • National or cross-border conversion plans for companies (mergers, divisions and conversions)
  • Reports of experts (statutory auditors) for all legal purposes

How can I perform a search (and what are the available search criteria)?

In person

The documents, data and particulars are kept in digital form and therefore it is not necessary to appear in person at the Registry departments.

On the Registry website

You can search for any commercial disclosures on the website of the General Commercial Registry https://www.businessregistry.gr/publicity/index.

What are the available search criteria?

You can perform a search using just one of the following pieces of information relating to the company:

  • Tax Identification Number (A.F.M. - Greek abbreviation) or
  • General Commercial Registry (Γ.Ε.ΜI.) number or
  • Company name or
  • Short name

How can I obtain documents?

Free of charge?

The following information relating to the company is available free of charge on the Registry website, and via the Business Registers Interconnection System (BRIS):

(a) the name, short name(s) and legal form of the company;

(b) its registered office and the Member State where it is registered;

(c) its Registry number and European unique identifier (EUID);

(d) the details of the website, the status of the company, namely if it is active, has suspended registrations, is being wound up, is in liquidation, has been struck off the register or has ceased its operations;

(e) the object of the company;

(f) the particulars of its directors;

(g) the data relating to its branches in EU Member States.

Moreover, any interested party may access free of charge, download, digitally store on their own electronic devices and print or otherwise reproduce any document, information or notice posted on the Registry website https://www.businessregistry.gr/publicity/index for public consultation either by the Registry department or automatically by the persons required to do so.

Against a fee?

Any interested party may obtain certified copies, extracts and certificates from the Registry on prior payment of a fee for any document, data, copy, extract or certificate.

How can I obtain an extract from the register, a certified copy or a transcript of documents?

If any interested party wishes to obtain official (authentic) certificates, copies or extracts of documents or data recorded in a company’s entry in the Registry, they can register free of charge with the General Commercial Registry’s outreach department.

You can register via the following hyperlinks:

(Α) As a natural person https://services.businessportal.gr/welcomeNonGemi/nonGemiRegistrationForm

(B) As a legal person https://services.businessportal.gr/welcomeNonGemi/nonGemiRegistrationForm

You can obtain official certificates or copies of documents and particulars on prior payment of a fee of EUR 5.00 through the relevant electronic application referred to above. Certificates or copies of the relevant documents or data are delivered in two different ways: digitally through the Registry’s outreach application, or by post to the addressee, anywhere in the world.

Registration procedure

How can I launch the registration procedure (how to submit applications to the register, certification of documents, type of documents which need to be attached)?

In person

The procedure for recording documents or data in the Registry is carried out remotely and entirely electronically. Therefore, it is not possible to appear in person.

Online

The procedure for submitting documents and data is carried out entirely electronically.

Each entity has been certified in the Registry's system for submitting documents and data. The entity (its legal or authorised representative) enters the Registry’s Information System and selects the appropriate electronic application. Each application is standardised and requests (lists) a number of documents and data to be submitted.

How are submitted applications reviewed?

Registration applications fall into two general categories:

(Α) applications that are subject to review of legality, and

(B) applications that are subject to review of completeness.

Applications that are subject to review of legality are routed to a competent officer of the Registry department, who carries out the review of legality of the submitted document and, if there is no impediment, approves and registers the application. The system registers the document, creates a single entry, issues a registration code and produces automatically a standardised notice template.

Applications that are subject to review of legality are registered in the Registry automatically, without human intervention, immediately after the entity submits them. The information system carries out a series of checks to verify completeness of the document in accordance with the law.

Legal effects of the registration

Effect of entries on third parties under Article 17 of Directive (EU) 2017/1132

It is mandatory for the legal persons referred to in Article 16(1) of Law 4919/22, in cases other than those provided for by paragraphs (l), (m), (n) and (p), to register and publish in the Registry legal facts, statements, documents and other information in order to produce the following legal effects:

(a) acquisition of legal personality if they are in the course of being set up;

(b) amendments to their statutes;

(c) completion of their merger, division or conversion;

(d) their winding-up, following a decision by their partners or the issuing of the relevant administrative act;

(e) their revival, if they are in liquidation, as well as in the cases where bankruptcy proceedings are discontinued due to fulfilment of the claims of their creditors, of discharge, or in any other case where revival of a legal person is provided for;

(f) loss of legal personality upon registration of the legal person’s removal from the Registry;

(g) re-registration in the Registry and opening of new winding-up proceedings in accordance with Article 28(4).

Natural or legal persons or associations of such persons as referred to in Article 16 of Law 4919/22 may not rely, as against third parties, on documents and data with regard to which the disclosure formalities referred to in Article 17 have not been complied with, unless they prove that the said third parties had been aware of these documents and data.

Discrepancies between the Registry entry and its publication

If the disclosed text is inconsistent with the document or data filed in the Registry, the persons referred to in Article 16(1) to (4) may not rely on it as against third parties. Third parties may rely on the disclosed data unless the above-mentioned persons prove that the said third parties had been aware of the text filed in the Register.

Third parties may rely, in accordance with the above, on documents or data with regard to which disclosure formalities have not yet been completed, unless lack of disclosure renders these documents invalid.

If there is a discrepancy between the filing date and the disclosure date, the disclosure date is regarded as the filing date for the purposes of the limitation periods for use of legal rights and remedies.

Who has responsibility for the accuracy of the records?

The competent Registry department is responsible for the accuracy of the records. More specifically, in accordance with Article 20 of Law 4919/22, the competent Registry department is responsible for the following:

(a) registration in the Registry of those obliged to register under Article 16;

(b) each filing and disclosure relating to those obliged to register;

(c) receipt, registration, if it is not carried out electronically, review of completeness and, where necessary, of legality of the relevant applications, accompanying documents, information or declarations, as well as verification of applications for the approval of name and short name, and the reservation of those names, in accordance with Article 55(3);

(d) replying to questions submitted via the BRIS concerning the documents and information referred to in Articles 33, 35 and 39;

(e) issuing of certificates, copies and extracts, in accordance with Article 46(3);

(f) carrying out of sample checks on the establishment of companies via the Electronic One-Stop-Shop Service (e-YMS) and the automatic filings in the Registry which are carried out in accordance with Article 26(4).

Data protection procedures

Procedures related to the rights of the data subject regarding the disclosure and storing of their personal data

If the Register processes personal data, the Department for Information Systems Support and Development for the General Commercial Registry (G.E.MI.) and the One-Stop-Shop Service of the Union of Hellenic Chambers of Commerce is the data controller, in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation) (OJ L 119) and Law 4624/2019 (Government Gazette, Series I, No 137), in conjunction with Article 47 of Law 4623/2019 (Government Gazette, Series I, No 134), on public sector data.

Contact information

Ministry of Development and Investment

Secretariat-General for Trade

Directorate-General for Domestic Trade and Consumer Protection

Company address:

Pl. Kaningos, 10181 ATHENS

e-mail: companylaw@mindev.gov.gr

Useful Web addresses

Electronic publication by the General Commercial Registry (G.E.MI)

Registration of members of the public for the online services of the General Commercial Registry (G.E.MI.)

Registration of businesses in the General Commercial Registry (G.E.MI.)

Verification of the authenticity of certificates and copies issued by the General Commercial Registry (G.E.MI.)

Legislation on the General Commercial Registry (G.E.MI)

Last update: 12/03/2024

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