Guide · Denmark · CVR
What is the CVR (the Danish Central Business Register)?
The CVR is the register behind Danish company records. Here is how the CVR number and its advisory check work, what a Danish record holds, and what an API can serve from it.
Key facts: Denmark
Register: Central Business Register (CVR)
Identifiers CVR number
- Company recordsYes
- OfficersNo
- Insolvency noticesYes
- Corporate eventsRegister changes
- MonitoringYes
- Financial statementsAnnual accounts
- VAT numberBuilt from the number
- NACE classYes
- UpdatedEvery working day
Financial statements are on the Scale plan and above; the other plans and the free trial get 10 calls a month.
Price From EUR 9.99 a month (Starter plan)
The short version
The Danish Central Business Register (Det Centrale Virksomhedsregister, CVR) is the Danish register of businesses, run by the Danish Business Authority (Erhvervsstyrelsen), and it is where the Danish company records Prometiam serves come from. Every legal entity in it carries a CVR number: eight digits, such as 24256790 for Novo Nordisk A/S.
The Danish VAT number is DK plus the same eight digits, so a Danish integration can key on one number for both.
Who supplies what
| Name | What it is |
|---|---|
| CVR | The Danish Central Business Register, in Danish Det Centrale Virksomhedsregister. Its record is the source of the legal name, legal form, status, registered address, activity code, dates and previous names. |
| Erhvervsstyrelsen | The Danish Business Authority, which runs the register. Prometiam's Danish records carry the attribution line “Contains data from Det Centrale Virksomhedsregister (CVR), CC BY 4.0. Contains CVR data (Erhvervsstyrelsen), CC BY 4.0”. |
| CVR number | The eight-digit number of a legal entity, for example 24256790. The key you store for the register record. |
| VAT number | DK plus the eight digits of the CVR number, for an entity that is VAT-registered. |
The CVR number
A CVR number is eight digits. The eight digits carry a mod-11 check: multiply them by the weights 2, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and the sum should divide by 11. For 24256790 the sum is 4 + 28 + 12 + 25 + 24 + 21 + 18 + 0 = 132, which is 11 times 12, so the number passes.
The check is advisory. The API validates that a CVR number is eight digits, and a number that fails mod 11 is a warning and not a rejection: it is still looked up. That makes the mod-11 rule useful as a hint in a form (“check this number”) and wrong as a hard gate. The identifier validator runs the arithmetic in the browser and shows a mismatch as a warning, and the free CVR lookup does the same before it calls the API.
The EU VAT number of a Danish company is DK plus the eight digits: 24256790 becomes DK24256790. Whether a VAT number is registered and active is a separate question that only VIES answers; the VIES validation guide covers it.
What a Danish record holds
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Legal name | The official name of the entity. Earlier names are served as previous names. |
| Legal form | The CVR Virksomhedsform code with its Danish label: for example 80 for the ApS (private limited company), 60 for the A/S (public limited company) and 30 for the I/S (general partnership). local_legal_form holds the code and local_legal_form_name the Danish label; legal_form is the standard abbreviation. |
| Status | One of active, bankrupt or ceased. The register's bankruptcy state is included, so a company in bankruptcy shows as its own status and is not served as plain active. Both active and ceased companies are served. |
| Registered address | The registered address: street, postal code and city, with the municipality. |
| Activity code | The main activity in DB25, which corresponds to NACE Rev. 2.1. Companies that ceased before 2025 carry none. |
| Start and end dates | The start date of the entity and, for a ceased company, its end date. |
| Previous names | The names the entity carried before its current one. |
What Prometiam serves for Denmark
Company records from the Danish Central Business Register (CVR): legal name, legal form, status (including the register's bankruptcy state), registered address, activity code and dates; with register-change events and monitoring, but no officers, no registry-compliance signal and no share capital (corporate insolvency notices are linked by CVR number), and sole proprietorships (enkeltmandsvirksomhed) and estates are never served.
In plain terms: you can resolve a CVR number, a Danish VAT number or a company name into the record and see its status. You cannot get directors or a share capital figure for Denmark from this API. Register-change events and monitoring are available, and Denmark's corporate insolvency notices are linked by CVR number. Legal entities only: an enkeltmandsvirksomhed (sole proprietorship) and an estate are never served, so a search for one returns nothing even though the business exists. Annual accounts as filed (digitally filed XBRL annual reports only) are served from the Scale plan. Denmark is updated every working day.
Querying Danish companies from an API
The same call as every other live country, with country=DK:
# by CVR number (a number that is not eight digits is a 400; a mod-11 mismatch is still looked up) curl -H "Authorization: Bearer rk_live_..." \ "https://api.prometiam.com/functions/v1/risk-api/companies/search?company_number=24256790&country=DK" # by the VAT number (DK and the eight digits) curl -H "Authorization: Bearer rk_live_..." \ "https://api.prometiam.com/functions/v1/risk-api/companies/search?vat=DK24256790&country=DK" # by name, for a type-ahead field curl -H "Authorization: Bearer rk_live_..." \ "https://api.prometiam.com/functions/v1/risk-api/companies/search?name=carlsberg&country=DK"
A number that is not eight digits is answered with a 400 validation error, so a typo never looks like a missing company. The free CVR lookup runs the same call with a shared key, and the Denmark company data API page walks through validation and autocomplete.
Danish insolvency
Denmark is one of the sixteen insolvency markets (FR, DE, GB, AT, CH, NO, FI, US, NL, DK, HR, SE, ES, LV, EE, SG), corporate only. The notices are konkurs and tvangsakkord proceedings from CVR credit information: one notice per proceeding, dated by the decision that opened it, with the latest stage of the proceeding, with no court or case number. ?include=insolvency on a Danish company record returns the notices linked by CVR number. The register's own bankruptcy state also appears on the company record in status.
FAQ
How do I look up a Danish company by CVR number?
Enter the CVR number or the company name in the free CVR lookup to see legal name, legal form, status and city. The same lookup is available in the API as GET /companies/search?country=DK.
What is the CVR?
The Danish Central Business Register (Det Centrale Virksomhedsregister), run by the Danish Business Authority (Erhvervsstyrelsen). It is the source of the Danish company records Prometiam serves.
What is a Danish CVR number?
Eight digits, for example 24256790. The eight digits carry a mod-11 check with the weights 2, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, but the check is advisory: the API validates the eight-digit format and a mismatch is a warning.
What is the difference between the CVR number and the VAT number?
The Danish VAT number is DK plus the same eight digits, for an entity that is VAT-registered. Whether it is registered and active is a question only VIES answers.
Does Prometiam serve Danish directors or company events?
Company events yes, directors no. Danish records are company-level: legal name, legal form, status, registered address, activity code and dates. There are no officers and no registry-compliance signal and no share capital for Denmark. Register-change events (name, status, legal form and registered address; dated when the change first appears in the register data, none before 2026-09-30) and monitoring are available.
Does Prometiam have Danish insolvency notices?
Yes. Denmark is one of the sixteen insolvency markets (FR, DE, GB, AT, CH, NO, FI, US, NL, DK, HR, SE, ES, LV, EE, SG), and insolvency notices are corporate only. The notices are konkurs and tvangsakkord proceedings from CVR credit information: one notice per proceeding, dated by the decision that opened it, with the latest stage of the proceeding, with no court or case number. They are linked by CVR number. The register's own bankruptcy state also appears in the company's status.
Are Danish sole proprietorships included?
No. Sole proprietorships (enkeltmandsvirksomhed) and estates are never served, so a search for one returns nothing even though the business exists.
Official sources and related guides
Official sources: Virk CVR search · Danish Business Authority. Contains data from Det Centrale Virksomhedsregister (CVR), CC BY 4.0. Contains CVR data (Erhvervsstyrelsen), CC BY 4.0