Brazil has no single national commercial register in the European sense. What every company has is a CNPJ in the national register of legal entities kept by the tax authority, the Receita Federal. Here: how the 14 characters are built and checked, what the register says about status, which entities are covered and what an API can serve.
The Cadastro Nacional da Pessoa Jurídica (CNPJ) is the register of legal entities of the Receita Federal do Brasil. Every entity and every establishment has a CNPJ, written XX.XXX.XXX/XXXX-XX. The Receita publishes the register as open data, and that is the source of Prometiam's Brazilian records. Examples: 33.000.167/0001-01 for Petrobras, 33.592.510/0001-54 for Vale, 60.701.190/0001-04 for Itaú Unibanco and 00.000.000/0001-91 for Banco do Brasil.
33.000.167/0001-01. Store the 14 characters without punctuation, or the root if you only need the company.A CNPJ has 14 characters: an 8-character root that identifies the legal entity, a 4-character order that identifies the establishment (0001 is the head office, 0002 the first branch) and two check digits. Petrobras is root 33000167, order 0001, check digits 01. The check is strict, with weights over the first twelve characters and then over thirteen; a number that fails it, or a string of one repeated character, is refused. An 11-digit value is a CPF, a personal number, and is refused too.
Since July 2026 the root and the order may contain capital letters as well as digits; the two check digits stay digits and the same arithmetic covers both. A search also accepts the bare 8-digit root, which resolves to the head office. The identifier validator and the CNPJ lookup run the check in the browser before any call.
registry_details where there is one.active (ativa), suspended (suspensa), active_strike_off_pending (inapta, usually for missing filings), deregistered (baixada) or merged. The register's special situation adds judicial recovery, bankruptcy, liquidation and intervention. The reason and the date of the status are in registry_details.region.capital_amount in BRL where the register has it.0600001), scheme BR-CNAE-2.3, with the title in Portuguese and the secondary codes. It is not a NACE code and no NACE class is derived.Company records from the Cadastro Nacional da Pessoa Jurídica (CNPJ) of the Receita Federal do Brasil: legal name, trade name, legal form, status, registered address with the state, share capital where filed, founding date and the CNAE activity code. Commercial legal persons only: limited companies (Ltda.), corporations (S.A.), simple societies, single-member limited companies (EIRELI), state-owned companies and cooperatives. MEI and other sole proprietors (empresários individuais) and every other natural-person form, single-lawyer firms, non-profit entities, bodies of the public administration and branches are never served. One record per CNPJ root, with the head office's 14-character CNPJ; the 8-digit root finds it too. Status is active, suspended, inapta (served as active_strike_off_pending), deregistered or merged, and judicial recovery, bankruptcy and liquidation are read from the register's special situation. The activity code is CNAE 2.3 (seven digits), not a NACE code. No VAT number (a vat search is refused), no partners (QSA), no officers and no contacts, no registry-compliance signal and no insolvency notices. Updated monthly. Register-change events (name, status, legal form and address changes, dated by the monthly read that first sees them, none before the first load in October 2026) and company monitoring are available.
In short: from a CNPJ, its root or a name you get the company, its head office, whether it is active, suspended, struck or closed, its capital and its main activity. You do not get partners or contacts: the partners file and the phone and e-mail columns of the register are never read.
The same call as for every other country, with country=BR:
The free CNPJ lookup makes the same call without a key, and Brazil company data API describes the response.
What is a CNPJ?
The Cadastro Nacional da Pessoa Jurídica number the Receita Federal gives to every legal entity and establishment: 14 characters, written 33.000.167/0001-01, made of an 8-character root, a 4-character order and two check digits.
What is the difference between the root and the full CNPJ?
The root (first 8 characters) identifies the legal entity and is shared by its head office and branches; the order (next 4) identifies the establishment, 0001 being the head office. Prometiam serves one record per root, with the head office's CNPJ, and an 8-digit search resolves to it.
Can a CNPJ contain letters?
Since July 2026, yes: the root and the order may contain capital letters. The two check digits are always digits.
Does Brazil have a VAT number in these data?
Prometiam gives none for Brazil and a vat search is refused.
How does a record show that a company is not active?
Through the status: suspended, active_strike_off_pending for an inapta registration, deregistered for a baixada one, and merged. Judicial recovery, bankruptcy and liquidation come from the special situation of the register.
Which entities are included?
Limited companies, corporations, simple societies, single-member limited companies (EIRELI), state-owned companies and cooperatives. MEI and other sole proprietors, every natural-person form, single-lawyer firms, non-profit entities, bodies of the public administration and branches are never served.
Does it include partners or contacts?
No. The partners file (QSA) and the phone and e-mail columns of the register are never read, so there are no partners, officers or contacts.
How fresh is it?
The Receita publishes one full file a month, so a change reaches the record with the next monthly update.
Does it have register-change events and monitoring?
Yes. Register-change events (name, status, legal form and address changes, dated by the monthly read that first sees them, none before the first load in October 2026) and company monitoring are available.
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Official sources: Receita Federal, CNPJ open data.
Contains data from the Cadastro Nacional da Pessoa Jurídica (CNPJ), Receita Federal do Brasil, published as open data (CC BY). Adapted by Prometiam.
| Name | What it is |
|---|---|
| Receita Federal do Brasil | The tax authority that keeps the CNPJ. The source of the name, legal form, status, address, capital and activity codes. |
| CNPJ open data | The full register published as open data once a month, which is what the Brazilian records are built from. |
| CNPJ | The 14-character identifier: 33.000.167/0001-01. Store the 14 characters without punctuation, or the root if you only need the company. |
| Credit line | Brazilian records carry the CC BY credit shown at the foot of this page. |
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Name | The legal name (razão social) in capitals, without accents as the Receita publishes it, and the trade name (nome fantasia) in registry_details where there is one. |
| Legal form | The legal nature (natureza jurídica) of the entity: sociedade limitada, sociedade anônima, sociedade simples, empresa pública, sociedade de economia mista, cooperativa. |
| Status | active (ativa), suspended (suspensa), active_strike_off_pending (inapta, usually for missing filings), deregistered (baixada) or merged. The register's special situation adds judicial recovery, bankruptcy, liquidation and intervention. The reason and the date of the status are in registry_details. |
| Address | The head office's address, postal code and city; the state in region. |
| Capital | capital_amount in BRL where the register has it. |
| Activity | The main CNAE 2.3 subclass, seven digits (0600001), scheme BR-CNAE-2.3, with the title in Portuguese and the secondary codes. It is not a NACE code and no NACE class is derived. |