Type a Swiss UID, or a company name, and get the company from Zefix, the Swiss central business name index: legal name, legal form, status, registered address and canton, live. The UID and its check digit are verified in your browser first, and a wrong check digit is shown before any call is made.
Every legal entity in the Swiss commercial register has a UID (Unternehmens-Identifikationsnummer): CHE and nine digits, usually written with dots and a hyphen, for example CHE-103.867.266 for Novartis AG. The ninth digit is a mod-11 check digit with the weights 5, 4, 3, 2, 7, 6, 5, 4, and the check is enforced by the API: a UID with a wrong check digit is rejected.
The Swiss VAT number is the UID followed by MWST, TVA or IVA, so this lookup also takes CHE-103.867.266 MWST and reads it as the UID.
The lookup sends the number to the Prometiam API and returns the name, legal form, status and city of the record. Company records from Zefix, the Swiss central business name index: legal name, legal form, status (including liquidation), registered address with the canton and business purpose; with register-change events and monitoring, but no officers, no registry-compliance signal and no activity code. Legal entities and branches only; sole proprietorships (Einzelunternehmen) and other natural persons are never served. Corporate insolvency notices (SHAB) are linked to the company by UID where the notice names the debtor's UID. The UID with its MWST, TVA or IVA suffix is searchable with vat.
The full record is one call away. Free — 14-day trial. 500 credits, 10 requests/minute, card required, nothing charged for 14 days. Subscribing keeps the same key working.
Source: Zefix, Federal Office of Justice, Federal Commercial Registry Office (open use, source required); restructured by Prometiam, not a certified register extract
Is the UID the same as the VAT number?
The Swiss VAT number is built on the UID: the UID followed by MWST, TVA or IVA. This lookup reads either form as the UID.
Why is my UID rejected?
The check digit is enforced. A UID is CHE and nine digits, and the ninth digit must match the mod-11 check, so a typo is caught before any call is made.
Why does a valid UID return nothing?
Only legal entities and branches are served. A sole proprietorship (Einzelunternehmen) or any other natural person returns nothing even though it exists. Try the name search.
Can I do this in code?
Yes: GET /companies/search?company_number=CHE-103.867.266&country=CH with an API key returns the same record as JSON.
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