The European Unique Identifier (EUID) enables the identification of companies and their branches in other Member States in the Business Registers Interconnection System (hereinafter referred to as: BRIS).
What is the BRIS?
Based on Directive 2012/17/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Directive 89/666/EEC and Directives 2005/56/EC and 2009/101/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the interconnection of central, commercial and companies registers (hereinafter: BRIS directive), the BRIS is a joint EU platform through which it is possible for
- individual Member-State registers to exchange data with one another, so that the Member-State registers concerned can learn in good time about significant cross-border changes, and
- anyone to obtain information from the Member-State registers.
The BRIS connects the central, commercial and companies’ registers of the European Union Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. However, the BRIS directive sets forth that the objective is not to create a central registration database.
Purpose of European Unique Identifier (EUID)
According to the BRIS directive the European Unique Identifier is designed to facilitate communication between the registers via the system of interconnection of registers. This is why the companies and branches cannot be obliged to indicate the EUID in their business correspondence and order forms. National registration numbers (company registration numbers for businesses in Hungary) must still be used for own communication purposes.
Structure of European Unique Identifier
The European Unique Identifier comprises a country code, the register identifier, the registration number, and possibly a verification digit. The European Unique Identifier of a Hungarian company consists of the following elements:
- abbreviated country code (HU),
- company register identifier (OCCSZ),
- company’s registration number.
A change in a Hungarian company’s registration number does not result in a change in the European Unique Identifier.
Hungarian companies affected by BRIS directive
In Hungary, the BRIS directive affects limited liability companies, companies limited by shares, European companies (Societas Europaea), as well as the branches and representation offices of companies registered in other European Union Member States.
For companies registered and for those with pending registration on the day the legislation transposing the BRIS directive in Hungary entered into force, the European Unique Identifier was determined electronically on the following day by the Court of Registration, i.e. on 9 June 2017, with an automatic decree, and entered into the company register. The Court of Registration informs the Hungarian tax authority (NAV) and the Central Statistical Office about the registration of European Unique Identifiers of Hungarian companies in a summarised form.
Searching in the BRIS
The BRIS can be accessed via the e-Justice website (https://e-justice.europa.eu) under the “Registers – Business registers at European level” menu point, in all the official languages of the European Union. Searches can be launched by company name and/or company registration number. After searching, we can access the following information free of charge: company name, registered office, country of registration, registration number, type (legal form), business register ID and the European Unique Identifier. The legal form of the company is stated in the original language, while the brief description of the legal form is available in all the official languages of the European Union. The BRIS directive does not rule out Member States providing information on other company data or documents – free of charge or for a fee. When searching for companies it is currently not possible to purchase individual documents for a fee (e.g. articles of association, annual reports).
