If you're considering starting a company, be aware of the many legal and economic factors involved.

As mentioned in the previous article What is VAT identification number, there is a specific code number assigned to companies and traders.

This Value-Added Tax (VAT)number is an important identifier for businesses in the European Union (EU) and has a specific structure and meaning. This VAT number is a key to access the Trade Register. It is a general and public register of local businesses, established by law to organize and identify all economic activity in your country. Let’s see why it’s important in Europe.

Why are trade registers important?

The Trade Register helps to ensure that commerce runs efficiently by providing a reliable source for verifying important business details.

It acts as an official record of businesses, ensuring transparency and legal recognition. If you are planning to open a new business you must list it with all its details in your country’s commercial register, in order to obtain the VAT identification number.

By ensuring tax compliance and providing a framework for legal recognition, these registers help businesses navigate the complexities of operating in a multi-jurisdictional environment. It provides protection, accountability and control of your business. It reduces the risk of fraud and enables informed decision-making when selecting trusted partners and collaborators in the B2B markets.

In summary, there are several benefits to being registered in this trade:

• It provides official recognition of business activities and facilitates trade;
• It's necessary for compliance with local laws and regulations for companies with international markets
• Promotes fair competition and accountability in the marketplace
• Useful in legal disputes. Establishes ownership and management structures, protects intellectual property or secures financial investments.

Now that you know the purpose of the commercial register, what are the commercial registers in the DACH Market? Let's see in the next paragraph.

The trade registers in the DACH market and Italy

In B2B marketing, the VAT numbers and trade registers help companies' growth in and out of Europe. Without this identification and registration all businesses in Europe can’t trade freely and transparently.

All the business registers can be seen as official databases containing details of registered companies. Every country has its own and more database. Here’s what they are called in the DACH market

• Handelsregister in Germany This is one of a list of public registers in Germany. It is maintained by local courts that contains detailed information about companies, including their legal structure, management and capital requirements.

• Firmenbuch in Austria The company register (formerly the Handelsregister – commercial register) is a public register kept in a database by the commercial register courts (regional courts, in Vienna the Handelsgericht Wien (Commercial Court Vienna), in Graz the Bezirksgericht für Zivilrechtssachen Graz).

• Handelsregister in Switzerland You can find information on all companies registered in the Canton of Zurich or in the whole of Switzerland and search the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce (SHAB).

• Chamber of commerce in Italy The Italian Chamber system is made up of Chambers of Commerce organized on a territorial basis, regional associations, branch offices, regional centres abroad.

Discover more about other EU countries here

Although the basic function of each register is the same - to ensure transparency and legal certainty in business transaction - the procedural details, registration fees and scope of publicly available information may be different.

These registers are important for establishing a company's legal existence, verifying its VAT number and ensuring transparency in business transactions. For B2B marketers, the business register is a valuable resource for gathering information on potential business partners, ensuring their legitimacy and maintaining accountability in business operations.

Relying on data that comes from the trade register

As we’ve seen, company identification via the business register is important for B2B market activities. One key limitation of business registers is their lack of advanced search capabilities based on economic or sector-specific criteria. Typically, users cannot filter companies by revenue, number of employees or industry classification, which makes it harder for analysts, researchers, or potential partners to identify businesses with specific characteristics. So if you're looking for marketing-relevant insights, business registers alone aren't enough, that's where the tools of the Margo platform comes in.

In Margo you will find all the companies that have an identification number and are registered in an official company database. All the information you find on Margo is official since it comes directly from the trade register of the country concerned: Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy.

It’s possible to use this official data such as number of employees, industry classification (NACE Code) and much more for your market analysis.

But that’s not all. With this marketing intelligence platform, you can even cleanse your master data and close deals using CRM’s tools.