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KVK Chamber of Commerce officially registers companies and gives them advice and support. The main task of the Chamber of Commerce is to keep the Commercial Register. Almost all countries have a register, and most of those registers are also available online. Find more information on and an overview of registers in Europe on.
HGB | |
---|---|
Handelsgesetzbuch | |
Citation | Law text (German) Book 5 Maritime Trade(English) |
Territorial extent | Federal Republic of Germany |
Passed | 10 May 1897 |
Commenced | 1 January 1900 |
Summary | |
Commercial Law |
The Handelsgesetzbuch (HGB, in English Commercial Code) contains the core of the commercial law in Germany. It regulates the legal relations of merchants and therefore it is also designated as 'the special private law for merchants'.
The Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (BGB) (English Civil Code) is only subsidiary applied to merchants beside the HGB. Beside that the HGB contains the regulations for the Offene Handelsgesellschaft (OHG) (English General partnership), the Kommanditgesellschaft (KG) (English Limited partnership) and the Stille Gesellschaft (stG) (English Dormant partnership).
HGB provides regulation to accounting for limited companies.
HGB also has a few penal provisions.
History[edit]
Precursor of the Handelsgesetzbuch (HGB) was the Allgemeines Deutsches Handelsgesetzbuch (ADHGB) of 1861. ADHGB was replaced in the German Empire by the HGB, that was legislated on 10 May 1897. The HGB came into force together with the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (BGB) on 1 January 1900.
Content[edit]
HGB also contains in the fifth Book the Maritime Trade Law (Seehandelsrecht).The HGB is arranged as follows
(table of contents):
- Book: Merchant class (German Handelsstand) (§§ 1–104a)
- Merchants (German Kaufleute)
- Commercial register (German Handelsregister)
- Firm (German Handelsfirma)
- annulled
- Procuration and commercial power of attorney (German Prokura und Handlungsvollmacht)
- Merchant assistants and apprentices (German Handlungsgehilfen und Handlungslehrlinge)
- Commercial agent (German Handelsvertreter)
- Commercial brokers (German Handelsmakler)
- Fines (German Bußgeldvorschiften)
- Book: Commercial partnership and dormant partnership (§§ 105–237)
- General partnership (German Offene Handelsgesellschaft)
- Limited partnership (German Kommandtitgesellschaft)
- Dormant partnership (German Stille Gesellschaft)
- Book: Trading books (German Handelsbücher)(§§ 238–342e)
- Provisions for all merchants (German Vorschriften für alle Kaufleute)
- Supplementary provisions for limited companies (stock company, Limited partnership by shares and limited liability company) and certain commercial partnerships (German Ergänzende Vorschriften für Kapitalgesellschaften (Aktiengesellschaften, Kommanditgesellschaften auf Aktien und Gesellschaften mit beschränkter Haftung) sowie bestimmte Personenhandelsgesellschaften)
- Supplementary provisions for registered cooperatives (German Ergänzende Vorschriften für eingetragene Genossenschaften)
- Supplementary provisions for companies of certain business branches (German Ergänzende Vorschriften für Unternehmen bestimmter Geschäftszweige)
- Private rendering of accounts committee, Rendering of accounts advisory board (German Privates Rechnungslegungsgremium. Rechnungslegungsbeirat)
- Verifying authority for rendering of accounts (German Prüfstelle für Rechnungslegung)
- Book: Commercial transaction (German Handelsgeschäfte) (§§ 343–475h)
- General Provisions (German Allgemeine Vorschriften)
- Commercial purchase (German Handelskauf)
- Commission business (German Kommissionsgeschäft)
- Freight business (German Frachtgeschäft)
- Forwarding agent business (German Speditionsgeschäft)
- Storage business (German Lagergeschäft)
- Book: Maritime trade (German Seehandel) (§§ 476 ff.)
- Persons involved in shipping (German Personen der Schifffahrt)
- Transport contracts (German Beförderungsverträge)
- Charter contracts for ships (German Schiffsüberlassungsverträge)
- Ship’s emergencies (German Schiffsnotlagen)
- Maritime lienor (German Schiffsgläubiger)
- Statutory limitation period (German Verjährung)
- General limitation of liability (German Allgemeine Haftungsbeschränkung)
- Procedural Rules (German Verfahrensvorschriften)
External links[edit]
- (German)Handelsgesetzbuch (HGB) law text
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Handelsgesetzbuch&oldid=886529914'
The German Commercial Register (German: Handelsregister) is a public company register that contains details of all tradespeople and legal entities in the district of the registrar, which is generally the Amtsgericht (local district court) of the place where the Landgericht (superior court) is also situated.
The German Commercial Register contains two branches. Branch A deals with partnerships, sole traders and registered associations (Vereine) without share capital. Branch B contains all incorporated companies with share capital. Applications (for new entries, changes and liquidations) must be made in notarized form in the presence of a public notary.
Operations[edit]
Amongst other things the Commercial Register contains information on:
- legal name of a company
- people representing the company (Managing Director, Board of Directors, holders of Proxy)
- subscribed capital if any.
The functions of the Commercial Register with respect to the information submitted are publication, examination, control and safekeeping. The content may be taken as accurate by any party referring to the register.
The entries to the Commercial Register are made by a judge or an authorised employee (Rechtspfleger, lit. 'law caretaker'). As of 2007 all submissions to the Register have to be made electronically. Companies in the Register are given a unique Handelsregisternummer by their local district court (Amtsgericht)[1].
Anybody may request an extract from the Commercial Register about a specific company, the so-called Ausdruck (printout), which was formerly known as Handelsregisterauszug or HR-Auszug. A simple extract is usually priced at €10.00, a notarized one about €20.00 (as of May 2016). Information about registered companies can also be downloaded online (Handelsregister online, the common register portal of the German federal states), but may require prior registration. It is possible to retrieve PDF printouts (then called Abdruck) with different level of information, e.g. AD - Aktueller Abdruck contains only the most current information whereas CD - Chronologischer Abdruck comprises current and historical data. A fee of €4.50 for each printout will be charged (as of May 2016). Simple publications (VÖ - Veröffentlichungen) are free of charge.[2][3]
Until 2005 legal entities were mostly obliged to publish their Annual Reports by sending it to the Commercial Register. Starting with fiscal year 2006 this obligation has been transferred to the Bundesanzeiger, the (electronic) Federal gazette of the German government. Electronic submission is also mandatory here. Entries to the Commercial Register are also sent to the Bundesanzeiger and published by them. Newspapers sometimes also publish new entries, although since 2009, entries to newspapers are no longer mandatory. [4]
See also[edit]
- Companies House, the comparable office for England and Wales
- Secretary of State (U.S. state), the comparable office in the United States of America[5]
External links[edit]
- ^'What is a Handelsregisternummer?'. Retrieved 2018-03-17.
- ^Handelsregister.de Official Information Portal of the German Commercial Register (Multi-Language)
- ^'Commercial Register from Germany (english)'. commercial-register.com.
- ^eBundesanzeiger.de Official Information Portal of the German Bundesanzeiger (German language)
- ^There are extremely few examples of federally registered business entities. In the United States, most business entity registration takes place at the state level through a chartering process. In many states, this is handled by an officer called the Secretary of State, not to be confused with the United States Secretary of State, the U.S. equivalent of 'Foreign Minister.' However, in some states, the registration of business entities is handled by a commission, or other government office. An example of this is the Virginia State Corporation Commission.
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=German_Trade_Register&oldid=830875652'