Handelsregister numbers: HRB/HRA references explained

What makes a complete reference

The European Unique Identifier (EUID)

Alongside the national register reference, every entry in a German register court now also carries a European Unique Identifier — the EUID — assigned automatically when the entry is created or migrated. The EUID is the joint identifier used across the EU Business Register Interconnection System (BRIS), which links the registers of all EU member states through a single portal hosted by the European Commission.

A German EUID has a structured form built from a country code, a court code, and the register number, separated by dots: for example, DEHRB12345 may surface in BRIS as DEK1101.HRB12345 or a similar pattern, where the middle segment encodes the responsible court. The exact court-code dictionary is maintained by the federal Ministry of Justice and reflects the German register administration structure. For most ordinary correspondence the EUID is rarely cited, but it is the standardised identifier used in cross-border data exchange, in the EU's BRIS portal, and in machine-readable register exports.

How the number sits in the wider legal notice

German law requires every business website and most outgoing business correspondence to carry an Impressum or its equivalent. Under §35a of the GmbH-Gesetz (and parallel provisions for the AG and other corporate forms), an outgoing letter, invoice, or quote must show the company's full registered name, legal form, registered seat, register court, and register number. The format that appears in such notices is therefore a useful real-world template for citing the number:

The four pieces — registered name, seat, register court, register section + number — together form the minimum legally complete reference. The legal-notice obligation is the reason these four pieces are easy to find for almost any German company: scroll to the website footer, and they are usually all there.

Why the number is not unique nationwide

• Register numbers are allocated per court.
• Different courts can have the same numeric value in the HRB/HRA series.
• For internal matching, always keep court + section + number together.

Recording tips for real workflows

• Store the court as text: “Amtsgericht Berlin (Charlottenburg)”, not only “Berlin”.
• Store section separately: HRB vs HRA changes what you expect in the record.
• Add the registered name as captured in the extract: it helps disambiguation when names are similar.

What a register number is

A Handelsregister number is the identifier of an entry within a register court’s register section. It is usually written with the section prefix (HRB or HRA) followed by a number. The number is not globally unique by itself; it must be interpreted with the responsible register court.

Common formats

A standard way to cite an entry is to name the court and then the section and number, for example: “Amtsgericht [City], HRB 12345”. In documents, you may also see the prefix and number adjacent to the company name. The company’s name alone is not a substitute for the register reference because names can change and similar names can exist.

Avoiding ambiguity

When you capture register information, always capture the court, the section, and the number. If you need to match two documents, compare the full set: name, legal form, seat, and reference. A mismatch in court or section is a strong sign you are looking at a different entry.

Related identifiers

A Handelsregister number is different from tax identifiers (Steuernummer, Steuer‑ID, USt‑IdNr) and from international identifiers like LEI. Those identifiers have separate issuing rules and are not a substitute for the register reference.

Examples (illustrative)

Related pages

• German tax numbers — How tax identifiers differ from register identifiers.
• VAT ID (USt-IdNr) guide — VAT ID context vs register data.