Swiss Commercial Register: How the Handelsregister and ZEFIX Work

Every Swiss AG (Aktiengesellschaft) and GmbH (Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung) must be entered in the cantonal Handelsregister before it can conduct business. Under OR Art. 931(1), registration is not merely a formality — for corporations, it is constitutive: the company does not legally exist until the entry is made. Understanding how the Handelsregister and its federal search portal ZEFIX operate is essential for any founder, director, or compliance officer working with Swiss companies.

What is the Handelsregister?

The Handelsregister is the Swiss commercial register, maintained at cantonal level by the Handelsregisteramt of each canton. Switzerland has 26 cantons, each operating its own register. Data is synchronised centrally and published on the federal ZEFIX portal. For a company domiciled in Zug, the competent authority is the Handelsregisteramt des Kantons Zug.

The register records the legal existence and key facts of every registered entity in Switzerland. Any change to these facts — a new director, a capital increase, a change of registered office — must be reported to the Handelsregisteramt. Failure to notify within the statutory period exposes the company and its directors to penalty provisions under OR Art. 937 and related cantonal enforcement rules.

ZEFIX: the federal search portal

ZEFIX (Zentraler Firmenindex) is the free public search portal operated by the Swiss Federal Office of Justice at zefix.ch. Any person can search for any registered Swiss company by name, UID number, or canton. ZEFIX shows a real-time feed from all cantonal Handelsregister databases.

A ZEFIX entry for an AG typically displays: the full company name, legal form, registered seat (Sitz), date of first entry, current members of the board of directors with their individual or collective signature authority, and the share capital. For a GmbH, the entry also shows the names of all quotaholders (Gesellschafter) and their quota amounts — which is a key distinction from the AG, where shareholder names are not publicly searchable.

The UID — Unternehmens-Identifikationsnummer

Upon registration, every Swiss company is automatically assigned a UID (Unternehmens-Identifikationsnummer) in the format CHE-XXX.XXX.XXX. This unique identifier is used across all Swiss federal and cantonal administrations: for VAT registration (MWST), AHV social insurance contributions, customs, and all official correspondence with federal authorities. The UID is also displayed on ZEFIX and is the primary key for cross-agency lookups. It is not possible to choose your UID — it is assigned by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) at the moment of Handelsregister entry.

The 5-step registration process

Zug is consistently one of the fastest cantons for Handelsregister processing. Once the complete dossier is filed, a typical AG or GmbH entry appears in ZEFIX within 3–7 business days. The company's legal existence commences on the date the Handelsregisteramt records the entry — not the date the founders signed the deed.

Public vs private: what the register shows

Modifications and ongoing obligations

What triggers a Handelsregister update

Any change to the registered facts must be reported promptly. Common modification events include: appointment or resignation of a director or managing officer, change of signatory authority (individual vs collective), capital increases or reductions, change of company name, change of registered office address, and amendment of the articles of association (Statuten). Each modification requires a formal application to the Handelsregisteramt, supported by the relevant board resolution or shareholder resolution and — for certain changes — a new notarial deed.

Penalty provisions for late or missed filings

The obligation to keep the Handelsregister current is not discretionary. Under OR Art. 937, the cantonal supervisory authority can compel a company to file and, in persistent cases, initiate dissolution proceedings. Directors who knowingly permit incorrect information to remain on the register may also face personal liability. In practice, Zug and other cantons send reminder notices before escalating to enforcement, but relying on this is not advisable.

SHAB: the official gazette

The SHAB (Schweizerisches Handelsamtsblatt — Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce) at shab.ch is the official publication medium for Handelsregister notices. Every new company registration, modification, and dissolution is published in the SHAB. Liquidation notices, creditor calls in insolvency proceedings, and SOGC (SHAB) announcements of company dissolution all appear here. The SHAB is also the legally authorised notice channel for third-party creditor claims in a liquidation.

Further reading

• >Swiss company formation — the full process
• >Swiss AG — entity guide and formation requirements
• >Swiss GmbH — requirements and process