Official company records for Ethiopia, on demand

Commercial registration in Ethiopia is governed by the Commercial Registration and Business Licensing Proclamation No. 980/2016, published in the Federal Negarit Gazette on 5 August 2016 and amended by Proclamation No. 1150/2019. The proclamation directs the Ministry to establish and administer a central commercial register and trade name register with nationwide application and to make it open and accessible to the public at large. The Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration presents the e-Trade Online Trade Registration and Licensing System as its all in one business related service, and regional organs administering commerce and the Ethiopian Investment Commission may register businesses under delegation, forwarding their records to the Ministry's central database.

A business person is registered once, at the place of the head office, even when conducting different activities in different regions. The registering office issues a certificate of registration, business organisations attain legal personality upon registration, and the taxpayer identification number assigned by the tax authority is entered in the commercial register as the special identification number of registration. Alterations or amendments must be registered within 60 days of notarial authentication, and a registration can be cancelled on grounds that include failure to obtain a business licence within one year.

The proclamation states that the commercial register shall be open to the public at large and that third parties are entitled to look into it. The Company Records report for Ethiopia includes the registry extract sourced from the official register.