# Identifying who controls a company, without naming a natural person

This is the topic where the honest answer depends entirely on the country, and where many services keep things vague. In Europe, public beneficial-ownership registers were closed by the Court of Justice of the European Union in 2022, and on 3 September 2026 (C-798/24) the Court ruled that even shareholder data published online without any access condition breaches the GDPR. Since 19 September 2026 Sirenic therefore names no natural person holding or controlling a company: legal entities are named, natural persons are counted. What remains available varies from state to state, and must be stated state by state.

## Country by country, without rounding

| Country | What is available | What Sirenic serves |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **United Kingdom** | Open PSC register (Companies House), Open Government Licence v3.0 | Live: the **legal entities** that own or vote, natures of control (ownership and voting bands), notification dates, official statements. Natural persons are counted (`personnes_physiques_omises`), never named, since 19 September 2026. |
| **Latvia** | Open national register, CC0 open data — the unconditional access the Court ruled on, 3 September 2026 | Nothing since 19 September 2026: the route was closed and the stock purged. Officers, **corporate** members (natural persons counted), insolvency, events and accounts remain. |
| **France** | Register **closed to the public** since the 2022 ruling | No register. Instead: ownership as it appears in **publicly filed articles of association**, extracted from the latest available deed — corporate holders named, natural persons counted with their share —, with a confidence level and the document reference. |
| **Belgium** | Register **behind authorisation** | None. The Belgian register is closed to unauthorised access — including for our competitors, as can be checked in their own responses, where the field comes back empty. |

> ⚠️ For **France**, Sirenic exposes **no beneficial-ownership register**: it has not been publicly accessible since the 2022 ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union. What we serve is ownership as it appears in **publicly filed deeds** (articles of association), with a confidence level and the source document reference. That is not a beneficial-ownership register and does not replace one.

## The French route: filed deeds, with their limits

`/v1/entreprise/{siren}/capital` reads the **latest publicly filed deed** and extracts share capital, legal form, shareholders — corporate holders named with role and percentage, natural persons counted with their percentage (`associes_personnes_physiques`, `detenu_par_personnes_physiques_pct`) — and notable clauses, with a confidence level and the source document reference.

A proof guard frames that extraction: a clause is served only if its keyword actually appears in the document's text. That guard is not theoretical — it was added after a non-existent pre-emption clause was produced for a real company.

> ⚠️ Filed articles can be **old** and reflect only what was published: an unpublished share transfer does not appear. The document is immutable, so it is extracted once and cached. Read it as a dated exhibit, never as the current shareholding.

## How we handle individuals

- No natural person owning or controlling a company has been named since 19 September 2026: they are **counted**, and the response says so.
- For officers, made public by company law: never a full date of birth, **year only**, or month and year where the source publishes them.
- Never a home address, never a national identity number.
- When in doubt between an individual and a legal entity: **we omit**. Resolving that doubt at random publishes personal data by mistake.

## How you pay

Every route is paid **per call**, in USDC or EURC on the Base network, over the x402 protocol: no account to create, no API key, no subscription. The first call returns a `402` quote your client settles, then replays the call. A failed call is never billed.

Would you rather have a euro invoice and prepaid credits? That is **in preparation**, and we will not announce a date until it is open. Write to [contact@sirenic.eu](mailto:contact@sirenic.eu?subject=Euro%20credit%20packs) and we will let you know when it opens.

Paid responses are **Ed25519-signed**: you can later prove what was served to you, and when. The whole catalogue is free to read in the [OpenAPI document](https://api.sirenic.eu/openapi.json) and in [llms.txt](https://api.sirenic.eu/llms.txt).

**One call, end to end**

```
# Client x402 (npm) — le devis 402 est réglé et l'appel rejoué automatiquement
npx x402-fetch https://api.sirenic.eu/v1/entreprise/552032534

# Ou en MCP, dans Claude Code / Cursor
claude mcp add --transport http sirenic https://api.sirenic.eu/mcp
```

## Routes used and pricing

| Route | Price | Sample | What it returns |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `/v1/eu/entreprise/GB/{company_number}/beneficiaires-effectifs` | $0.02 | [free sample](https://api.sirenic.eu/exemples/eu-entreprise-GB-company_number-beneficiaires-effectifs.json) | UK persons with significant control (PSC register) live from Companies House, for KYB and group-structure checks: LEGAL-ENTITY controllers only (corporate entities, legal persons) with natures of control (ownership/voting bands), notification dates and register identification, plus official PSC statements. Natural-person controllers are COUNTED, never named (GDPR, CJEU C-798/24, since 2026-09-19). Ceased PSCs excluded by default (inclure_cesses=true adds them). |
| `/v1/eu/entreprise/LV/{regnr}/associes` | $0.02 | [free sample](https://api.sirenic.eu/exemples/eu-entreprise-LV-regnr-associes.json) | Latvian company members and shareholders from the official Uzņēmumu reģistrs open data (CC0, daily): SIA members (parts) and AS registered shareholders with number of shares, nominal value and currency as published (LVL before 2014), votes, share of nominal capital and holding start date. Corporate holders are named with their registration number; natural persons are COUNTED, never named (GDPR); dematerialised shares show the depository only. Group links for KYB. 11-digit number. |
| `/v1/entreprise/{siren}/capital` | $0.35 | [free sample](https://api.sirenic.eu/exemples/entreprise-siren-capital.json) | Ownership and share capital of a French company from the official INPI registry: AI extraction of the latest PUBLIC articles of association — share capital amount, legal form, shareholders (CORPORATE holders named with role and %; natural persons COUNTED with their %, never named — GDPR, since 2026-09-19), notable clauses, confidence level and source document. From public filed deeds — NOT a beneficial-ownership register (RBE) nor a beneficial-owner identification. Extracted once, cached. |

> ⚠️ The ownership data served for France is not a beneficial-ownership register and does not replace one: the French register has not been publicly accessible since the 2022 ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union. What is served comes from publicly filed deeds.

## Frequently asked questions

### Why not expose a French register like others do?

Because it is no longer public. Serving it would require an authorisation we do not hold, or a source of doubtful legality. We prefer a stated absence to a field filled without a basis.

### Are ceased UK controllers included?

Not by default. Add inclure_cesses=true to get ceased legal entities, with their cessation date — useful to reconstruct a past ownership chain. Ceased natural persons are counted, like active ones.

## Take it further

- [See a real response (free)](https://api.sirenic.eu/exemples/eu-entreprise-GB-company_number-beneficiaires-effectifs.json)
- [Get the quote for /v1/eu/entreprise/GB/{company_number}/beneficiaires-effectifs](https://api.sirenic.eu/v1/eu/entreprise/GB/{company_number}/beneficiaires-effectifs)
- [Read the route reference](https://api.sirenic.eu/en/api)
- [Get notified about euro packs](mailto:contact@sirenic.eu?subject=Euro%20credit%20packs)

## Read next

- [Automating business verification (KYB)](https://api.sirenic.eu/en/use-cases/kyb-automated-business-verification-with-per-block)
- [Querying European company registers](https://api.sirenic.eu/en/use-cases/european-company-data-thirteen-official-registers-one-schema)


Volume figures on this page were measured in our database on 2026-08-19. They are dated snapshots, not live counters.

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