Commercial Register

A buyer receives an invoice from a new supplier and, before paying, searches the relevant official register for the exact legal name and registration or licence number. A matching result is useful, but the bank details and actual contracting authority still need separate checks.

The UAE government lists several licence-verification channels, including emirate-level departments and a national register, and the UK Companies House service publishes company type, registered office and live or dissolved status. These examples show why the correct registry depends on jurisdiction and legal form, so find the right authority first.

A company registered in a free zone, an emirate, a country or a specialist sector may have a different issuing body, and no single portal is universal. Use the legal name rather than a trading name or brand, and match the number and legal form where available.

Check current status, because registered, active, dissolved, expired or suspended labels have different meanings, and the authority's own definitions and dates should be read. An active licence may not cover the proposed regulated service, and an entity can still appear in a historic register while a particular licence has lapsed.

Do not infer an unrestricted right to trade from existence alone, and read the record's current validity field. Read available filings, since some registers provide accounts, officers or changes in control while others provide only basic licence information, and the absence of a field need not mean the fact does not exist.

The registered company name on a government record should match the legal party signing the contract, and if a subsidiary invoices on behalf of a parent the arrangement should be documented. A listed director or manager may not alone have authority for every transaction, so ask for appropriate company authorisation when material, and remember that a branch, representative office and local subsidiary are legally distinct.

Check dates and preserve evidence, because a screenshot from last year can miss a dissolution or a manager change, so search the live official service close to the decision and record the date, portal, query and official result. Fraudsters can exploit a real company with a near-identical name, so compare registration number, address and an independent contact route, and do not trust only a PDF certificate sent by a counterparty, which can be altered or outdated.

A genuine company can still have a fraudulent invoice or compromised email, so verify a changed bank account by a trusted channel. A register may accept filed information but not guarantee every underlying claim, since incorporation is not an endorsement of performance, and companies may need to report changes in address, officers or activities under requirements and deadlines that vary by authority.

Escalate mismatches, because a different number, unexplained name or missing licence is a reason to pause verification, not immediate proof of fraud. Set a risk-based process in which small routine suppliers get a basic check and a large advance payment warrants more ownership, sanctions and financial diligence, and document which entity and jurisdiction were checked and what fields the service returned, avoiding the phrase 'verified company' when only a similar trading name was found.