Hong Kong

This guide is outdated and will be removed on 1 November 2026. The up-to-date Hong Kong reference is on the Hong Kong country page.

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This guide contains public integration notes for Hong Kong. Use it for identifier formats, search behavior, and country-specific caveats. The live source of truth for coverage, pricing, data sources, documents, legal forms, roles, and status values is the pricing page.

Hong Kong coverage, pricing, and sources

Open the current catalog for supported datapoints, documents, sources, identifiers, and availability.

Country details below are preserved as integration notes. If a table or example conflicts with the live pricing page, use the pricing page as the source of truth and contact support.

Data Sources

Hong Kong uses a single official registry for company data. For a given entity, all data comes from one source: the Companies Registry’s online portal.

All company types

ICRIS (Integrated Companies Registry Information System): Operated by the Hong Kong Companies Registry (a department of the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau), ICRIS is the sole data source for all Hong Kong entities. The Companies Registry was established under the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 622), which came into effect on 3 March 2014, replacing the former Companies Ordinance (Cap. 32). ICRIS provides two access channels: (1) a structured Open Data API (data.cr.gov.hk) for company search by name or BRN, returning basic company particulars (name, type, address, incorporation date); (2) Company Particulars pages accessible via the e-Services Portal (e-services.cr.gov.hk), which provide comprehensive company information including directors, company secretary, share capital, and shareholder details.

Company profile data (legal representatives, shareholders, share capital, detailed company information) is AI-extracted from the ICRIS Company Particulars page, retrieved from the ICRIS e-Services Portal. Search results come from the structured ICRIS Open Data API.

Company Identifiers

Query Identifiers

Company Type	Source	Format	Example	Notes
All companies	ICRIS	8 digits, leading zeros significant (BRN); or a dummy BRN of a letter prefix and 7 digits	`77054426`, `C1300723`	Business Registration Number. Companies without one carry a dummy BRN (`C` for a local company)

BRN vs CR Number: Always use the Business Registration Number (BRN) when querying the API, exactly as search returns it (8 digits, or a dummy BRN such as C1300723). The former Company Registration (CR) number printed on certificates of incorporation issued before 27 December 2023 (e.g. 3484775) is a separate identifier and will not work with our endpoints.

Identifiers in API Response

Identifier Type	Format	Example	Found In
`brn`	8 digits, or a letter prefix and 7 digits	`77054426`, `C1300723`	All companies

Legal Entity Identifier (LEI)

GLEIF is the supplementary data source for this identifier. company.identifiers.lei is optional. It is returned when the Business Registration Number (BRN) matches a registration or validation reference in GLEIF and identifies a single LEI. The LEI has 20 uppercase letters and digits, ending in two digits. Coverage varies by entity; a missing LEI does not establish that the company has none. Lapsed or retired LEIs can still be returned. Annulled LEIs are excluded, so the presence of this identifier does not establish current LEI registration status. Historical Company Registration (CR) numbers are excluded from LEI enrichment because they belong to a separate number space.

Search Capabilities

Search Type	Pattern	Example	Match Type	Expected Results
By BRN	8 digits	`77054426`	Exact	Exact match returned first (matchType: id); other results may follow
By Name	Text string	`"Technology Advantage"`	Prefix	Multiple results (begins-with match)

Search Performance: Use BRN-based searches for exact matching and best performance. Name searches use a begins_with match on the ICRIS Open Data API. Partial names must match from the beginning of the company name.

Active companies only

Search only returns active companies, so activeOnly=true changes nothing here. Search covers live local companies only; dissolved or deregistered companies are not returned.

Quirks & Gotchas

Quirk	Details
BRN vs CR Number	Always use the Business Registration Number (BRN, or the dummy BRN of a company without one), not the former Company Registration (CR) number. They are different identifiers.
Bilingual names	Hong Kong companies can have an English name, a Chinese name, or both. The ICRIS API returns both when available. The `legalName` field returns the English name if available, falling back to Chinese.
Prefix-match name search	Name searches use a `begins_with` match on the ICRIS Open Data API, not fuzzy search. Partial names must match from the beginning.
Company Secretary is mandatory	Every HK company must have a Company Secretary, which can be an individual or a corporate entity. An ordinary secretary appointment appears under other key persons; separately established signing capacity may appear under legal representatives.
No UBO data	Ultimate Beneficial Owner information is not publicly disclosed in Hong Kong. Companies must maintain a Significant Controllers Register (SCR) internally, but this is not accessible via the Companies Registry.
All profile data is AI-extracted	Company profile data (beyond basic search fields) is AI-extracted from the ICRIS Company Particulars HTML page. Data quality depends on parsing accuracy.
Share capital in HKD	Share capital is typically denominated in Hong Kong Dollars (HKD). Some companies may have share capital in other currencies.
All activity codes are AI-inferred	Hong Kong does not provide structured activity codes in ICRIS. NACE and ISIC codes are always AI-inferred from business descriptions when available.
Retrieval time about a minute	The Company Particulars page is retrieved from the ICRIS e-Services Portal. Requests typically complete in about a minute and can take longer when several purchases are queued. See the pricing page for current response times.
Address may be in Chinese only	Registered office addresses on the Company Particulars page are sometimes in Chinese only, without English transliteration.
Company profile charges a register extract	A company profile request includes retrieval of the Company Particulars document from the official registry. This means `companyProfile` incurs the cost of the register extract catalog item.

Mappings

Company Status

Company status is AI-extracted from the ICRIS Company Particulars page. The AI parser identifies status indicators in the HTML content.

Local Status	English	Standardized Status	Notes
Live	Live	Active	Company is currently active
Dissolved	Dissolved	Closed	Company has been dissolved
Winding Up	Winding Up	Under Insolvency Proceeding	Company is in liquidation
Struck Off	Struck Off	Closed	Company removed from register by the Registrar

Status mapping is AI-inferred from the Company Particulars page content. The local status value is preserved verbatim as it appears on the ICRIS page.

Legal Forms

Hong Kong company types are AI-extracted from the Company Particulars page, where the register’s own company type label is preserved verbatim. The mapping to standardized forms and ISO 20275 (ELF) codes is AI-enriched.

Legal form standardization and ISO 20275 assignment are AI-enriched. The local company type from ICRIS is always preserved verbatim.

Under the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 622), Section 66, the following types of companies may be formed in Hong Kong:

Private Companies

Local Name	Standardized	ISO 20275	Notes
Private company limited by shares	Limited Liability Company	254M	Most common company type in Hong Kong
Private unlimited company with share capital	AI-enriched	-	Members have unlimited liability. Not yet observed in register data
Private unlimited company without share capital	AI-enriched	-	Very rare. Not yet observed in register data

Public Companies

Local Name	Standardized	ISO 20275	Notes
Public company limited by shares	Corporation	-	Listed or unlisted public companies
Company limited by guarantee	Corporation	-	Common for charities, clubs, and professional bodies; cannot have share capital under Cap. 622

Foreign Entities

Local Name	Standardized	ISO 20275	Notes
Registered non-Hong Kong company	Branch or Representative Office	-	Foreign companies registered under Part 16 of the Companies Ordinance. Not yet observed in register data

Legal Representatives

Legal representatives are AI-extracted from the ICRIS Company Particulars page. Names can be in English, Chinese, or both. Both individuals and corporate entities can hold the Director role.

Local Role	English Translation	Classification
Director	Director	Legal Representative
Company Secretary with separately recorded signing capacity	Company Secretary	Legal Representative within the recorded scope
Liquidator / Provisional Liquidator	Liquidator	Legal Representative within the insolvency appointment
Receiver / Manager (insolvency section)	Receiver	Legal Representative within the recorded appointment

Other Key Persons

Offered from the same ICRIS Company Particulars report. Ordinary company secretaries use Secretary, reserve nominees use Other, and registered non-Hong Kong company representatives appointed to receive process/notices use Registered Agent. Preserve corporate identity where the office holder is a company.

In Hong Kong, a Company Secretary is a mandatory statutory position for all companies incorporated under the Companies Ordinance. The Company Secretary can be either an individual or a corporate entity. An ordinary report appointment appears under otherKeyPersons as “Secretary”. Section 127(3) of the Companies Ordinance permits a director and company secretary to execute documents jointly for a multi-director company. The current parser does not certify a complete board count or articles; it preserves separately recorded signing capacity and does not infer sole or unrestricted authority from the secretary title.

Shareholders

Shareholders are AI-extracted from the ICRIS Company Particulars page when shareholding information is disclosed.

Extraction Logic

Source	When Used	Data Extracted
Company Particulars (ICRIS)	Always (when available)	Shareholder names, share classes, number of shares held

Ownership Fields

Field	Description	Source
`name`	Shareholder name (individual or corporate)	AI-extracted from Company Particulars
`type`	Individual or Company	AI-inferred from name format
`sharePercentage`	Ownership percentage	Calculated from shares held vs total issued shares (when available)

Shareholder availability depends on the company type and what is disclosed on the Company Particulars page. The public extract only lists founding members, so current ownership may not reflect share transfers made after incorporation. A company limited by guarantee has no share capital: shareholders returns an explicit not-applicable response for it, at no charge.

Activity Code Mapping

Hong Kong does not use a standardized national industry classification code in the ICRIS Company Particulars page. Activity information, when available, is extracted from the company’s stated objects or business description and mapped via AI:

Business Description (free text) → AI → NACE Rev. 2 + ISIC Rev. 4

Classification	Source	AI Inferred?
Business Description	Company Particulars (when stated)	No (official text)
NACE	AI-derived from business description	Yes
ISIC	AI-derived from business description	Yes

Hong Kong uses the HSIC (Hong Kong Standard Industrial Classification) for statistical purposes, but this code is not present in Company Particulars data. Both NACE and ISIC codes are therefore always AI-inferred when activity data is available.

Data Availability

Data Availability Matrix

Data Type	Availability	Notes
Company Profile	✅ Async	Legal name (EN/CN), status, legal form, incorporation date, address, share capital
Legal Representatives	✅ Async	Directors from ICRIS Company Particulars (AI-extracted)
Other Key Persons	✅ Async	Secretaries, reserve nominees and process-service representatives from the same report
Shareholders	⚠️ Async	When disclosed in Company Particulars (AI-extracted)
Ultimate Beneficial Owners	❌	Not publicly disclosed in Hong Kong (SCR is internal only)
Activity Codes	⚠️ Async	AI-inferred from business description when available
Establishments	❌	Not available from ICRIS
Documents	✅ Async	Company Particulars PDF

Legend: ✅ Available | ❌ Not Available | ⚠️ Conditionally Available | Async = Asynchronous processing (typically about a minute)

Documents by Company Type

Document Type	API Category	Format	Availability	Notes
Company Particulars	`tradeRegisterExtract`	PDF	✅ All companies	Company Particulars PDF retrieved from the ICRIS e-Services Portal

The Company Particulars PDF is retrieved from the ICRIS e-Services Portal. This is the same document used for AI-parsing the company profile data.

Example API Responses

All examples use placeholder data. Query: POST /v2/company with { "id": "<BRN>", "countryCode": "HK", "dataPoints": ["company", "legalRepresentatives", "otherKeyPersons"] }

Active Private Company Limited by Shares

{
  "company": {
    "id": "77054426",
    "countryCode": "HK",
    "identifiers": {
      "brn": "77054426"
    },
    "legalName": "EXAMPLE TECHNOLOGY LIMITED",
    "legalNameInEnglish": "EXAMPLE TECHNOLOGY LIMITED",
    "incorporationDate": "2019-06-15",
    "status": {
      "localName": "Live",
      "active": true,
      "statusDetails": {
        "status": "ACTIVE"
      }
    },
    "legalForm": {
      "localName": "Private company limited by shares",
      "standardized": "Limited Liability Company",
      "iso20275Code": "254M",
      "englishTranslation": "Private company limited by shares"
    },
    "capital": {
      "amount": 10000,
      "currency": "HKD",
      "formatted": "HK$10,000"
    },
    "legalAddress": {
      "addressLine1": "Unit 1001, 10/F, Example Tower, 123 Des Voeux Road Central",
      "countryCode": "HK"
    }
  },
  "legalRepresentatives": [
    {
      "type": "individual",
      "entityId": "person_001",
      "role": {
        "localName": "Director",
        "standardized": "Director",
        "englishTranslation": "Director"
      },
      "individual": {
        "name": {
          "fullName": "CHAN Tai Man"
        },
        "birthDate": {},
        "residenceAddress": {}
      }
    }
  ],
  "otherKeyPersons": [
    {
      "type": "company",
      "entityId": "company_001",
      "role": {
        "localName": "Company Secretary",
        "standardized": "Secretary",
        "englishTranslation": "Company Secretary"
      },
      "company": {
        "id": "71580904",
        "legalName": "EXAMPLE SECRETARIAL SERVICES LIMITED",
        "countryCode": "HK"
      },
      "startDate": "2019-06-15"
    }
  ]
}

Active Company with Shareholders

{
  "company": {
    "id": "88123456",
    "countryCode": "HK",
    "identifiers": {
      "brn": "88123456"
    },
    "legalName": "GOLDEN DRAGON TRADING LIMITED",
    "legalNameInEnglish": "GOLDEN DRAGON TRADING LIMITED",
    "incorporationDate": "2020-03-20",
    "status": {
      "localName": "Live",
      "active": true,
      "statusDetails": {
        "status": "ACTIVE"
      }
    },
    "legalForm": {
      "localName": "Private company limited by shares",
      "standardized": "Limited Liability Company",
      "iso20275Code": "254M",
      "englishTranslation": "Private company limited by shares"
    },
    "capital": {
      "amount": 100000,
      "currency": "HKD",
      "formatted": "HK$10,000"
    },
    "legalAddress": {
      "addressLine1": "Room 501, 5/F, Example Building, 456 Nathan Road, Kowloon",
      "countryCode": "HK"
    }
  },
  "legalRepresentatives": [
    {
      "type": "individual",
      "entityId": "person_001",
      "role": {
        "localName": "Director",
        "standardized": "Director",
        "englishTranslation": "Director"
      },
      "individual": {
        "name": {
          "fullName": "WONG Siu Ming"
        },
        "birthDate": {},
        "residenceAddress": {}
      }
    },
    {
      "type": "individual",
      "entityId": "person_002",
      "role": {
        "localName": "Director",
        "standardized": "Director",
        "englishTranslation": "Director"
      },
      "individual": {
        "name": {
          "fullName": "LI Mei Ling"
        },
        "birthDate": {},
        "residenceAddress": {}
      }
    }
  ],
  "shareholders": [
    {
      "entityId": "person_001",
      "type": "individual",
      "sharePercentage": 60,
      "individual": {
        "name": {
          "fullName": "WONG Siu Ming"
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "entityId": "person_002",
      "type": "individual",
      "sharePercentage": 40,
      "individual": {
        "name": {
          "fullName": "LI Mei Ling"
        }
      }
    }
  ],
  "otherKeyPersons": [
    {
      "type": "individual",
      "entityId": "person_003",
      "role": {
        "localName": "Company Secretary",
        "standardized": "Secretary",
        "englishTranslation": "Company Secretary"
      },
      "individual": {
        "name": {
          "fullName": "CHEUNG Ka Wai"
        },
        "birthDate": {},
        "residenceAddress": {}
      }
    }
  ]
}

Dissolved Company

{
  "company": {
    "id": "71580904",
    "countryCode": "HK",
    "identifiers": {
      "brn": "71580904"
    },
    "legalName": "OLD TRADING COMPANY LIMITED",
    "legalNameInEnglish": "OLD TRADING COMPANY LIMITED",
    "incorporationDate": "2015-01-10",
    "status": {
      "localName": "Dissolved",
      "active": false,
      "statusDetails": {
        "status": "CLOSED"
      }
    },
    "legalForm": {
      "localName": "Private company limited by shares",
      "standardized": "Limited Liability Company",
      "iso20275Code": "254M",
      "englishTranslation": "Private company limited by shares"
    },
    "legalAddress": {
      "addressLine1": "Room 303, 3/F, Example Centre, 789 Queen's Road East",
      "countryCode": "HK"
    }
  },
  "legalRepresentatives": [
    {
      "type": "individual",
      "entityId": "person_001",
      "role": {
        "localName": "Director",
        "standardized": "Director",
        "englishTranslation": "Director"
      },
      "individual": {
        "name": {
          "fullName": "LEE Wing Kee"
        },
        "birthDate": {},
        "residenceAddress": {}
      }
    }
  ],
  "shareholders": []
}

Note: Dissolved companies have active: false. Shareholder and capital information may not be available for dissolved companies.

Company with Chinese-Only Name and Address

{
  "company": {
    "id": "66789012",
    "countryCode": "HK",
    "identifiers": {
      "brn": "66789012"
    },
    "legalName": "Example Chinese Name Company",
    "incorporationDate": "2018-07-22",
    "status": {
      "localName": "Live",
      "active": true,
      "statusDetails": {
        "status": "ACTIVE"
      }
    },
    "legalForm": {
      "localName": "Private company limited by shares",
      "standardized": "Limited Liability Company",
      "iso20275Code": "254M",
      "englishTranslation": "Private company limited by shares"
    },
    "capital": {
      "amount": 10000,
      "currency": "HKD",
      "formatted": "HK$10,000"
    },
    "legalAddress": {
      "addressLine1": "Example address in Chinese characters",
      "countryCode": "HK"
    }
  },
  "legalRepresentatives": [
    {
      "type": "individual",
      "entityId": "person_001",
      "role": {
        "localName": "Director",
        "standardized": "Director",
        "englishTranslation": "Director"
      },
      "individual": {
        "name": {
          "fullName": "Example Chinese Name"
        },
        "birthDate": {},
        "residenceAddress": {}
      }
    }
  ],
  "otherKeyPersons": [
    {
      "type": "individual",
      "entityId": "person_002",
      "role": {
        "localName": "Company Secretary",
        "standardized": "Secretary",
        "englishTranslation": "Company Secretary"
      },
      "individual": {
        "name": {
          "fullName": "Example Secretary Name"
        },
        "birthDate": {},
        "residenceAddress": {}
      }
    }
  ]
}

Note: Some companies register only a Chinese name and address. The legalNameInEnglish field is absent when no English name is registered.

Available Documents

Documents are returned when "dataPoints": ["availableDocuments"] is requested.

API Category	Document	Notes
`tradeRegisterExtract`	Company Particulars PDF (from ICRIS)	Available for all companies

Data Source Priority & Routing

Hong Kong uses a single-source model: all data comes exclusively from the ICRIS (Companies Registry). There is no priority chain or cross-registry merging.

Data Flow for Company Profile:

Search: The ICRIS Open Data API (data.cr.gov.hk) is queried for basic company lookup by BRN or name
Document Retrieval: The Company Particulars page is retrieved from the ICRIS e-Services Portal
AI Parsing: The page content is parsed by AI models to extract: company information, legal representatives, and shareholders
Result Assembly: The AI-extracted data is assembled into the standardized API response

Requests typically complete in about a minute, with automatic retries on the document retrieval step.

Attribute-Level Source Mapping

Attribute	Source	AI-Parsed?	Notes
Company name (EN/CN)	ICRIS Company Particulars	Yes	English and/or Chinese name
Legal form	ICRIS Company Particulars	Yes	Register company type label kept verbatim; standardized value is AI-inferred
Status	ICRIS Company Particulars	Yes	AI-extracted from page content
Incorporation date	ICRIS Company Particulars	Yes	AI-extracted from page content
Registered address	ICRIS Company Particulars	No	Taken from the register’s structured data; may be in Chinese only
Share capital	ICRIS Company Particulars	Yes	Amount and currency (typically HKD)
Directors	ICRIS Company Particulars	Yes	Individual and corporate directors
Company Secretary	ICRIS Company Particulars	Yes	Individual or corporate; mandatory position
Shareholders	ICRIS Company Particulars	Yes	Founding members; not applicable to companies limited by guarantee
Activity codes (NACE/ISIC)	AI-inferred from business description	Yes	Always AI-inferred; no official ICRIS codes

Europe

North America

Asia

Offshore Centers

Start here

Hong Kong coverage, pricing, and sources

Data Sources

All company types

Company Identifiers

Query Identifiers

Identifiers in API Response

Legal Entity Identifier (LEI)

Search Capabilities

Active companies only

Quirks & Gotchas

Mappings

Company Status

Legal Forms

Private Companies

Public Companies

Foreign Entities

Legal Representatives

Other Key Persons

Shareholders

Extraction Logic

Ownership Fields

Activity Code Mapping

Data Availability

Data Availability Matrix

Documents by Company Type

Example API Responses

Data Source Priority & Routing

Attribute-Level Source Mapping

​Start here

Hong Kong coverage, pricing, and sources

​Data Sources

​All company types

​Company Identifiers

​Query Identifiers

​Identifiers in API Response

​Legal Entity Identifier (LEI)

​Search Capabilities

​Active companies only

​Quirks & Gotchas

​Mappings

​Company Status

​Legal Forms

​Private Companies

​Public Companies

​Foreign Entities

​Legal Representatives

​Other Key Persons

​Shareholders

​Extraction Logic

​Ownership Fields

​Activity Code Mapping

​Data Availability

​Data Availability Matrix

​Documents by Company Type

​Example API Responses

​Data Source Priority & Routing

​Attribute-Level Source Mapping

Start here

Data Sources

All company types

Company Identifiers

Query Identifiers

Identifiers in API Response

Legal Entity Identifier (LEI)

Search Capabilities

Active companies only

Quirks & Gotchas

Mappings

Company Status

Legal Forms

Private Companies

Public Companies

Foreign Entities

Legal Representatives

Other Key Persons

Shareholders

Extraction Logic

Ownership Fields

Activity Code Mapping

Data Availability

Data Availability Matrix

Documents by Company Type

Example API Responses

Data Source Priority & Routing

Attribute-Level Source Mapping