Belgium Company Lookup: Open Data With One Condition

A Belgium company lookup runs through the Banque-Carrefour des Entreprises (BCE) — in Dutch the Kruispuntbank van Ondernemingen (KBO), the same register under two names — held by the SPF Économie / FOD Economie and searched through BCE/KBO Public Search at kbopub.economie.fgov.be. This guide covers what the free search reaches, how the same register is published as open data, and the conditions the FPS Economy attaches to that publication. If you need the Belgian population rather than one company at a time, the Belgium company directory covers the same registered entities with industry, size and contact breakdowns attached, and the Belgium business database is the same file described as a dataset.

Belgium company lookup: the short version

• A series of BCE public data is free to everyone on Public Search and Public Search Mobile — the public data of every registered entity and every establishment unit.
• The same register is also published as open data, in CSV. To view the file you register and accept the terms of use, then retrieve the files manually from the registration portal or from an FPS Economy SFTP server.
• Those terms carry a restriction. The FPS Economy states: "Personal data may not be reused for direct marketing purposes."
• Belgian open company data is open for verification, not for prospecting. The publisher drew that line, not us.

The free Public Search, in the state's own words

The FPS Economy describes the free service directly, and the scope in its wording is unusually complete:

"Une série de données publiques de la BCE sont accessibles à tous gratuitement sur le « Public Search » et le « Public Search Mobile ». Grâce à cette application en ligne, vous pouvez rechercher et consulter gratuitement les données publiques de toutes les entités enregistrées et unités d'établissement dans la BCE."

A series of BCE public data is accessible to everyone free of charge on Public Search and Public Search Mobile. Through this online application you can search and consult, free of charge, the public data of all registered entities and establishment units in the BCE.

Two things in that sentence are worth slowing down for. The first is toutes les entités enregistrées — all registered entities, not a subset and not a sample. The second is unités d'établissement: Belgium registers establishment units alongside the entities that own them, and the free search reaches both. A Belgian company and its places of business are separate registered things, and a lookup that stops at the entity has stopped early.

Note also what the sentence does not claim. It says une série de données publiques — a series of public data — not everything the register holds. The free search is the public layer, and the register is larger than the layer.

The open data files, and what you accept to get them

The same register is published as open data, and the route to it is a registration rather than a download link. The FPS Economy sets it out:

"To be able to view the CSV file, you need to register and accept the terms of use. Among other things, this allows us to communicate any changes in the CSV file to you. You can then manually retrieve the files via the registration portal or on an SFTP server of the FPS Economy. To gain access to the files on the SFTP server, please send a request in advance to the following address: kbo-bce-webservice@economie.fgov.be."

So there are three steps before a file moves, and a fourth if you want the automated route:

1. Register.
2. Accept the terms of use — which is also the mechanism by which the FPS tells you when the CSV changes.
3. Retrieve the files manually, via the registration portal.
4. Or use the SFTP server, for which access must be requested in advance by email.

The registration is not a paywall in disguise. It is how the publisher knows who holds a copy and how it reaches them when the file changes — and, as the next section covers, it is where the condition on reuse is attached.

What a Belgian company register entry contains

A self-contained summary. Belgium's company register is the Banque-Carrefour des Entreprises (BCE), in Dutch the Kruispuntbank van Ondernemingen (KBO) — one register under two names — held by the SPF Économie / FOD Economie. A series of BCE public data is freely accessible to everyone through Public Search and Public Search Mobile, an online application through which the public data of all registered entities and all establishment units in the BCE can be searched and consulted free of charge. The same register is published as open data in CSV form. Access requires registration and acceptance of the terms of use, which is also how the FPS communicates changes in the CSV file; the files are then retrieved manually via the registration portal or from an FPS Economy SFTP server, and SFTP access must be requested in advance by email to kbo-bce-webservice@economie.fgov.be. The terms state that personal data may not be reused for direct marketing purposes, and that these include in particular all data relating to a registered entity that is a natural person. A privacy statement covering how personal data is collected and processed through the Public Search web service and through Open Data was last updated 29/05/2020.

Personal data may not be reused for direct marketing

This is the sentence the page exists for, and it belongs in the publisher's own words:

"Personal data may not be reused for direct marketing purposes. They include, in particular, all data relating to a registered entity natural person."

Where it sits matters as much as what it says. It is not buried in a policy document nobody opens, and it is not a footnote on a results page. It is on the open data page, attached to the terms of use you accept before the CSV downloads — the same acceptance that gets you the file. Nobody holds Belgian open company data without having passed that sentence.

What it means, plainly: Belgian open company data is open for verification, not for prospecting. The register is published so that anyone can check who is registered, where, and as what. The FPS Economy has stated that the personal data inside it is not a direct marketing list, and it has named the category it is most concerned about — all data relating to a registered entity that is a natural person, which in Belgium is a large population of sole traders and self-employed professionals whose registered details are also personal details.

The line was drawn by the publisher. It is not our reading of the file, and we are not adding a condition the FPS did not write.

One boundary to be honest about: the source says what may not be done. It does not enumerate what may. This page will not infer the permitted uses from the prohibited one, because that inference is a legal question rather than a data one — if you need to know whether a specific use of Belgian open data is lawful, that is a question for a lawyer, not for a guide.

The FPS also publishes a privacy statement covering how personal data is collected and processed through the Public Search web service and through Open Data, last updated 29/05/2020. Anyone holding the CSV is holding data covered by it.

Where a BCE/KBO lookup stops

The BCE/KBO is a registration record. It establishes which entities and which establishment units exist, and it stops there. The free search is explicitly a series of public data rather than everything held, and the open data files arrive with a condition rather than a blank cheque.

The neighbouring register puts its limit somewhere else entirely, and the contrast is worth carrying. The Netherlands company lookup guide covers a register that restricts who may see a field: a telephone number is held in the Handelsregister and is not public, and only organisations with permission can read it. Belgium does close to the opposite. It hands the whole register to anyone who registers for it, and restricts what you may do with what you were given. One country puts the limit at the read; the other puts it at the use. A process built for one does not satisfy the other, and neither register's answer can be assumed from the other's.

Where the question is a population rather than a company, a firmographic directory covers the same registered entities with classification, size and contact data attached and queryable as a set; the Europe company directory breaks the European file down by market.

Data quality pitfalls to avoid in Belgium

Treating the open data CSV as unconditioned because it was free. The terms of use accepted before the download state that personal data may not be reused for direct marketing purposes, and that those include in particular all data relating to a registered entity that is a natural person.

Stopping a lookup at the registered entity. The free search covers registered entities and establishment units, so an entity result is not the whole picture of where a Belgian company operates.

Reading the free search as the whole register. The FPS describes it as une série de données publiques — a series of public data — not as everything the BCE holds.

Taking a CSV once and treating it as current. Accepting the terms of use is also the mechanism by which the FPS communicates changes in the file, so a copy taken outside that channel has no change signal attached to it.

Assuming SFTP access comes with registration. Access to the files on the SFTP server must be requested in advance, by email to the address the FPS publishes.

Searching for only one of BCE and KBO. They are the same register under a French and a Dutch name, and Belgian sources use whichever matches the region.

A repeatable Belgium company lookup workflow

1. Search Public Search for the entity, then for its establishment units.
2. Record which name you searched under, BCE or KBO, so a colleague can retrace it.
3. Register and accept the terms of use before taking the open data CSV, and keep a copy of what you accepted.
4. Request SFTP access in advance by email if you need the automated route.
5. Tag every Belgian open data field carrying personal data as not available for direct marketing.
6. Take a legal opinion on any specific reuse — the source states the prohibition, not the permissions.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Belgian company register free to search?

Yes. The FPS Economy states that a series of BCE public data is accessible to everyone free of charge on Public Search and Public Search Mobile, and that the application allows you to search and consult the public data of all registered entities and establishment units in the BCE free of charge.

What is the difference between the BCE and the KBO?

None — they are the same register. Banque-Carrefour des Entreprises is the French name, Kruispuntbank van Ondernemingen the Dutch one, and Belgian sources use whichever matches the region.

How do I get the Belgian company register as a file?

Through open data. The FPS Economy states that to view the CSV file you need to register and accept the terms of use, after which you retrieve the files manually via the registration portal or from an FPS Economy SFTP server. SFTP access has to be requested in advance by email.

Can I use Belgian open company data for direct marketing?

The FPS Economy states that personal data may not be reused for direct marketing purposes, and that these include in particular all data relating to a registered entity that is a natural person. The source states the prohibition; it does not enumerate lawful uses, and whether a specific use is permitted is a question for a lawyer.

Where is that restriction stated?

On the open data page, attached to the terms of use that are accepted before the CSV file can be viewed — the same acceptance that provides access to the file.

Does the free search cover establishment units?

Yes. The FPS's wording covers all registered entities and establishment units in the BCE.

Is there a privacy statement for the register?

Yes. A privacy statement covers how personal data is collected and processed through the Public Search web service and through Open Data. It was last updated 29/05/2020.

Source Register

Every quotation above is the publisher's own wording, read on the date shown, and the French passage is reproduced as the source has it with an English gloss beside it rather than in place of it. No amount appears anywhere in this page's prose — no fee, no count, no number format — and a good deal that is probably true about this register has been left out because it was not on a source we read. BELGIUM_REPORT.md enumerates every omission with what would confirm it.

The readings that are InfobelPRO's rather than the FPS Economy's: that une série de données publiques should be read as a deliberate limit rather than a turn of phrase; that a lookup stopping at the registered entity has stopped early, given that establishment units are registered separately; and that the placement of the restriction — in the terms accepted before the file downloads, rather than in a policy elsewhere — is itself the point worth noticing. Those are presented as ours. The restriction itself is not ours: it is the publisher's sentence, quoted, and this page neither extends it nor reads permissions into it.