Workflow checklist
- Identify the registry. app.registromercantil.do
- Check access requirements. Account required: Yes. Local ID required: No.
- Plan budget. Price range: USD 8.00-85.00. Payment methods: Credit card, Online banking transfer.
- Anticipate friction. Captcha / 2FA: Unknown. English UI: No.
- Plan turnaround. Expected: 1-3 business days.
- Verify recency. Last verified: 6 May 2026. Confirm current pricing at the official registry before submitting.
TL;DR. The Dominican Republic’s commercial registry is the Registro Mercantil, administered by regional Camaras de Comercio y Produccion across the country’s 32 provinces. The primary online search portal for Santo Domingo and the National District is at app.registromercantil.do. The interface is Spanish-only; an account is required to access search and document services. Foreign compliance buyers can register and search without a local identity document.
What is the official Dominican Republic business registry?
The Registro Mercantil is the Dominican Republic’s mandatory commercial registry, established under Law 03-02 on Commercial Registration. It records all natural and legal persons engaged in commercial, industrial, or service activities in the country. Unlike a centralised single-registry model, the system is decentralised: each of the 32 provincial Camaras de Comercio y Produccion maintains the Registro Mercantil for its geographic jurisdiction, with the Camara de Comercio y Produccion de Santo Domingo covering the capital and the National District.
Oversight and supervisory authority rests with the Ministerio de Industria, Comercio y Mipymes (MICM, Ministry of Industry, Commerce and MSMEs), which coordinates standards across the regional chambers. The Camara de Comercio y Produccion de Santo Domingo operates the primary digital platform at app.registromercantil.do and at camarasantodomingo.do.
The registry covers sociedad anonima (SA), sociedad de responsabilidad limitada (SRL), partnerships, sole trader registrations, and branches of foreign companies. Records for entities registered in Santo Domingo date from the mid-20th century, with digital coverage expanding progressively since the early 2000s.
For intellectual property searches (trademarks, patents), the relevant body is ONAPI (Oficina Nacional de la Propiedad Industrial), not the Registro Mercantil.
What can you search?
The Registro Mercantil online portal supports searches by:
- Company name (nombre comercial or razon social), partial match available
- RNC (Registro Nacional del Contribuyente): the primary taxpayer identification number assigned by the DGII (Direccion General de Impuestos Internos), which doubles as the primary corporate identifier
- Commercial register number (numero de registro mercantil)
Per entity, data available includes: registered name, RNC, registration date, entity type, registered address, legal representative, and registration status (active, suspended, cancelled). Shareholding structures and beneficial ownership information are not part of the public registry record.
Data is updated on a filing-event basis. Entities must renew their Registro Mercantil annually; non-renewal can result in suspension of the certificate, which appears in the status field.
How much does it cost?
| Item | Cost (DOP) | Cost (USD, approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Basic consultation / status query | DOP 500 | ~USD 8 |
| Registro Mercantil certificate (small company) | DOP 2,000 | ~USD 34 |
| Registro Mercantil certificate (online, up to DOP 100,000 capital) | DOP 2,000 | ~USD 34 |
| Annual renewal (physical person) | DOP 500 | ~USD 8 |
Fees are based on published schedules from the Camara de Comercio y Produccion de Santo Domingo as of early 2026. The DOP/USD rate used: approximately DOP 59 = USD 1 (verify at point of purchase). Registration and certificate fees scale with declared capital for larger entities and can reach DOP 67,500 (~USD 1,144) for companies with capital above DOP 550 million.
Do you need a local account or ID?
An account on the app.registromercantil.do platform is required to access search services and purchase documents. Account creation requires an email address. No Dominican cedula (cedula de identidad y electoral) or RNC is required of foreign users to create a search account.
Foreign compliance buyers can register, search, and request certificates online. For notarised or apostilled documents, additional in-person or courier steps may be necessary depending on the receiving party’s requirements.
Is the website in English?
No. The Registro Mercantil platform and the Camara de Comercio de Santo Domingo portal are entirely in Spanish. There is no English interface. Key fields are: “Razon Social” (legal name), “RNC” (taxpayer number), “Estado” (status: Activo, Suspendido, Cancelado), and “Tipo de Persona” (entity type: Persona Juridica or Persona Fisica).
For compliance buyers unfamiliar with Spanish, a basic Spanish-English glossary of registry field names will cover most of the data returned. Machine translation of Spanish PDF certificates is generally accurate for standard corporate registry fields.
What’s the turnaround time?
Basic entity status queries via the online portal return results immediately. Certificate orders (certificaciones) typically take one to three business days for the chamber to issue and make available for download or pickup. Some urgent or same-day certificate services are available at in-person counters in Santo Domingo for an additional fee.
For entities registered in provinces other than Santo Domingo, turnaround may be longer depending on the local chamber’s processing capacity. The Camara de Santiago (camarasantiago.com) covers the northern region and operates its own separate online system.
Is there an API?
No public API is available from the Registro Mercantil or the Camaras de Comercio as of May 2026. Bulk data access is not offered through an official developer programme. The MICM supervision framework does not currently include a standardised machine-readable data feed. Screen scraping the portal is not permitted under the terms of use.
What you legally cannot do
The Camara de Comercio terms of use and Dominican data protection law (Law 172-13 on Personal Data Protection) prohibit:
- Automated bulk extraction of registry records
- Commercial redistribution of certificate data without authorisation from the issuing chamber
- Use of registry data for unsolicited marketing or spam
- Representing chamber-issued certificates as independently verified third-party analysis
Law 172-13 applies to processing of personal data of Dominican natural persons. Compliance buyers conducting KYC or AML checks should document the stated purpose of each registry search as part of their internal audit trail.
Practical tips for foreign compliance buyers
- RNC is the anchor identifier. The RNC (Registro Nacional del Contribuyente) is the primary identification number for all legal and natural persons in the Dominican Republic’s commercial system. It is issued by the DGII (tax authority) but used across the Registro Mercantil and other government databases. Always search by RNC if you have it; company name searches in Spanish may miss accented-character variations.
- Decentralised registry. If your counterparty is registered outside Santo Domingo (for example, in Santiago, La Romana, or Puerto Plata), the relevant Registro Mercantil record is held by that province’s chamber. You may need to contact the appropriate regional chamber separately. The MICM is working toward greater inter-chamber interoperability but the systems are not fully unified as of May 2026.
- Annual renewal matters. Dominican law requires annual renewal of the Registro Mercantil certificate. An entity whose certificate lapsed due to non-renewal may still appear in the registry but with a “Suspendido” status. This is a red flag in a compliance context.
- Consult ONAPI separately. If your due diligence extends to intellectual property assets (trademarks, patents), these are held by ONAPI (onapi.gob.do), not the Registro Mercantil. The two registries are separate.
- The Dominican Republic is not on the FATF grey list. The Dominican Republic is a member of CFATF (Caribbean Financial Action Task Force) and GAFILAT. It is not under increased FATF monitoring as of May 2026. See fatf-gafi.org for current status. For a broader framework, see the global due diligence guide.
- Understand the SRL vs. SA distinction. The SRL (sociedad de responsabilidad limitada) is common for smaller, closely-held businesses; the SA (sociedad anonima) is used for larger commercial and foreign-owned entities. Both appear in the Registro Mercantil but have different capital and governance disclosure requirements.
Alternatives if you cannot access the Registro Mercantil directly
- Aggregator search (free, indicative only): OpenCorporates indexes some Dominican Republic filings but coverage is limited and lags official data. Useful for a quick name check; not for compliance-grade verification.
- DGII RNC lookup: The Direccion General de Impuestos Internos (dgii.gov.do) offers a free public RNC query that confirms whether a taxpayer number is active in the tax system. This is not a registry extract but provides a quick secondary verification of whether an entity is active for tax purposes.
Local data suppliers
The Camara de Comercio y Produccion de Santo Domingo is the authoritative source for Registro Mercantil certificates. For credit risk and payment behaviour data, engage a local law firm or accounting firm that can commission a commercial credit inquiry through local banking contacts.
FAQ
Can a foreign company access the Dominican Republic registry directly?
Yes. The Camara de Comercio de Santo Domingo’s online platform is accessible to any user with an email address. Foreign buyers can create an account, search entities, and order certificates without a Dominican identity document. For provinces outside Santo Domingo, you may need to contact the relevant provincial chamber directly or engage a local agent.
What is the RNC number in the Dominican Republic?
The RNC (Registro Nacional del Contribuyente) is the primary identification number for companies and individuals in the Dominican commercial system. It is issued by the DGII (tax authority) at the time of entity formation. For legal persons, the RNC is a 9-digit number. For natural persons, it mirrors the cedula (identity document) number. The RNC is the most reliable anchor identifier when searching the Registro Mercantil.
What entity types are registered with the Registro Mercantil?
The Registro Mercantil covers all persons engaged in commerce: sociedades anonimas (SAs), sociedades de responsabilidad limitada (SRLs), partnerships (sociedades en nombre colectivo and en comandita), sole traders (personas fisicas comerciantes), and branches of foreign companies. Foundations and non-profit associations are registered under a separate legal framework and are not part of the Registro Mercantil.
Does the Dominican Republic have a beneficial ownership (UBO) registry?
The Dominican Republic has taken steps toward UBO disclosure as part of its CFATF and GAFILAT commitments, but a fully public beneficial ownership registry does not yet exist as of May 2026. Beneficial ownership data is gathered through financial institutions under AML/CFT obligations and by the financial regulator (Superintendencia de Bancos) for supervised entities. For UBO verification in a compliance context, engage Dominican legal counsel.
How current is the data in the Registro Mercantil?
The registry is updated on a filing-event basis. Companies are required to notify the relevant Camara de Comercio of changes to directors, registered address, and capital within defined legal timeframes. Annual renewal is mandatory. Status indicators in the online portal reflect the most recently filed information, which may not capture very recent changes if the entity has not yet filed the relevant update.
Is the Dominican Republic on the FATF grey list?
No. The Dominican Republic is not on the FATF list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring as of May 2026. The country is a member of CFATF and GAFILAT, both FATF-Style Regional Bodies. Ongoing mutual evaluation follow-up continues under CFATF processes. Current status is confirmed at fatf-gafi.org.
What’s the difference between the Registro Mercantil and the DGII?
The Registro Mercantil is the commercial registry maintained by the Camaras de Comercio; it records company formation, officers, and commercial status. The DGII (Direccion General de Impuestos Internos) is the tax authority, which maintains the RNC taxpayer registry and tax filing records. A company must be registered in both systems to operate legally. The DGII’s RNC database can be queried free of charge at dgii.gov.do as a secondary verification tool.
Last verified: May 2026. Source: Camara de Comercio y Produccion de Santo Domingo (camarasantodomingo.do); MICM (micm.gob.do); FATF/CFATF country page (fatf-gafi.org). For the full global due diligence framework, see our Global Business Due Diligence Guide.