Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) Company Search Guide 2026: How to Verify an Ivory Coast Business

TL;DR. Ivory Coast’s official commercial registry is the RCCM (Registre du Commerce et du Credit Mobilier), administered by the Tribunal de Commerce d’Abidjan and accessible for searches via the pan-African OHADA portal at rccm.ohada.org. CEPICI (Centre de Promotion des Investissements en Cote d’Ivoire) manages the one-stop-shop for company formation. The interface is in French only. Ivory Coast is currently on the FATF increased monitoring (grey) list as of May 2026.

What is the official Ivory Coast business registry?

Cote d’Ivoire’s commercial registry is the Registre du Commerce et du Credit Mobilier (RCCM), established under OHADA’s Uniform Act Relating to General Commercial Law. OHADA (Organisation pour l’Harmonisation en Afrique du Droit des Affaires) harmonizes business law across 16 West and Central African states; Ivory Coast is a founding member of OHADA, having ratified the treaty in 1993.

Operationally, the RCCM is administered by the Tribunal de Commerce d’Abidjan (Abidjan Commercial Court) and regional courts. CEPICI (Centre de Promotion des Investissements en Cote d’Ivoire), accessible at cepici.gouv.ci, acts as the investment promotion and one-stop-shop agency, processing new company registrations and coordinating RCCM entry. CEPICI targets a 48-hour company creation turnaround for straightforward formations.

Online search access is available via the OHADA RCCM federated portal at rccm.ohada.org, which covers all 16 OHADA jurisdictions. For Ivory Coast-specific records, the portal indexes filings from the Abidjan commercial court and regional registries.

The RCCM covers commercial companies (SA, SARL, SNC, SCS), individual traders, economic interest groups (GIE), and moveable credit registrations. The registry also issues the IDU (Identifiant Unique), a unified entity identifier that replaced the previously separate RCCM number and tax identification number under recent administrative reforms.

What can you search?

The OHADA RCCM portal supports:

• Corporate name (denomination sociale)
• Trade name (nom commercial)
• Abbreviation
• RCCM number
• Legal form filter

Entity records display: corporate name, RCCM number, legal form, entry date, and a list of recorded formalities (amendments, strike-offs, winding-up entries). The credit mobilier section covers moveable security registrations (leasing, pledge, chattel mortgage).

Data freshness follows filing-event timing. The Abidjan commercial court processes high volumes and generally updates records within days of a submitted filing, though peak periods may cause processing lags.

How much does it cost?

Note: Ivory Coast has not acceded to the Hague Convention on Apostille for commercial documents. Documents intended for use in Hague-member jurisdictions require full consular legalization, which adds cost and time. Confirm legalization requirements with the receiving party before ordering. Third-party prices sourced from Schmidt and Schmidt’s published tariff (verified May 2026). EUR/XOF conversion: 1 EUR = 655.96 XOF (fixed peg). USD/EUR: approximately 0.92.

Do you need a local account or ID?

Account registration on the OHADA RCCM portal (rccm.ohada.org) requires an email address and basic contact information. No Ivorian national ID or local tax number is required for foreign users. CEPICI’s formation portal may require local contact details for new company registrations; this requirement applies to formation, not to registry searches.

Foreign buyers conducting compliance searches can access the OHADA portal directly without local representation. For certified extract ordering or court-level document retrieval, engagement with an Abidjan-based legal representative or an accredited intermediary is advisable.

Is the website in English?

No. The OHADA RCCM portal can be accessed in English at the navigation level (via the lang=en parameter), but all entity data, filing descriptions, and legal form labels are in French. Ivory Coast does not operate an English-language company registry interface. All official documents are issued in French.

Compliance buyers should apply French OHADA terminology: SARL (private limited company), SA (public company), SNC (general partnership), GIE (economic interest group). Certified English translations are available through intermediaries for an additional fee.

What’s the turnaround time?

Basic name search results on the OHADA portal are instant. Electronic certified extracts ordered via the Abidjan commercial court or accredited intermediaries are typically available within 7 to 14 business days. Some intermediaries offer expedited electronic PDF delivery within 24 hours for standard extracts without legalization. Legalized documents for use in Hague-member jurisdictions take considerably longer given the consular legalization requirement.

Is there an API?

No. The OHADA RCCM portal does not offer a public API as of May 2026. CEPICI’s portal is focused on formation workflows, not bulk data access. Compliance platforms requiring automated Ivory Coast entity lookups must rely on manual portal access or a local data partner with a formal supply arrangement.

For the broader context on how OHADA harmonization shapes registry access across West and Central Africa, see our Global Business Due Diligence Guide.

What you legally cannot do

OHADA registries prohibit bulk automated scraping of entity data. Commercial redistribution of RCCM records without authorization from the relevant commercial court or OHADA is restricted. Ivory Coast’s data protection framework (law no. 2013-450 on personal data protection, administered by the ARTCI) governs the use of personal information in registry filings. Director names and address data found in RCCM records may not be used for unsolicited marketing. Compliance buyers should document the purpose of each data pull consistent with their AML/KYC policy.

Practical tips for foreign compliance buyers

• RCCM number and IDU are distinct but linked. Older entities carry a legacy RCCM number; newer entities receive an IDU as their primary identifier. Confirm which number your counterparty is using in commercial documents and cross-reference both in the registry.
• OHADA law standardizes entity types. Legal form designations (SA, SARL, SNC, SCS, GIE) carry OHADA-mandated meanings and governance rules, making entity-type assessment more consistent than in jurisdictions with bespoke company law.
• Regional court coverage. Ivory Coast has commercial courts beyond Abidjan (Bouake, Daloa, San Pedro, Korhogo). An entity registered outside Abidjan will show a different court code in its RCCM number. Verify coverage in the OHADA portal for regional entities.
• FATF grey list status. Ivory Coast is on FATF’s increased monitoring list as of May 2026. This designation increases correspondent banking scrutiny for transactions involving Ivorian counterparties and typically triggers enhanced due diligence (EDD) requirements under most AML frameworks. Verify with your compliance officer whether EDD applies for your institution.
• Consular legalization is mandatory for documents used in jurisdictions party to the Hague Convention, given Ivory Coast’s non-accession. This adds cost and lead time; plan accordingly.
• UEMOA and GIABA. Ivory Coast is a member of UEMOA (West African Economic and Monetary Union) and GIABA (Intergovernmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa), the FATF-style regional body for the zone. GIABA’s mutual evaluation reports provide country-level AML risk context.

Alternatives if you cannot access the RCCM directly

• Aggregator search (free, indicative only): OpenCorporates indexes some Ivory Coast RCCM filings but coverage is partial and lags official records. Useful for a quick name check only; not for compliance-grade verification.
• OHADA RCCM portal (rccm.ohada.org) provides federated access across all 16 OHADA states including Ivory Coast. Free at the search level; fee-based for certified extracts.
• Schmidt and Schmidt (schmidt-export.com). Third-party intermediary for certified RCCM extracts with English translation and legalization, for buyers who cannot navigate French-only processes.

Local data suppliers

• Creditinfo Cote d’Ivoire. Part of the pan-African Creditinfo credit bureau network. Provides commercial credit reports covering payment behavior and risk scoring on Ivorian entities. Use when you need financial risk indicators on top of the RCCM filing record.

Use the RCCM for the official filing record. Use a credit bureau when you need payment behavior or risk scoring on top of the registry extract.

FAQ

Can a foreign company access the Ivory Coast registry directly?

Yes. The OHADA RCCM portal (rccm.ohada.org) is accessible to foreign users for basic searches without local representation. For certified extract ordering, engagement with the Abidjan Tribunal de Commerce or an accredited intermediary is more reliable. There is no restriction on foreign compliance buyers conducting registry research.

What is the RCCM number in Ivory Coast?

The RCCM number (Numero au Registre du Commerce et du Credit Mobilier) is the primary commercial registry identifier. For Abidjan-registered entities, numbers typically carry the prefix “CI-ABJ” followed by the year and a sequential number. Newer entities may use the IDU (Identifiant Unique), a consolidated government identifier linking the RCCM, tax, and social security registrations.

What entity types are registered with the RCCM in Ivory Coast?

The RCCM covers SA (Societe Anonyme, public company), SARL (Societe a Responsabilite Limitee, private company), SNC (Societe en Nom Collectif, general partnership), SCS (Societe en Commandite Simple, limited partnership), GIE (Groupement d’Interet Economique), individual traders, and branches of foreign companies. All are governed by OHADA’s Uniform Act on Commercial Companies and Economic Interest Groups.

Does Ivory Coast have a beneficial ownership (UBO) registry?

Ivory Coast does not maintain a publicly searchable UBO register as of May 2026. Beneficial ownership disclosure is required under Ivorian AML regulations aligned with FATF Recommendation 24, but this data is held by regulatory authorities rather than published. Open Ownership’s map identifies Ivory Coast as having partial UBO reform commitments. Compliance buyers should rely on RCCM director/shareholder filings, direct counterparty disclosure, and enhanced due diligence procedures given the current FATF grey list status.

How current is the data in the RCCM?

Ivory Coast RCCM data currency depends on court processing speed. The Abidjan commercial court processes high volumes; filing updates typically appear within days of submission but can lag during peak periods. Regional courts may take longer. The OHADA federated portal reflects data as submitted to the respective court registries.

Is Ivory Coast on the FATF grey list?

Yes. Cote d’Ivoire is on FATF’s increased monitoring (grey) list as of May 2026. This designation reflects identified strategic deficiencies in the country’s AML/CFT framework. Compliance buyers should apply enhanced due diligence to transactions involving Ivorian counterparties and monitor FATF updates for changes to this status. Source: FATF grey list.

What’s the difference between the registry and tax/financial filings?

The RCCM holds commercial registration records, company structure, and moveable security filings. Tax filings and TIN (identifiant fiscal) records are maintained by the Direction Generale des Impots (DGI). These are being progressively linked through the IDU reform but remain operationally separate. A thorough CDD file should verify both RCCM standing and tax compliance status through available official channels.

Last verified: May 2026. Sources: OHADA RCCM portal (rccm.ohada.org), CEPICI (cepici.gouv.ci), FATF (fatf-gafi.org). For the full global due diligence framework, see our Global Business Due Diligence Guide.