South Africa company search: CIPC (cipc.co.za)

TL;DR. The Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) at https://www.cipc.co.za is online, but that page is a general information hub rather than the search form. https://eservices.cipc.co.za/Search.aspx states that the enterprise search option has moved to BizPortal, and that you now have to login before conducting any search, under POPIA. https://bizportal.gov.za has a certificate problem that stops it loading securely; behind that, BizPortal - Brought to you by the CIPC is a registration portal rather than a company-search form. An electronic disclosure certificate is published at R30.00 on the CIPC site.

What is the official South Africa business registry?

The Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) is the statutory body for company registration in South Africa, under the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC), administering the Companies Act No. 71 of 2008.

The public hub is https://www.cipc.co.za, in English. eServices is at https://eservices.cipc.co.za, titled Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC): eServices, which greets visitors as a guest and asks them to log in before transacting.

Coverage under the Act: private companies (Pty Ltd), public companies (Ltd), non-profit companies (NPC), personal liability companies (Inc), close corporations (CC), co-operatives, and external companies.

SARS at https://www.sars.gov.za is a separate tax site, and the Financial Intelligence Centre is at https://www.fic.gov.za. Neither is the company register search.

What can you search?

Not anonymously.

The eServices search page states:

• Enterprise search has moved to https://bizportal.gov.za (BizProfile).
• A login is required before any search, under POPIA.
• The result fields sit behind that login and are not confirmed here.

BizPortal has a certificate problem that stops the site loading securely. The landing page behind it covers company registration and related services, quoting R125 and R175 registration fees, rather than a BizProfile search form.

How much does it cost?

Published on the CIPC site under disclosure fees, company column unless noted:

Basic status checks have been reported as free after account registration, but that is not stated on the eServices search page, which requires a login; confirm at source. A ZAR 100 certified copy of the MOI is not published under that label.

No USD conversion is published. CIPC directs payment from a customer code, used as the bank-deposit reference. Card payment appears for some registration flows rather than as a search checkout.

Do you need a local account or ID?

Yes for search: the eServices search page requires a login before any search. Customer registration is available on eServices. A South African ID is not stated as mandatory for customer registration; confirm at source.

Is the website in English?

Yes. The CIPC hub, eServices, and the BizPortal landing page are all in English.

What’s the turnaround time?

Unknown for search. CIPC describes XBRL annual financial statement filing as “Immediate (portal based auto response)”, but that applies to that filing channel only, not to company search.

Is there an API?

No public API is published. Bulk scraping is outside CIPC terms of use.

What you legally cannot do

South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) is the reason eServices gives for requiring login before search. Automated bulk scraping is prohibited under CIPC terms of use.

AML/CFT is administered by the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) under FICA. Beneficial ownership filing is named on the CIPC site as Beneficial Ownership (BO) Filing Compliance Inspections. That is a notice label, not a public beneficial ownership search.

FATF grey-list status is not covered here. Check fatf-gafi.org.

Practical tips for foreign compliance buyers

• Use the CIPC registration number (YYYY/NNNNNN/TT) when you have it. Name search sits behind the login.
• Close corporations remain on the fee table (separate CC column). New CC registrations were prohibited from May 2011; existing CCs remain.
• BizPortal did not load securely, so an anonymous BizProfile search is not confirmed here.

Alternatives if you cannot access CIPC directly

• Aggregator search (indicative only): not a CIPC substitute.
• Commercial bureaus (Dun & Bradstreet South Africa, Experian South Africa, TransUnion South Africa): packaged reports, not the statutory extract.
• CIPC walk-in centres are named on the CIPC site.

Local data suppliers

• Dun & Bradstreet South Africa (dnb.com)
• Experian South Africa (experian.co.za)
• TransUnion South Africa (transunion.co.za)

Use CIPC for the statutory record when you can authenticate. Use a bureau for credit behaviour.

FAQ

Can a foreign company access the CIPC registry directly?

The hub is reachable. Search on eServices has moved to BizPortal and requires a login. BizPortal did not load securely.

What is the company registration number format in South Africa?

YYYY/NNNNNN/TT (year / sequence / type). Type codes have been reported as 07 for private and 06 for public companies, among others; confirm at source.

Does South Africa have a beneficial ownership (UBO) registry?

CIPC names beneficial ownership filing compliance on its site. There is no public beneficial ownership search.

Is South Africa on the FATF grey list?

Not covered here. Verify at fatf-gafi.org.

What is the difference between CIPC registration and SARS tax registration?

CIPC issues the company registration number. SARS issues tax and VAT numbers, at sars.gov.za, a separate site.

Last verified: 2026-09-04. Sources: cipc.co.za, which publishes the R30 disclosure certificate fee; eservices.cipc.co.za/Search.aspx, where search has moved to BizPortal and a login is required; bizportal.gov.za, which did not load securely. For the full global due diligence framework, see our Global Business Due Diligence Guide.