Glossary / Company and register
Commercial register entry
An entry in the commercial register, the public register of companies, sole proprietorships, associations, foundations and other legal entities, kept by the cantons. Entries are published in the SHAB and take effect on publication; once a fact is entered, nobody can claim not to have known it.
Written by Antevo · 19 October 2026
See it in practice01 / In practice
Illustrative example; names are placeholders and the facts are invented. Two founders set up Company A GmbH: in a public deed they declare that they are founding it, set its articles and appoint its bodies (OR Art. 777(1)). The company acquires legal personality only once the cantonal register office enters it (OR Art. 779(1)). The entry is published in the SHAB and takes effect that day (OR Art. 936a(1)); from then on, a supplier cannot claim not to know who signs for the company (OR Art. 936b(1)). The company now has a business identification number that will never change (HRegV Art. 116(2)). Its name is not yet a trademark: that takes a filing with the IPI.
Public. The commercial register is public: its entries, articles of association and foundation deeds are available free of charge online, and changes must remain traceable in order. (OR Art. 936)
Kept by the cantons. The cantons run the commercial register offices, under federal supervision. The Federal Office of the Commercial Register makes the entries of every canton searchable in one place, Zefix, updated daily. (OR Art. 928; EHRA)
In force on publication. Entries in the commercial register are published electronically in the SHAB and take effect on publication. (OR Art. 936a(1))
Where a company begins. An AG or a GmbH acquires legal personality only on its entry in the commercial register. (OR Arts. 643(1) and 779(1))
Not a trademark. Entering your business name in the commercial register does not automatically protect it as a trademark. Trademark protection comes only from an entry in the trademark register kept by the IPI. (IPI, Starting a company)
02 / In Antevo
Where you will
meet it.
The Founding hub counts the new entries published in the SHAB and answers what the entry protects and what it does not, with the free name check beside it: 50+ trademark registers, no account needed.
Go there03 / Related terms
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04 / Sources
Where this comes from.
Primary sources for the definition above. Intelligence, not advice: your adviser or counsel confirms anything a decision rests on.