Public Register

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The public register was a public register in the Principality of Liechtenstein that was endowed with public faith . This primarily served the legal security of trade by disclosing the private law relationships to companies. Since February 1, 2013, it has been known as the Commercial Register and is part of the Office of Justice .

The public register as a commercial register had public faith.

Legal bases

The establishment and management of the public register (now called the commercial register) was regulated in personal and company law (Art 944 ff PGR) as well as in the Public Register Ordinance (ÖRegV).

Persons subject to registration

The following were entered in the public register (Art 42 ff ÖRegV):

Aim and principle of publicity

The public register was a (relatively) public register of public faith.

The primary goal was to ensure legal security in commercial transactions by disclosing the private law relationships.

Persons who were able to demonstrate a legitimate interest in inspecting the public register were to be granted this and copies of the entries were to be handed over. With regard to stock corporations, limited partnerships and companies with limited liability, inspection or copying was to be permitted on written request even without certification of a legitimate interest.

Inspection, excerpts, transcripts or certificates of deposited files and documents (especially with regard to the deposit of foundation documents, loyalty statutes and the like) could only be obtained by the person who deposited these documents himself or who granted an authorization to do so. The Liechtenstein public register did not have a general right of inspection and information (restricted publicity principle).

These extracts from the public register were generally only issued in certified form.

tasks

The main tasks were:

  • the registration of companies , foundations, institutions, trusts or funds.
  • Filing of documents relating to foundations,
  • Trust / settlement and other documents,
  • Implementation of public notarizations,
  • Company inquiries (name),
  • Statutory notices,
  • various official business, such as checking compliance with various regulations (submission of balance sheets, etc.), relocation of headquarters, audits and preliminary audits,
  • Keeping the Art 180a PGR list,
  • Various exams,
  • Compliance with the declaration obligation according to Art 128b PGR,
  • Data collection according to Art 988 PGR,
  • Monitoring of compliance with the prohibition of deception according to Art 989 PGR.

publication

"The entries in the public register as well as other announcements are, as long as the law does not allow any other form of announcement (notice on the court notice, etc.) or no partial or only partial announcement is prescribed by law or ordinance, with their entire content without delay through the land register - and Public Register Office published in the official publications. "

The Liechtensteiner Volksblatt and the Liechtensteiner Vaterland acted as official publication organs .

For domiciliary companies that are not registered in the legal form of an AG, limited partnership or GmbH , notifications did not have to be made in the official publications.

Registered legal forms in the public register

The development of the number of individual legal entities in the Liechtenstein commercial register has been consistently negative since 2000. In the period from 2000 to January 1, 2017, around 52,000 types of company were deleted from the register (-62%). If this development continues, as in the years 2009 to 2016, the number of companies registered in Liechtenstein as in 1945 will be reached by 2025 at the latest. While it took 55 years to build up to a high of around 84,000 registered corporate forms, the reduction to the level of 1945 would be achieved in just 25 years if the tendency towards deletions continued.

Development of the number of companies in Liechtenstein
1000
10,000
53000
84000
78907
73856
64951
58391
52973
46388
41137
36307
32035
28428
27053
1945 1963 1983 2000 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
legal form As of January 1, 2009 As of January 1, 2010 As of January 1, 2011 As of January 1, 2012 As of January 1, 2013 As of January 1, 2014 As of January 1, 2015 As of January 1, 2016 As of January 1, 2017 As of January 1, 2018 As of January 1, 2019 Change in 2009/2018
one-man business 487 497 576 614 541 544 542 524 534 543 549 + 12.8% (+62)
societies 166 203 216 232 254 260 269 286 297 326 340 + 105% (+174)
European Cooperative Society ( SCE ) 0 0 1 1 1 2 3 5 6th 5 5 + 500% (+5)
Public companies 7518 7266 6953 6573 6276 6046 5793 5483 5291 5057 5054 −32.77% (-2464)
European stock corporations ( SE ) 3 4th 4th 5 5 6th 6th 9 9 11 13 + 330% (+10)
GmbH 89 91 92 114 135 161 178 197 232 345 501 + 463% (+412)
Institutions under private law 14578 13835 12721 11486 10535 9423 8424 7540 6636 6031 5673 - 61.09.% (-8905)
Foundations and trusteeships and other legal forms as well as branches of foreign companies. 56066 51960 44388 39366 35361 29946 25922 22263 19030 16110 14918 - 73.39% (-41,148)
Total 78907 73856 64951 58391 52973 46388 41137 36307 32035 28428 27053 - 65.715% (-51854)
Trend compared to the previous year -5051 -8905 -6560 -5418 -6585 -5251 -4830 -4272 -3607 -1375

Note : The figures in the current annual report are from December 31st. every year on 1.1. next year inconsistent and will obviously be corrected in each subsequent government report . These figures for the current year are therefore only provisional. On the basis of a small inquiry from MP Harry Quaderer in October 2012, government councilor Aurelia Frick informed that "due to the ongoing re-entry of old tabs (...) legal entities are continuously being entered and removed from the commercial register database ". " These changes in the stock number are not listed as a» new establishment «or» deletion «, as the process did not take place in the current year. As a result, the stock number on December 31st does not match the number on January 1st of the following year . "

History (overview)

year event
1866 Introduction of the General German Commercial Code in the Principality of Liechtenstein (ADHGB), LGBl. 10/1865. The regional court is responsible for keeping the "commercial register".
1926 Introduction of personal and company law (PGR), LGBl. 4/1926. The "public register" is thus introduced. The various registers that have existed so far will be merged. Management of the register by the government, supervision by the higher court.
2000 Merging of the previously independent land registry and public register office to form the land and public register office . Government oversight.
2001 PGR amendment (LGBl. 279/2000). Expansion of the area of ​​activity of the land and public register office.
2002-2003 Relevant revision of the public register law:
June 28, 2004 Commissioning of the electronic register solution (electronic register management) at the public register.

Company index

In the company index of the Liechtenstein Land Register and Public Register Office (GBOERA), registered companies were able to view partial excerpts of the data entered in the public register and other legal facts free of charge and a certified full extract from the public register for a certain company could be ordered for a fee.

Contact

Land and Public Register Office (GBOERA), now Office for Justice and Commercial
Register , Äulestrasse 70,
Postfach 684,
9490 Vaduz

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Law of 23 November 2012 on the merging of the land and public register office and the victim support office into one office for justice, LGBl 6/2013. http://www.llv.li/pdf-llv-gboera-newsletter_2012_06.pdf (link not available)
  2. ↑ Ordinance of February 11, 2003 on the Public Register, LGBl 66/2003. The ÖRegV was largely from the Swiss Commercial Register Ordinance (SR 221,411) rezipiert . Now: Commercial Register Ordinance (HRV).
  3. ↑ Art 953 Paragraph 1 and Paragraph 3 PGR.
  4. ↑ Art 953 para. 4 PGR.
  5. ↑ Art 953 para. 5 PGR.
  6. ↑ As part of the preliminary examination, drafts of deeds and documents that are suitable as evidence for an entry are subjected to an examination by the public register in accordance with Art. 966 PGR (Art. 966 Para. 1 PGR). Legal questions in connection with the entry in the public register can also be examined (Art 966 para. 2 PGR).
  7. ↑ Art 956 PGR old version
  8. ↑ Art 957 Paragraph PGR. For example, collective trusteeships are published on the website of the Liechtenstein Investment Fund Association.
  9. ↑ Source: Government of the Principality of Liechtenstein, Annual Report 2009, page 360, Vaduz 2010; Government of the Principality of Liechtenstein, Annual Report 2010, page 318, Vaduz 2011; Government of the Principality of Liechtenstein, Annual Report 2012, page 319/320, Vaduz 2013; Government of the Principality of Liechtenstein, Annual Report 2014, page 263, Vaduz 2015; Accountability report 2015, p. 253, Vaduz 2016; Annual report 2016 (PDF) p. 258, Vaduz 2017. The overview below for the year 2010 is available on the GBOERA website ( memento of November 13, 2012 in the Internet Archive ). The table published by the government for the year 2009/2010 differs significantly from the table 2010/2011 with regard to the values ​​and contains calculation errors.
  10. ↑ The data before 2000 are largely estimates and projections.
  11. ↑ Also includes collective trusteeships ( investment funds )
  12. ↑ MINUTES OF THE PUBLIC LAND DAY MEETING OF 24./25. OCTOBER 2012, PART 1, approved in the state parliament session on December 19, 2012, accessed on January 25, 2013 at: [1]
  13. ↑ MINUTES OF THE PUBLIC LAND DAY MEETING OF 24./25. OCTOBER 2012, PART 2, approved in the state parliament session on December 19, 2012, accessed on January 25, 2013 under: [2]