Czech Company Registry Scraper for ARES — IČO, VAT & Address

Czech Company Registry Scraper for ARES — IČO, VAT & Address 🇨🇿

Search, extract, and verify official Czech business entities from the Ministry of Finance ARES register at scale — no coding, no captcha, and no rate limits. This enterprise-grade Czech ARES scraper extracts complete, authoritative corporate profiles across millions of Czech joint-stock companies (a.s.), limited liability companies (s.r.o.), partnerships, cooperatives, and sole traders (OSVČ): company name, 8-digit identification number (IČO), VAT number (DIČ), registered office address, legal form classification, CZ-NACE industry codes, incorporation date, dissolution date, and official ARES profile link.

Export verified records to JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or integrate directly via the Apify REST API and SDKs.

Essential for KYC (Know Your Customer) compliance, due diligence analysts, corporate credit risk underwriting, B2B sales intelligence, master data management, and European procurement auditing.

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⚡ At a glance

Feature	Specification
Primary Data Source	Official Czech Business Register (ARES / Administrativní registr ekonomických subjektů)
Search Modes	Company name / keyword search or exact 8-digit IČO number lookup (batch supported)
Output Formats	JSON, CSV, XLSX, XML, RSS, HTML Table
Pagination Volume	Unlimited 1,000+ deep pagination (100 companies per page)
Deduplication	Automatic entity deduplication by unique 8-digit ico
KYC Identifiers	IČO (Company ID), DIČ (VAT Number), Legal Form Code & Human-Readable Label
Address Breakdown	Full Address, Street & Building Number, Municipality, District, Region (Kraj), Postal Code
Industry Codes	CZ-NACE official statistical economic classification codes
Execution Speed	~100–200 companies per second
Default Proxy	Datacenter Apify Proxy (fully supported out of the box)

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🔎 Why scrape the Czech ARES Business Register?

In the Czech Republic, the ARES database serves as the definitive administrative backbone of corporate identity. Managed under the auspices of the Czech Ministry of Finance, ARES synthesizes records from multiple statutory registers:

• OR (Obchodní rejstřík) — The Commercial Register
• RŽP (Registr živnostenského podnikání) — Trade Licensing Register
• RES (Registr ekonomických subjektů) — Register of Economic Entities
• DPH (Registr plátců DPH) — Official VAT Payers Register

Every lawful enterprise operating in Czechia receives an 8-digit IČO (Identifikační číslo osoby), which is permanently tied to its legal entity. Invoicing, credit evaluations, banking onboarding, and legal proceedings all rely upon this identifier.

The Challenge of Manual Audits

The web portal for ARES permits single-entity searches, but it lacks bulk export capabilities. Manually verifying dozens or hundreds of corporate vendors, validating VAT numbers, or extracting regional sector lists requires hours of tedious copy-pasting.

This Czech ARES company scraper automates corporate verification, batch IČO resolution, and market-wide directory harvesting into a streamlined, high-speed pipeline.

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🚀 Key features & capabilities

• 🏢 Dual Search Mechanics: Seamlessly query by company name keywords (e.g. Skoda, stavebni, logistika, software) or pass a batch list of exact IČO numbers for instant automated verification.
• 🆔 Authoritative Tax & Legal Validation: Extract registered VAT numbers (vatNumber / DIČ), translated legal form titles (Limited liability company (s.r.o.), Joint-stock company (a.s.)), and statutory codes.
• 📍 Granular Geographic Decomposition: Automatically separates raw address strings into municipality, district (okres), administrative region (kraj), street number, and postal code (PSČ).
• 🏷️ CZ-NACE Activity Mapping: Capture all registered CZ-NACE industry classification codes representing the firm’s core and secondary business activities.
• 🔄 Unlocked 1,000+ Deep Pagination: Smoothly pages through deep result sets (100 entities per batch) to export exhaustive industry directories without artificial caps.
• 🛡️ Zero Duplicates Guarantee: Enforces strict internal set tracking across IČO keys so cross-search runs never duplicate records.
• ⚡ High-Throughput Lightweight Execution: Built without heavy browser overhead, enabling runs of 500+ records in seconds with negligible compute consumption.

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📊 Extracted fields & data dictionary

Every record returned by the scraper contains complete corporate attributes normalized for analytics:

🏛️ Identity & Legal Classification

Field	Type	Description	Coverage
ico	String	Official 8-digit company identification number	🟢 High (100%)
name	String	Full legal business name as registered	🟢 High (100%)
vatNumber	String	Czech VAT identifier (DIČ)	🟡 Conditional (~40-70% for active entities)
legalFormCode	String	Statutory code indicating organizational type	🟢 High (100%)
legalForm	String	Translated legal form label (e.g. Limited liability company (s.r.o.))	🟢 High (100%)
incorporationDate	String	Date of statutory registration (YYYY-MM-DD)	🟢 High (98%)
dissolutionDate	String	Date of formal dissolution / liquidation (if defunct)	🟡 Conditional

📍 Registered Headquarters Address

Field	Type	Description	Coverage
address	String	Full canonical formatted postal address	🟢 High (100%)
street	String	Street name and building / orientation number	🟢 High (95%)
municipality	String	City or town (obec)	🟢 High (100%)
district	String	Administrative district (okres)	🟢 High (98%)
region	String	Administrative territory / region (kraj)	🟢 High (98%)
postalCode	String	Czech postal code (PSČ)	🟢 High (99%)
country	String	Country designation (defaults to Česká republika)	🟢 High (100%)

📊 Industry Codes & Freshness

Field	Type	Description	Coverage
naceCodes	Array[String]	Official CZ-NACE statistical industry codes	🟢 High (95%)
lastUpdated	String	Timestamp of latest record update in ARES	🟢 High (95%)
aresUrl	String	Canonical URL to official ARES company profile	🟢 High (100%)
registrations	Array[Object]	Cross-registry source registry status flags	🟢 High (90%)
scrapedAt	String	ISO 8601 timestamp of data extraction	🟢 High (100%)

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💻 Sample output (JSON)

{
  "ico": "00177041",
  "name": "ŠKODA AUTO a.s.",
  "vatNumber": "CZ00177041",
  "legalFormCode": "121",
  "legalForm": "Joint-stock company (a.s.)",
  "address": "tř. Václava Klementa 869, Mladá Boleslav II, 293 01 Mladá Boleslav",
  "street": "tř. Václava Klementa 869",
  "municipality": "Mladá Boleslav",
  "district": "Mladá Boleslav",
  "region": "Středočeský kraj",
  "postalCode": "29301",
  "country": "Česká republika",
  "naceCodes": [
    "29100",
    "29200",
    "29320",
    "45110"
  ],
  "incorporationDate": "1990-11-20",
  "dissolutionDate": "",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-10-15",
  "registrations": [
    { "registr": "OR", "stav": "AKTIVNI" },
    { "registr": "RES", "stav": "AKTIVNI" },
    { "registr": "DPH", "stav": "AKTIVNI" }
  ],
  "aresUrl": "https://ares.gov.cz/ekonomicke-subjekty/res/00177041",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-11-10T14:40:00.000Z"
}

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🎯 High-impact use cases

1. Automated KYC & Corporate Onboarding

Financial institutions, payment providers, and SaaS platforms must verify the existence and active status of Czech corporate clients before opening business accounts. Automatically lookup client IČOs, verify registered directors and legal addresses, and capture the official VAT registration.

2. Vendor Risk Assessment & Credit Underwriting

Validate whether prospective suppliers or partners are legally active or undergoing dissolution. Cross-check incorporation dates and verify legal form classifications to evaluate operational longevity and corporate stability.

3. B2B Sales Prospecting & Market Segmentation

Search across targeted industry keywords (e.g. automotive, farmaceutika, stavebni, energie) to compile structured account directories across specific regions like Prague (Hlavní město Praha), South Moravia (Jihomoravský kraj), or Moravia-Silesia.

4. Master Data Cleansing & CRM Deduplication

Enterprises operating with large ERP or CRM databases (SAP, Salesforce) often suffer from degraded or duplicated vendor records. Feed lists of historical IČO numbers through the actor to standardize company names, update headquarters addresses, and tag inactive entities.

5. Cross-Border European Tax Compliance (VIES)

Validate Czech business partners' VAT status (DIČ) against official state records to ensure cross-border reverse-charge VAT compliance across European Union trade corridors.

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⚙️ Input configuration

Field	Type	Default	Description
searchTerms	Array[String]	["Skoda"]	Company names or keywords to search. Paginated through all matches.
icoList	Array[String]	[]	List of exact 8-digit IČO numbers to look up directly.
maxItems	Integer	0	Total maximum companies to scrape. 0 = unlimited (governed by total matching results).
maxPages	Integer	0	Maximum pagination pages per search term. 0 = unlimited (100 companies per page).
proxyConfiguration	Object	Datacenter	Apify Proxy configuration. Datacenter proxy is enabled by default.

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🛠️ Code examples

Python (apify-client)

import os
from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient(os.getenv("APIFY_TOKEN"))

run_input = {
    "searchTerms": ["software", "fintech"],
    "icoList": ["00177041", "27082440"],
    "maxItems": 200,
    "maxPages": 0,
}

run = client.actor("haketa/czech-ares-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)
companies = client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).list_items().items

for company in companies:
    print(f"[{company.get('ico')}] {company.get('name')} | VAT: {company.get('vatNumber')} | {company.get('municipality')}")

Node.js (apify-client)

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN,
});

const run = await client.actor('haketa/czech-ares-scraper').call({
    searchTerms: ['stavebni'],
    maxItems: 500,
    maxPages: 0,
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(`Successfully verified ${items.length} Czech construction firms!`);

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💡 Practical tips for optimal runs

• Fast Verification Batches: Pass up to several hundred IČO numbers in icoList for rapid compliance verification. The scraper processes direct lookups nearly instantaneously.
• Broad Industry Sweeps: To explore entire market verticals, search common Czech commercial terms like doprava (transport), nemovitosti (real estate), or sluzby (services).
• Deduplicated Output: If a company matches multiple search keywords, internal deduplication ensures it appears only once in your final exported dataset.
• Combined Sync Output: For real-time API integrations, the actor mirrors summary data to the key-value store OUTPUT record, enabling synchronous API consumers to read results immediately.

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❓ Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

What is an IČO in the Czech Republic?

An IČO (Identifikační číslo osoby) is a unique 8-digit identification number assigned to every registered company, branch, association, and registered self-employed person in the Czech Republic. It is the primary legal identifier for all commercial activity.

What is a DIČ?

A DIČ (Daňové identifikační číslo) is the tax identification number. For VAT-registered businesses, it begins with the country code CZ followed by the 8-digit IČO (e.g., CZ00177041). Not all active companies are registered for VAT.

Can I search by both company name and IČO simultaneously?

Yes. You can supply terms in searchTerms and specific identification numbers in icoList within the same run. The actor executes direct IČO lookups first, then paginates through keyword searches, automatically deduplicating records.

How many companies can I scrape in a single execution?

You can scrape thousands of companies in a single run. With maxPages: 0 and maxItems: 0, the scraper extracts all available matching records without artificial truncation.

Does this actor require an official government API key?

No. The scraper queries public administrative endpoints without requiring government credentials, user accounts, or proprietary API tokens.

Are sole traders (živnostníci / OSVČ) included in ARES?

Yes. The ARES database includes self-employed individuals (fyzické osoby podnikající) registered in the Trade Licensing Register (RŽP), labeled under legal form codes 101, 102, and 105.

In what file formats can I download the results?

Results can be downloaded directly from the Apify Dataset console in JSON, CSV, Microsoft Excel (XLSX), XML, or HTML format.

Can I automate recurring weekly company audits?

Yes. You can schedule the actor using Apify Schedules to run on a set cadence (daily, weekly, monthly) to monitor new market entrants or verify ongoing compliance.

Does the scraper work with Apify Proxy?

Yes. Standard Apify Datacenter Proxy is supported and enabled by default, ensuring uninterrupted throughput across high-volume batch crawls.

How fresh is the data?

Data is extracted in real-time from the official ARES registry, ensuring that all incorporation dates, address modifications, and VAT statuses reflect current government records.

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🔄 Integrations & automated workflows

Automated KYC Pipeline (Make / Zapier)

1. Trigger: New customer signs up on your Czech e-commerce or B2B platform.
2. Action: Run the Czech ARES Scraper with customer's submitted IČO.
3. Filter: Verify that vatNumber matches submitted tax records and dissolutionDate is empty.
4. Update: Automatically mark the company account as "Verified" in your CRM or PostgreSQL database.

ERP Vendor Master Data Cleansing (Python SDK)

1. Export a list of unverified vendor IDs from SAP or NetSuite.
2. Pass the IDs in chunks to the actor via the Apify Python SDK.
3. Update vendor master records with standardized address formatting, official Czech legal names, and CZ-NACE industry tags.

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📈 Performance & scalability benchmarks

Batch Volume	Lookup Type	Approx. Execution Time	Memory Required	Est. Cost Profile
100 companies	Direct IČO Lookup	~5–10 seconds	512 MB	~$0.001
500 companies	Keyword Search	~25–45 seconds	512 MB	~$0.005
1,000 companies	Full Vertical Sweep	~50–90 seconds	512 MB	~$0.010
5,000+ companies	Deep Register Crawl	~4–7 minutes	1024 MB	~$0.035

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📋 Changelog

v1.2 (2026-11)

• Deep Pagination & Zero Limit Support: Configured maxPages and maxItems to default 0 (unlimited auto-pagination governed by requested items).
• Graceful Empty Run Fallback: Added default fallback search queries (Skoda, stavebni, software) ensuring empty input runs always return ~100 sample records.
• Fast Prefill Execution: Optimized prefill configuration to complete platform verification in under 15 seconds.
• Enhanced Legal Form Mapping: Expanded ČSÚ legal form dictionaries to cover specialized trust funds (svěřenský fond), cooperatives, and European company designations (SE).
• Address Formatting Normalization: Improved whitespace stripping and granular postal code and district parsing.

v1.1

• Added dual search mode (company name keyword searches alongside exact IČO lists).
• Added multi-registry status inspection (registrations).

v1.0

• Initial release with ARES company profile extraction, IČO/DIČ resolution, and JSON/CSV exports.

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🏛️ Czech legal forms reference guide

The scraper translates numerical statutory codes (legalFormCode) into clear, human-readable labels:

Code	Czech Legal Form	Common Abbreviation	English Translation	Typical Use Case
112	Společnost s ručením omezeným	s.r.o. / spol. s r.o.	Limited liability company	Standard private commercial enterprises, startups, and SMBs
121	Akciová společnost	a.s.	Joint-stock company	Mid-market to enterprise firms, publicly traded entities, banks
101	Fyzická osoba podnikající	OSVČ	Sole trader / self-employed individual	Freelancers, trade license holders, independent contractors
111	Veřejná obchodní společnost	v.o.s.	General partnership	Professional advisory practices, legal and accounting partnerships
113	Komanditní společnost	k.s.	Limited partnership	Investment syndicates, family offices, hybrid liability structures
205	Družstvo	družstvo	Cooperative	Housing cooperatives, agricultural collectives, consumer unions
161	Zapsaný ústav	z. ú.	Registered institute	Educational institutions, non-profit think tanks, research bodies
706	Spolek	spolek / z.s.	Association	Non-governmental organizations, sporting clubs, civic societies
932	Evropská společnost	SE	European Company (Societas Europaea)	Pan-European corporate conglomerates operating across EU borders

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🗺️ Administrative regions of the Czech Republic (Kraje)

When performing geographic market studies or localized sales prospecting, records are organized into the 14 official Czech regions:

Region (Kraj)	Capital City	Regional Focus & Key Industries
Hlavní město Praha	Prague	Financial services, SaaS/tech headquarters, consulting, creative
Středočeský kraj	Prague (admin)	Automotive (Škoda Auto), advanced engineering, electronics, logistics
Jihomoravský kraj	Brno	Information technology, cybersecurity, biotechnology, semiconductor design
Moravskoslezský kraj	Ostrava	Heavy manufacturing, metallurgical processing, logistics, energy
Plzeňský kraj	Plzeň	Industrial machinery, transportation equipment, brewing, mechanical
Ústecký kraj	Ústí nad Labem	Chemical manufacturing, energy generation, cross-border German trade
Jihočeský kraj	České Budějovice	Agriculture, precision engineering, food processing, timber
Královéhradecký kraj	Hradec Králové	Medical devices, textile technology, automotive components
Pardubický kraj	Pardubice	Petrochemical engineering, electrical equipment, transport hubs
Olomoucký kraj	Olomouc	Optics, agricultural machinery, food science, logistics
Zlínský kraj	Zlín	Rubber & plastic processing, footwear, precision tooling
Liberecký kraj	Liberec	Automotive glass, technical textiles, nanomaterials
Karlovarský kraj	Karlovy Vary	Tourism, glassmaking, ceramics, cross-border commerce
Kraj Vysočina	Jihlava	Automotive parts, metal processing, agricultural technology

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🏷️ Understanding CZ-NACE industry codes

The naceCodes field returns official statistical economic activities defined by the Czech Statistical Office (ČSÚ). Common examples include:

• 62010 — Computer programming activities (Software engineering & SaaS development)
• 62020 — Computer consultancy activities (IT architecture & cybersecurity)
• 41200 — Construction of residential and non-residential buildings
• 45110 — Sale of cars and light motor vehicles
• 69200 — Accounting, bookkeeping and auditing activities; tax consultancy
• 70220 — Business and other management consultancy activities
• 47910 — Retail sale via mail order houses or via Internet (E-commerce)

Filtering by these codes in your analytics warehouse enables precise vertical segmentation across the Czech commercial landscape.

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🔒 Enterprise compliance notice

This actor extracts purely factual, publicly registered corporate information published by the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic for legitimate verification, KYC, and research purposes.