A foreign buyer or lender assessing a Polish counterparty or collateral asset faces a layered verification task. The director's identity, the company's ownership chain, registered encumbrances, and insolvency status each live in separate Polish registers. This page maps those registers, states what each one shows, names the access conditions, and specifies where the chain stops.
- Companies register (KRS)
- Directors, shareholders, share capital, registered address, filing history. Source: Krajowy Rejestr Sądowy · free, no login · verified June 2026
- Beneficial ownership (CRBR)
- Ultimate beneficial owners by name, PESEL, and ownership percentage. Source: Centralny Rejestr Beneficjentów Rzeczywistych · free, no login · verified June 2026
- Registered pledges (Rejestr Zastawów)
- Pledges registered over movable assets and rights. Certificate DW-1 (pledgor) 20 PLN; DW-2 (subject) 20 PLN; certified extract DW-4 15 PLN. Source: Centralna Informacja, Ministry of Justice · verified June 2026
- Tax pledges (Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych)
- Pledges arising from unpaid tax liabilities. Search free; certified statement 50 PLN via e-Urząd Skarbowy. Source: Ministry of Finance · verified June 2026
- Insolvency register (KRZ)
- Restructuring and bankruptcy proceedings opened after 1 December 2021. Free, no login. Source: krz.ms.gov.pl · verified June 2026
What the registers show about directors and owners
The KRS (Krajowy Rejestr Sądowy) is the central companies register maintained by the Ministry of Justice. It is publicly accessible at no charge and requires no registration. A KRS entry lists current and historical directors, their authority to represent the company, the composition of the supervisory board where one exists, share capital, and the identity of shareholders holding registered shares. For a limited liability company (spółka z ograniczoną odpowiedzialnością), all shareholders are listed by name with their share count and nominal value.
The CRBR (Centralny Rejestr Beneficjentów Rzeczywistych) sits one layer above the KRS. It is the Polish beneficial ownership register, open to the public without login or fee. Entities subject to the Anti-Money Laundering Act are obliged to disclose the natural persons who ultimately own or control them, together with their PESEL numbers and the nature and extent of their interest. The register is searchable by company name, KRS number, or NIP.
A certified extract from the KRS (odpis) costs approximately 30–60 PLN. It carries a court seal and is the document accepted by notaries and foreign institutions that require authenticated Polish registry output.
Encumbrances: two pledge registers, not one
Poland operates two separate pledge systems. A collateral review that checks only one of them is incomplete.
The Rejestr Zastawów, administered by the Ministry of Justice through Centralna Informacja, records contractual pledges over movable property and assignable rights. To check a pledgor, a DW-1 certificate is required (20 PLN). To check a specific asset, a DW-2 certificate is required (20 PLN). A certified full extract (DW-4) costs 15 PLN. Searches are submitted through the Centralna Informacja portal; results are issued as official documents bearing a registration number.
The Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych, administered by the Ministry of Finance, records pledges that arise automatically when a taxpayer fails to pay taxes, customs duties, or social contributions above the statutory threshold. Subject-based searches are free. A certified statement (wypis/zaświadczenie) costs 50 PLN and is obtained through e-Urząd Skarbowy. A tax pledge ranks above most contractual claims in enforcement, making this register material for any collateral assessment.
| Register | Administrator | Covers | Search cost | Certificate cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rejestr Zastawów | Ministry of Justice | Contractual pledges over movables and rights | Free (portal search) | DW-1/DW-2: 20 PLN each; DW-4: 15 PLN |
| Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych | Ministry of Finance | Tax-origin pledges (unpaid liabilities above threshold) | Free (subject search) | 50 PLN via e-Urząd Skarbowy |
Insolvency and restructuring status
The KRZ (Krajowy Rejestr Zadłużonych) at krz.ms.gov.pl is the current insolvency and restructuring register. It is public, free, and requires no login. Searches run by PESEL, NIP, KRS number, or case signature. The register covers all proceedings opened on or after 1 December 2021: consumer bankruptcy, business bankruptcy, restructuring under the Restructuring Law, and debt relief proceedings.
Before December 2021, insolvency announcements were published in the Monitor Sądowy i Gospodarczy (MSiG). The MSiG archive is searchable at wyszukiwarka-msig.ms.gov.pl, free of charge, back to 1996. From December 2021, bankruptcy and restructuring notices moved to KRZ; MSiG now covers other mandatory announcements. A complete insolvency check requires both systems.
VAT status and bank accounts: the White List
The Biała lista (White List) is maintained by the Head of the National Revenue Administration (Szef KAS) at podatki.gov.pl. It is free and requires no login. For each registered entity it shows: current VAT status, registered business address and NIP, all bank account numbers declared to the tax authority, and the dates and reasons for any deregistration, exclusion, or reinstatement.
The White List can be checked against any past date, which allows verification of VAT status at the time of a historical transaction. A payment made to a bank account not listed on the White List exposes the payer to joint-and-several liability for the counterparty's VAT shortfall. For collateral purposes, the declared bank accounts are also a signal of the entity's active banking relationships.
Real property: the access barrier
The land and mortgage register (Elektroniczne Księgi Wieczyste, EKW) is accessible online at no charge. However, it can only be searched by the KW number (numer księgi wieczystej). A name-based or NIP-based search of the EKW is not available to private parties.
The path to the KW number runs through the land and buildings cadastre (ewidencja gruntów i budynków), held by county (powiat) or city offices. That cadastre is not centrally searchable online. Obtaining the KW number for a property held by a named entity requires either a direct approach to the relevant cadastral office or access to notarial documentation from a prior transaction. Once the KW number is known, the EKW entry shows ownership, mortgage encumbrances, and any other entries in full, at no charge.
Vehicle and equipment: the three-key barrier
Vehicle history in Poland is available at historiapojazdu.gov.pl without fee or login. However, three data points must be supplied simultaneously: registration number, VIN, and date of first registration. The date of first registration appears only on the vehicle registration document (dowód rejestracyjny), which is held by the current owner. This three-key requirement is a deliberate barrier against bulk verification.
The system does not disclose the owner's name. It shows the count of previous registered owners and selected technical and administrative events. For a vehicle imported into Poland, the history begins from the date of Polish registration; prior foreign history is not shown.
Official gazette: MSiG and the pre-2021 archive
The Monitor Sądowy i Gospodarczy (MSiG) remains the official gazette for mandatory company announcements not covered by KRZ. The search interface at wyszukiwarka-msig.ms.gov.pl is free. Searches run by entity name, KRS or NIP number, text fragment, case signature, announcement type, and date range. Issues are published as PDFs; no structured data export is available. The archive runs from 1996.
The limit of what the sources allow
The registers described above are authoritative within their scope. Each has a defined boundary, and those boundaries matter for collateral assessment.
The KRZ covers insolvency proceedings from 1 December 2021. A clean KRZ result does not confirm the absence of proceedings opened before that date. The MSiG archive must be checked in parallel for the pre-2021 period. Even combined, neither system captures proceedings that were filed but not yet published at the time of the search.
The CRBR discloses what the reporting entity has declared. The register does not independently verify those declarations against the actual ownership structure. Discrepancies between CRBR entries and KRS shareholder lists are a known occurrence and are themselves a finding.
The EKW shows encumbrances registered against a known KW number. It does not show whether a property exists unless the KW number is already known. A subject holding real property through a nominee or through a structure not yet reflected in the register will not appear in an EKW search initiated from the entity's name alone.
The Rejestr Zastawów covers pledges registered under the Law on Registered Pledges and the Pledge Register. It does not cover financial collateral arrangements, certain statutory liens, or enforcement measures recorded elsewhere. The Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych covers only tax-origin pledges; it does not cover ZUS (social security) enforcement liens, which are recorded through a separate administrative path.
Vehicle history begins at Polish registration. Prior ownership, damage history, and encumbrances from foreign jurisdictions are outside the scope of CEPiK.
Where the sources disagree
The most common discrepancy encountered in practice is between the CRBR beneficial ownership declaration and the KRS shareholder list. A company may have updated its KRS entry following a share transfer but not yet updated its CRBR filing, or vice versa. Under Polish AML law, CRBR updates are due within seven days of a triggering event. A gap between the two registers does not resolve itself; it requires document-level investigation.
A second recurring discrepancy is between the financial statements filed in the Repozytorium Dokumentów Finansowych and the entity's KRS registration data. Entities that have changed their registered address, changed their core business activity, or undergone a capital restructuring may show inconsistent data across these two sources. The Repozytorium reflects what the entity filed with the court; it does not reflect corrections made only at the KRS level.
What is included at each tier
| Tier | Price (EUR) | Included | Not included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Signal | 710 | KRS extract (current and historical directors, shareholders, share capital, registered address); CRBR beneficial ownership check; KRZ insolvency search; MSiG pre-2021 insolvency search; White List VAT status and declared bank accounts; written summary in English with source dates | Pledge register certificates (Rejestr Zastawów, Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych); real property search; financial statements review; vehicle/equipment check; discrepancy analysis across sources |
| Standard | 1 500 | Everything in Signal; DW-1 and DW-2 certificates from Rejestr Zastawów (pledgor and up to two named assets); Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych certified statement; financial statements from Repozytorium (last two filed years); cross-source discrepancy table; English-language report with register excerpts as annexes | Real property KW search (requires KW number not derivable from entity name alone); vehicle history (requires registration number, VIN, and first registration date); legal qualification of findings; enforcement priority analysis |
| Extended | 3 400 | Everything in Standard; real property search including cadastral path to KW number for up to two identified properties; vehicle/equipment history for up to three identified vehicles; DW-4 certified extracts from Rejestr Zastawów; financial statements review for last three filed years with ratio summary; full cross-source reconciliation; English-language report with all source documents as certified annexes | Legal advice or legal qualification of findings; enforcement proceedings; representation before Polish courts or authorities; ZUS enforcement lien search (separate administrative process, available on request as add-on) |
Several registers used in this report are public and free of charge: the KRS, CRBR, KRZ, MSiG archive, White List, and EKW. The fee covers the removed path: identifying the correct national identifiers (KRS, NIP, PESEL, KW number) for a foreign requester, navigating Polish-language interfaces, obtaining certified documents where required, cross-referencing multiple registers, and producing a structured English-language output with source citations and a stated knowledge ceiling.
Frequently asked questions
Does a clean KRZ result mean the company has never been insolvent?
No. The KRZ covers proceedings opened from 1 December 2021. Proceedings before that date were published in the MSiG. A complete insolvency check requires both registers. Even then, a proceeding filed but not yet published at the search date will not appear in either system.
Is the CRBR disclosure of beneficial owners reliable?
The CRBR reflects what the reporting entity has declared under the AML Act. The register does not verify those declarations independently. Where the CRBR entry and the KRS shareholder list differ, the discrepancy is a finding in itself and requires document-level investigation to resolve.
Can real property held by a Polish company be checked by name?
Not directly. The EKW (land and mortgage register) is searchable only by KW number. The KW number must first be obtained from the cadastral office (ewidencja gruntów i budynków) or from transaction documents. The Extended tier includes the cadastral path to the KW number for up to two identified properties.
Are tax pledges more senior than contractual pledges?
Tax pledges registered in the Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych rank above most contractual claims in Polish enforcement proceedings. A collateral review that omits the Ministry of Finance register may materially misstate the effective priority of a contractual pledge. This report checks both registers from Signal tier onward.
What language are the source documents in?
All Polish registers issue documents in Polish. The report summary is in English. Certified register extracts (odpisy, zaświadczenia) are attached as annexes in their original Polish form. The Standard and Extended tiers include a translation of material entries.
Disclaimer: This report is a factual compilation from official registers and public sources. It is provided for informational purposes only, does not constitute legal advice, and contains no legal qualification of the facts established. KORDECKI & Partners assumes no liability for actions taken or not taken based on this material. For advice regarding your particular situation, please contact info@kordeckipartners.com.