Swiss CH-ID Validator
Online validator for Swiss Commercial Register Numbers (OFRC / EHRA - Handelsregisternummer).
About the Commercial Register Number (CH-ID)
The CH-ID is the historical identifier for Swiss commercial registry entities, managed by the Federal Commercial Registry Office (EHRA/OFRC) alongside the 26 cantonal registries.
Since 2014, the primary federal business identifier is the UID (CHE-xxx.xxx.xxx), though the CH-ID remains valid for searches and historical audit in the central Zefix portal.
Anatomy & Structure of Swiss CH-ID
The classical cantonal CH-ID is structured in the format CH-aaa.b.ccc.ddd-e:
| Position | Field | Length | Meaning & Rule | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 3 | National Prefix | 3 characters | Country code for the Swiss Confederation with hyphen ("CH-") | CH- |
| 4 to 6 | Canton Office Code | 3 digits | Code of the cantonal commercial register office (e.g., 020 = Zurich, 170 = Zug, 660 = Geneva) | 020 |
| 7 | Legal Form | 1 digit | Corporate entity type (e.g., 3 = Corporation AG/SA, 4 = LLC GmbH/Sàrl) | 3 |
| 8 to 13 | Cantonal Serial | 6 digits | Chronological registration order number in the canton (grouped 3 + 3 digits) | 901.292 |
| 14 | Check Digit | 1 digit | Cantonal check and control suffix digit after the hyphen | 2 |
Official Regulation (ORC / HRegV - OFRC)
Standard defined by the Commercial Register Ordinance (SR 221.411):
CH-[Canton 3d].[Form 1d].[Serial 6d]-[Control 1d]
- 1. Select the official 3-digit registry code of one of the 26 Swiss cantons.
- 2. Set the legal form digit between 1 and 9 according to ORC classifications.
- 3. Generate a 6-digit chronological sequential entry number in the cantonal registry.
- 4. Append the numerical control suffix and format as CH-aaa.b.ccc.ddd-e.