Recital 26

(26) In order to tackle fraud and abuse, Member States should be allowed to refuse to accept as evidence company information or documents from the register of another Member State, where the competent authority has reasonable grounds to suspect fraud or abuse in relation to that company’s formation or continued existence or to other information about that company. However, such a possibility should not be interpreted as implying a general mutual recognition principle in relation to all documents and information stored in national business registers. In cases of suspicion of fraud or abuse, the competent authority should, as a first step, consult the register which provided the information or issued the documents in order to request its opinion. The company information or documents from a register in another Member State should not be rejected systematically, but only exceptionally, on a case-by-case basis, where justified by reasons of public interest in order to prevent fraud or abuse. If the information or documents provided are rejected, the competent authority should inform the register which provided the information or the documents, for instance through the relevant contact point as provided for in this Directive. Member States should ensure that different approaches between Member States as to how to carry out preventive control, or differences in Member States’ legal systems and legal traditions, do not serve as grounds for refusal.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-10-14 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.