Guide

Business information in Belgium: what to look for

To screen a client, supplier or acquisition target in Belgium you can choose between classic bureaus, modern annual-accounts tools and free publication monitors. The source is the same for everyone — KBO, Belgisch Staatsblad, NBB. The difference is what a service does with it. This is the checklist we would use ourselves.

1. How fast does the Staatsblad reach your dossier?

A bankruptcy or reorganisation is public from the moment of publication. Ask every provider how long it takes to reach the dossier: hours versus days is a material difference when you invoice or deliver daily.

Checked Belgisch Staatsblad publications are processed within hours; the home page shows the latest processing run live.

2. Readable events or raw deeds?

A Staatsblad deed is raw legal text. Free monitors show it as bare line items; many services only give a reference. Check whether you get a readable sentence — what happened, at which court, on which date — without deciphering the deed yourself.

Checked Every publication is converted into a structured plain-language event with court, date and procedure. More than 221,000 company acts are structured this way.

3. How early do you see trouble coming?

By the time a bankruptcy is pronounced, a creditor is often too late. Ask which signals a service shows before that judgment: interim administrators, early measures under the Code of Economic Law, overdue filings.

Checked Interim administration and other early WER measures appear as a distinct signal category in the dossier — the earliest public signal that something is wrong, well before a bankruptcy judgment.

4. Is your lookup volume capped?

Read the small print: many services cap the number of lookups per week — sometimes even on paid plans — or charge per dossier viewed. If you screen daily, that cap defines your real cost.

Checked Search and dossier views are unlimited on every plan — free included, no account needed. Paying is about monitoring, alerts and depth, not about viewing.

5. How deep does the network go?

Assessing one company without seeing its directors and related companies is half the job. Check whether you get the network and from which plan: some services hide the network map behind the most expensive subscription or a demo request.

Checked More than 404,000 director mandates are mapped; the first degree of every network — who directs, where else — is visible for free.

6. Which data layers does nobody else have?

The base registers are the same for everyone; the distinction is in the extra layers. Ask what a service adds beyond KBO, Staatsblad and NBB — and whether that addition is verifiably sourced from official registers.

Checked The cadastral real-estate footprint — parcels and buildings linked to 1.77 million companies — is a layer you won't find elsewhere.

7. What does the model really cost?

Don't compare monthly prices with annual contracts. Work out what a year of normal use costs, caps included: a cheaper subscription with a weekly ceiling can end up costlier than a higher-priced plan without one.

Checked Free plan with no view limit; paid plans from €19 per month, cancellable monthly, prices ex-VAT. The full comparison is on the pricing page.

Frequently asked questions

What is business information?

Business information bundles public data on companies — identity, annual accounts, Belgisch Staatsblad publications and insolvency signals — so you can assess the risk of a client, supplier or partner before doing business.

What should you look for when choosing a business-information service?

Four things make the difference: how fast official publications are processed (hours or days), whether you get readable events instead of raw deeds, how early distress signals become visible, and whether your lookup volume is capped or metered.

What does business information cost in Belgium?

Classic bureaus typically work with annual contracts of several hundred euros, often with lookup quotas. More modern tools start around a few tens of euros per month. Checked has a free plan with no view limit; paid plans start at €19 per month, cancellable monthly.

The simplest test: open a dossier

Look up a company you know and judge for yourself — free, no account, no limit. What you can see for free is detailed here.

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