Reviewed 2 November 2026.
A company search in Mexico starts at the Registro Público de Comercio (RPC, the Public Registry of Commerce), the country's corporate registry, where every commercial company must register under Article 19 of the Código de Comercio (Commercial Code). The Secretaría de Economía (the federal Ministry of Economy) operates it through registry offices in each state, on a single national system called SIGER 2.0 (Sistema Integral de Gestión Registral, the integrated registry management system) in which each company has one electronic file, the folio mercantil electrónico (electronic commercial folio). Anyone can open a public account and search it online by folio number, legal name or a partner's name.
The search returns the folio's carátula (cover sheet) and the pre-coded forms for its acts, not the founding deed, which stays with the notary. Certificates and certified copies are ordered through the same system at fees set by the state where the folio sits, and part of an older company's history may exist only in that state office's books. This guide covers the mechanics of the search, the first step of any due diligence in Mexico on a company.
Start with the exact legal name
The registry indexes companies by denominación o razón social (legal name), which the founding deed must state under Article 6 of the Ley General de Sociedades Mercantiles (General Law of Commercial Companies). The legal name carries the company type. S.A. is the sociedad anónima (stock corporation) under Article 88, and S. de R.L. is the sociedad de responsabilidad limitada (limited liability company) under Article 59. "De C.V." stands for "de capital variable," the variable capital form that Article 1 allows.
An S.A.P.I. has adopted the investment promotion form under Article 12 of the Ley del Mercado de Valores (Securities Market Law), which adds "Promotora de Inversión" or "P.I." to the name, and a listed company adds "Bursátil" or "B" under Article 22, hence S.A.B. The S.A.S. is covered below.
The legal name may differ from the name on the door. A nombre comercial (trade name) identifies a business or an establishment, and publishing trade names is a function of the Instituto Mexicano de la Propiedad Industrial (IMPI, the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property) under the Ley Federal de Protección a la Propiedad Industrial (Federal Law for the Protection of Industrial Property).
Take the exact legal name from a document the company issued. An electronic invoice, the CFDI, must show the issuer's key in the Registro Federal de Contribuyentes (RFC, the federal taxpayer registry), as the Servicio de Administración Tributaria (SAT, the tax administration) sets out. The RFC is not a search key in SIGER 2.0, whose public search takes the folio number, the legal name, a partner's name or the registry office. Search the distinctive words of the name first, then the full name with its type.
One national registry, run through the states
Article 18 of the Código de Comercio places the registry's operation with the Secretaría de Economía and provides for offices in each state, where the state property registry authorities provide the service under coordination agreements. Article 20 requires a computer program for capturing, storing, consulting and transmitting registry information, and Article 21 provides for one electronic folio per merchant or company. The Secretaría's registry FAQ (updated 15 August 2023) defines the folio as the electronic file holding each registered unit's history, numbered automatically by SIGER at the first act, with later acts added to it.
The result is one national database with one folio per company, searchable across all offices or office by office. Registration follows the company's domicile, and the office that holds the folio issues the certificates on it. What varies is how complete the electronic file is for older companies.
The records are public. Article 30 of the Código de Comercio lets private parties consult the databases and request certifications on payment of the applicable fees. Article 21 of the Reglamento del Registro Público de Comercio (the registry regulations) states that registered acts are public and that anyone may consult them, and Article 22 requires the user to be fully identified.
How to search SIGER 2.0 and what comes back
The public account is opened at rpc.economia.gob.mx under "Registrar nuevo usuario." The Secretaría's manual for public users (updated 28 April 2023) describes a web form with mandatory fields, a password, acceptance of the terms of use and the privacy notice, and a captcha, with an activation link sent to the email address, which becomes the user name. It does not ask for an e.firma (the SAT's advanced electronic signature). Under the FAQ, searches run 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
The consultation screen requires at least one of four criteria: folio mercantil electrónico, legal name, partner's name or registry office. The results show the folio, the legal name and the registry office of each match. Continuing from a result opens the folio's carátula, and each pre-coded form on it can be downloaded as a PDF. Where the law of the state holding the folio charges for a consultation, SIGER displays the amount and the payment options. Payment follows that state's rules, and the user then enters the línea de captura (payment reference) in SIGER.
What comes back is data, not documents. The FAQ states that the registry works through formas precodificadas (pre-coded forms) and does not keep a copy of the instrument recording the act. What the entries cover and who can sign for the company are set out in our guide to how to verify a Mexican company, which also covers the tax checks. Ownership needs separate work, because the folio records the founding shareholders and not later share transfers, as our article on beneficial ownership in Mexico explains.
A recent act may not appear yet. Through the ordinary route the registrar has up to 10 business days to review a filing, according to the FAQ, while a notary using the immediate route registers the act on sending, under the notary's own responsibility. A folio with no recent entries shows that nothing was registered, which is not proof that nothing happened.
Certificates, certified copies, fees and timing
Certificates are ordered in SIGER under "Solicitudes" (requests) by choosing the state and the office, entering the folio, the requester and the number of copies, selecting the acts and paying. The manual lists four products. A certificado de gravamen (lien certificate) certifies the liens and annotations active on the folio, or their absence. A certificado de inscripción (certificate of registration) certifies that the folio is registered at the office receiving the request.
A certificado de no inscripción (certificate of non-registration) certifies that the office has no record of a company under the name given, so it speaks only for that office and that name. A copia certificada (certified copy) certifies the registration of the selected acts. Requests can be made at the office or through SIGER, and certifications can be literal or limited to specific contents (Articles 23 and 24 of the regulations).
There is no national fee schedule. The manual states that consultation and certification fees depend on the tax law of the state where the folio is registered and are paid under that state's rules. When checked on 2 November 2026, for example, the Instituto de la Función Registral del Estado de Oaxaca (the Oaxaca state registry institute) listed a lien certificate for a commercial company at 10 UMA, in person, with a response time of 10 business days and a validity of one month. The Unidad de Medida y Actualización (UMA), the peso reference unit Mexican laws use to set amounts payable, is worth MXN 117.31 a day from 1 February 2026, which puts the certificate at MXN 1,173.10.
The regulations set deadlines for reviewing filings but none for issuing certificates, so timing is the issuing office's. The online search is immediate. Order a certificate when the result has to be produced to someone else, such as a bank or a court.
Older companies and the paper record
Commercial acts registered before SIGER existed were usually kept in books or physical folios, according to the Secretaría's guide to the Acervo Histórico (historical archive) option. That option lets registry staff with an analyst role capture this information into SIGER, and a registrar signs it. The guide warns that the option has no validations and that historical entries must be captured as they appear, errors included.
For a company formed before its state office moved to SIGER, compare the folio with the company's own deed and amendments. If the folio begins years after incorporation, or shows only part of the history, the earlier entries are in the state office's books or physical folios. An entry that was never captured cannot be selected in a SIGER request, so reading or certifying it goes through the office itself.
The founding deed stays with the notary
The acta constitutiva (founding deed) is a notarial instrument for every company type except the S.A.S. Article 5 of the Ley General de Sociedades Mercantiles requires companies to be formed, and their amendments recorded, before a fedatario público (a notary or a corredor público, a commercial broker). The original stays in the notary's protocolo, which Mexico City's Ley del Notariado (notarial law), for example, defines as the set of public instruments in the notary's books or digital protocol. What circulates are testimonios (formal copies of the instrument) and certified copies issued by the notary, or by the Archivo General de Notarías (the notarial archive) once the protocol is deposited there.
Notarial law is state law, and access to the protocol is restricted. The request form of the Estado de México notarial archive, for example, requires the applicant to prove an interés jurídico (legal interest) under Article 133 of that state's notarial law. The registry does not fill the gap. It keeps the pre-coded forms and not the instrument, and its certified copy certifies that the selected acts were registered. The practical route is to ask the counterparty for copies of its deed, later amendments and current powers, and to check them against the folio.
The S.A.S., incorporated online
The sociedad por acciones simplificada (simplified stock company) can be formed without a notary. Articles 260 to 263 of the Ley General de Sociedades Mercantiles, added by the decree of 14 March 2016, provide that one or more individuals form it through an electronic system run by the Secretaría de Economía.
One shareholder must hold a name authorization, every shareholder needs a valid advanced electronic signature certificate, no public deed or other formality may be required, and a notary is optional. The Secretaría checks the contract and sends it electronically for registration in the RPC. Its manual for citizens (updated 15 August 2023) describes the procedure as free and online with the SAT's e.firma, and states that the system generates the RPC registration and the company's RFC.
For a searcher, the founding contract of an S.A.S. goes through the Secretaría's system, so there may be no notary to ask. The law also caps an S.A.S.'s total annual revenue at an amount updated every year, MXN 7,678,849.94 for 2026 under the update published on 26 December 2025, and an S.A.S. that exceeds it must transform into another company type. An S.A.S. counterparty invoicing more than that each year is a point to raise.
What a name authorization check proves
Anyone forming a company or changing its legal name must first obtain the Secretaría de Economía's authorization to use the name, through the Módulo Único de Autorizaciones (MUA, the single authorizations module), which requires a valid e.firma. Two functions need no login. A search of previously authorized names, offered for information purposes only, returns a single column of names. A validation function checks a CUD or file number to confirm the existence, authenticity and validity of authorizations and certificates, and under the MUA's FAQ it also covers the formation permits once granted by the Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores (the foreign ministry).
Under the regulations on name authorizations (published 14 September 2012, last amended 22 September 2016), the notary or public official involved gives an aviso de uso (notice of use) within 180 calendar days of the authorization, and an aviso de liberación (notice of release) within 30 calendar days of a liquidation, extinction or change of name, which releases the name. A match in the name search proves only that the name is on the Secretaría's list. It does not show that a company was formed under it, where that company is registered or whether it still exists.
Publications and security interests
The publications system (PSM)
The Sistema Electrónico de Publicaciones de Sociedades Mercantiles (PSM, the electronic system for corporate publications) carries the publications that commercial laws require, effective from the day after publication under Article 50 Bis of the Código de Comercio. They include calls to shareholder meetings, resolutions, balance sheets and financial statements, and the notices of entries in share and partner registers required by Articles 73 and 129 of the corporations law. Its user manual (updated 8 August 2023) states that anyone can consult it without logging in, by period, keyword, publication number or type of publication. What a share register notice discloses is covered in the beneficial ownership article linked above.
The security interests registry (RUG)
The Registro Único de Garantías Mobiliarias (RUG, the single registry of security interests over movable property) is a section of the RPC run online by the Secretaría de Economía. Under Article 32 Bis 1 of the Código de Comercio, security interests over movable assets must be registered there to take effect against third parties, and Article 32 Bis 3 keeps the registry in a national digital database.
The RUG's FAQ (updated 31 August 2023) states that anyone may open an account, consult it and request certifications, and that its operations are free. Its user manual lists six search criteria, including the grantor's name, RFC and electronic folio, and each result's certification downloads as a PDF. A search shows the security a counterparty has granted and registered over assets such as machinery, vehicles, inventory or receivables.
Directories, tax records and commercial databases
The Directorio Estadístico Nacional de Unidades Económicas (DENUE, the national statistical directory of business units), published by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI, the national statistics institute), is a statistical directory of establishments, not a business registry. Its methodology gives, for each fixed establishment, the establishment name, the legal name and company type, the activity, a staff size band (0 to 5, 6 to 10, 11 to 30, 31 to 50, 51 to 100, 101 to 250, or 251 and more), the address, coordinates and contact details. Access and download are free. The May 2026 edition counted 6,138,075 establishments.
The economic census refreshes the DENUE in full every five years, administrative records and INEGI surveys update parts of it in between, and businesses can update their own entries online. It excludes street vendors and farm production units, and in places under 2,500 inhabitants it covers only municipal seats and economically significant localities. A DENUE entry records that INEGI listed an establishment at an address. It says nothing about the legal entity's status.
Tax records answer a different question. An RFC shows registration with the SAT. Validating it, reading the company's constancia de situación fiscal (tax status certificate) and checking the SAT's 69-B lists are separate steps, covered in the verification guide linked above.
Commercial company databases and screening platforms compile records like these. The DENUE, for one, is distributed through an API and bulk downloads, so its entries can reappear in third-party products alongside whatever each vendor captured elsewhere. A database result is a copy made earlier by someone other than the registry. Use it as a lead and confirm the folio in SIGER, with a certificate where the result will be relied on. Our due diligence checklist for Mexico sets out what screening platforms miss.
What you can do from abroad and what needs someone in Mexico
From abroad, the published procedures allow a SIGER search and certificate requests, PSM and RUG searches, the MUA name search and validation, and use of the DENUE. None of the published search procedures mentions an e.firma. Check payment first. Where a state charges for a consultation or a certificate, the fee is paid under that state's rules before the payment reference goes into SIGER.
The rest needs someone in Mexico. Paper-era entries are read at the state office, and Oaxaca's listing for the lien certificate describes only an in-person procedure. Copies from a notary or a notarial archive can require proof of a legal interest. Court records are kept by the federal judiciary and 32 state judiciaries, as our guide to a litigation search in Mexico explains, and real estate sits in the state property registries covered in our article on checking property title in Mexico. Whether the company operates at its registered address takes a site visit.
Where we come in
Warden Consulting runs company searches from its office in the World Trade Center in Mexico City as part of due diligence in Mexico. Our investigating lawyers search SIGER 2.0, the PSM and the RUG, order certificates and certified copies from the office that holds the folio, and read the results against the deed and powers the counterparty supplies. Where the electronic folio is incomplete, investigators working in the states where the records sit consult the paper-era record at the state office and can visit the registered address.
We report what the registry establishes and what it leaves open, with the step that would settle each open point. To scope a company search or a wider review, contact our Mexico City office.
Frequently asked questions
Does Mexico have a national business registry?
Yes. Every commercial company must register in the Registro Público de Comercio, which the Secretaría de Economía runs on SIGER 2.0, a single national database with one electronic folio per company. A registered user can search it by folio number, legal name or partner's name. State offices issue the certificates and hold the paper records that predate the system.
Can I search for a Mexican company online from outside Mexico?
The published procedure for a SIGER 2.0 public account asks for an email address and a password, not an e.firma, and searches run online 24 hours a day. Certificates can be requested in the same system, with any fee paid under the rules of the state that holds the folio. Paper-era records and some state procedures still need someone at the office.
Is the Mexican corporate registry free to search?
Not always. Under the Secretaría de Economía's manual, a consultation fee depends on the tax law of the state where the folio is registered, and certificates carry state fees, such as the 10 UMA (MXN 1,173.10 in 2026) Oaxaca listed for a lien certificate when checked on 2 November 2026. The PSM needs no account, and the RUG states that its operations are free.
Can I search a Mexican company by its RFC?
Not in SIGER 2.0, whose public search takes the folio number, the legal name, a partner's name or the registry office. Take the exact legal name from a document that carries the RFC, such as an invoice the company issued, and search by that name. The RUG, by contrast, accepts the grantor's RFC as a search criterion.
How do I get a copy of a Mexican company's acta constitutiva?
The registry keeps data captured from the deed, not the deed, and its certified copy certifies the registration of the acts you select. The original sits in the protocol of the notary who executed it, and notarial archives such as the Estado de México's require proof of a legal interest. Ask the company for a copy and check it against its folio.
This article is general information, not legal advice.