Colombia Company Registry Scraper - RUES

Look up Colombian companies and non-profits in RUES (Registro Único Empresarial y Social), the official national business registry run by Confecámaras for Colombia's chambers of commerce.

Search by company name, NIT or matrícula and get the registered name, matrícula, chamber of commerce, legal form, registration status, category and last renewal year as structured JSON - across both the Registro Mercantil (companies) and ESAL (non-profits, foundations, NGOs).

No API key. No account. No CAPTCHA to solve.

What you get per entity

Field	Example
razonSocial	BANCOLOMBIA S.A.
matricula	8396404
chamber / chamberCode	MEDELLIN PARA ANTIOQUIA / 21
legalForm	SOCIEDAD ANONIMA
status / statusLabel / isActive	ACTIVA / Active / true
category	SUCURSAL, AGENCIA, PRINCIPAL, ...
lastRenewedYear	2026
register	RM or ESAL
idRm	210021010802
jurisdiction, source, sourceUrl, retrievedAt	provenance for every row

What this is good for

• KYB / onboarding - confirm a Colombian counterparty exists and is ACTIVA before contracting.
• SARLAFT / UIAF screening - verify the NIT on a contract or invoice belongs to the entity that issued it, and is not CANCELADA.
• Supplier & distributor checks - one NIT returns the head office and every registered branch across chambers of commerce, so you see the whole footprint.
• Non-profit due diligence - search the ESAL register for foundations, associations and NGOs.

What the public search does NOT contain

Stated plainly, because this gap decides whether this actor fits your use case:

• No legal representatives.
• No shareholders or beneficial owners.
• No registered address.
• No financial statements or filings.

RUES releases those only through paid certificates. This actor returns what the public search publishes and invents nothing. If you need legal reps or ownership for Colombia, this is a verification tool, not a full KYB profile.

Search by name, NIT or matrícula

• Name - the register's own name search (minimum 2 characters). A search for an entity that does not exist returns zero rows, so a "no match" here is a real, trustworthy negative.
• NIT - accepts any format (890.903.938-8, 890903938-8, 890903938); the verification (check) digit is optional. Returns the entity and each of its registered branches.
• Matrícula - the mercantile registration number.

One run searches one register - RM (companies) or ESAL (non-profits). Run twice to cover both.

Result ceiling

The register returns at most 500 matches per search and offers no pagination. When a query hits that ceiling the run says so in its status message rather than presenting a capped list as complete. To reach matches beyond it, narrow the name or search by NIT or matrícula.

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
companyNames	array	-	Names to search, each looked up separately (min 2 chars)
nits	array	-	NITs, any format: 890.903.938-8 or 890903938
matriculas	array	-	Matrícula (registration) numbers
register	enum	RM	RM (companies) or ESAL (non-profits / NGOs)
maxResultsPerQuery	integer	500	Max records per query (500 is the register's own ceiling)
statusFilter	array	-	Keep only these statuses; empty exports all

Set at least one of companyNames, nits or matriculas. A run with none fails immediately and is not charged.

Example input

{
  "companyNames": ["BANCOLOMBIA"],
  "nits": ["890.903.938-8"],
  "register": "RM",
  "statusFilter": ["ACTIVA"]
}

Billing

Charged per search, not per row - one query costs the same whether it returns one entity or the register's full 500.

A search that finds nothing is still an answer, and is charged: on a KYB screen "this counterparty is not in the Colombian register" is usually the finding you needed. It is written to the dataset as lookupStatus: not_found_in_register so it is never confused with a failure.

Queries that could not be retrieved are not charged, are never written as result rows, and are listed in FAILED_INPUTS in the run's key-value store. A run that retrieves nothing at all fails loudly rather than exiting green with an empty dataset.

Limitations

• No legal representatives, shareholders, owners or addresses - not published (see above).
• 500 results per search, no pagination - a register limit, not an actor limit.
• One register per run - RM or ESAL.
• No document downloads - RUES certificates are a paid service.
• razonSocial can be long - the register stores alternate trading names inline in the name field ("... ADEMÁS PODRÁ GIRAR BAJO LA DENOMINACIÓN ..."); this is the register's own text.
• Status vocabulary is the register's - ACTIVA, CANCELADA, NO ASIGNADO and occasional longer states; isActive is true only for ACTIVA.

Related registry actors

Part of a fleet of official-registry actors across 12+ countries - Poland (KRS, CRBR, KRZ, MSiG, EKW, KNF, UOKiK, BDO), Germany (Handelsregister), Spain (Registro Mercantil, BORME), Italy, France, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus (DRCOR), Nigeria (CAC), Slovakia (RPVS beneficial owners), Czechia, UAE and California.

For Colombia specifically, pair this with a sanctions and PEP screen on the entity names it returns, since the public register itself carries no ownership data to screen.

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Data source: RUES - Registro Único Empresarial y Social, operated by Confecámaras for Colombia's chambers of commerce. This actor is not affiliated with or endorsed by RUES or Confecámaras.

Related actors

Part of a suite of official government registry actors - no public API to build or maintain, pay per result, nothing to configure.

Country	Actors
Poland	BDO · CRBR · KRS (financials) · EKW · KNF · KRS (board) · KRZ · MSiG · KYB check · PEP (Sejm) · REGON (sites) · REGON · UOKiK
Germany	Insolvenzbekanntmachungen · Handelsregister
Spain	BORME · Registro Mercantil · Registro Público Concursal
Italy	INI-PEC · Registro Imprese
Austria	Ediktsdatei · WKO
France	Societe.com
Belgium	KBO / BCE
Czechia	ISIR
Slovakia	RPVS
Cyprus	DRCOR
Ireland	CRO
Portugal	Publicações MJ
Nigeria	CAC
Colombia	RUES (this actor)
USA	California SoS · California UCC
UAE	ADGM
Global	Adverse media

Common combinations: company register -> UBO -> insolvency/debtors -> adverse media is the standard KYB/onboarding chain.

For Poland that whole chain is one call: Poland KYB Risk Check takes a NIP or KRS and returns identity, beneficial owners and insolvency - screened against the company and every beneficial owner - as a single verdict, billed once per completed check.

Full suite: apify.com/regdata · Callable from any MCP client via mcp.apify.com