Company name

Certain rules must be obeyed when looking for a suitable company name. A name and any additional elements (business or brand name, indication of the nature of the business) can only be registered as a company name^{German text}if they are not misleading. Entrepreneurs or their legal representatives must also check the similarity with other trade names or signs, for example by searching the trade mark register, companies register^{German text}, telephone books or the internet (domain name search).

Please note

These rules apply to all entrepreneurs from EU Member States in Austria.

The minimum statutory requirements for company names are:

Partnerships
- general partnership^{German text}
- limited partnership^{German text}

Corporations
- private limited company^{German text}
- public limited company^{German text}

We recommend seeking the opinion of the competent Austrian Federal Economic Chamber regarding the company name. Presenting this opinion when applying for registration in the companies register^{German text}can speed up the registration process^{German text}before the courts.

The forms for this must be requested from the competent economic chamber, completed and returned to it.

Tip

You can visit the portal of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber or arrange a personal meeting with one of its start-up advisors to obtain advice about choosing a company name.

Further links

Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (→ WKO)^{German text}
Choosing a company name (→ WKO)^{German text}

Legal basis

Sections 17 to 21 of the Unternehmensgesetzbuch (UGB)

Translated by the European Commission

last update: 17 June 2020

responsible for content:

USP Editorial Staff
Federal Ministry of Justice