EORICheck

Who owns it

Find out which company an EORI number belongs to

Validating an EORI tells you the number exists. It does not tell you whose it is. For GB numbers HMRC publishes the registered trader name and address when the business agreed to share them, which is the closest thing there is to confirming a counterparty from a customs document.

Search intent

Confirm that an EORI on an invoice or shipping document belongs to the company that sent it.

Run a live check

Data sourced live from the European Commission EORI validation service (TAXUD). EORICheck is an independent tool and does not issue official certifications.

Source

EU Commission TAXUD validation service.

Use case

Customs, onboarding and shipment QA.

Coverage

EU/EEA, XI and supported legacy prefixes.

Limit

Independent tool, not official certification.

An EORI carries a name only in Great Britain

HMRC can return the registered trader name and address for a GB EORI. The European Commission's TAXUD service never returns the holder for EU numbers: it answers valid or not valid and nothing else. So through an EORI, a name is possible for Great Britain and not for the other 27.

For the EU-27, the name comes from the VAT number

There is a second European register, and it does publish. Ask VIES for a company's VAT number and it returns the registered name and address across the EU. So the honest answer is: to put a name to a British company use its EORI, and to put a name to a company in the other 27 use its VAT number. Two registers, two keys, same question.

A blank name is not a failed check

HMRC only publishes the trader if that business agreed to share it. A valid EORI with no name means the number is registered and the holder chose not to publish their details — not that the lookup failed and not that the number is suspect.

What it is good for

Use it when an EORI arrives on an invoice, a shipping instruction or a supplier form and you want to see whether it belongs to the company that sent it. A mismatch between the name on the document and the name on the register is worth a phone call before the goods move.

  • Onboarding a new British supplier or customer.
  • An invoice quotes an EORI that does not obviously match the sender.
  • Filing on behalf of a counterparty you have not traded with before.

What it is not

It is not proof of ownership, authority to trade or good standing, and it is not a sanctions or credit check. It confirms what the customs register holds today, with a timestamp.

FAQ

Can I search by company name instead of by EORI?+

No. The official registers only answer in one direction: you give the EORI and they tell you whether it is valid, plus the trader name for GB when it is published. There is no official name-to-EORI search.

Why does an EU EORI never show a company?+

The EU EORI service is designed to confirm registration, not to publish operator details. That is a decision of the register itself, not a limit of this tool. If you need the name of an EU company, use its VAT number instead: the VIES register does publish name and address.