SIREN and SIRET Numbers (French Business Identification)
SIREN (Système d'Identification du Répertoire des Entreprises) and SIRET (Système d'Identification du Répertoire des Établissements) are unique identification numbers assigned by INSEE to every business and each of its establishments in France. The SIREN has 9 digits identifying the legal entity, while the SIRET has 14 digits (SIREN + 5-digit NIC) identifying each business premises. They are comparable to the EIN in the US, the Companies House number in the UK, or the Handelsregisternummer in Germany.
The SIREN number is uniquely and permanently assigned to every legal or natural person conducting economic activity in France. It remains unchanged throughout the life of the business, regardless of changes in legal form or activity. The SIRET number identifies each specific place of business (headquarters, branches, agencies) through the NIC (Internal Classification Number) appended to the SIREN.
In KYC and business verification procedures, SIREN and SIRET numbers enable authentication of a company's legal existence, verification of declared information consistency, and cross-referencing with the official INSEE databases and the SIRENE directory. These identifiers must legally appear on invoices, quotes, contracts, and administrative documents issued by the company.
Document verification solutions like CheckFile.ai leverage these numbers to automate compliance checks. Automatic extraction of SIREN/SIRET from business documents (Kbis extracts, invoices, certificates) enables instant validation of a company's identity by querying public databases, thereby detecting fraudulent numbers or deregistered businesses.
Regulations
Real-world examples
- 1.An accounting firm verifies a new business client's SIRET number by querying the INSEE SIRENE database to confirm that the establishment is active and located at the declared address.
- 2.An electronic invoicing platform automatically extracts the SIREN number from supplier invoices to validate the issuer's identity before processing payment.
- 3.A commercial property landlord checks the tenant's SIRET before signing a lease to verify that the company legally exists and is not undergoing liquidation proceedings.