🇨🇿How to verify a supplier in Czechia

Registry

ARES (Ministry of Finance) + Verejny rejstrik a Sbirka listin (Ministry of Justice)

Company ID

ICO (8 digits); the VAT number (DIC) is almost always CZ + the ICO

Cost

Free basic lookup

Active status

Active vs dissolved is only the first line. The real tell is the Sbirka listin (document collection) at or.justice.cz: every Czech company is legally obliged to publish its annual financial statements there, for free, as PDFs. A company with no filings since 2021-2022 is abandoned or hiding its turnover, and that is visible to you at zero cost.

• Two documents, both free: the Vypis z obchodniho rejstriku (extract: directors, shareholders, share capital, who may sign) and the Sbirka listin (scanned founding documents and annual accounts). Confirm that the person negotiating with you is listed as jednatel (director) or holds a prokura.
• The check that actually protects your money: the tax authority's VAT-payer register (adisspr.mfcr.cz) publishes (a) whether the company is flagged Nespolehlivy platce, an UNRELIABLE VAT PAYER, and (b) the list of bank accounts it has officially declared. Paying into an account that is not on that list creates a tax risk for you, and a Nespolehlivy platce flag can make you jointly liable for the VAT they fail to remit. Both facts are free and take a minute.
• Sole traders (OSVC) are not in the commercial register; they are in the trades register (rzp.cz), which also shows exactly which activities they are licensed for.

Before you sign: five asks no registry can answer

The register proves the company exists and who signs. It says nothing about whether the supplier survives a bad quarter, a fire or a key person leaving. Serious suppliers answer these five asks without friction; hesitation on any of them is information too.

• Business continuity: what happens to your order if their plant loses power, a strike hits or their systems go down? Ask for the plan, not a reassurance.
• Liability insurance: is product or professional liability insured, with which insurer and to what ceiling? A certificate of insurance is a one-page email for a real firm.
• Exit terms: how do you terminate if it goes wrong, what notice and fees apply, and how do you get your tooling, molds or data back?
• Support in numbers: ask for response and resolution times as figures, not adjectives. A supplier who commits to hours in writing has a support process; one who writes fast support does not.
• Named people: who exactly runs production and who owns your account? Continuity of a named team matters more than a polished sales deck, and employee-review sites often show whether that team stays.

General commercial hygiene, not legal advice.