See our general terms of use

General terms of use

An enterprise is an economic unit composed of an establishment and potentially one or more secondary establishments. For a company that has a single establishment, this is also the registered office.

Our files contain variables of identification, address, geographical location and economic data on enterprises and establishments. Our files do not contain certain types of information (telephone number, e-mail addresses, names of company officers, legal information, balance sheets, geolocation data).

Contents of the files

No, our files are disseminated for marketing and referencing purposes that require the most recent data available.

No, the Sirene® database contains only active establishments.

The updates depend on the type of products which you want to buy. For example for the "List" product, updates are monthly and the data is updated on the last day of the month preceding your order.

You can access the count of enterprises in the files in the Database section of the www.insee.fr website.

Count

The counts from the REE (Directory of Enterprises and Establishments) are based on a smaller scope: for example, units without employees are excluded. Furthermore data is referenced on different dates. For a more accurate presentation of the source, see the Database section of the site www.insee.fr.

Count of enterprises

Des travaux sont en cours sur un projet qui permettra de mettre à disposition de l'ensemble des publics un bouquet de services web sur les données d'identité des entreprises et des établissements du répertoire Sirene. Courant 2017, l'ouverture du portail API (Application Programming Interface) Sirene permettra de proposer des API d'interrogation de la base de diffusion Sirene®. Ce portail évoluera pour proposer en 2018 des API d'interrogation de la base complète Sirene, avec l'historique des entreprises et des établissements.

Sole proprietorships have the right to ask not to be part of commercial dissemination lists pursuant to Article A123-96 of the Commercial Code. This request must be sent by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt to the Director General of the Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économiques, 18 Boulevard Adolphe Pinard, 75675 Paris Cedex 14.

Article A123-96 of the French Commercial Code

All the administrative formalities for registering, requesting a modification or declaring that you have ceased operating to the Sirene register are presented on the www.insee.fr website (examples: change of address, legal category, company name, activity, etc.).

Insee site

You must go to the www.insee.fr website to get an identity record (notice of situation, certificate of activity, information sheet) containing information that was up to date in the register the day before the consultation.

Request an identification card on the Sirene register

Two types of products are offered free of charge as part of the universal data offer on Sirene.fr:
1 - Pre-compiled files: these files are accessible and freely downloadable on the Public Data Service (data.gouv.fr). You can retrieve the files yourself from this site. The files available for download are the following:
- the all-France stock file "Sirene dissemination";
- the monthly updates file;
- the daily updates file.
The stock file and the monthly updates file are deposited on the first day of each month with the data for the previous month (file design L2).
As the monthly updates file is the same design as the stock file, you can choose each month whether to cancel and replace the stock file or to update the stock file with the updates file. All the movements relating to one establishment over the month are aggregated, making the information easy to use.
The daily updates file is deposited during the night following the management day it concerns (file design XL2).
NB: the files are deposited a little later at the beginning of January and the beginning of July when the half-yearly matching of the dissemination database and the Sirene register is carried out.
2 - Simple lists to compile via the sirene.fr website. This product corresponds to simple selections that you can make yourself on the sirene.fr website. Each list can contain up to 100,000 establishments.
You can obtain a list of establishments meeting certain geographical criteria (region, department, municipality) and/or activity and/or legal form and/or workforce size classes and/or date of creation). File production is guaranteed and started every 5 minutes, with the files being made available on an INSEE delivery-collection platform and the list being automatically destroyed after 15 days.

Depending on your needs, you will have to download one or more pre-compiled files, which you will use to make up the file you need, or from which you can make your selections. Examples:
- weekly creations file: the information is found by applying a simple filter to the daily updates files;
- monthly creations file: the information is found by applying a simple filter to the monthly updates file;
- quarterly updates file: the information is found using three monthly updates files;
- quarterly creations file: the information is found using three monthly updates files and a simple filter;
- half-yearly updates file: the information is found using six monthly updates file;
- half-yearly creations file: the information is found using six monthly updates files and a simple filter.

Design L2 is the file design used for the stock file and the monthly updates files. This design contains 100 variables.
Design XL2 is the file design used for the daily updates files. It contains the 100 variables from L2 and 18 specific extra variables corresponding mainly to update indicators for the variables.

List of variables and their definition

For the stock files and the monthly update files, you can download the version at the last day of the previous month from data.gouv.fr.
For the daily updates files, the files for the current month can be found on data.gouv.fr.

This is a list of establishments extracted from the Sirene® database, compiled using your selection criteria (Location, Activity, Form, Workforce, Date of creation).
The database includes all the enterprises and their establishments (including unincorporated enterprises and associations) present everywhere in France. You can use a list taken from this database to conduct a market survey or for prospecting purposes or to compile a reference base.
NB: our lists do not include the names of the company officers, e-mail addresses, websites, fax or telephone numbers.

The number of establishments selected must be less than or equal to 100,000.
If your selection brings up a list of more than 100,000 establishments, you have two possibilities:
- download the All-France database from data.gouv.fr and then make your selection from the downloaded database;
- refine your selection with other criteria to obtain lists with fewer than 100,000 lines: for example, you wish to obtain a list of establishments in the Pays de la Loire region of about 500,000 lines. In this case, you can create a list of for each Department in the region. For the two Departments (44 and 49) which still have more than 100,000 establishments, you can break down your selection using another criterion (form, workforce, etc.).

To request a list, you must connect to the site. First of all, create an account. If you already have an account, use your user ID and password to identify yourself.
Then, on the homepage, click on the "Compile a list" icon. Then make your selection using one or more criteria from the 5 proposed (Location, Activity, Form, Workforce, Date of creation).

At each stage, you will see a Help icon (?) in different places on the "Compile a list" page
Click on (?)
and you will see more information or clarifications. There is also a dropdown menu for some selection criteria.

You can select several APE codes (principal activity) in different sectors of activity and at different levels of aggregation (e.g. accommodation, division 55, and fast food restaurants, subclass 5610C).

You can load your own list of APE codes (principal activity) and geographical codes (region, department, municipality) using "text" files (.txt).

Create your file

No, the most detailed selection level in the Sirene® database is the municipality.

Le niveau le plus fin de sélection des entreprises et de restitution des données dans la base de diffusion Sirene® est la sous-classe (exemple : la sous-classe 3109B comprend la fabrication de mobilier de jardin, mais on ne peut pas isoler cette activité). Pour en savoir plus, vous pouvez vous référer à 'La nomenclature d’activités française - NAF rév. 2, 2008.'

NAF 2008

You can choose dates of creation before the current month (e.g.: ask for creations of establishments over the months of July and August from the last stock file available at the beginning of November, by filtering with the dates of creation from 01/07 to 31/08. Only those establishments that are still active at the end of October will appear).

No, the sirene.fr site does not allow you to do that. You have to re-enter your selection criteria for each new file.

You can change a list as long as you have not validated your selection: it is available in your "basket" (when you are connected via your user account).

The list remains in your basket until you delete it. However, only the last 30 lists created will appear in your basket.

The Sirene® database is updated on the last working day of each month. By default, the lists are made up over the most recent month).
NB: not to be confused with the dates of updating the variables, for which you have specific information.

Contents of the files

An auto-entrepreneur only differs from a sole proprietor by the choice of tax and social security regime. The tax and social security regime chosen by the company does not have to be mentioned in the register of enterprises and establishments; it is therefore not possible to pick out the auto-entrepreneurs from this directory.
INSEE also publishes statistics on the number of requests it receives for company creations under the auto-entrepreneur regime. The dissemination of these statistics and non-personal data is governed by Law no. 51-711 of 7 June 1951.

A list of municipalities can be obtained by using three selection criteria:
- type of establishment: registered office establishment only;
- the location required (municipalities, departments, regions);
- form: Enterprise Level 3, choose 7 (legal entity and organisation subject to administrative law) then choose 7210 Municipalities.

Les agents commerciaux ne sont pas isolés dans les fichiers de diffusion Sirene. La catégorie professionnelle ne fait pas partie des variables mentionnées par l'article A123-88 du code de commerce définissant les données enregistrées dans le répertoire Sirene pour les personnes physiques.

The direct mailing field indicator ("ind_publipo" variable) allows you to identify establishments that are within your direct mailing scope of interest. The relevant addressing quality is determined by combining several known items of information about the establishment (productive nature, activity carried on, workforce, reprocessing and quality of addresses, undelivered letters, age of updates, age (non-publishable) of sole proprietors.).

This variable is left blank for legal entities.

The occupational category (craftsperson, trader or liberal professional) is not one of the variables mentioned by Article A123-88 of the Commercial Code defining the data recorded in the Sirene register for natural persons. For its dissemination files, however, INSEE calculates a NATETAB variable at establishment level (and not at legal unit level).

It is a variable calculated by INSEE and has no legal value. It is used under the responsibility of the organisation that chooses to use it, and cannot suffice to create any rights or obligations towards or incumbent upon the units concerned.

These two variables generally contain the company name. However, variable L1_DECLAREE contracts the company name to 38 characters, whereas NOMEN_LONG contains 131. You can therefore use: NOMEN_LONG for names of legal entities, TITLE, SURNAME and FORENAME for natural persons.

The nature of the update ("VMAJ" variable) enables you to identify creations of enterprises or establishments (with modality = C). This variable is completed only in the pre-compiled files of daily or monthly updates, which can be downloaded from data.gouv.fr. This variable also informs you about the different types of update carried out (creation, deletion, modification).

Les variables DCREN (date de création de l'entreprise) ou DCRET (date de création de l'établissement) se présentent sous la forme AAAAMMJJ. Cette date n'est systématiquement renseignée que depuis 1980 et peut donc comporter des informations incomplètes (unités anciennes au répertoire Sirene).
Lorsque la date de création n'est pas renseignée, la date du 01/01/1900 est inscrite par défaut dans le répertoire Sirene (cette valeur particulière permet de repérer les cas où l'information n'est pas disponible). La base de données Sirene® étant à l'image du répertoire, vous pouvez trouver des variables DCREN et DCRET avec la modalité renseignée « 19000101 ».

The dates of creations of enterprises (variable "DCREN") or establishments (variable "DCRET") enable you to filter for a defined period, subject to the enterprises or establishments still being active at the time of your request.

Certain variables are completed totally or partially, depending on the declarations made by the enterprises to the Centres for Business Formalities (CFEs) and the updates to the Sirene register. You have specific information for each of these variables.

Contents of the files

The decree fixing the conditions for the collection and dissemination of e-mail addresses is still being considered. The choice was made to keep this variable, so that it can be completed in the files as soon as possible, without having to modify the file designs.

Nous vous conseillons d’utiliser votre fichier le plus rapidement possible car il contient les entreprises et les établissements actifs à une date donnée (la base Sirene® est actualisée le dernier jour ouvré de chaque mois ; les listes sont constituées sur le mois le plus récent).
Les créations d’entreprises ou d’établissements sont intégrées rapidement dans nos bases, mais il n’en est pas de même pour les cessations d’activités car ces informations ne nous parviennent pas systématiquement. Une entreprise peut donc exister dans votre fichier alors qu’elle est cessée, ce qui génère des plis non distribués (voir aussi la question sur des établissements fermés).

The Sirene® database only contains establishments that are active within the meaning of the Register of Enterprises and Establishments. All enterprises (including unincorporated enterprises) are obliged to declare their existence to begin operating. However, when they cease operating, there are no obligatory administrative formalities. If no administrative formality is carried out at the time an establishment ceases operating, it remains active in the Register of Enterprises and Establishments.
Certain establishments may therefore actually be closed, but still listed in the register, meaning they cannot be excluded from the dissemination database.
The Sirene® database is created from the Register of Enterprises and Establishments, which records the declarations made to the Centre for Business Formalities (CFEs) by enterprises themselves; INSEE cannot be held liable in the event of errors or omissions in these declarations (see also the question on undelivered letters).

Le numéro de téléphone est une donnée pouvant évoluer rapidement ; le circuit de mise à jour de cette information n’est pas jugé suffisamment performant pour permettre une diffusion de cette donnée. Ainsi, le numéro de téléphone est transmis dans les mouvements quotidiens (dessin XL2), le jour où l'entreprise le déclare lors d’une démarche. L’information n’est pas stockée. La variable TEL ne figure ni dans le stock (ou les listes d'établissements) ni dans les mouvements mensuels (dessin L2).

Your personal details are not shared with third parties. Your data is stored at INSEE only to process your requests. Under the law of 6 January 1978, you have the right to access and rectify this information.

Legal notice

To change your personal details, contact a customer service representative.

Nous contacter

You will receive them in two separate e-mails, as soon you have authenticated yourself on our site. These e-mails are sent to the e-mail address you entered in the form.
Remember to check that these e-mails have not been classed as spam or gone into your "junk" folder.
NB: you cannot reply to these e-mails; you must use the contact form in the event of any difficulties.

You cannot change your password. In the event of loss, you will receive a new password.

You cannot change your login. In the event of loss, you will receive the same login again.

You cannot change your e-mail address, as it is linked to the user ID for your account. However, you can create a new account with a new e-mail address. You will receive a new user ID and a new password linked to it.

First of all, you should check a few things:
- use your user ID "sirc-xxxxx" to connect (without entering your name or e-mail address);
- make sure you enter the new password you saved (and not the temporary password sent when you created your account);
- be careful when you enter your password (pay attention to upper and lower case letters, digits and special characters).
If this fails, you can re-initialise your password. Go to the sirene.fr website, click on "Connect", then select "Lost login details". When you have entered and sent your e-mail address, you will receive two separate messages at this address: your user ID (still the same, as it is linked to your e-mail address, beginning with "sirc-") and a temporary password. You will have to change the password when you connect and memorise the new password you enter.
NB: Remember to check that these e-mails have not been classed as spam or gone into your "junk" folder (you cannot reply to these messages).

Your file is made available to you on a server. A message will inform you when the file is available and give the references for it.
NB: the time between receiving the e-mail and the file effectively being available on the download platform can sometimes be up to an hour.
You can retrieve the file using your customer account connection settings (you will already have been sent your user ID and password if you did not already have them). They will enable you to access the download service for your file.
If you are unable to retrieve your file, please let us know using the contact form.

Nous contacter

You can recover your settings on the sirene.fr site: click on "Connect", then select "Lost login details". When you have entered and sent your e-mail address, you will receive two separate messages: your user ID (still the same, as it is linked to your e-mail address) and a temporary password. You will then be asked to change the password.

You will usually receive your file within two hours.

You have 15 days to retrieve the file from the download platform. After that, it will automatically be destroyed.

The sizes of the compressed pre-compiled file (.zip extensions) are as follows:
- all-France stock file: 1.2 Gb;
- monthly updates file: 30 Gb;
- daily updates file: 1 Gb.
These sizes may vary slightly from one month to the next (or one day to the next), depending on the number of lines in the file (one line corresponding to one establishment).

Files with the .zip extension are compressed files (reduced size). To be able to use them, you must first decompress them and to do that you will need to have the right software. There are numerous sites where you can download such software for free.

CSV, which stands for Comma Separated Value, is a standardised file format used by most spreadsheet software to import data. More precisely, a CSV contains commas or semi-colons and line ends that the spreadsheet uses to arrange the data in cells, rows and columns. Values that are to be interpreted as text are delimited by quotation marks (" "). This format enables you to transform your list of establishments into a spreadsheet. Each line of text represents one row in the table, which itself corresponds to one establishment (the column headers appear in the first row).

The complete base file is too large to be handled with normal office software. Most users integrate the file into a database (such as Oracle or PostGreSQL) before processing it. Some use special statistical processing software (SAS or R for example). Depending on your needs, you could consider using list compilation on sirene.fr. The site allows you to extract a selection of establishments (up to 100,000) meeting your criteria. A file containing 100,000 establishments is easier to open with most spreadsheet programmes (excel, calc, etc.)

You will have received a list of establishments in a CSV format file. In order to render this file readable and exploitable, you will need to convert it into a table. The procedure for opening a CSV varies according to the spreadsheet software used. For example, if you are working in a Windows environment: from the explorer use the "Open with" function (right mouse click after selecting the file) and choose your spreadsheet programme.
For more details, see Help in your spreadsheet software or consult the method for opening CVS files via your search engine.