Overview
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Region | Africa |
| ISO 3166-1 | GW / GNB |
| Registry | RCCM via CFE / Ministry of Justice |
| Last updated | 2026-05-06 |
Identifiers
Collect two identifiers from each business customer in Guinea-Bissau and submit them as strings on the application body.| API field | Local name | Issuer |
|---|---|---|
businessInfo.taxId | NIF (Número de Identificação Fiscal) | DGCI — Direcção Geral das Contribuições e Impostos |
businessInfo.businessEntityId | Número RCCM | RCCM via CFE / Ministry of Justice |
Sector regulators
BCEAO · CIMA · AMF-UMOA · CENTIF
Legal structures
| Local name | Abbreviation | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Société à Responsabilité Limitée | SARL | Quota-based limited-liability company; the dominant SME vehicle under AUSCGIE 2014; liability capped at contributions. Equivalent to a US LLC. |
| Société Anonyme | SA | Share-capital company with separate legal personality; minimum capital FCFA 10,000,000 (non-listed); board of directors required under AUSCGIE. Closest US equivalent: C-Corp. |
| Société par Actions Simplifiée | SAS | Flexible share-capital company introduced by the 2014 AUSCGIE revision; no mandatory minimum capital; governed by freely drafted bylaws. Closest US equivalent: C-Corp. |
| Société en Nom Collectif | SNC | General partnership in which all partners have merchant status and bear joint, unlimited liability for company debts. Equivalent to a US General Partnership. |
| Société en Commandite Simple | SCS | Limited partnership combining at least one general partner with unlimited liability and one or more limited partners liable only to the extent of their contributions. Equivalent to a US Limited Partnership. |
| Entreprise Individuelle | — | Sole trader (natural person) who registers at the RCCM under the OHADA Uniform Act on General Commercial Law; no separate legal personality; owner bears unlimited personal liability. Equivalent to a US Sole Proprietorship. |
| Entreprenant | — | Simplified individual-entrepreneur status introduced by AUDCG 2010 (Art. 30); established by declaration rather than full RCCM registration; covers commercial, craft, agricultural, or civil activities below a turnover threshold. Equivalent to a US Sole Proprietorship / DBA. |
| Groupement d’Intérêt Économique | GIE | Economic interest group used for joint-venture or cooperative-ancillary purposes; no share capital required; members retain unlimited joint liability. Closest US equivalent: a statutory Business Trust or joint-venture entity. |
How documents combine
For each evidence area, this table shows whether the listed documents are alternatives (any one of) or a bundle (all required). The artifact-by-artifact lookup follows below.| Evidence area | Documents needed |
|---|---|
| Legal Registration | Extrait RCCM |
| Constitutive Documents | Statuts |
| Tax Registration | Certificado NIF |
| Operating Permit | Autorização de Exercício |
| Ownership Records | Any one of: Statuts · Registre des Associés · Registre des Actions |
| Governance Records | All required: Extrait RCCM + Statuts + PV de nomination |
| Signing Authority | Any one of: PV d’Assemblée Générale · Procuration notariée |
| Address | Any one of: Contrato de Arrendamento · Recibo de Serviços · Extrato Bancário |
Documents to collect
The physical documents you’ll collect from your customer, with the evidence area each one proves. One document can prove multiple areas — for example, Brazil’s Cartão CNPJ covers both tax and business-registration proof, so it appears once with both areas listed.| Document | Proves |
|---|---|
| Extrait RCCM (CFE) | Legal Registration, Governance Records |
| Statuts | Constitutive Documents, Ownership Records, Governance Records |
| Certificado NIF | Tax Registration |
| Autorização de Exercício | Operating Permit |
| Registre des Associés (SARL) | Ownership Records |
| Registre des Actions (SA) | Ownership Records |
| PV de nomination | Governance Records |
| PV d’Assemblée Générale | Signing Authority |
| Procuration notariée | Signing Authority |
| Contrato de Arrendamento | Address |
| Recibo de Serviços (≤90 dias) | Address |
| Extrato Bancário (≤90 dias) | Address |
| Sector-Specific License | BCEAO, CIMA, AMF-UMOA — Autorité des Marchés Financiers de l’UMOA |
Collection notes
- Legal Registration: Issued by RCCM via CFE one-stop shop; contains RCCM number, legal form, registered address.
- Constitutive Documents: Notarized constitutive document filed at CFE; OHADA marital info requirement applies to founders.
- Tax Registration: NIF certificate from DGCI; VAT registration (TVA 19%) required if turnover exceeds FCFA 40 million (Law 4/2022, eff. 2025-01-01).
- Operating Permit: General business activity authorization issued by Ministério do Comércio, Indústria e Artesanato.
- Sector-Specific License: Sector-specific: BCEAO/Commission Bancaire UMOA (banking); CIMA (insurance, member since 2002); CREPMF (capital markets).
- Governance Records: RCCM extract lists gérant/administrateurs; nomination minutes confirm current office-holders.
- Signing Authority: Board or GA resolution conferring signing authority; notarized POA for mandataire.
- Address: Conduit universal policy: lease (no time bound) OR utility bill OR bank statement, with utility/bank dated within 90 days. Same evidence satisfies both registered-address and operating-address checks.
Person roles
When you submit a person on the application body, set theirrole to one of Conduit’s canonical BusinessPersonRole values. Use this table to map a local corporate-governance title onto the right canonical role.
| Local role | Canonical API role | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Gérant | LEGAL_REPRESENTATIVE | Manager of SARL; legal representative with day-to-day authority. |
| Président (SAS) | CONTROLLING_PERSON | Head of SAS; sole mandatory executive officer. |
| Directeur Général | CONTROLLING_PERSON | Executive officer in an SA with board; day-to-day management. |
| Président du Conseil d’Administration | CONTROLLING_PERSON | Presides over SA board; governance role. |
| Administrateur | CONTROLLING_PERSON | Member of SA board (Conseil d’Administration). |
| Mandataire / Procurador | LEGAL_REPRESENTATIVE | Holder of notarized power of attorney to bind the company. |
Additional fields
Country-specific fields you’ll need to collect during onboarding, beyond the document uploads.| Field | Applies to | Reason |
|---|---|---|
marital_status | founder | OHADA Statuts require marital status and matrimonial regime for founders/associés due to community-property rules. |
Notes
- Guinea-Bissau is not a party to the Hague Apostille Convention (confirmed HCCH status table, 31-XII-2025); document legalization requires full consular/embassy chain.
- OHADA authoritative texts are in French, not Portuguese — local Portuguese translations have no legal authority; verify filings against French originals.
- VAT (TVA 19%) was introduced 2025-01-01 under Law 4/2022 / implementing Decree Oct 2024, replacing the prior IGV; the NIF doubles as the VAT registration identifier above FCFA 40M turnover threshold.
- RCCM registry was paper-based for decades; computerization only started in 2017 and coverage of pre-digital records may be incomplete — request registry confirmation of record availability before ordering extracts.