The data on the 'Business Registers Interconnection System (BRIS)' portal is gathered in real time from national registers, and only info provided free of charge on national registers is available for free on the portal (see the general info page). These are the countries covered:
Countries included in the consolidated register - you can select all
However, some data that is free in a national register does not appear on the portal. For example, here is the portal's data for a French company:
A company's page on the consolidated EU register
Here is the same company's listing on the French register:
The same company's 'Identité' page on the French register
The French register provides data that the EU register does not, like the NAF code (which classifies business activities), many more documents than you can order on the EU portal, and related companies. The leader data also includes other companies in which that person is involved. (Leaders are people like directors.) In the image above, you'll also see a link to the other leaders of the company, which is not provided on the EU register.
So the EU register could be a good place to start a search for a company that you know is in Europe, but you're not sure which country. Then go to the national register to see if you can get more information.
The portal has greater country coverage than OpenCorporates, which has archived data for many European countries (see the map on this page).
The portal includes detailed information on each country's register, including a link to the register.
