Zambia: PACRA company search, printout fees and beneficial ownership

How to search a company at PACRA

The PACRA website links to a Business Search Tool at search.pacra.org.zm and to the PACRA Portal at portal.pacra.org.zm ¹. The search tool says it lets users search and preview the details of any registered business. A search must have at least four characters ⁷.

For a full record, PACRA tells users to request a Legal Entity Printout on the PACRA website or on the Government Service Bus website ². PACRA says the printout is valid only for the day it is obtained ². The PACRA client service charter, dated 20 February 2012, gave one working day at headquarters in Lusaka for the provision of information ⁸.

• Name of the company ².
• Date it was registered ².
• Financial year end ².
• Directors, partners and secretaries ².
• Shareholders and beneficial owners ².

Fees

The PACRA service information page lists printout fees as plain numbers with no currency ². Another PACRA page gives filing fees with the kwacha prefix K ³. Check the amount on the PACRA portal before paying.

Who counts as a beneficial owner

The Companies (Amendment) Act No. 12 of 2020 replaced the definition of beneficial owner in the Companies Act 2017. It received assent on 30 November 2020 ⁴. A beneficial owner is a natural person who, directly or indirectly, is the final owner or controller of a body corporate, holds a substantial interest in it, or receives a substantial economic benefit from it. The term covers a person who exercises ultimate and effective control over a legal person or legal arrangement ⁴.

• Substantial interest means at least five percent ownership of the shares of a body corporate by a natural person, legally or equitably ⁴.
• Substantial economic benefit means at least five percent of the distribution of dividends or the proceeds of a transaction ⁴.
• A February 2023 legislative report for the EITI and Open Ownership says the 2017 Act sets the threshold for control at 25 percent. It called for a harmonised approach to reporting thresholds ⁵.

Filing beneficial ownership changes

• Companies Form 20 is filed under section 21 of the Companies Act No. 10 of 2017 within 14 days of a change in shareholding or beneficial ownership ³.
• Companies Forms 21 and 22 are filed under section 123 within thirty days of receiving the declaration from the beneficial owner ³.
• A Declaration of Beneficial Ownership goes with each form where beneficial owners are involved ³.
• These forms apply to Zambian companies. PACRA lists companies limited by guarantee and foreign companies as outside them ³.

Who can see beneficial ownership data

The February 2023 report says section 21(2) of the Companies Act sets up a central and public registry for beneficial ownership information ⁵. It says the register is open to public inspection on payment of the prescribed fee, which it gave as ZMW 90.00 per company ⁵.

The same report says access needs a PACRA online account and that searches are limited to company name or incorporation number. It adds that regulation 11(e) lets the Registrar restrict specific information from publication with no stated criteria ⁵. PACRA states that its Legal Entity Printout includes beneficial owners ².

Proposed changes in a 2025 draft bill

PACRA has published a draft Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2025 ⁶. The draft would define a beneficial owner as a natural person who, directly or indirectly, is the final owner of more than five percent of the issued shares or any other interest of the company, or who exercises ultimate effective control over it ⁶. The draft gives no date of tabling. Its status as law was not confirmed for this page ⁶.