What is the RCE code on a trade register extract?

It is the electronic trade register code, created by executive decree no. 18-112 of 5 April 2018 published in Official Gazette no. 21 of 11 April 2018. The decree describes it as a graphic symbol containing encrypted data relating to the trader, printed on the front of the extract, on the right of the upper part, in black on a white background and surrounded by a black frame. It allows the authenticity of the extract to be checked by optical reading.

Does the electronic trade register replace the paper extract?

No, not in the sense that paper would disappear. Decree 18-112 sets the model of the extract issued in electronic format: the trader still receives a printed document, which additionally carries the electronic RCE code. What changes is the ability to check that document without contacting the CNRC, by reading the code with a device that has an image capture function.

Is my old extract without an RCE code still valid?

The period of tolerance is closed. Decree 18-112 provided that extracts without the code remained valid for a limited time, subject to an application to modify them. That cut-off was extended by decrees 19-251, 20-154 and then 22-50 of 23 January 2022, which set it at 30 June 2022. Every extract issued today by the CNRC carries the electronic code.

How do you check the authenticity of a trade register extract?

By reading the RCE code printed on the extract with a device that has an image capture function, then comparing the data returned with the data printed on the document. The CNRC makes available an application for reading the electronic trade register. Be careful about the scope of this check: it establishes that the extract is genuine, not that its information is still up to date.

Can a genuine extract contain out-of-date information?

Yes, and that is the main limit of the arrangement. Reading the RCE code validates the document, not the currency of its content. An extract issued before a change of manager or of registered office remains perfectly genuine while being wrong in fact. Since article 4 bis of law 04-08, created by law 26-12 of 8 June 2026, the trader has one month at most to start the update from the date of the change.

Where can you obtain a trade register extract in electronic format?

From the competent CNRC office, or from the official portal sidjilcom.cnrc.dz which brings together the online services of the register. Since executive decree no. 26-155 of 14 April 2026, published in Official Gazette no. 31 of 28 April 2026, the representatives of the CNRC attached to the single investment windows are also empowered to draw up, sign and issue all the instruments falling within the prerogatives of the register officer.

What does a trader risk if the extract is not up to date?

Article 37 of law 04-08, as rewritten by law 26-12 of 8 June 2026, provides for a fine of 10,000 to 500,000 DA for a trader who is a natural person and of 300,000 to 700,000 DA for a legal person. There follows a formal notice to regularise within three months, then administrative closure of the premises by the wali, then removal from the trade register ordered by the court if nothing is regularised within the three months following the closure.

Electronic trade register in Algeria: RCE extract, verification code and updating

UpGrowth is a private, independent consulting firm, not attached to any institution. We prepare and follow your file; the decision rests with the CNRC. This guide is free. If you would rather delegate the procedure, we can handle it for you.

Official services of the CNRC: sidjilcom.cnrc.dz

Have UpGrowth handle it

Since executive decree no.

UpGrowth handles your RCE trade register extract

We build the file, check the documents and follow the request through

UpGrowth handles your RCE trade register extract

Read the details

Since executive decree no. 18-112 of 5 April 2018, the trade register extract issued by the CNRC carries an electronic code known as the RCE, which allows its authenticity to be checked with an ordinary telephone. This guide explains what the electronic trade register is, how it differs from the old paper extract, how the code is read, and why law 26-12 of 8 June 2026 makes updating that extract more urgent than before.

Content verified on October 22, 2026Our methodology

ByÉquipe UpGrowth, CNRC formalities and company formation specialists

Published on August 2, 2026Updated on October 22, 2026

Sidjilcom, electronic commercial registry

Official online service · Official CNRC portal · Opens in a new tab

Open the official service

Also availableRegistration and updating rulesMinistry of internal trade

What the electronic trade register is

The electronic trade register, known by the acronym RCE, is not a register running in parallel with the ordinary trade register. It is the same register, kept by the Centre national du registre de commerce (CNRC), except that the extract issued to the trader now carries a machine-readable electronic code. The wording causes confusion because it suggests a second registration. There is only one.

That code is described by executive decree no. 18-112 of 5 April 2018 as a graphic symbol containing encrypted data relating to the trader. It is printed on the front of the extract, on the right of the upper part, in black on a white background and surrounded by a black frame. Its position and its appearance are standardised precisely so that an inspector knows where to look for it on any extract, whichever office issued it.

The logic of the arrangement is that of a self-contained document. Before the RCE, checking that an extract produced by a supplier or by a bidder for a contract was genuine meant calling the CNRC or trusting the stamp. The RCE code embeds the data in the document itself: whoever reads it compares what the code contains with what is printed on the paper. Any discrepancy immediately reveals a forgery.

The technical choice matters too. The decree adopts a printed graphic symbol rather than a chip or a magnetic strip. The difference is practical: a graphic code is read with the camera of an ordinary telephone, whereas a chip requires a dedicated reader at every checkpoint. That is what made it possible to generalise verification without equipping administrations and banks with specific hardware.

The legal framework: decree 18-112 and its extensions

The founding text is executive decree no. 18-112 of 18 Rajab 1439, corresponding to 5 April 2018, setting the model of the trade register extract issued in electronic format. It was published in Official Gazette no. 21 of 11 April 2018 and appears in the regulatory compendium of the ministry of trade.

That decree did not switch the country over from one day to the next. It opened a transition period during which extracts without the electronic code remained valid, subject to the traders concerned applying to the competent CNRC office to have their extract modified. That period turned out to be longer than expected and was extended three times.

The extension texts, listed in the same regulatory compendium, are executive decree no. 19-251 of 16 September 2019, executive decree no. 20-154 of 8 June 2020 published in Official Gazette no. 35 of 14 June 2020, and executive decree no. 22-50 of 23 January 2022 published in Official Gazette no. 7 of 25 January 2022. The last of these set the compliance cut-off at 30 June 2022.

That cut-off has passed. In 2026 the question is therefore no longer whether to convert your extract, but simply to note that every extract issued today by the CNRC carries the RCE code. An operator still producing an extract without the electronic code is producing a document whose period of tolerance has expired, and is exposed to the penalties of law no. 04-08 of 14 August 2004 on the conditions for carrying on commercial activities.

One last text changed the landscape in 2026, not in the format of the extract but in the place where it can be obtained. Executive decree no. 26-155 of 14 April 2026, published in Official Gazette no. 31 of 28 April 2026, inserted an article 7 bis into decree 92-69 on the status of CNRC officers. The representatives of the centre attached to the single investment windows (guichets uniques de l'investissement) are now empowered to draw up, sign and issue all the instruments falling within the officer's prerogatives. An extract obtained at the single window has the same value as one issued at an office.

Electronic extract and paper extract: what really changes

The contrast between the two formats is less sharp than the vocabulary suggests. Here is what really distinguishes today's extract from the one issued before 2018.

The point directors take in least is the first row of this table: the extract in electronic format is still a paper document. Decree 18-112 sets the model of the extract issued in electronic format, which covers the way it is produced and the code it carries, not the disappearance of the medium. You still receive a sheet of paper, it simply carries a code that can be scanned.

The second row is the one with the greatest effect day to day. Verification has moved from an administrative step to a three-second gesture. A bank opening a business account, a contracting authority reviewing a bid, a supplier granting credit can all check for themselves that the code and the printed text agree.

Point of comparison	Extract predating the RCE	Extract in electronic format
Medium given to the trader	Paper document issued at the counter	Paper document additionally carrying a printed electronic code
Verification by a third party	Call to the CNRC or trust in the stamp	Reading the RCE code with a telephone, without contacting the CNRC
Position of the code	Not applicable	Front of the extract, on the right of the upper part, black on a white background framed in black
Content of the code	Not applicable	Encrypted data relating to the trader, under decree 18-112
Regulatory basis of the model	Models predating decree 18-112	Executive decree no. 18-112 of 5 April 2018, as amended
Validity in 2026	Period of tolerance expired on 30 June 2022	Format in force, the only one issued by the CNRC
Place of issue	CNRC office	CNRC office or single investment window (decree 26-155)

How an extract is verified through its RCE code

The principle is comparison. The code contains, in encrypted form, data relating to the trader. Reading the code returns that data, which is then set against what is printed on the extract produced. If the registration number, the corporate name or the wilaya do not match the content of the code, the document has been altered.

The CNRC has made available an application for reading the electronic trade register, intended to make this check simple for users. Reading is done from a device with an image capture function, which covers virtually every telephone in circulation.

The exact scope of this verification has to be understood, and above all its limits. Reading the code establishes that the extract is genuine and that it has not been modified since it was issued. It does not establish that the information it contains is still up to date. A perfectly genuine extract may name a manager who has left office or a registered office the company has since vacated. Authenticity and currency are two separate questions.

That is why a serious check on a counterparty combines two steps: reading the code, which rules out a false document, and asking for a recent extract, which rules out out-of-date information. The official CNRC portal, sidjilcom.cnrc.dz, also allows searches in the traders file and access to the online services of the register.

Obtaining or renewing your extract in electronic format

The procedure is an ordinary trade register formality. It differs depending on whether you have never held an extract in electronic format or yours has to reflect a change.

If your company was registered recently, the question does not arise: the extract issued on registration already carries the RCE code, since that is the only model in force.
If you hold an old extract without the code, the route is an application to modify the extract filed with the competent CNRC office, as decree 18-112 provided for the transition period.
If a particular on your extract has changed (address, activity, manager, capital), you are not asking for a simple duplicate but for a modifying entry, set out in detail on our dedicated page (/modification-registre-commerce-algerie).
If your extract is merely lost or worn and no particular has changed, the formality is the issue of a new extract or of a duplicate, covered on our page devoted to the extract (/extrait-registre-commerce-algerie).
Since decree 26-155 of 14 April 2026, the application may also be handled by the CNRC representative at the single investment window, whose instruments have the same value as those of an office.

The applicable fees are governed by the ministerial order (arrêté) of 31 October 2016 setting the fees of the trade register and of legal notices, published in Official Gazette no. 01 of 4 January 2017. The CNRC publishes on sidjilcom.cnrc.dz the schedule actually applied at its counters, which includes the ancillary components of the cost. The exact amounts per type of formality are detailed on our modification and extract pages.

Law 26-12: one month to make your extract accurate again

The electronic format made verification easy. Law no. 26-12 of 8 June 2026, published in Official Gazette no. 44 of 18 June 2026, made inaccuracy costly. The two developments answer each other, and that is what changes the picture for directors.

Its article 2 inserts an article 4 bis into law 04-08: every trader, whether a natural person or a legal person, is required to start the procedures to modify the trade register extract within one month at most, from the date of the changes affecting the particulars of the extract or the status of the legal person.

The penalty is set out in article 37 as rewritten by article 6 of the same law. The fine runs from 10,000 DA to 500,000 DA for a trader who is a natural person and from 300,000 DA to 700,000 DA for a legal person. A graduated mechanism follows: formal notice to regularise within three months from notification, then administrative closure of the premises by the wali, then removal from the trade register ordered by the court if the situation is still not regularised within the three months following the closure.

Comparing the two sets of rules is instructive. A genuine but out-of-date extract reads perfectly well through the RCE code: the reader sees a valid document. What now exposes the trader is no longer the risk that a third party spots the gap, it is the deadline itself. The one-month clock runs from the change, not from the moment someone notices it.

Our Official Gazette digest devoted to this text sets out the whole scheme, including the tightening of the conditions for acquiring the status of trader (/journal-officiel/loi-26-12-modification-registre-commerce-delai-un-mois).

Having your trade register checked and updated

Two situations bring our clients to this subject. The first is the director who discovers, often when opening an account or bidding for a contract, that the extract no longer reflects the reality of the company. Since law 26-12 that discovery comes with a deadline attached, and it is better to deal with the regularisation immediately than to let the clock run.

The second is the company that has to check its counterparties: suppliers, subcontractors, partners. Reading an RCE code calls for no particular skill, but interpreting what the extract says and does not say does. An active extract settles nothing about the tax position, the filing of the annual accounts or the beneficial owner declaration.

UpGrowth Connect handles trade register formalities in both directions: assembling and filing modifying entry applications for your own company, and documentary checks on a counterparty before you commit. Describe your situation in writing: reply and firm quote as soon as we hold all the information.

Our service commitments apply: a firm quote as soon as we hold all the information, no hidden fees (19 % VAT added on fees), and a WhatsApp reply within 4 working hours.

Bookkeeping and monthly filings (G50, tax calendar) handled for you

1 month to start the amendment, counted from the change itself, under article 4 bis created by law 26-12. An extract that is genuine but out of date is still a breach.

From 15,000 DZD excl. VAT per month for the G50, 60,000 DZD excl. VAT per year for the two IFU returns (G12 and G12 bis), 15,000 DZD excl. VAT per month for the accounting of a company, rising with the volume. 19 % VAT on top. Answer within 4 working hours.

Bookkeeping and monthly filings (G50, tax calendar) handled for you

Now, what to do with your trade register?

Three formalities we carry out for you, at a shown price.

Create your company

We set up the whole creation: trade register, NIF, C20, NIS and CASNOS.

from 60 000 DZD excl. VAT with our domiciliation, 90 000 DZD excl. VAT without

Order online

Add or change an activity code

We prepare and file the amendment of your register for the new code.

from 90 000 DZD excl. VAT

Order online

Amend your company (manager, seat, shares, object, name)

A change of manager, seat, shares, object or name goes through an amending registration.

from 90 000 DZD excl. VAT per amendment

Write on WhatsApp

19 % VAT on top of our fees. Official fees are extra, at cost, paid in your name. Our WhatsApp line: 0555 52 10 52

A clear price for a written scope. Amounts in DZD excl. VAT, 19 % VAT on top.

A shop that confirms your orders

A store with a catalogue and cash-on-delivery orders, where each order is confirmed.

620 000 DZD excl. VAT

19 % VAT: 117 800 DA, so 737 800 DA incl. VAT

Catalogue and cash-on-delivery order form500 000 DA
WhatsApp confirmation of each order30 000 DA
Link to your delivery company30 000 DA
Pixel for your ads15 000 DA
Legal pages15 000 DA
Domain, hosting and mail for year 130 000 DA

Online within 4 weeks at most for the written scope.

Included: the first 3 months of the care plan (value 45 000 DA excl. VAT).

Ask for this offer

19 % VAT on top. Payment: 50 % at the signed proposal, 50 % at delivery, before going online. The Express page (50 000 DA excl. VAT) counts in full toward either package if ordered within 60 days.
The maximum delay is written in the signed proposal; WhatsApp reply within 4 working hours on 0555 52 10 52.
After delivery, each month: care plan 15 000 DA excl. VAT (one developer-day of changes, updates and backups); SEO 120 000 DA excl. VAT; ads management 70 000 DA excl. VAT, ad budget excluded.
Add-ons: an extra language 30 000 DA excl. VAT; CIB or Edahabia payment module 150 000 DA excl. VAT (it needs a .dz, so a company with a trade register or an INAPI brand; SATIM's own fees at cost).
Domain in .com by default; .dz only for a company with a trade register or an INAPI brand.

Each price is for its written scope. Anything beyond that scope is priced by development time.

How we work, and what is yours

1Audit of your current site or tool
2Cahier des charges (written scope) validated by your teams
3Mock-ups
4Development on a test address
5Acceptance with you, on computer and on phone
6Go-live
7Code handover and hand-over training

In your name

The domain is in your name
The hosting is in your name
The code is in your name
The data is in your name

The hosting is in Algeria.

FAQ · Electronic trade register in Algeria: RCE extract, verification code and updating

It is the electronic trade register code, created by executive decree no. 18-112 of 5 April 2018 published in Official Gazette no. 21 of 11 April 2018. The decree describes it as a graphic symbol containing encrypted data relating to the trader, printed on the front of the extract, on the right of the upper part, in black on a white background and surrounded by a black frame. It allows the authenticity of the extract to be checked by optical reading.
No, not in the sense that paper would disappear. Decree 18-112 sets the model of the extract issued in electronic format: the trader still receives a printed document, which additionally carries the electronic RCE code. What changes is the ability to check that document without contacting the CNRC, by reading the code with a device that has an image capture function.
The period of tolerance is closed. Decree 18-112 provided that extracts without the code remained valid for a limited time, subject to an application to modify them. That cut-off was extended by decrees 19-251, 20-154 and then 22-50 of 23 January 2022, which set it at 30 June 2022. Every extract issued today by the CNRC carries the electronic code.
By reading the RCE code printed on the extract with a device that has an image capture function, then comparing the data returned with the data printed on the document. The CNRC makes available an application for reading the electronic trade register. Be careful about the scope of this check: it establishes that the extract is genuine, not that its information is still up to date.
Yes, and that is the main limit of the arrangement. Reading the RCE code validates the document, not the currency of its content. An extract issued before a change of manager or of registered office remains perfectly genuine while being wrong in fact. Since article 4 bis of law 04-08, created by law 26-12 of 8 June 2026, the trader has one month at most to start the update from the date of the change.
From the competent CNRC office, or from the official portal sidjilcom.cnrc.dz which brings together the online services of the register. Since executive decree no. 26-155 of 14 April 2026, published in Official Gazette no. 31 of 28 April 2026, the representatives of the CNRC attached to the single investment windows are also empowered to draw up, sign and issue all the instruments falling within the prerogatives of the register officer.
Article 37 of law 04-08, as rewritten by law 26-12 of 8 June 2026, provides for a fine of 10,000 to 500,000 DA for a trader who is a natural person and of 300,000 to 700,000 DA for a legal person. There follows a formal notice to regularise within three months, then administrative closure of the premises by the wali, then removal from the trade register ordered by the court if nothing is regularised within the three months following the closure.

Entrust your RCE trade register extract to UpGrowth

Tell us your situation, we prepare the file and follow it with you