BRN vs CI Number in Hong Kong: What's the Difference?
Hong Kong companies carry two identifiers — the Certificate of Incorporation number and the Business Registration Number. Since December 2023 the BRN has become the single Unique Business Identifier. Here's what each one means.
If you've searched for a Hong Kong company before, you've likely run into two different numbers attached to the same entity. Until recently they served genuinely separate purposes — now one of them has effectively absorbed the other.
Certificate of Incorporation (CI) Number
Issued by the Companies Registry the moment a company is legally formed. For companies incorporated before 27 December 2023, the CI displays a 7-digit Company Registration Number (CRN) — a legacy number that's permanent and never changes for the life of the company, even if it changes its name.1
Business Registration Number (BRN)
Issued by the Business Registration Office of the Inland Revenue Department when a business completes its business registration — an 8-digit number.2 Every company operating in Hong Kong must hold a valid Business Registration Certificate, renewed annually (or once every three years under the multi-year option).
The Unique Business Identifier (UBI): why BRN won
From 27 December 2023, the Companies Registry introduced the Unique Business Identifier (UBI) for every entity it administers, and adopted the existing 8-digit BRN as that identifier.1 For companies incorporated from that date onward, the Certificate of Incorporation shows only the BRN/UBI — the CRN system was retired for new entities, and existing companies were told to update their records to use BRN across all official filings and operations going forward.1
That's why every company page on this site is keyed by BRN: it's now the single reference number used across registry filings, this directory, and government interactions generally — rather than juggling a CRN and a separate BR number for the same entity.
Quick reference
| Issued by | Format | Status today | |
|---|---|---|---|
| CRN (legacy) | Companies Registry | 7 digits | Still valid for pre-2024 companies, no longer issued to new ones |
| BRN / UBI | Inland Revenue Dept. | 8 digits | The single identifier for all companies, old and new1 |
What to do if you only have an old CRN
If you're looking up a company incorporated before December 2023 and only have its old 7-digit CRN, the Companies Registry publishes mapping lists between former company numbers and current BRNs on its e-Search portal.2 For day-to-day lookups, searching by BRN or company name — as this directory does — is the more reliable path forward.
Looking for a specific company? Search our directory by name, or browse by industry or district.
Citations
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1823.gov.hk — What is Unique Business Identifier ("UBI")?, accessed 2026-09-07
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Inland Revenue Department — Unique Business Identifier, accessed 2026-09-07