Business Names Register, ASIC
liveThe ASIC Business Names Dataset, one row per business name on the national Business Names register, as ASIC publishes it every Wednesday. Each row has the name as registered, whether it is registered or deregistered, its registration date, its cancellation date when it has one, the holder's ABN, and for names carried over from a state or territory register before 2012, the number and state of that registration. Deregistered names stay in the file for twelve months.
Also called: ASIC Business Names Dataset, Australian business name register, ABN business name lookup list, Registered business names Australia.
- Why is there no query API for this dataset?
- Each weekly version is a table of millions of rows, and this site loads a version's rows into its query database only where they fit. The files carry the whole table in every format, and the Parquet file answers most questions in one read.
- Which business names are in the file?
- Every business name registered with ASIC on the day the file was made, and every name deregistered in the twelve months before it. Each row is one name with its status, the date it was registered, the date it was cancelled if it has been, and the ABN of its holder when ASIC holds one.
- Is this the whole ASIC register?
- No. ASIC publishes selected public fields from its Business Names register once a week. The holder's name, address and the register's other details are not in the file and are found through ASIC Connect.
- Why are some names deregistered?
- A name is deregistered when its holder cancels it or ASIC cancels it, for example when the renewal fee is not paid. The publisher keeps deregistered names in the file for twelve months, with the cancellation date.
- What are the state registration number and state of registration?
- Business names were registered by each state and territory until the national register began in 2012. A name carried across from a state register keeps the number that state gave it and the state that gave it. Names registered nationally since then have neither.
Made for agents
Connect your AI agent
Any agent that connects to publicdata.au/mcp can find this dataset, read its 8 fields and diff its versions. Every answer names the version and carries ASIC's attribution. No key.
Then ask it: What does Business Names Register, ASIC hold, and what changed in the newest version?
claude mcp add --transport http publicdata https://publicdata.au/mcpOne command. No key, no account, no sign-up.
Settings, then Connectors, then Add custom connector, and paste https://publicdata.au/mcp.
On the web and in the desktop app.
https://publicdata.au/mcpStreamable HTTP. Cursor, VS Code or any client that connects to a remote MCP server.
Using https://publicdata.au/llms.txt, how many people died on Queensland roads in 2025, by month?For an assistant that reads the web and has no connector.
Download it as CSV, Parquet, SQLite and 4 more formats
Pick a format and a version. CSV is picked first because it opens in the tools most offices have. The URL is yours to keep. A dated version never changes.
In your own tools
Use it in Excel, R, Python and more
Excel and Power BI read the CSV from its address and refresh from it. The R and Python packages take any dataset on this site by its slug, so a new dataset needs no new release. The DuckDB file attaches read-only over HTTPS, and a query reads only the blocks it touches.
The dated URL in the code never changes. https://publicdata.au/d/asic-business-names/latest/ redirects to the newest version.
https://publicdata.au/d/asic-business-names/latest/data.csvIn Excel choose Data, then From Web, and paste this address. Excel keeps it, so Refresh All reads the newest version. A sheet holds about a million rows; past that, load the query to the Data Model.
https://publicdata.au/d/asic-business-names/latest/data.csvIn Power BI Desktop choose Get data, then Web, paste this address and choose Anonymous when asked how to sign in. A scheduled refresh reads the same address, so the report follows each new version.
library(publicdataau)
df <- pd_read("asic-business-names")
pd_attribution(df)install.packages("publicdataau"). pd_read() fetches the version's Parquet file; pd_rows() and pd_aggregate() ask the query API instead, and pd_connect() attaches the DuckDB file.
import publicdata_au as pd_au
df = pd_au.read("asic-business-names")
df.attrs["publicdata"]["attribution"]pip install "publicdata-au[pandas]". read() fetches the version's Parquet file; rows() and aggregate() ask the query API, and connect() attaches the DuckDB file.
INSTALL httpfs; LOAD httpfs;
ATTACH 'https://publicdata.au/d/asic-business-names/v/2026-09-30/data.duckdb' AS asic_business_names (READ_ONLY);
SELECT status, count(*) FROM asic_business_names.records GROUP BY 1 ORDER BY 2 DESC;The DuckDB file attaches read-only over HTTPS and only the blocks a query touches are read. Parquet works the same way: FROM read_parquet(url).
What is in it
Column names are made snake_case and the publisher's original header is kept beside each one. Blank cells are null. Nothing is added, removed, ranked or summarised.
| Field | Type | Publisher's header | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| register_name | string | REGISTER_NAME | The name of the ASIC register the row comes from. |
| business_name | string | BN_NAME | The business name as it appears on the register. |
| status | string | BN_STATUS | Registered, or Deregistered for a name cancelled in the last twelve months. |
| registration_date | date | BN_REG_DT | The date the business name was registered. |
| cancellation_date | date | BN_CANCEL_DT | The date the business name ceased, for a deregistered name. |
| state_registration_number | string | BN_STATE_NUM | The number a state or territory register gave the name before the national register began in 2012, where there was one. |
| state_of_registration | string | BN_STATE_OF_REG | The state or territory whose register the name was carried over from, where it was. |
| abn | string | BN_ABN | The Australian Business Number of the name's holder, where ASIC holds one. |
Download this table as a data dictionary (Excel), or read it as a Frictionless Table Schema at schema.json.
A sample of 10 rows
From the latest version, newest first by registration date, each status in turn, then in the publisher's order, with every field. A blank cell is shown as null.
| register_name | business_name | status | registration_date | cancellation_date | state_registration_number | state_of_registration | abn |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BUSINESS NAMES | ARK TIMBER | Registered | 2026-09-30 | null | null | null | 13702816153 |
| BUSINESS NAMES | Body By Nawel | Deregistered | 2026-08-28 | 2026-09-29 | null | null | null |
| BUSINESS NAMES | Ascot cleaning group | Registered | 2026-09-30 | null | null | null | 27828735803 |
| BUSINESS NAMES | Byron Bay Canteen | Deregistered | 2026-08-28 | 2026-09-29 | null | null | null |
| BUSINESS NAMES | BENYS LABS | Registered | 2026-09-30 | null | null | null | 74950841543 |
| BUSINESS NAMES | J&D Plastering | Deregistered | 2026-08-28 | 2026-09-29 | null | null | null |
| BUSINESS NAMES | Buttered Cat Enterprises | Registered | 2026-09-30 | null | null | null | 29032991412 |
| BUSINESS NAMES | Ray White (Phillips & Co) | Deregistered | 2026-08-28 | 2026-09-29 | null | null | null |
| BUSINESS NAMES | Crowned in Chaos Studio | Registered | 2026-09-30 | null | null | null | 38566595255 |
| BUSINESS NAMES | JUNIOR LIMO TRANSFERS | Deregistered | 2026-08-28 | 2026-09-29 | null | null | null |
The first row as JSON
As it appears in data.ndjson.
GET https://publicdata.au/d/asic-business-names/latest/data.ndjson
{
"register_name": "BUSINESS NAMES",
"business_name": "Plumbing Gas and Solar",
"status": "Registered",
"registration_date": "2013-05-09",
"cancellation_date": null,
"state_registration_number": null,
"state_of_registration": null,
"abn": "30947976159"
}
Smaller files
The same rows split by a field, one JSON file each. Each file carries the same provenance header.
By status (2 files)
by/status/index.json lists every file with its row count.
What changed
One version for every release the publisher has made since this site started following the dataset. The date is the day the file changed on the portal.
- 2026-09-30 3,327,008 rows8 fieldszip7f40b252ab18
versions.json · changes.json · history.tar.zst (68 MB, every version's Parquet and manifest)
Questions
How do I download Business Names Register as a CSV file?
Open https://publicdata.au/d/asic-business-names/latest/data.csv. It redirects to the newest dated version, which is https://publicdata.au/d/asic-business-names/v/2026-09-30/data.csv today. The same path serves Parquet, SQLite, DuckDB, NDJSON, Arrow. A dated URL never changes, so use it when the file must stay the same.
Can I open Business Names Register in Excel?
Not as a workbook. Excel stops at 1,048,576 rows and this table has 3,327,008, so there is no data.xlsx. Load the CSV or the Parquet file with Power Query, or take one partition file at a time. https://publicdata.au/d/asic-business-names/v/2026-09-30/data.csv.gz is the CSV at about a tenth of the size.
What years does Business Names Register cover?
The current version covers 1900 to 2025. Each release from ASIC becomes a new dated version here, and earlier versions stay online.
How often is Business Names Register updated?
ASIC releases it weekly. This site checks the portal every week and adds a dated version when the file changes.
Can I use Business Names Register commercially?
Yes. CC BY 3.0 AU allows commercial use, redistribution and derived works as long as the attribution is kept. The attribution string is in this page's side column and inside every file.
Is this the official source for Business Names Register?
No. The publisher is Australian Securities and Investments Commission, and its page is https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/asic-business-names. This site republishes the publisher's file without changing its content. The original sits beside every version as source.zip with its SHA-256, so the two can be compared.
How do I get only the rows for one status?
Every version has one JSON file per value of status, 2 files in the current version, listed with row counts at https://publicdata.au/d/asic-business-names/v/2026-09-30/by/status/index.json. For example https://publicdata.au/d/asic-business-names/v/2026-09-30/by/status/registered.json holds the 2,939,174 rows where status is Registered.
What this site did to the data. Cells were typed, headers were renamed and the encoding was made UTF-8. Rows were left alone. The publisher's file sits beside every version as source.zip so the change can be checked.