Can a Hong Kong company search API download NAR1 filings?

Start with the result: company information or a particular filing?

You may search for a Hong Kong company API because you need a company address, a copy of an annual return, or a spreadsheet made from that return. These sound like similar requests, but they need different sources. Start with what you want to receive: a company record, a particular PDF, or data taken from that PDF. That makes it much easier to tell whether a tool will actually help.

An open dataset may answer a question about the names and addresses it contains. A request for a NAR1 made up to a particular date, together with its contents, requires that filing. Identical output formats do not establish identical sources: a company-list JSON response and data extracted from a specified PDF are not substitutes merely because both can be imported.

By the end of this guide, you should be able to explain which company and document you need, spot information a tool cannot supply, and try a small example before committing to it. You can then take those questions to a developer or service provider.

Read the scope of the official open dataset

The dataset discussed here is the Companies Registry’s registered-office-address data for live local companies and its API documentation on DATA.GOV.HK. It is not a description of every Registry service, nor universal coverage of historical, dissolved or non-Hong Kong companies. The dataset is marked as updated daily and documents company-name or BRN lookup with JSON, CSV and XML output. Consult the linked documentation for the exact search options and fields.

“Updated daily” describes a dataset schedule. It does not attach a historical filing to a response or make the lookup time a NAR1 return date. Review coverage, field definitions and update information separately. If a required item is outside the documented fields, record it as a gap rather than expecting an AI assistant to infer it from a name or address.

Companies Registry: open-data API documentation ↗

Example: what would complete a supplier’s company file?

Fictional brief: “Complete Example Company A’s supplier file. Procurement confirms the entity. Obtain its NAR1 made up to 2 August 2024 and extract the company name, address and share capital with page references. We hold a legacy company number but have not verified a BRN. A person will review the output before the data team considers import.”

The table below shows what you would need for each part of this example. Finding the company is only the first step: you still need the requested filing and the figures it contains. If you already have the right PDF, you can move straight to extracting it without paying to obtain it again.

Scroll sideways to see all columns; focus the table and use arrow keys on a keyboard.

Keep the company number’s original label

Preserve the supplied name, number and identifier label. A historical CR No. should not be renamed BRN merely to fit a tool’s input. Hong Kong’s Unique Business Identifier arrangement uses the Business Registration Number; check the official mapping route for the relationship between a legacy company number and a BRN.

For no match, retain the input, source and response before deciding what to do. Rechecking a name or identifier may be necessary; a lookup with no match is not a finding that the company does not exist. Multiple candidates require resolution by the request owner rather than an assistant silently picking the closest name.

Companies Registry: Unique Business Identifier ↗

Three tools return JSON. Which one do you need?

These tool candidates are entirely fictional. A queries public address data. B supplies a selected PDF without extraction. C extracts a PDF you provide but does not retrieve it. This is neither a ClariRecord capability list nor an assessment of real providers. Which alone completes the supplier-file brief?

None alone completes it. A can support lookup within its dataset but does not supply the specified filing. B handles the source and C the subsequent extraction. Assess whether their files, supported document types and acceptance process fit together. If the correct PDF is already available, C may be the main remaining step to evaluate.

This is why a per-call price alone is a poor comparison. Ten lookups are not ten retrieved filings, and retrieving the same PDF again does not update its contents. Compare the work, sources and human decisions needed to satisfy the same requirement.

Try a small task with a result you can check

Before sending a batch of documents, try one public sample or a file you have permission to use. Say what you are providing, which sources the tool may use, what you want back, and what it should do when something is missing. A small trial helps you see whether it suits your work; it cannot establish an overall accuracy rate.

Include a task that cannot be completed from the available input: a legacy number alone, a request for directors from a two-page excerpt, or an unavailable filing. The response should identify the gap and next step, not substitute a similar company, another year or guessed values. Retain inputs and outputs so a colleague can repeat the check.

1. Source: can you identify the dataset or filing actually used?
2. Scope: has unavailable information been presented as a known fact?
3. Delivery: can the recipient find the required values and trace them back?
4. Exceptions: who resolves them, and are outstanding items visible?

Decide what you need before choosing MCP or a CLI

MCP and a CLI can offer different ways to ask for the same work. What matters is still which documents the service can obtain, what you need to supply, and which questions a person must resolve. A tool that an AI assistant can call does not necessarily have access to the filing you need.

Interested in a ClariRecord MCP or CLI trial? Contact us with your task, company or filing volume, existing materials and output format to discuss trial scope and access arrangements. You can also join the waiting list. For PDF extraction, explore our samples and document extraction service.

ClariRecord: two-page NAR1 source and extraction sample ↗