Companies Disqualified Director Search API

Companies-Disqualified-Director-Search is a REST API that searches for banned directors (disqualified company directors or prohibited company managers) by name.

Using the API

Follow these steps to get up and running:

Read the technical details

View the API definition in our developer portal here. You can also download the definition for viewing in Swagger Editor, SwaggerHub, or other tools.

Subscribe to the API

Log in and subscribe to the Disqualified Director API Product. Our API support team may request further information before the subscription can be approved.

Generate an API subscription key and call the API

For full details on how to generate an API subscription key, and optionally an OAuth2 bearer token for additional security, please see here.

Once your subscription has been approved you will be able use your API credentials to successfully call the API. Use the sandbox key and sandbox endpoints in your software development. Once you've completed testing simply use your production keys to access the live service.

Request and response

The service consists of a single operation for searching for disqualified directors and has a single search query parameters:

  • name  the name of the disqualified director to search for. At least two characters must be specified. The search is NOT case sensitive. Refer to the search guidelines section for more details.

Results are paginated, page size and number parameters are set using the page and page-size parameters. 

Response format

Both JSON and XML based response formats are supported and will be returned if the 'Accept' HTTP request header is set to 'application/json' or 'application/xml', respectively.

XML is provided for backwards-compatibility reasons for previous consumers of older Companies Office APIs, any new development should use JSON format as any API enhancements may not always be reflected in the XML response.

Disclaimer

The list of disqualified/prohibited persons returned by this API is not an exhaustive list. It only includes those persons who, to the Registrar's knowledge, have been prohibited under the Act. The list does not include undischarged bankrupts.

Search guidelines

The details of the name search behaviour are more complex than can be documented fully here. The fundamental rules and some practical examples are provided below, along with recommendations on the best way to return relevant results.

The text supplied in the name parameter can match against first, middle and last names, and/or the aliases of disqualified directors and prohibited company managers.

One or more names can be provided in the name parameter. The order that these are supplied in impacts how the search is carried out.

When the search string includes more than one term, an exact match is performed on the first terms, and a partial match (starts with) on the last term. 

Recommended search format

To get the most relevant results enter the name parameter in the form:

LastName FirstName [optional MiddleName/MiddleInitial]

E.g. Smith Belinda Jane  or Smith Belinda J

Single name search

When one name is provided in the name parameter director a 'starts with' search is performed against last name, and exact match against first and middle names and aliases.  

Two term search

If you know the first and last name of the banned director these can be entered in either order. Results are returned regardless of the middle name.

When the name parameter is in the form name=Name1 Name2 results for individuals are returned where:

  • Name1 is an exact match for the first, a middle, or last name; and

  • Name2 is an exact match for a middle or last name, or first name starts with Name2

  • Results may be returned where one of the search names matches a banned director name and the other search name matches one of the banned director's aliases.

Multiple term search

A middle initial or middle name(s) may be included in the search to get more precise results. If you do this and the middle name has not been entered in the Companies Register then the result will not be returned.

There are two ways that the names can be entered in the search, with different behaviour .

  1. FirstName MiddleName LastName - Exact matches against names as entered

  2. LastName FirstName MiddleName - Exact matches for last and first names, 'starts with' search on middle name

Results may also be returned where:

  • Search names match against combinations of middle names and first/last name.

  • Some search names match against the banned director name, and other search names match against the banned director's aliases.