---
id: "elf_code"
kind: "datatype"
status: "draft"
is_pii: false
categories: ["companies", "legal"]
langs: ["common"]
quality: 90
url: "https://registry.apicrafter.io/datatype/elf_code"
---

# Entity legal form code (ELF, ISO 20275) (`elf_code`)

> **Draft.** Draft records have not been reviewed yet and may be incomplete or wrong; do not treat them as authoritative for legal or compliance decisions.

Four-character code of a legal form in one jurisdiction, for example a German GmbH or a UK private limited company. ISO 20275 defines the codes and GLEIF maintains the list; LEI records use them to state an entity's legal form. 8888 marks a legal form whose code has been requested from GLEIF, and 9999 an entity that has no separate legal form.

- Personal data (PII): no
- Categories: Companies/business/organizations (companies), Legal and compliance (legal)
- Countries: global
- Languages: Common to most languages (common)
- Classification: categorical

## Detection

Regular expression (Python `re`):

```
^[A-Z0-9]{4}$
```

## Examples

- `2HBR` — Germany, Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (GmbH)
- `H0PO` — United Kingdom, private limited company
- `XTIQ` — United States, Delaware corporation
- `2HB` (invalid example) — three characters

## Mappings

- wikidata: `P10421`

## Translations

- ru: Код организационно-правовой формы (ELF, ISO 20275)

## Sources

- wikipedia: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_20275>
- wikidata: <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Property:P10421>
- doc: <https://www.gleif.org/en/about-lei/code-lists/iso-20275-entity-legal-forms-code-list>

## Quality

Score 90/100. Missing: detector coverage.

JSON: <https://registry.apicrafter.io/api/v1/datatypes/elf_code.json> · Edit: <https://github.com/apicrafter/metacrafter-registry/edit/main/data/datatypes/any/companies/elf_code.yaml>