Denmark is preparing to publish bankruptcy bans directly in its CVR company register, making names and addresses searchable by anyone. But data from Danmarks Statistik show that 93% of bankrupt firms have no reported employees, meaning the public register will mostly concern managers of firms without staff rather than large employers.
The Danish government is moving ahead with plans to turn konkurskarantæne into a searchable public record. On 18 February 2026, the Business Minister introduced a bill to amend the CVR Act, adding a new section that would publish the names, addresses and residence countries of people under bankruptcy bans. The first reading took place on 10 March. Once adopted, the change will allow banks, employers and other private actors to check whether someone has been barred from running a business, with no requirement to show a special interest.
The legal backbone is already in place. According to Folketinget records, Parliament adopted a major revision of Denmark’s bankruptcy law in May 2024, expanding who can receive a konkurskarantæne and allowing courts to impose bans of up to five years. The new rules cover not just current directors but also departing managers who participated in a company’s leadership within one year before the bankruptcy decree. Anyone found to have shown grossly irresponsible business conduct can be hit with a ban, even if they left before the collapse.
Most konkurskarantæne cases involve firms with no reported employees
According to Danmarks Statistik’s StatBank table KONK7, roughly 93% of Danish business bankruptcies in 2023 involved companies with no reported employees. Only around 7% of bankruptcies hit firms with a payroll. That structural reality raises questions about what a public konkurskarantæne register will actually achieve. Given that most bankruptcies concern firms with no reported employees, many bans will relate to companies without staff rather than large employers. The available statistics do not show how many of these firms are small side businesses or major creditor cases.
For internationals, the implications are worth noting. The CVR amendment explicitly includes residence country alongside name and address. Publishing residence country may make people living outside Denmark more noticeable in searches, but the register does not indicate nationality. There is no official data showing what share of konkurskarantæner involve foreign owners or managers. According to Danmarks Statistik, about 4 to 5% of Danish enterprises were foreign controlled in 2023, but no official statistics link that figure to konkurskarantæner.
A decade of public visibility
The standard konkurskarantæne lasts three years, but courts can extend serious cases to five years. As reported by InterLex in its summary of the adopted law, if a person receives a second ban before the first expires, the new period starts only after the old one ends. All karantæner must expire within ten years of the latest decision, meaning public visibility in CVR could persist close to a decade in sequential cases.
Denmark already uses smiley systems to rate restaurants and food businesses. Those target businesses, not individuals. Turning CVR into a hybrid company and person register breaks new ground. Some observers raise concerns about long lasting stigma, particularly for small scale entrepreneurs. Legal experts have noted that publishing full names and addresses in an open register may raise questions around data minimisation under GDPR.
The government frames the reform as a deterrent against konkursryttere, serial bankrupts who abuse insolvency to dump debts. As documented in Konkursrådets Betænkning 1582/2023, which underpins the legislation, the reform is a response to patterns of repeated misuse of insolvency proceedings. However, the 93% figure shows that most bankruptcies involve firms with no reported employees. The available statistics do not reveal how many of these cases involve serious fraud versus ordinary business failures.
Practical consequences for expats
For anyone starting a business in Denmark, the stakes have risen. Because konkurskarantæner will be publicly searchable in CVR, they could potentially be used in private background checks, including by banks and employers. The law does not require anyone to show a special interest before searching the register.
There are procedural options. Courts can reduce or waive konkurskarantæne in very special circumstances. The court appointed trustee, known as a kurator, can also enter settlements that shorten the ban, though never below one year. These require early, proactive legal engagement. Neither borger.dk nor nyidanmark.dk currently explains karantæne consequences for foreign residents.
Denmark actively supports start ups and foreign investment, but also runs on compliance and transparency. The konkurskarantæne reform sits at the intersection of those two priorities. It is designed to protect the public from rogue operators, but raises proportionality questions given that most bankrupt firms have no reported employees and no workforce at stake.
