Delete Non-Mandatory Director Data from the Handelsregister
Most GmbH directors do not realize how much personal data sits in the public Handelsregister. Birth date, place of residence, scanned signatures, sometimes a full home address, all of it searchable for anyone with internet access. A 2024 BGH ruling said that data could not be deleted. A 2026 ruling changed half of that.
The line runs between mandatory and non-mandatory data. Under § 10 Abs. 1 GmbHG, the Handelsregister must show your name and your representation authority. Through the related filings under § 8 GmbHG and § 39 GmbHG, your birth date and place of residence also become part of the public record. Those data points stay. The BGH confirmed in BGH II ZB 7/23 (23 January 2024) that Art. 17 GDPR cannot override the registration obligation, because Art. 17 Abs. 3 lit. b GDPR carves out processing required by law.
Everything beyond that is ueberobligatorisch (non-mandatory). Your full street address, the scanned signature image shown in the public Registerordner, voluntarily disclosed contact details. The signature on the Anmeldung itself is required for legitimation, but its public publication is not. BGH II ZB 2/25 (18 February 2026) held that there is no register-law basis to keep such data in the public Registerordner once you withdraw consent. The mechanism is § 9 Abs. 7 HRV: the original document stays in the non-public Sonderakte, and a cleaned version replaces the public copy.
What to do: pull your current Handelsregister-Auszug and the underlying Anmeldungs-Urkunden. Identify every data point not required by § 10 GmbHG. File a written application with the Registergericht for deletion of the ueberobligatorische data, citing BGH II ZB 2/25. In the Geschaeftsfuehrer mandates I handle, the cleanup usually takes one filing round when the request is precise about which data is non-mandatory.
Legal Sources
- §§ 10 Abs. 1 GmbHG — Mandatory entries in the Handelsregister: name of Geschaeftsfuehrer and representation authority
- §§ 8 GmbHG — Filings attached to the GmbH Anmeldung; legitimation of Geschaeftsfuehrer
- §§ 39 GmbHG — Registration of changes to Geschaeftsfuehrer; documents to be filed with the Registergericht
- §§ 9 Abs. 7 HRV — Procedural mechanism allowing the original document to stay in the non-public file while a redacted version is placed in the public Registerordner
- §Art. 17 DSGVO — Right to erasure of personal data
- §Art. 17 Abs. 3 lit. b DSGVO — Carve-out for processing required by a legal obligation; rationale for denying deletion of mandatory Handelsregister data in BGH II ZB 7/23
- •BGH, II ZB 2/25, — No register-law basis to keep ueberobligatorische personal data in the public Registerordner after withdrawal of consent; the original document remains in the non-public file (§ 9 Abs. 7 HRV) while a cleaned version replaces the public copy
- •BGH, II ZB 7/23, — GmbH-Geschaeftsfuehrer has no Art. 17 GDPR claim to delete mandatory data (name, birth date, place of residence) from the Handelsregister; Art. 17 Abs. 3 lit. b GDPR carves out processing required by § 10 Abs. 1 GmbHG
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