EU VIES (VAT Validation)
Checking…Official EU VAT Information Exchange System operated by the European Commission. Used to verify cross-border VAT registrations for all 27 member states.
EC EORI Validation
Checking…European Commission customs data service for EORI number validation. Used by businesses and customs agents to verify import/export identifiers.
GLEIF LEI Search
Checking…Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation's public LEI search. Contains records for all registered legal entities with an active or lapsed LEI worldwide.
HMRC UK VAT
Checking…HMRC's API service for UK VAT number verification. Used by businesses trading with UK entities post-Brexit, replacing the VIES route for GB-prefix numbers.
About official service availability
The verification services monitored here are operated by government bodies and international organisations. They are generally highly available but experience occasional planned and unplanned outages.
- VIES occasionally has individual member state connections go offline while the main interface remains accessible. If a specific country's VAT cannot be verified, the member state's national tax authority website is often the alternative.
- EORI validation is linked to the European Commission's DDS2 (Data Dissemination Service 2) customs platform, which is periodically maintained.
- GLEIF maintains a highly available public API. LEI data is also accessible through multiple commercial data providers as an alternative.
- HMRC APIs are subject to scheduled maintenance windows, which HMRC announces on their developer hub and status page.
What each status check measures
The status checks on this page test whether each official service's endpoint is reachable and returning a valid response. This is a basic connectivity check — it confirms the service is online and responding, but does not test the quality or accuracy of results returned for individual identifier queries.
| Service | Endpoint tested | Check method |
|---|---|---|
| VIES | European Commission VIES API | HTTP response from the VIES REST interface |
| EORI Checker | EC DDS2 EORI validation page | HTTP response from the validation service URL |
| GLEIF | GLEIF LEI search API | HTTP response from the public GLEIF REST API |
| HMRC | HMRC VAT registration API | HTTP response from the HMRC MTD VAT API endpoint |
Status checks are run in your browser when you load this page. Results reflect the service's availability at the moment of the check — they are not continuously updated after page load. Reload the page to recheck.
What to do when a service is unavailable
Official verification services are generally highly available, but outages do occur — particularly for VIES, where individual member state connections can fail while the main interface appears online. Here is what to do in each case:
- VIES outage: Try again after 15–30 minutes. If a specific member state connection is failing (VIES will identify this), you can contact the national tax authority directly or find alternative official sources through the country's government tax portal. Document the failed attempt with a timestamp for compliance records.
- EORI checker outage: The European Commission's Taxation and Customs Union portal (ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs) typically has a status notification when DDS2 services are under maintenance. Freight forwarders and customs agents may have alternative access through customs declaration software connected to national customs systems.
- GLEIF outage: LEI data is available through multiple accredited LOUs and licensed commercial data providers. If the GLEIF public search is temporarily unavailable, your LOU portal (the organisation that issued your LEI) can confirm status. GLEIF also publishes a full data file as open data, which several third-party platforms mirror.
- HMRC VAT API outage: HMRC maintains a developer status page at developer.service.hmrc.gov.uk that lists current API incidents. The online checker at gov.uk/check-uk-vat-number and the API may have separate availability. If both are unavailable, document the attempt and retry.