Best GOVERNMENT AND DEFENCE Companies in France
Approximately 352,184 real businesses classified under Public Administration and Defence in France, with officer, shareholder and beneficial ownership records sourced directly from official government registries.
Approximately 352,184 real businesses operate in the Public Administration and Defence sector across France. Government bodies do not have beneficial owners — they have budgets and mandates. Ministries, defence entities, and compulsory-social-security bodies are state functions, not shareholder-owned companies, so the ownership-verification questions that apply everywhere else in this directory largely do not translate here.
30 companies in this sector are indexed on Zavia so far, part of a continually growing dataset.
Beneficial-ownership and registration rules for Public Administration and Defence companies in France follow the same national framework as every other sector there.
Full France beneficial ownership overviewTop Public Administration and Defence Companies in France
Live from the register. Every row opens the full record — officers, shareholders and resolved group structure.
Data Coverage
Record counts for NACE section O in France, as of the last reconciliation.
Section O is 1% of the France register by entity count and its 16th largest sector — see all sectors.
Analysis
What this data actually tells you
Public Administration and Defence is a structurally unusual sector to look for in a company register, because most of what belongs here in a real economic sense isn’t a company at all. French public bodies take one of two legal forms: an établissement public industriel et commercial (EPIC) — which sells goods or services, is funded by user fees, and operates enough like a private company to sometimes appear in commercial-style registers — or an établissement public administratif (EPA), which doesn’t, and generally files nothing resembling standard company accounts.
For verification, the practical takeaway is that a thin or empty commercial-register entry for a public body is often exactly what’s expected, not a gap in the data — it depends entirely on whether the entity is an EPIC or an EPA. Where a public counterparty does need checking, it’s usually in a procurement context, and the relevant record is the public body’s own tender or contract-award notice rather than anything filed in the general company register.
France Public Administration and Defence, by the register
Charts render from live counts. Modules are suppressed where coverage is too thin to be meaningful.
Active vs. inactive
Section O entities currently on the register as active, vs. struck off or dormant.
Company size, by disclosed headcount
By number of employees on file, Section O, France. 1,085 entities with no disclosed headcount are not counted in any band.
Who uses France public administration and defence ownership data
The three checks this sector's data is most often run for.
EPIC vs EPA distinction
Public Administration and Defence in France includes établissements publics — but only the industrial and commercial kind (EPIC), which sell goods or services and operate like a private company, tend to appear in commercial-style registers at all. The administrative kind (EPA) generally doesn’t file the way a company does, so its absence from a standard register isn’t a red flag.
Public procurement counterparty screening
Public bodies award and sign their own public contracts (marchés publics) directly; verifying a public-sector counterparty in a tender or supply relationship usually means checking the awarding entity’s own procurement notices rather than a commercial filing.
State-backed financing and guarantees
Entities in this sector, where they exist as EPICs, often carry implicit or explicit state backing that changes how a lender or counterparty would assess their credit exposure compared to a purely private company.
Get complete shareholder and officer records, ultimate beneficial owner resolution, and ongoing ownership monitoring for France companies — via API or a bulk data feed.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Public Administration and Defence companies are registered in France?
Approximately 352,184 real businesses operate under Public Administration and Defence in France.
What does the Public Administration and Defence sector include in France?
Government bodies do not have beneficial owners — they have budgets and mandates. Ministries, defence entities, and compulsory-social-security bodies are state functions, not shareholder-owned companies, so the ownership-verification questions that apply everywhere else in this directory largely do not translate here.
How is company ownership disclosed for Public Administration and Defence companies in France?
The same national framework applies here as for every other sector in France — there is no sector-specific beneficial-ownership regime for Public Administration and Defence.
Can I see all industries present in France?
Yes — the France company directory lists every industry with recorded companies for that jurisdiction, alongside the full beneficial-ownership overview for France.
Can I see Public Administration and Defence companies in other countries?
Yes — the Public Administration and Defence sector directory lists every country with recorded Public Administration and Defence companies on Zavia.
Can Zavia monitor changes to Public Administration and Defence companies in France over time?
A directory listing is a snapshot, not a live feed. Zavia's monitoring API tracks changes to registered shareholders, officers, and group structure for Public Administration and Defence companies in France going forward, flagging updates as they are filed instead of requiring a manual recheck.
All industries in France
Every NACE section on this register, with live company counts.