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Upcoming company account verification requirements

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Due to new regulatory requirements, including the European Union Digital Services Act, and our commitment to customer confidence, Microsoft Store developers who have company accounts in Partner Center must provide more detailed information.

When does this go into effect?

Any new company accounts are already required to enter in their Dun & Bradstreet D-U-N-S® Number or supporting documents during account creation. Existing partners will have until February 17th, 2025 to upload their D-U-N-S® Number or business verification information or their products will be restricted from distribution in European markets.

Business verification

Note

All submitted documents must have been issued within the past 12 months, or if they have an expiration date, it must be at least two months from now.

  • Microsoft requires that all company accounts in Partner Center must provide business verification information. Microsoft recommends that the fastest and easiest way to do this is to provide your business’s D-U-N-S® Number. In lieu of a D-U-N-S Number, you may upload another form of a business verification document (approval of your business verification document may take significantly longer as this document will need to go through a review process). If you do not already have a D-U-N-S® Number, you can learn more on acquiring one here.
  • You can check if you have a company or individual account by visiting your Partner Center dashboard.
  • The deadline for updating your account information in Partner Center is February 17, 2025, but we strongly encourage partners to take action as soon as possible to avoid impacting their ability to publish.
  • All documents submitted must be issued within the previous 12 months or where the expiration date is a future date that is at least two months away.

Why D-U-N-S Number?

D-U-N-S is an established business identification system, widely used by app stores and online marketplaces to verify trader information. D-U-N-S is available to any business and there is a no-cost option to obtain a D-U-N-S Number.

What forms of documentation can developers submit for business verification if they don’t have a D-U-N-S Number?

For the fastest and easiest verification, we recommend obtaining and providing a D-U-N-S Number. If, however, it is not possible to obtain one, Microsoft will accept several forms of business verification documentation:

  • Formation documents, such as articles of incorporation, partnership deed.
  • Letter or statement from a financial institution or a utility company.
  • Record on a Government registry website (site/link must be displayed).
  • Lease or tenancy documents.
  • Government issued letter, license, registration, or certificate.
  • Stock exchange filings or tax filing records.
  • Franchise or agency appointment letters.

Primary documentation: the document can only be one of the following types:

  1. Formation documents, such as articles of incorporation, partnership deed.
  2. Certificate of incorporation or registration.

Secondary documentation: If the primary document was not published in the past 12 months, the following can be accepted as proof of active entity status/ active in the past 12 months.

These must be submitted in conjunction with any of the primary documentation if the document cannot be confirmed as 'active'.

  1. Lease or tenancy documents valid in the current period
  2. Letter or statement from a financial institution or a utility company valid in the current period.
  3. Record on a Government registry website (site/link must be displayed) – this can be state registry.
  4. Most recent stock exchange filings or tax filing records.
  5. Extract from commercial register (site/link must be displayed).
  6. Most recent tax certificate.
  7. DUNS certification.

Customer contact information

If you have a company account, Microsoft requires that your customer contact information is displayed in Microsoft Storefronts. This information will show up on each PDP.

Submitting documentation

Here is how to submit your D-U-N-S Number or business verification documentation, as well as your customer contact information.

  • Sign in to your Partner Center account.
  • In Account settings, go to the Legal info page.
  • Under the Developer tab, expand and edit the Contact info section.
  • Select the Update option. Then, expand the Additional information for verification and Contact information for customers sections in the side panel.
  • Enter your D-U-N-S Number, or, alternatively, upload a business verification document in the Additional information for verification section.
  • Provide your contact information for customers, including contact address, email, phone number, and website, in the Contact information for customers section.
  • To use your company's legal address, select the checkbox Use legal company address and the address fields will populate. If you provide a new address, select Validate address to enable Save.
  • Provide all required fields, and then select Save.

What if impacted developers do not update their information by the deadline?

If a valid business verification ID is not submitted by the deadline, the following action will be taken until the publisher meets compliance:

  • All publisher products will be restricted from distribution in the European Union markets.

If valid customer contact information is not submitted for your company account, the following action will be taken until the publisher meets compliance:

  • All publisher products will be restricted from distribution in the European Union markets.

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