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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 early 2025 to upload their D-U-N-S® Number or business verification information or their products will be restricted from distribution in the European markets.

Business verification

  • Beginning in October, Microsoft will enable all existing company accounts in Partner Center to 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.

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
  • Franchise or agency appointment letters
  • Government issued letter, license, registration, or certificate.
  • Lease or tenancy documents
  • Letter or statement from a financial institution or a utility company
  • Record on a Government registry website (site/link must be displayed)
  • Stock exchange filings or tax filing records
  • Certificate of incorporation or registration
  • Extract from commercial register
  • Business license
  • Tax certificate
  • DUNS certification

Customer contact information

If you have a company account, Microsoft requires that your customer support contact information is displayed in Microsoft Storefronts. We will be updating a new section in the Account Settings page where you will be able to enter your customer contact information once and it will display across all your product detail pages. You can still elect to update each product now, otherwise stay tuned for a November update and we will provide further instructions.

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, nor is submitted to a product by the deadline, the following action will be taken until the publisher meets compliance:

  • The product will be restricted from distribution in the European markets.

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