Source, date and proof code on every answer

A company fact without its source is an opinion. If an auditor, a colleague or a regulator asks “how do you know this supplier was active on that day?”, the answer has to point at an official record and a date. That's why every Fuentio answer carries the source of each fact, the date it was checked, and, for a verification, a proof code that retrieves it later.

What you'll learn

What the source, the date, the receipt and the proof code each prove
What happens when two official sources disagree, with a real case
Where Fuentio says what it doesn't know

Short answer: each answer names its source, its licence and when it was fetched and last verified; each lookup has a receipt with a hash of exactly what was served; each verification has a proof code stored for 24 months; and when sources disagree, the answer serves one value by a fixed source priority and lists every competing value with its own source. Gaps are stated, never filled in.

The source and the date, on every fact

Every answer has the same three parts: data, meta and error. In meta, you find:

source: where the fact comes from, such as the Annuaire des Entreprises for France or the BORME for Spain;
fetched_at: when Fuentio read the source;
last_verified_at: when the record was last checked against the source;
stale: true if the source was down and you are getting the last copy;
a request_id to quote if you contact us.

Inside the record, provenance adds the source link and its reuse licence. For France, that is Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0 (Annuaire des Entreprises, INSEE Sirene); for Spain, the BOE's reuse conditions for the BORME. An agent can quote the source and the date in one sentence, and a reviewer can follow the link.

Receipts: what exactly was served

Each lookup also returns a receipt in meta: the request_id, when it was served, and data_sha256, a hash of exactly the record you received. With the same key, GET /v1/receipts/{request_id} returns that record again, free. If someone later asks what you saw, you don't have to rebuild it from a newer copy of the register: you have the record as served, and a hash that shows it wasn't changed.

Proof codes: a verification you can retrieve

verify_company turns a lookup into a decision, and gives it a proof code. On 12 October 2026, verifying Peugeot SA returned:

PEUGEOT SA (FR, SIREN 552100554): unverified, inactive per Annuaire des Entreprises (API Recherche d'entreprises), checked 2026-10-12. Proof FUE-FR-20261012-YK5YXJ.

The proof code (here FUE-FR-20261012-YK5YXJ) names the country and the day, and is stored for 24 months. GET /v1/verifications/{id or proof code} returns the verification as it was served: the outcome, the reasons, each check and its result, the signals and the source. Put the proof code in your file; anyone with it can see what the check said. The full walkthrough is in supplier onboarding in France and Spain in one call.

When official sources disagree

Fuentio reads more than one official source, and sometimes they don't agree. Peugeot SA is a real example. Its record in the French directory and its record in GLEIF, the Legal Entity Identifier register, are linked as the same company: the LEI record names the SIREN, the normalised names are equal, the addresses match and the legal forms are compatible. But they give different creation dates.

On 12 October 2026, get_evidence for that field returned:

2 evidence item(s), 1 link(s).

with two values behind it:

served: 1955-01-01, from the Annuaire des Entreprises, record FR-SIREN-552100554, retrieved 11 October 2026, with the raw record's hash and its source link;
competing: 1900-01-01, from GLEIF, record FR-LEI-969500TZ5950IT5FPQ42, retrieved 11 October 2026, with its own hash and link.

The answer also states it plainly: “Sources disagree on: creation_date.” The value served follows a fixed source priority, and every competing value is listed with its source. You see the disagreement and decide what to do with it. Fuentio never picks silently and never averages.

Saying what isn't known

The other half of trust is not overclaiming:

A Spanish company's status is “unknown” unless a BORME act says otherwise, because the gazette publishes events, not a status.
A verification marks signals it didn't check as not_covered, not none_found.
An insolvency check gives the years it covers. No notice outside those years is not proof of no procedure.
what_changed reports gaps (days not loaded, sources not checked since) instead of “no change”.
A possible match from screen_company is not proof, and no match proves nothing on its own.
check_vat never claims a VAT number is registered: it links the official VIES check.

Limits

France and Spain only.
No data about people: no person's name appears in any answer.
No Spanish NIF or CIF lookup: search by name.
Spanish records cover companies with a BORME act since 2009.
No annual accounts, no credit ratings, no ownership analysis.
No share capital for France.

Every source and licence, as the API states them, is on the trust page. What each tool does is in Fuentio is live.

Try it on your own list: the free pilot checks up to 20 French or Spanish companies and sends back a file within 24 hours, with every source, check date and proof code. See what we cover in France and Spain.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a receipt and a proof code?

A receipt identifies one record as it was served, with its hash. A proof code identifies one verification: its outcome, reasons, checks and source.

How long are verifications kept?

24 months.

What happens when sources disagree?

One value is served by a fixed source priority, and every competing value is listed with its source.

Sources

Annuaire des Entreprises: annuaire-entreprises.data.gouv.fr
GLEIF, LEI data: gleif.org