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Available Formats

BORME publishes its data in three different formats, each serving different purposes and containing different levels of information. Understanding these formats is crucial for effectively working with BORME data.

PDF

Complete detailed data (bormeparser’s primary target)

XML

Metadata and document structure

HTML

Section C announcements only

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PDF Format

PDF is the most important format for extracting detailed business information from BORME.

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What PDF Contains

PDF files contain the complete and detailed information about all registered acts, including:
  • Full company names
  • Detailed act descriptions
  • Names of appointed or revoked officers
  • Capital amounts for increases/reductions
  • Complete statutory change details
  • Registry office information
  • Official registration numbers
This is the format bormeparser is designed to parse. All the rich business data you want to extract is contained in these PDF files.

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PDF File Structure

BORME-{SECTION}-{YEAR}-{NBO}-{PROVINCE_CODE}.pdf

Example: BORME-A-2016-75-29.pdf
- Section: A
- Year: 2016
- Bulletin number: 75
- Province code: 29 (Málaga)

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Downloading PDF Files

PDF files are available for Sections A and B, organized by province: 
from bormeparser import download_pdf
from bormeparser.provincia import PROVINCIA
from bormeparser.seccion import SECCION
import datetime

date = datetime.date(2016, 6, 1)
filename = "borme.pdf"

# Download Section A for Madrid
download_pdf(date, filename, SECCION.A, PROVINCIA.MADRID)
See bormeparser/download.py:47 for the PDF URL format.
PDFs require the bulletin number (nbo) which must be obtained from the XML file first. The bormeparser library handles this automatically.

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Why PDF?

Due to agreements between the Spanish government and the Mercantile Register, the most detailed and valuable data is only available in PDF format. While this makes automated processing more challenging, it’s why bormeparser exists.

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XML Format

XML files serve as an index and metadata container for each day’s BORME publications.

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What XML Contains

XML files contain:
  • Bulletin metadata: date, bulletin number (nbo), previous/next dates
  • Document structure: sections, provinces, announcement counts
  • Download URLs: links to PDF, HTML, and XML files for each document
  • File sizes: byte counts for each downloadable file
  • CVE identifiers: unique identifiers for each BORME document
XML files do NOT contain the actual business data (company names, acts, officers, etc.). They only provide the structure and links to the documents that contain this data.

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XML File Structure

BORME-S-{YYYYMMDD}

Example: BORME-S-20160601
- S indicates "Sumario" (Summary/Index)
- Date: June 1, 2016

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XML URL Format

https://www.boe.es/diario_borme/xml.php?id=BORME-S-{YEAR}{MONTH:02d}{DAY:02d}
See bormeparser/download.py:48 for implementation.

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Using XML Files

The XML file is essential for discovering what BORME documents are available: 
from bormeparser import BormeXML
import datetime

date = datetime.date(2016, 6, 1)
bxml = BormeXML.from_date(date)

# Get bulletin number
print(bxml.nbo)  # e.g., 101

# Get available provinces for Section A
provincias = bxml.get_provincias('A')
print(provincias)  # ['MADRID', 'BARCELONA', ...]

# Get PDF URLs for Section A
urls = bxml.get_url_pdfs(seccion='A')
for provincia, url in urls.items():
    print(f"{provincia}: {url}")

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XML Structure

The XML follows this hierarchy: 
<sumario>
  <meta>
    <fecha>01/06/2016</fecha>
    <fechaAnt>31/05/2016</fechaAnt>
    <fechaSig>02/06/2016</fechaSig>
  </meta>
  <diario nbo="101">
    <seccion num="A">
      <emisor nombre="REGISTRO MERCANTIL">
        <item id="BORME-A-2016-101-29">
          <titulo>MÁLAGA</titulo>
          <urlPdf szBytes="123456">/borme/dias/2016/06/01/pdfs/BORME-A-2016-101-29.pdf</urlPdf>
          <urlXml>/diario_borme/xml.php?id=BORME-A-2016-101-29</urlXml>
        </item>
      </emisor>
    </seccion>
  </diario>
</sumario>
See bormeparser/borme.py:186-250 for the BormeXML implementation.

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HTML Format

HTML files are available only for Section C announcements.

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What HTML Contains

Section C announcements in HTML format, which include:
  • Shareholder meeting announcements
  • Capital increase/reduction notices
  • Other public corporate announcements

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HTML File Structure

BORME-C-{YEAR}-{ANNOUNCEMENT_NUMBER}

Example: BORME-C-2016-2310

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HTML URL Format

https://boe.es/diario_borme/txt.php?id=BORME-C-{YEAR}-{ANNOUNCEMENT_NUMBER}
See bormeparser/download.py:49 for the HTML URL pattern.
Section C is handled differently because it contains announcements (anuncios) that are not tied to specific provinces. See the Sections documentation for more details.

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Format Comparison

FeaturePDFXMLHTML
Detailed business data✅ Yes❌ No⚠️ Section C only
Company names✅ Yes❌ No✅ Yes (Section C)
Officer names✅ Yes❌ No❌ No
Act details✅ Yes❌ No✅ Yes (Section C)
Document structure⚠️ Implicit✅ Yes⚠️ Basic
Download URLs❌ No✅ Yes❌ No
File sizes❌ No✅ Yes❌ No
Machine-readable❌ Requires parsing✅ Yes⚠️ Requires parsing
Available sectionsA, B, CAllC only
By province✅ Yes (A, B)✅ Yes❌ No

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When to Use Each Format

1

Start with XML

Use XML to discover what documents are available for a given date and get their download URLs.
bxml = BormeXML.from_date(date)
urls = bxml.get_url_pdfs(seccion='A', provincia='MADRID')
2

Download PDFs

Download the PDF files for the sections and provinces you’re interested in.
from bormeparser import download_pdfs
download_pdfs(date, path="./bormes", provincia=PROVINCIA.MADRID, seccion=SECCION.A)
3

Parse PDFs

Use bormeparser to extract structured data from the PDFs.
from bormeparser import parse
borme = parse("BORME-A-2016-101-29.pdf", SECCION.A)
4

Use HTML for Section C (Optional)

If you need Section C data, HTML format may be easier to parse than PDF.
urls = bxml.get_url_seccion_c(date, format='html')

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Technical Implementation

The bormeparser library provides different backends for parsing different formats:
  • PDF Parsing: Uses PyPDF2 backend for extracting text from PDF files (bormeparser/backends/pypdf2/)
  • XML Handling: Uses lxml for parsing XML structure (BormeXML class)
  • Section C HTML: Uses lxml for HTML parsing (bormeparser/backends/seccion_c/lxml/)
See bormeparser/download.py:42-51 for URL patterns and bormeparser/backends/ for parser implementations.

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File Naming Conventions

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Sections A and B (PDF)

BORME-{A|B}-{YEAR}-{NBO}-{PROVINCE_CODE}.pdf

Components:
- Section: A or B
- Year: 4-digit year
- NBO: Bulletin number (sequential within year)
- Province code: 2-digit province code

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Section C

BORME-C-{YEAR}-{ANNOUNCEMENT_NUMBER}.{pdf|xml|htm}

Components:
- Section: Always C
- Year: 4-digit year
- Announcement number: Sequential number
- Extension: pdf, xml, or htm

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XML Summary

BORME-S-{YYYYMMDD}

Components:
- S: Sumario (summary/index)
- Date: YYYYMMDD format

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Next Steps

Understanding Sections

Learn about BORME Sections A, B, and C

Parsing PDFs

Start parsing BORME PDF files

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