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Méthodologie éditoriale

Comment nous vérifions chaque entreprise sur PVFirms.

PVFirms est éditorial, pas payant. Chaque fiche – Référencé, Vérifié ou Premium Partner – passe les mêmes contrôles documentés publiquement. Aucune entreprise ne peut acheter un niveau supérieur. Cette page est le mode d'emploi.

7,305
Entreprises référencées
41
Pays couverts
€0
Coût de la vérification
Non
Payant
Trois niveaux · Une échelle

La confiance, méritée par étapes

Chaque entreprise commence au niveau Référencé. Les niveaux se cumulent – Vérifié hérite de tous les contrôles de Référencé, Premium Partner hérite de Vérifié. Les entreprises ne montent que lorsqu'elles remplissent l'ensemble de critères publics suivant.

Listed

Basic discovery profile, created from public data or claimed by the company. No editorial endorsement.

  • Company exists in a public registry
  • Active website with SSL certificate
  • Category & country tagged
  • VAT not yet verified
  • Insurance not on file
  • No editorial review
Coût · DélaiFree · auto-approved within 24h
🛡

Verified

Editorial team has confirmed identity, registration and at least one live customer. Document-backed.

  • Everything in Listed, plus:
  • VAT cross-checked via VIES (EU)
  • Commercial register filing reviewed
  • Director / officer identity confirmed
  • 1+ verifiable customer reference
  • Editorial review & copy edit
Coût · DélaiFree · 5–10 business days from submission

Premium Partner

Highest credibility tier. Independently checked insurance, references and certifications. Earned, never sold.

  • Everything in Verified, plus:
  • Liability insurance on file
  • 3+ independent client references
  • ISO 9001 or equivalent quality cert
  • Editorial inspection
  • Re-checked every 12 months
Coût · DélaiFree · capped at the top of each category
Le pipeline de vérification

De la soumission au badge

Étape 01

Submission & intake

Company submits via the Add Your Company form, or claims an auto-generated profile. We log company name, registered address and self-declared category.

Étape 02

Public registry sweep

Cross-check across VIES (EU VAT), national commercial registers (Handelsregister, KvK, Mercantile Register, etc.) and OpenCorporates. Rejected if registration is dissolved or inactive.

Étape 03

Document & identity review

We request certificate of incorporation, current insurance certificate, officer ID and recent invoices to confirm trading activity. Documents are stored encrypted, never published.

Étape 04

Reference & review check

Declared customers are contacted. Independent search for negative press, regulatory actions and review patterns. Notes are attached to the company file.

Étape 05

Inspection (Premium)

For the Premium Partner tier: a closer editorial inspection of the company's operations, certifications and staff.

Étape 06

Tier assignment & publication

The verification outcome is published on the company profile with the badge. Companies can appeal a tier decision; appeals are reviewed independently.

La liste de contrôle complète

Ce que nous examinons réellement

Aucune boîte noire. Chaque contrôle, source et critère de rejet – consigné par écrit.

01 Identity & registration

  • Legal name matches commercial register
  • Registered address is a real street address
  • Company incorporated for ≥ 12 months
  • At least one director identifiable
  • Status: Active (not dissolved or struck off)
Sources: VIES · Handelsregister · KvK · OpenCorporates · LinkedIn

02 Trading activity

  • Active website with SSL, recently updated
  • Verifiable past projects
  • Recent invoice or contract sample
  • VAT returns filed (Premium)
  • Headcount corroborated by LinkedIn
Sources: company website · invoice samples · LinkedIn · VAT returns

03 Insurance & financial

  • Public liability insurance on file
  • Insurance certificate dated within 12 months
  • No insolvency proceedings on record
  • Filed accounts available (Premium)
  • Basic financial sanity check (Premium)
Sources: insurance certificate · Bundesanzeiger · Companies House

04 Quality & certifications

  • Country-specific compliance (VDE 4105, MCS, etc.)
  • ISO 9001 or sector QMS (Premium)
  • Manufacturer certifications match issuer records
  • Trade body membership where applicable
  • Health & safety certification
Sources: TÜV · DNV · MCS · BSW · Holland Solar · UNEF

05 Customer evidence

  • Named customer references
  • References reached directly
  • No pattern of fake reviews
  • Reasonable response rate to quote requests
  • No unresolved regulator complaints
Sources: phone interviews · Trustpilot · Google reviews · regulators

06 Editorial & ongoing

  • Editorial review of all profile copy
  • Photography reflects actual work
  • Re-check every 12 months
  • Companies notified before any downgrade
  • Public revision log on every profile
Sources: PVFirms editorial team
Pourquoi c'est indépendant

Aucune entreprise ne peut acheter un niveau supérieur

Listings & verification are free
Listed, Verified and Premium Partner badges have €0 cost. Companies cannot pay to be added, upgraded or kept active.
Order is by merit, not payment
Companies in search results are ordered by tier and rating — never by payment. There are no paid placements.
Independent review
Verification decisions are made by the editorial team, independently of any commercial relationship with the company.
Public revision log
Changes to a company's tier or profile are logged with date and reason, and visible on the public profile.
No pay-to-play advertising
We do not sell sponsored placements within the directory or verification badges of any kind.

De l'équipe éditoriale

« Si nous laissons une entreprise s'acheter une place, le badge ne signifie plus rien pour toutes les autres. Nous tenons la ligne parce que la ligne est le produit tout entier. »

Équipe éditoriale de PVFirms
D'où proviennent nos données

Recoupées, jamais inventées

VIES
VAT Information Exchange System

The EU Commission's database for cross-border VAT validation across member states.

EU BR
EU Business Registers

Federated access to national commercial registers — Handelsregister (DE), KvK (NL), Mercantile Register (ES), etc.

OC
OpenCorporates

A large open database of company information, used for cross-jurisdiction checks and historical filings.

TÜV
TÜV SÜD & TÜV Rheinland

Independent certification bodies — we confirm ISO and type-approval certificates against issuer records.

DNV
DNV

Independent assurance for utility-scale and industrial projects, used to validate EPC capability claims.

LI
LinkedIn

Headcount and director identity — self-declared employee counts are compared against tracked counts.

MCS
Microgeneration Certification Scheme

UK-specific installer accreditation, expected for UK Verified or Premium installer listings.

BSW
Bundesverband Solarwirtschaft

German solar industry association — membership cross-checked for German installers and EPCs.

UNEF
Unión Española Fotovoltaica

Spain's national PV association — used as a credential signal for Spanish companies.

Questions fréquentes

Questions courantes

Can a company pay to become a Premium Partner?expand_more
No. The Premium Partner badge cannot be purchased at any price. It is earned via the verification process described above.
How often are Premium Partners re-checked?expand_more
Every 12 months. If a Premium Partner does not respond to a re-check request, the badge is downgraded pending review, and the change is visible on the public profile.
What happens if a verified company breaches standards?expand_more
The editorial team investigates credible complaints. Possible outcomes range from a public note on the profile to a tier downgrade or full delisting — with the reasoning logged.
Why are some companies listed without being claimed?expand_more
For market completeness, we auto-create Listed-tier profiles from public registry data. The company can claim and upgrade for free at any time.
Can buyers report inaccuracies?expand_more
Yes. Every profile has a "flag this listing" option. Substantive flags trigger a re-check.
Where can I read the full editorial policy?expand_more
This page is the public summary. For more detail, contact editorial@pvfirms.com.

La confiance, auditée.

:count entreprises solaires européennes · recoupées avec les registres de l'UE.