Bureau Veritas history

In 1829, the company was renamed Bureau Veritas, adopting the emblem of Truth as the company insignia and published its first Register of some 10,000 ships.

In 1830 a branch office was created in Paris.

By 1833 activity had expanded so much that the head office was transferred to the French capital, where it still resides today.

By then, the company had also made another significant acquisition, that of Laboratoire Centrale des Industries Electriques (LCIE). Founded in 1881, that company had grown to become the top French testing and certification body for the electrical and electronics industries.

By the end of that decade, Bureau Veritas had created another dedicated division for the construction market, creating the Building and Facilities division in 1929.

1984: Bureau Veritas begins spinning off operations into subsidiaries, starting with government contracts operations.

1990: Veritas Auto is created to take over the company's automobile inspection operations.

Then, in 1994, the company formed a joint venture with another leading automobile inspection group, Dekra, forming Dekra-Veritas SA. The combined operation featured more than 1,100 inspection centers throughout France.

In 1996, Bureau Veritas paid FFr155 million to acquire fellow French company CEP (Controle et Prevention), the country's leading provider of building survey and industrial inspection services.

The new owners, which each controlled 32.6 percent of the company, then began preparations for taking Bureau Veritas public in 1998.

In 2000, also, Bureau Veritas created a new division providing e-commerce certification services.

2002: MTL and ACTS are merged to form MTL-ACTS; the company acquires IPM (Germany), Regspec (U.K.), US Laboratories Inc. (United States), and Aquarism (France).

In January 2003, the company added its latest acquisition, that of DIN VSB ZERT Zertifizierungsgeseelschaft GmbH, a German specialist in the railway sector.