European Business Register Update Green Paper; Br to BR links

European Business Register UpdateGreen Paper; Br to BR links

ECRF - Budapest

June 2010

EBR Update; Green paper; BR to BR Links | Budapest | June 2010

Outline

• Membership • Traffic & Products• Official Register Data• Service needs

CNI REID DOR BDS

• Next steps


Membership

• 2009-2010 addition of Guernsey, Lithuania and Czech Republic 25 members, of which 20 are EU Member States

• Advanced discussions with Slovak Republic hope to finalise accession in the coming months

• Strongly encouraged by Commission to seek funding from them to bring coverage to all 27 MS

• Please contact us if you are interested in joining such a project


Services

• Lithuania went live in June we have currently 22 members online

• Slovenia started distribution few months ago• Luxembourg distributing from the end of June

15 distributors • Product increases from existing members• Finalising transition of the French platform to InfoGreffe.

Gap in the provision of French data will be resolved in the coming weeks• New Platform will see new product• Must move to 24/7 over a reasonable period


Traffic and Products

• 327,000 information retrievals 2009 • France back on the network shortly• New proactive distributors• Optimistic that the network can become self financing • Free - but valuable - company search free

Vital service for Know Your Client activities But royalties lag behind the success of the network


Person Search

Personal Appointments

9%

Product order2%

Company Profile13%

Company Appointments

6%

Company Search

Services used in 2009


Official Register Data

• Changes in Germany well settled down now with Bundesanzeiger the data provider as the nominee of the Federal authorities

• In Belgium we move (both in ECRF and EBR) to the KBO/BCE - The Crossroads Bank - official BR data provider for Belgium

• EBR transfers information from the Business Registers on the basis that it is the same data as would be retrieved directly from the registers

• We need to move to being able to issue certificates to that effect


Other Activities

• New website online now Better connections to distribution options

• New Projects SPOCS in the Internal Market BOWNET

• Survey of Beneficial Ownership information on business registers• Will be a follow up action of contacting colleagues towards the end of

2010• Respond to the Commission and Council on integration of EBR to e-Justice

Integration analysis second half of 2010 Partial integration possible from 2nd half of 2011


Technical upgrade needs for EBR

• Authentication of message source and integrity • Easier company location and identification• Demand for full document set to allow all BR document types

Published code lists Ease of translation of codes Standard messages for user subgroups and purposes

• Scalability for new membership and product• Platform now being deployed

Tested on some partner sites To be deployed in Q1 2010


Requirements identified in BRITE

• Defined the building blocks for communications between business registers themselves Identify registers/registries Identify entities in registers Authenticate message source Enable message definition Authenticate message meanings

• Provide a new legal context for verifying those components • Identical to the enhancements of current EBR services


Central Names Index - CNI

• Enhance searching options for clients• Identified as a vital service in itself• Call to Action at Sundsvall General Meeting• Restructuring data model and import process• Next Steps

Receive remaining data for Phase 1 Factor the legal input and usage rules into the design Continue with the development of update automation


Data loaded: 11,337,281 companies…. and counting

• Spain• Estonia• UK• Greece• Guernsey• Ireland• Italy• Jersey

• Lithuania• Netherlands

• Norway• Serbia• Slovenia• Ukraine• ……….• ……….


CNI Content

• Company Name• REID• Seat; the city where the company is located particularly if that is needed to

distinguish companies from each other• Name; roman alphabet equivalent

to cater for Cyrillic alphabets for example• Name Status; indicates if the name is a current name or a previous name of the

company• Name Qualifier; indicates the type of name being provided, for example whether it

is the legal name of the company or a trading name


Registered Entity ID - REID

• The ability to uniquely identify businesses at a world level – or for our purposes entities in registers

• We are deliberately using the generic term “entities” although what is being addressed here is primarily the identification of companies

• The process of identification can be applied to any entity that is entered in a register Apart from other business types, such as limited liability partnerships, credit

unions or co-operatives, we could also be discussing company directors, auditors or disqualified persons


Company Register in CRO, Dublin, Ireland

ISO Country Code Number on the Register

Check Digits

IE CROCR .358843 -60


REID - Usage

• We should conclude that discussion of the REID has proceeded long enough and that it is now time to deploy it on business registers

• Will only require a change as to how numbers are presented - not how they are stored or processed

• Positive response from ECB and Eurostat

• Let’s put together a team of first movers to put it in place this year


Directory of Registers

• Required for the REID• Established the Repository• Implemented the Portal• As agreed in Sundsvall Yves Gonner will coordinate entry to the directory• Linked to GBRO

Good coordination essential Must not duplicate effort


Ways of determining the meaning of messages

• Standard Messages Work commenced by Yves Gonner last year

• Published codelists Requires a standard message structure Permit any message to be created and transferred Permit registers to publish code values Enable a process of providing translations of those codes and definitions


Branch disclosure service - BDS

• Track each night the status of companies - usually to determine if the home company of a branch is dissolved

• Model as launched last year had three issues identified by users - Germany in particular Lack of evidence that programme had run each night Lack of a service level agreement Difficulty in paying an EEIG for the provision of a service


BDS - solutions

• Programme changed to make transparent the date and time each entity was updated

• SLA Draft prepared for discussion• Fees not to be imposed this year and if imposed will be determined in accordance

with the following principles: The disclosure by the EEIG of the cost of running the service The users’ feedback on the value of the service including requests for

enhancements The possibility of alternative means of covering costs

• Get users to define needs for the next version Avoid bespoke solutions Learn from each other


Commission Green Paper

• Followed from the BRITE conclusions• Commission now carrying out impact assessment• EBR working closely with the Commission to find good solutions• EBR response based on three principles

The fact that the requirements of BR to public and BR to BR communications are the same

The fact that Business Registers wish to leverage the financial and administrative commitments already made

• Including the new task of moving to the new platform The fact that the BR to BR traffic envisaged is small relative to the volume of

BR to public traffic


The Sundsvall Conference

• Under the Swedish EU Council Presidency, Bolagsverket (the Swedish Companies Registration Office) arranged a conference under the heading “Cross Border Business Information Sharing” in November 2009.

• 70 delegates from 29 countries• Considered the Commission Green Paper and a presentation on that paper by the

Commission• In considering necessary cooperation between the BRs, and the need to

accomplish a suitable solution for that cooperation, the issue of communication was explored from the legal, functional and technical perspectives


Sundsvall unanimous declaration

THE CONFERENCE:

ACCEPTS the need to establish a standardised and legally valid solution for cross border cooperation between business registers across Europe as required in the relevant EU directives and otherwise

COMMITS TO participation in a process for the identification and implementation of the necessary actions, including the creation of a standardised and secure messaging environment; to the early establishment of a directory within which business registers will be properly identified and the use of a uniform company identification system; to working with existing projects; to the establishment and identification of the relevant authorities and institutions to undertake the agreed actions and

to have a fully functioning infrastructure in place by January 1, 2012


Tasks

• Definition of the messages that BRs need or wish to exchange• Establishment of an ontology – or way of understanding – those messages• Establishment of the Directory of Register• Establishment of the full index of company names• Deployment of the REID• Completion of the platform• Identify further building blocks


Institutions

• European Commission (both on Company Law and e-Justice)• The relevant working groups in the Council• The Company Law Experts Group• EBR• ECRF• Participants in the e-Justice domain• For international purposes IACA and CRF• Such other institutions as might be established to regulate BR to BR connections


We live in a complex world

Jurisdictions marked CC RRR have different representation in the EBR and the ECRF.

EU/EEAECRF

EBR

IE CRONL KVK

GB CH

DE NRW

DE BA

IM CR

GR ACCI

LU RCSL

JE JFSC

BE KBO/BCE

AT BMJ

AT TA

CZ MOJ

SE BOLS

HU BMC

DK DCCAFI PRH EE CRI

FR INPI

IT IC

LV LUR

LV RE

LT SECR

SI AJPES

SI SCRS

ES SCR

MK CRM

NO BRC

RS SBRA

GG GR

UA IRC

LI GBOERA

ME CRPCC

RO NTROBG

CY

MT

PL

PT IRN

RO

SK MOJ

IS

Propose to join EBR

TR

HR

EU Applicants

EEA

IT UC

GI CH

CH FCRO


EBR Commitment

• Work in partnership with the diverse institutions that make up our complex world• Work with the European Commission to establish transparency for businesses

across Europe for both official and public purposes• Complete the new platform to ensure a solid base for communications• Make the services resulting from that work available to the community as a whole

Documents

European Business Register Update Green Paper; Br to BR links