MANS: EU countries provide access to company data

Hiding data about persons and companies in the register of companies in the way that they do in the Tax Administration and the Real Estate Administration, is not any European standard, but only an attempt to conceal connections and dealings between criminals and public officials, it was announced today from the Network for the Affirmation of the Non-Governmental Sector (MANS).

They add that most of the company registers in the European Union allow the public to directly, via the Internet, access data about persons and companies, or at least the amount of data that ensures their unambiguous identification.

"Thus, the Italian state register of companies allows interested parties access to complete information about company owners, including addresses, dates of registration, tax identification number (PIB), dates of birth of representatives and owners of the company and their identification number," the statement said, adding that the French and the UK company register also provide access to data on the company's registration date, initial capital, address, but also the date of birth and residential address and nationality of the company's representatives and founders.

The register of companies in Finland, as explained by MANS, enables citizens to access data on the company's status, changes, date of registration, and for representatives and founders, public data on their date of birth, address and citizenship is mandatory.

The German and Belgian registers also, according to the announcement of MANS, enable access via the Internet to information about the company's address and initial capital, status changes, while for persons in the company it is possible to see their address, date of birth and function, on the basis of which they can identify.

Even "tax havens" more open than Montenegro

"All these registers also offer additional documentation about companies and persons, of course with simple ordering via the Internet, without the complicated procedures that the Tax Administration exposes the citizens of Montenegro to. Even tax havens like Jersey, the British Virgin Islands and Cyprus provide more information about companies and persons forming them than the Tax Administration of Montenegro is currently doing. Thus, in these registers, it is easy to access most of the data on representatives, owners of shares, financial reports and other data on the basis of which safe identification can be made," the announcement states.

That organization says that Croatia, a new member of the EU, is an example of how the state provides access to all data about companies in a simple and efficient way and for free.

"After deleting the identification numbers, the registry of the Tax Administration of Montenegro only gives the name of the company and the names of the founders and directors, which is insufficient for any more precise identification. For all other information that the Croatian registry offers on the Internet, in Montenegro one has to go through a procedure lasting several months access to this information," MANS warned.

It is pointless to refer to EU practice when defending closed registers

The facts they presented confirm how senseless it is, as they point out, to refer to the alleged EU practice "when flagrantly concealing data found in public registers. MANS calls on the authorities to stop manipulating and deceiving citizens in an attempt to justify the fact that we are one of the most non-transparent countries in Europe, without clear and concrete results in the fight against corruption".

"Once again, we ask the Tax Administration and the Real Estate Administration to immediately return data on personal and company registration numbers to publicly available online registers," concludes the MANS statement.