BUSINESS TRANSPARENCY
Companies operating in the public sphere should be accountable for their actions and impacts on human rights and the environment, and in order to achieve this, transparency is essential.
» Through legislation: The European Union, for example, has adopted a series of legislation that requires companies in specific sectors to report on their impacts and activities. Find out more here » Through the fundamental right to information: Access to information is a fundamental human right and therefore it cannot be violated by any private actor. However, private actors not yet obliged to respond to freedom of information requests; except for in South Africa.
» Business Transparency News: We keep an eye on corporate transparency legislation.
» Company Ownership Transparency: We use access to information laws to test accessibility of corporate information in practice and to push for improved transparency.
BUSINESS TRANSPARENCY NEWS
EU Member States urged to guarantee access to registers of beneficial owners of companies
Brussels/Madrid, 4 June 2015 – Access Info Europe has welcomed the adoption of the EU’s Anti Money Laundering Directive obliging Member States to set up a central registry of beneficial owners of companies, but has warned that this information will not be available to investigative journalists and civil society watchdogs
UK Advances on Company Ownership Transparency
Madrid, 1 April 2015 – Transparency campaigners Access Info Europe have welcomed the passage by the British parliament on Friday 27 March 2015 of a law by which the UK becomes the first country in the world with legislation guaranteeing collection and publication of information about the real beneficial owners
#Luxleaks Scandal Highlights Urgent Need for Corporate Transparency
Comment by Pam Bartlett Quintanilla, Campaigner at Access Info Europe Madrid, 12 November 2014 - Top on the agenda of the European Parliament today is the #luxleaks scandal, uncovered by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists through the leaking of hundreds of secret tax agreements signed between Luxembourg and large
EU Member States to Implement Directive for Companies to Disclose Non-Financial Information on Environment and Human Rights
Brussels/Madrid, 15 November 2014 - The Directive requiring large EU companies to produce yearly statements revealing non-financial information must now be implemented by Member States following its adoption by the Council of the European Union last month and its publication in the Official Journal of the EU today. The Directive
Civil society urge EU to push for more transparency in non-financial reports by business
Madrid, 11 August 2014 – Access Info Europe highlighted the need for further access to information around the non-financial reporting of companies as part of a European Commission survey on corporate social responsibility. Civil society has emphasised the lack of regulation in this area, and stressed the need for more