ACCESSING COMPANY REGISTERS
USING THE RIGHT TO KNOW
ONLY 1 OUT OF 32 EUROPEAN COUNTRIES ALLOWS FREE, PUBLIC
ACCESS TO ITS ENTIRE COMPANY REGISTER
European governments, by putting these obstacles to accessing company register data, are complicit in blocking investigative journalists in their work uncovering criminal activities, money laundering, and tax evasion.
Experts’ views
Why is it important for the public to have full, free access to company registers?
Users perspective on access to company registers:
The Findings
The map below summarises the results of the request process, which took almost two years to complete.
To find out more about what happened in each country, click on the map or use the country-by-country list below:
Map Key
In red…Refused access to info
In orange…Process still ongoing
In green…Gave full access to info
In blue…Administrative silence
OPEN COMPANY REGISTERS LATEST NEWS
Tell Us What You’ve Done
Tell Us What You’ve Done Initiative Global study finds minimal transparency on anti-corruption efforts 25 October 2011: The first global study to test access to information about the implementation of anti-corruption treaties has found that half of the questions put to governments (50%) met with administrative silence. The research, carried out by Access Info Europe and Transparency International and partners
Global Monitoring Finds Widespread Violations of Right to Information
4 October 2011, Ottawa – The largest global monitoring of the right of access to information in practice, the Ask Your Government! 6 Question Campaign has found widespread violations of the right to information with only 1 in 4 requests resulting in provision of full information. 480 requests for budget information were submitted in 80 countries by a global network
Tokyo Two
Update: Tokyo Two given one year suspended sentence Tokyo, 6 September 2010 – Japan’s Aomori Court has found the Tokyo Two guilty of theft and trespass and has sentenced them to one year in prision, suspended for three years. Greenpeace has announced that it will appeal the judgement. Japan: Environmentalists denied information should be acquitted Madrid, 3 September 2010 –
Reform of Access to Information Laws in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Montenegro
Anti-corruption organisations call for reform of Access to Information Laws in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Montenegro Sarajevo, 1 June 2010: Faced with a chronic lack of transparency in the region, leading anti-corruption organisations today called for urgent reform of the access to information laws of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Montenegro. The call by Transparency International BiH, Transparency International