Summary: No Freedom of Information Law and You Must Pay For Access
| Request sent to | Companies House Gibraltar (Click here) |
| Outcome of request | Information refused. |
| Time taken to respond | 25 working days from original request (No FOI law in Gibraltar) |
| Reason for refusal | Must pay for access. No access to information law. |
An initial request was sent on 28 August 2013 to Companies House Gibraltar, asking them to send Access Info Europe a copy of all the information contained in their company register database. After 3 weeks, no response had been received, so Access Info sent a reminder email on 19 September 2013. Gibraltar doesn’t actually have an access to information law that requires them to answer within a certain period of time, or which guarantees that the right of access to information can be exercised in the country.
In light of this, Access Info decided to call Companies House on 2 October. After this, the Gibraltar Companies House responded to our email with details of how much it would cost to access the records, and we were told that it would be impossible for Gibraltar Companies House to send us the data in a reusable format.
On 14 October 2013, Access Info sent an e-mail asking for the legal justification that prevented the delivery of the information requested in reusable format. After two additional e-mail reminders and another phone call, our request was denied orally. Since there is no freedom of information law in Gibraltar, there were no legal possibilities for appealing the refusal.
Accessing Gibraltar’s Company Register
| Information available (for free) | None. In order to access information you have to create an account by filling in a form. E-Registry services have a subscription charge of £10 per month. |
| Provision for public access | An online service (Click here) gives access to the Company Profile, the Company Mortgage Profile, the Company Accounts Filed and the Company Filing History. To access the e-Register you must fill in a form in which you need to provide your personal information, provide a copy of your ID, and make the corresponding payment. |
| Cost per record | A company profile requested via email will cost £20. A search of a company’s physical records costs £15. |
| Cost for whole database | Data not available. |
Aditional information:
Gibraltar’s company register (Click here)