Summary:The Freedom of Information Law Does Not Apply
| Request sent to | State Registration Service (Click here) |
| Outcome of request | Information Refused |
| Time taken to respond | 5 working days (Deadline is 5 working days) |
| Reason for refusal | Another law overrides FOI law. |
The initial request for a copy of the full database of registered companies was sent by Access Info’s partner, Anna Babinec, on 30 July 2013 in Ukrainian to the State Registration Service of Ukraine. Legally, Ukraine is bound to answer access to information requests within 5 working days.
On 6 August 2013, we received a negative response from the State Registration Service, which explained that the Ukranian company register was not covered by the Access to Information law but that rather that it was governed by the law «On State Registration of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs». We were informed that as of October 2013, more information would be made available on the online company register database.
We later noticed that on 4 August 2013, the Ukranian Company Register had published a statement (read here) which claimed that it sought to clarify, following the reception of access to information requests seeking access to the contents database, that access to the Ukrainian register is prohibited unless you are the founder of a legal entity (“participant”) or an individual entrepreneur. The notice states that “documents shall be seized from registration files solely on the basis of a motivated resolution of the investigator according to the law, and documents shall be demanded and obtained from registration files – on the basis of a court decision.”
However, on 18 October 2013, a new version of the Ukrainian company register was launched, which included the names of the owners of companies and also share capital information. Before Access Info started the project, these types of information had which previously had not been available to the public.
Accessing the Ukrainian Company Register
| Information available (for free) | On 19 October 2013, the company register was updated and it became possible to access: Full name of company, Full and short name of company in English, ID of company, Legal Form, Address, List of Owners and their shares, Amount of Share capital, Directions of Activities, Founding Document, Contact number. |
| Provision for public access | You can only search the company register if you know the name of the legal entity, or of an individual entrepreneur. A blank search is not possible. Information is only available in Ukrainian. A payment is required to receive information from the Ukrainain State Register, such as an extract, abbreviate, inquiry, or a publication of legal notifications. There are constitutional rights of citizens who are entitled to undertake individual consultations at the State Registration service of Ukraine. Citizens can consult every Wednesday from 10 am till 5 pm the department for state registration of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs. |
| Cost per record | Data not available. |
| Cost for whole database | Data not available. |
Additional Information:
Ukraine’s Right to Information (RTI) Rating (Click here)
Ukraine’s Law on Access to Public Information (Click here)
Ukraine’s company register (Click here)