Public Access to Central Register of the Republic of Macedonia (MK0122)

Basic data for registered entities in the Central Register of the Republic of Macedonia should become publicly available and free of charge on the website of CRRM
Start and end date of the commitment: August 2018 – August 2019
Lead implementing agency
Government of the Republic of Macedonia Central Register of RM
Description of commitment
Status quo or problem addressed by the commitment
All data from the entered registrations of entities in the Trade Register and the register of other legal entities are publicly available on the website of the Central Register (CRRM) and they can be used exclusively for personal and non-commercial purposes (Law on CRRM Article 57). CRRM’s website provides access to a small number of basic data (Personal ID number of the subject, name, status, size and additional information) on registered entities in the Republic of Macedonia, and they can be obtained by entering the RNS (Registry number of the subject) or with Auxiliary search criterion for part of the subject's name. With the Government's decision of 2017 for investigative journalism purposes, all data from the registries is available free of charge. All data for the entities are public and available to any interested party including the citizens, but in accordance with Article 18a of the Law on Central Register- For the performed services within the scope of its work, which is determined by this or any other law, which are referring to the entry, input, processing, connection, classification, selection, storage, storage and usage of data in the Central Register, as well as the distribution of data to the interested users, the Central Registry charges an appropriate fee which shall be determined by the Tariff of the Central Registry, adopted
by the Board of Directors of the Central Register, to which the Government of the Republic of Macedonia shall give its consent. In this way, the CRRM is defined as an institution that is financed from its own revenues. Such established principles of operation are taken and used from same type of institutions in the world, which are not uncommon. This is the case with AJPES from Slovenia, APR from Serbia, Union Camere from Italy, Grejfe - France, Union de registradores - Spain, Bronnaysund - Norway, Bolaksverket - Sweden and others. The Central Registry is set up and established according to the Norwegian model with consultants from the World Bank and continuously aims at applying the best practices in the domain of registers and to meet citizens needs and their initiatives, but in the past few years, CRRM has been engaged with larger capital investments and was unable to fully devote to the development and improvement of all its services, and to approximate some of them to the citizens. In this regard, it has lagged behind in the implementation of the new world trends (opening data) and EU directives under this domain.
Main objective
Following the example of other countries, the goal is to make public and free of charge part of the data on the entities that are subject to registration in the Trade Register and the register of other legal entities, but to have in mind the indications by the Directorate for Personal Data Protection concerning the volume of their public issuance and their application, since the Trade Register and the register of other legal entities are kept in the CRRM are registered as collections of personal data and special technical and organizational measures are applied for them. OGP commitment for equal access to basic data for registered entitiescompanies is a fundamental principle not only of the market economy but also of an informed, public and functional democracy and is fully supported by the CRRM. The strategy adopted by the CRRM - Strategy for transformation into a service organization and establishment of a single point of contact for the business community, is in line with OGP’s comitments, which will mean more free and open access to basic data affecting the society, as well as the opportunity to use that data, analyze and combine it with other data. As the World Bank points out in this context, "the lack of data on legal entities is a key enabler of corruption, organized crime and money laundering. Ultimately, corporate responsibility and integrity are not possible without public, free and open access to basic data on legal entities”.
Brief description of the commitment
The following basic data for the entities: RNS (Registry number of the subject) name, address, legal form (organizational form), date of establishment, size, status (active/ inactive/ in the process of establishing/deletion), additional information (in bankruptcy/ liquidation) and activity (code and description) registered in the Central Register of the Republic of Macedonia should be publicly available on the institution's website. The data can be obtained by entering the RNS or by using an auxiliary search criterion for part of the subject’ name. According to the 5th EU Directive Beneficial Ownership, data on owners of the entities will be publicly available with the adoption of the new Law on Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism, which envisages a new register of end owners (physican entitites). According to the current plans, the register should be operational within 12 months after the adoption of the Law and the bylaws, that is, in the second half of 2019. The Ministry of Finance and the Financial Intelligence Directorate will be the responsible authorities for the Law. Free accessibility to basic data (referred to in the description of the commitment) for 100% of the registered entities in CRRM, starting from June 30th 2019, will contribute to improvement of transparency, accountability and responsibility of the government and will improve the life and work of the citizens.
OGP challenge addressed by the commitment
Increasing public integrity
Increasing corporative accountability
Additional information
Refference to Global Sustainable Development Goals - Objective 16 "Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions", Target 16.10: Ensure access to information and protection of fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements. The measures under this commitment contribute to promotion of access to public information via more efficient implementation of laws and better information of citizens.
Milestones
1.2.1 Setting up a commitment for CRRM for enabling free, open and free of charge, basic data for registered entities (RNS, name, address, legal form (organizational form), date of establishment, size, status (active/inactive/ in the process of establishing/deleted), additional information (in bankruptcy/liquidation) and activity (code and description).
1.2.2 Development of a software solution integrated and accessible through the CRRM website for enabling a search for 100% of the registered entities, according to the RNS or part of the entity's name, which will result in access to basic data for the requested entity: (RNS, title, address, legal form (organizational form), date of establishment, size, status (active/inactive/in the process of establishing/deleted), additional information (in bankruptcy/liquidation) and activity (code and description).
Contact information
Name of responsible person from implementing agency
Vladimir Naumovski
Title, Department
Advisor to the IT Development Director, Central Register of RM
Phone and e-mail
+389 2 3123 169 vladimir.naumovski@crm.org.mk
Other actors involved
State administration bodies, Independent state administration bodies
Government of RM Central Register of RM
Non-government sector, business subjects, trade unions, economic chambers, associations and foundations
Center for Civil Communications, German Filkov, gfilkov@ccc.org.mk

Theme I: Access to Information

1.2 Basic data for registered entities in the Central Register of the Republic of Macedonia should become publicly available and free of charge on the website of CRRM

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan: [11]

The following basic data for the entities: RNS (Registry number of the subject) name, address, legal form (organizational form), date of establishment, size, status (active/ inactive/ in the process of establishing/deletion), additional information (in bankruptcy/ liquidation) and activity (code and description) registered in the Central Register of the Republic of Macedonia should be publicly available on the institution's website. The data can be obtained by entering the RNS or by using an auxiliary search criterion for part of the subject’ name. According to the 5th EU Directive Beneficial Ownership, data on owners of the entities will be publicly available with the adoption of the new Law on Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism, which 18 envisages a new register of end owners (physican entitites). According to the current plans, the register should be operational within 12 months after the adoption of the Law and the bylaws, that is, in the second half of 2019. The Ministry of Finance and the Financial Intelligence Directorate will be the responsible authorities for the Law. Free accessibility to basic data (referred to in the description of the commitment) for 100% of the registered entities in CRRM, starting from June 30th 2019, will contribute to improvement of transparency, accountability and responsibility of the government and will improve the life and work of the citizens.

Milestones:

1.2.1 Setting up a commitment for CRRM for enabling free, open and free of charge, basic data for registered entities (RNS, name, address, legal form (organizational form), date of establishment, size, status (active/inactive/ in the process of establishing/deleted), additional information (in bankruptcy/liquidation) and activity (code and description).

1.2.2 Development of a software solution integrated and accessible through the CRRM website for enabling a search for 100% of the registered entities, according to the RNS or part of the entity's name, which will result in access to basic data for the requested entity: (RNS, title, address, legal form (organizational form), date of establishment, size, status (active/inactive/in the process of establishing/deleted), additional information (in bankruptcy/liquidation) and activity (code and description).

Start Date: August 2018
End Date: August 2020

Context and Objectives

This commitment is tied to North Macedonia’s efforts regarding the EU’s Fifth Directive on Anti-Money Laundering. [12] The Central Register for the Republic of North Macedonia (CRRM) is the body authorized to perform all company registrations and maintain North Macedonia’s Trade Register. This commitment aims to better align the availability and searchability of the CRRM’s Trade Register with global best practices and with the EU directive. To do this, the commitment plans to develop the software to ensure the searchability of all registered entities on the CRRM’s Trade Register according to the registry number of the subject (RNS). It also calls for providing free access to basic data on registered entities. [13] It continues from Commitment 1.1 from the third action plan (2016-2018), under which the CRRM produced a list of basic data on CSOs and businesses to be published on the CRRM’s Trade Register. [14]

This commitment’s activities are measurable and verifiable, as they provide a clear list of basic data for searching registered entities on the CRRM Trade Register. It is relevant to the value of access to information, since it could improve the searchability of registered entities.

According to the action plan, the new, upgraded Trade Register will become operational in June 2019, following revisions to the Law on Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism that will take place in 2018. [15] Overall, the activities under this commitment could improve the searchability of registered entities on the Trade Register by better aligning North Macedonia’s Trade Register with international best practices. However, it is unclear if the commitment will make more information available to the public regarding the ownership of companies registered in North Macedonia. Therefore, its potential to improve transparency of company information is assessed as minor.

Next steps

To fully implement the principles of the EU Fifth Directive, the Trade Register will need to provide information on the beneficial owners of registered companies. Several OGP members are currently adopting these measures, such as Denmark [16] and Slovakia. [17] The IRM recommends that CRRM follow these international best practices in its Trade Register.

[11] The texts for all the commitments are an abridged version of the commitment texts. For the full commitment texts, see the Republic of North Macedonia 2018-2020 National Action Plan, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Macedonia_Action-Plan_2018-2020_EN.pdf

[12] EUR-Lex, Access to European Union law, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32018L0843

[13] This data includes registry number of the subject (RNS), name, address, legal form (organizational form), date of establishment, size, status (active/inactive/ in the process of establishing/deleted), additional information (in bankruptcy/liquidation), and activity (code and description).

[14] IRM, Republic of Macedonia, End-of-Term Report 2016-2018, p 12, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Macedonia_End-of-Term_Report_2016-2018_EN.pdf

[15] Republic of Macedonia, OGP National Action Plan 2018-2020, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Macedonia_Action-Plan_2018-2020_EN.pdf

[16] Danish Business Authority, Beneficial owners, https://danishbusinessauthority.dk/beneficial-owners

[17] https://rpvs.gov.sk/rpvs

Commitment 1.2 Data for registered entities in the Central Register of the Republic of North Macedonia (CRRNM)

Complete:

Since 19 October 2020, when the new portal was launched, the following data is available free of charge on the CRRNM’s Trade Register for all registered entities: registry number of the subject (RNS), unique tax number, full name and short name, date of establishment, legal form, legal status, address, additional information (in bankruptcy/liquidation), activity (code and description), and size. [6] Prior to this commitment, only the following data was available free of charge: RNS, full name, size, legal status, and additional information. The remaining information was only available for a fee. [7]