Madrid, 23 June 2022 – 182 organisations, journalists, academics, and individuals have signed a petition calling on the European Commission to ensure company ownership transparency in the EU.

The petition comes as a response to the Commission’s draft Implementing Regulation for the Open Data Directive, which proposes the publication of only basic company information and company documents, without the names of company legal owners, legal representatives, and beneficial owners.

The broad range of organisations and individuals adhering to this petition indicate the importance of open company registers: without company ownership information, CSOs and journalists would not have access to the data they need to properly investigate corruption, money laundering and tax evasion, and SMEs and entrepreneurs would not be able to carry out proper due diligence on potential partners.

“Without the names of company owners and other details we cannot talk about company registers as either high value data sets or as having much value at all. The Commission is undermining the promise of the Open Data Directive and we call for an urgent rethink of the proposal,” said Helen Darbishire, Executive Director of Access Info Europe.

“If the Implementing Regulation is adopted in its current form, Member States will be under no obligation to be transparent about company ownership”, said Rachel Hanna, Legal Researcher and Campaigner at Access Info Europe. “This in turn will foster an environment where shell companies can thrive, facilitating corruption and money laundering.”

This petition was submitted to the European Commission as part of a public consultation on the Implementing Regulation. The Commission now has to consider the input from the consultation and propose a definitive version of the Implementing Regulation. Access Info will monitor this closely and report back on any developments.

Meanwhile, Access Info will be doing the following:

  • Discussing with Members of the European Parliament our concerns that the Open Data Directive is being undermined by the weak proposal from the Commission;
  • Informing EU Member States about this concern as they had also agreed to include company data as a High-Value Data Set;
  • Coordinating campaigning across Europe to ensure that policy makers are aware of the importance of open company data;
  • Raising concerns in relevant international fora, including OECD, Open Government Partnership, and meetings related to the Council of Europe’s GRECO process and the UN Convention against Corruption.

Signatories to this petition:

Organisations

AAV – Associació d’Arxivers i Gestors de Documents Valencians
Adriana Ruiz-Restrepo, ASSOCIATION CIVISOL: Civisme et Solidarité pour le changement systémique
Corina Dragomirescu, Academia de Advocacy
Gergana Jouleva, Access to Information Programme
Ralitza Katzarska, Access to Information Programme (AIP)
Diana Bancheva , Access to Information Programme, Bulgaria
Blair Glencorse, Accountability Lab
Aranita Brahaj, Albanian Institute of Sciences / OpenDataAlbania
Samaira Khan, AML Specialist
Ebeh Kodjo, PhD, ANCE-TOGO
Ilaria Fevola, ARTICLE 19
Asociación Andaluza para la Defensa de los Animales
Antonio Rubio, Asociación de Periodistas de Investigación (API)
Mange Ram Adhana, Association For Promotion Sustainable Development
Stanislau Ivashkevich, Belarusian Investigative Center
Matthew Barnes, Blackdot Solutions
Stuart Clarke, Blackdot Solutions
Mark Cooper, Blackdot Solutions
Ciro Fernández, Block
Claire Nouvian, BLOOM
Frédéric Le Manach, BLOOM
Valérie Le Brenne, BLOOM
Carole Ewart, Campaign for Freedom of Information in Scotland
Kristina Tsabala, Center for the Study of Democracy
Vanya Petrova, Center for the Study of Democracy
Sonia Randhawa, Centre for Independent Journalism, Malaysia
Said Essoulami, Centre for Media Freedom
Citizens Network Watchdog Poland
András Lukács, Clean Air Action Group (Hungary)
Georg Hittmair, Compass-Verlag GmbH
Vicky Cann, Corporate Europe Observatory
Orencio Vázquez Oteo, Corporate Social Responsibility Observatory
Florin Badita, Corruption Kills
Joël Gombin, Datactivist
Holger Roonemaa, Delfi.ee
Thomas Angeli, Editor Beobachter
Andrés Mourenza, El País
Trevor Lawrance, Environmental Activist
Teona Tomashvili, ForSet
Forum Informationsfreiheit
Evelyn Schönheit, Forum Ökologie & Papier
Francis Mario, Francis & Co. Advocates
Hay Derecho, Fundación Hay Derecho
Monique Thiteux Altschul, Fundación Mujeres en Igualdad – Argentina
Elena Calistru, Funky Citizens
Olivier Loisel, Génération Frexit
Linda Ofori-Kwafo, Ghana Integrity Initiative
Oriana Ivković Novokmet, Gong
Constance de la Vega, Human Rights Advocates
Tetiana Khutor, ILI
Manuel Rico, infoLibre
Guido Enthoven, Institute for Social Innovation
Pavla Holcová, investigace.cz
Lukas Diko, Investigative Center of Jan Kuciak (Slovakia!
Saska Cvetkovska, Investigative Reporting Lab OCCRP
Cecilia Anesi, Investigative Reporting Project Italy (IRPI)
K-Monitor
Jelena Radivojević, KRIK
Vesna Radojević, KRIK
Majid Almutairi, Kuwait transparency society
Jean Villedieu, Linkurious
Maldita.es
Martin Stoll, Managing Director Öffentlichkeitsgesetz.ch
Fernanda Galicia, Mexiro A.C.
Vicky Bowman, Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business
Klime Babunski, NGO PRO MEDIA (North Macedonia)
Giles Tremlett, Non-fiction author, Foreign Correspondent
OCCRP
KOUASSI Hyacinthe, ONG CADES Côte d’Ivoire
Mariana López Fernández, Open Contracting Partnership
Karolis Granickas, Open Contracting Partnership
Oldřich Kužílek, Open Society p.b.a. Prague, Czechia
Krzysztof Izdebski, Open Spending EU Coalition
Robert Harm, open3.at – Network for promoting OpenSociety, OpenGovernment & OpenData in Austria
Chris Taggart, OpenCorporates
Rebecca Lee, OpenCorporates
Tim Goodman, OpenCorporates
Sarah Arana-Morton, OpenCorporates
Laurent Savaete, OpenFinData Ltd
OpenSanctions
Mašenjka Bačić, Oštro (Croatia)
Ante Pavić, Oštro (Croatia)
Anja Vladisavljević, Oštro (Croatia)
Anuška Delić, Oštro (Slovenia)
Maja Čakarić, Oštro (Slovenia)
Matej Zwitter, Oštro (Slovenia)
Alejandra Finotto, Oxford Insights
Sarka Zverina Trunkatova, Oziveni
Marek Zelenka, Oživení, z.s.
Juliana Hoxha, Partners Albania for Change and Development
Mohammed Mominul Haque, Peace And Justice Alliance
Felix Hoddinott, Quantexa
Teona Kavtaradze, Studio Monitor
Eoin Dubsky, SumOfUs
Corinne Vella, The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation
The ONE Campaign
Michael Jarvis, Transparency and Accountability Initiative
Eszter Filippinyi, Transparency and Accountability Initiative
Cornelia Abel, Transparency International
Maira Martini, Transparency International
Ines Pinto, Transparency International
Maria Constanza Castro, Transparency International
Chew Phye Keat, Transparency International – Malaysia
Grigory Mashanov, Transparency International – Russia
Pisey PECH, Transparency International Cambodia
Helena Peltonen-Gassmann, Transparency International Deutschland e.V.
Sara Brimbeuf, Transparency International France
Kévin Gernier, Transparency International France
Alexander Kevkhishvili, Transparency International Georgia
Susanna Ferro, Transparency International Italy
Transparency International Lithuania
Daiana Bouzo, Transparency International Spain
David Martínez, Transparency International Spain
Umida Niyazova, Uzbek Forum for Human Rights
Bram Vranken, Vredesactie
Miloš Katić, Vojvodina Research and Analytical Center (VOICE)
Stefanos Loukopoulos, Vouliwatch
Jean-Paul Pinon, WeCitizens.be
Alina Radu, ZdG, investigative reporting team, Moldova

Journalists

Jose Miguel Calatayud, Freelance journalist / Arena for Journalism in Europe
Catalina Gaete Salgado, Investigative journalist
Jelena Prtorić, Investigative journalist
Maja Jovanovska, Investigative Reporting Lab
Aleksandra Denkovska, Investigative Reporting Lab
Ivana Nasteska, Investigative Reporting Lab
Bojan Stojanovski, Investigative Reporting Lab
Lila Karatasheva, Investigative Reporting Lab
Dajana Lazarevska, Investigative Reporting Lab
Harald Schumann, Journalist (Investigate Europe)
Sergio Sangiao, Maldita.es
Jose Molina, Maldita.es
Rubén Díaz Grano de Oro, Maldita.es
José Luis Zafra Monteagudo, Maldita.es
Sana Sbouai, OCCRP
Drew Sullivan, OCCRP
Paul May, OCCRP
Antonio Baquero, OCCRP
Aisha Kehoe Down, OCCRP
Lara Dihmis, OCCRP
Lilia Saúl, OCCRP
Maura Quatorze, OCCRP
Tom Stocks, OCCRP
David Ilieski, OCCRP / IRL

Academics/Researchers

Dr Emma Briant Academic
Prof. Kevin Dunion, Academic
Nicholas Haagensen, Academic
Manuel J. García Rodríguez, Academic researcher
Mark Thompson, Historian
Alberto Abella, meloda.org
Cesar Nicandro Cruz-Rubio, Policy researcher GIGAPP
Manuel Sánchez de Diego Fdez. de la Riva, Profesor de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Ana Revuelta, Researcher and consultant
Gabriele Tonne, Retired academic editor

Individuals

Aisa Telalovic
Alicia Chabert
Ashley Buchan
Bongiovanni Sontag Emmanuelle
Charles Gay, Christian Aid Governance Adviser
Chirol Cedric
Christine BOLLET
Daniel Ruiz Nodar
David Constant
Douglas Porter
Frank Edward Paco Smith, Jr.
Frank Figuls
Giampaolo Sellitto
Gregorio Amo
Henri J. Norden
James Robert Gillespie
Javier Martin Cavanna, Fundación Haz
José M. Marín
Nacho Calle
Orencio Vázquez
Patricia Robelin
Philipp Dowling
Précilia D. Djodji
Sabrina Benmoussa
Saliceti Marie-Claude
Sylvia Amar
Thierry Simon
Vainsonneau Cyrille