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Summary: Information Commissioner Rules That Specific Company Register Law Trumps Access to Information Law Request sent to Business and Enterprise Register (BER) Outcome of request Information refused Time taken to respond 6 working days (Deadline is 20 working days) Reason for refusal Another law overrides FOI law Only need to answer requests for individual records. Personal privacy.   On 20 August 2013, Access Info sent a request to the Business and Enterprise Register, asking for access to a full copy of the Swiss company register database. The Swiss access to information law establishes a 20 working-day deadline for the public

Summary: You Need to Pay For the Information and State What You Plan to Do With the Personal Data in the Register Request sent to Swedish Companies Registration Office Trade and Industry Register Outcome of request Information refused Time taken to respond 1 working day (Deadline is “immediately”) Reason for refusal Must pay for access. Personal privacy.   On 4 November 2013, the initial request was sent in English to the Swedish Companies Registration Office. Legally, Sweden is bound to answer immediately under its access to information law. Only one day later, the Swedish Registration Office responded, asking us to

Summary: Information Commissioner Rules that Business Register Was Right to Refuse Access Because the Data Was Already Available Online Request sent to Serbian Business Registers Agency (SBRA) (Click here) Outcome of request Information refused Time taken to respond 46 working days (deadline is 15 working days) Reason for refusal Database not a document. No need to answer if info is already online. FOI exceptions applied to registers. Personal privacy.   The initial request was sent to the Agency for Business Registry in Serbia by Access Info's partner, Vlad Kostic, on 1 October 2013. The request asked for a full copy

Summary: It Is "Technically Impossible" to Provide Access to the Full Database Request sent to Federal Tax Service (Click here) Outcome of request Information Refused Time taken to respond 40 working days (Deadline is 30 calendar days) Reason for refusal Another law overrides FOI law. Technically impossible to fulfill.   The initial request was sent in Russian to the Federal Tax Service on 5 August 2013 by our partner Alec Luhn, a Russian journalist. Legally, Russia is bound to answer access to information requests within 30 working days. However, since no response was received before the deadline, Access Info had

Summary: The Romanian Access to Information Law Does Not Cover Self-Funded Bodies Request sent to National Trade Register (Click here) Outcome of request Information refused. Time taken to respond 3 working days (Deadline is 10 working days) Reason for refusal Only need to answer requests for individual records. Must pay for access. FOI exceptions applied to registers.   On 30 July 2013 an initial request was sent in Romanian to the National Trade Register by Access Info´s partner, Ionut Stanescu. Romanian law requires the administration to answer access to information requests within a 10 working day period. On 4 August 2013,

Summary: Administrative Silence - No Response to Our Request Request sent to Brønnøysund Register Centre (Click here) Outcome of request Administrative silence. Time taken to respond N/A (Deadline is “without undue delay”) Reason for refusal N/A (No response received).   On 4 November 2013, Access Info sent a request to the Brønnøysund Register Centre of Norway. Under the Norwegian Freedom of Information Act, public institutions are required to respond to citizen requests “without undue delay”. However, Access Info never received a response to the request, making this a case of Administrative Silence. Accessing the Norwegian Company Register Information available (for

Summary: If Information Is Already Available Online, There Is No Obligation to Facilitate Further Access Request sent to Central Registry of Companies (CRPS) Commission for Securities (CfS) Outcome of request Central Registry of Companies (CRPS): Information Refused Commission for Securities (CfS): Information Refused Time taken to respond Central Registry of Companies: 8 working days (deadline is 15 working days). When we re-sent the request, they did not respond. Commission for Securities: 10 working days (deadline is 15 working days) Reason for refusal Central registry of companies (CRPS) The first time we sent the request, three reasons were given: Tax secret/database

Summary: You Must Pay For Access to the Company Register Information Request sent to State Chamber of Registration (Click here) Outcome of request Information refused. Time taken to respond 6 working days (Deadline is 15 working days) Reason for refusal Must pay for access.   On 14 August 2013, Access Info and our partner Iurie Sanduta submitted the initial request for access to the full database of companies to the State Chamber of Registration of Moldova. In Moldova, the deadline for responding to access to information requests is of 15 working days. The response arrived 8 days later, on 22 August,

Summary: Information That Is Available For a Fee Is Excluded From the Freedom of Infomation Act Request sent to Financial Services Authority (Click here) Outcome of request Information refused Time taken to respond 1 day for initial response (Deadline is 20 working days) Reason for refusal FOI exceptions applied to registers.   On 28 August 2013, Access Info sent a request to the Maltese Financial Services Authority asking for access to a copy of the full database of companies registered in the country. Malta's access to information act establishes a deadline of 20 working days for government bodies to respond

Summary: You Need to Pay For Access - The Data is Sold at Cost-Price to Cover the Running Costs of the Register Request sent to Centre of Registers (Click here) Outcome of request Information Refused Time taken to respond 1 working day (Deadline is 20 working days) Reason for refusal Must pay for access. (They are charging "cost-price" for the information.) Another law overrides FOI law.   A request for access to a copy of the full company register database was sent to the Central Register on 27 September 2013 by our partner in Lithuania, Mantas Dubauskas. Lithuanian law requires