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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

Madrid, 13 June 2022 – We are urging civil society organisations, journalists and citizens across Europe to participate in the European Commission’s consultation on whether or not company registers should be open. The consultation is open until Tuesday 21 June 2022 (midnight Brussels time). What is this about?  The consultation is on the Open Data Directive, adopted in 2019, which promised to open up company and company ownership data, including the names of the legal and beneficial owners. This information is currently available to all who have the means to pay for the data, with costs ranging up to €11

Madrid, 1 June 2022 – Under the EU’s Open Data Directive, company registration and ownership information should be available as open data. In a surprise move, the European Commission is now proposing, via a long-overdue Implementing Regulation, that the names of the owners of companies will not be made available for free. As a result, SMEs, businesses, academia, journalists and CSOs will not get access to information that is vital in due diligence, innovation and preventing corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing. Join leading transparency and open data activists in a public briefing to discuss next steps and how to