The Ministry of Justice sent a draft regulation for review and approval, with a purpose to cancel the fees for making inquiries from the e-Business Register. The aim of this is to increase transparency in the business sector and to encourage the development of new, data-driven services.
According to the Minister of Justice Maris Lauri, the preconditions will be created for the company to use the potential of public data to support economic growth and create new jobs.
"State-owned information has grown in volume and content over the last twenty years and should be re-used in society as much as possible. Many Estonian companies have also created new services with the help of open data and achieved wider success, " she said.
Another important goal is to increase transparency in the business sector.
"Transparency in business is crucial. It is a matter of trust but also of corruption. We tend to forget that there is corruption in the private sector and in business. Although it is more difficult to define there, research shows that business corruption threatens the general economic environment and creates inequality, affects the quality of products and services and may even pose a threat to human health," explained Lauri.
"In addition, various ethical issues and changed values are becoming increasingly important for consumers and businesses. In recent months, we have seen that both the entrepreneur and the consumer need and want to know who the parties to the legal entity are, such as shareholders and beneficial owners, when using services and creating new business relationships," the Minister of Justice added.
The only fee will remain for documents in the public files of non-profit organizations, as they may contain specific types of personal data which should be protected from being made available to the public by additional measures.
Source: https://www.just.ee/uudised/justiitsministeerium-annab-ariregistri-info-vabaks