As of Jan. 1, 2022, the Chamber of Commerce will screen all data recorded in the Trade Register as the residential address of entrepreneurs and directors. The Council of Ministers has agreed to this. This change will now be submitted to the King for signature.
As of 2022, the protected residential addresses can only be viewed by government organizations or professional groups that have legal permission to do so, such as the tax authorities, lawyers and bailiffs. The addresses recorded as business addresses will still remain retrievable.
The government is amending the Trade Register Decree 2008 to make it more difficult to misuse address data from the Trade Register, for example for unsolicited marketing, intimidation and threats. This proposal is the first of two steps to combat this undesirable use of address data. The second step is part of the Trade Register Data Vision that the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate is currently developing.
Many self-employed entrepreneurs have a business address that is the same as their residential address. The business address of companies will continue to be retrievable after January 1, 2022. In the Datavisie Handelsregister (Trade Register Data Vision), the government is now mapping out, among other things, which options are available to better protect privacy in these cases as well.
The Trade Register is a public register in which anyone can check the data of their business partners. This provides legal certainty in economic life. At the same time, the personal data contained in the Trade Register must be adequately protected. The Data Vision aims to reassess and, where necessary, adjust the balance between these two interests.
This process started in the spring with a consultation where companies, citizens and governments could indicate how they use the Trade Register and how the Trade Register affects them.
In November, the Cabinet will present a number of options for dealing differently with entrepreneur data from the Trade Register, including the associated advantages and disadvantages of each option. These options will be presented to companies, citizens and other governments through a second public consultation. The final Data Vision for the Trade Register will then follow.
