Conference – Disclosure in the Business Register in the age of BRIS

Good afternoon everyone,

Welcome to this meeting focused on a topic that remind us the increasing significance of uniformity and regulatory cooperation at the EU level.

Today, we will discuss the sharing of legal and economic information regarding European companies, with specific emphasis on interconnection systems. I would particularly like to thank Ca’ Foscari University and the Treviso Association of Chartered Accountants and Accounting Experts for promoting this initiative, which highlights the essential role of the Chamber of Commerce, especially in its function as the custodian of the Business Register.

The development and implementation of functionalities essential for the interconnection of Business Registers, in accordance with Directive 2012/17/EU of June 13, 2012, is the goal of the BRIS project. Directive 2012/17/EU and the subsequent European Implementing Regulation no. 2015/884 established the “Business Registers Interconnection System” (BRIS) at the European level, mandating that all EU countries participate by linking their national registers to the central European platform.

The BRIS IT project, co-funded by the European Commission under the CEF Telecom program, was launched precisely to facilitate this regulatory compliance. Within this framework, Unioncamere received co-funding, along with InfoCamere, for activities related to interconnecting the Italian Business Register with the e-Justice platform.

The objective of the project was to develop and implement functionalities required for the interconnection of Business Registers, thereby fulfilling Directive 2012/17/EU of June 13, 2012. The project lasted 22 months, during which several activities were carried out, including:

– Project management and relationship management with the European Commission and the Ministry of Economic Development;
– Specific interface and data exchange analyses for the European system and development of the Italian web architecture;
– Definition, implementation, and integration of the platform and pilot testing for interconnection;
– Dissemination, training, and support for the Chambers.

BRIS has been operational since June 8, 2017, following extensive training and outreach activities for the Chambers, particularly the business registry offices.

Once fully operational, the BRIS system will:

• Guarantee EU-wide access to information on companies registered in member states;
• For the first time, enable electronic communication among all business registers across the EU, allowing them to exchange information on foreign branches and cross-border mergers.

Through BRIS, citizens, businesses, and national authorities will be able to access information submitted by companies to national registers via the European e-Justice portal. Moreover, the new system will enhance communication among registers, allowing for the exchange of reliable information about companies.

Following EU compliance, all corporations with their registered office in an EU country (including Iceland and Norway, as EEA countries, thus broadening the scope) and with branches or resulting from a cross-border merger involving at least one company based in Italy must indicate the state, registration register, and registration number of their registered office to determine their European Unique Identifier (EUID) as per the Directive.
This requirement facilitates information exchange between registers and enhances transparency.

Italy was among the initial 10 countries connected from the outset, along with Denmark, Germany, Greece, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden, and Norway. Other countries gradually joined the system. Since the new system became operational on June 8, 2017, communications have been carried out between the Italian and other European Registers through BRIS.

I will not take up more of your time, and I apologize if I have preempted the remarks of the speakers who will follow. However, I feel it is important to highlight the role of the Chamber of Commerce in this significant project.

I thank once again all the speakers and the numerous participants, many of whom are joining us remotely, and I wish you all productive work.