Stricter control to be exercised over the access to companies’ files in the Commercial Register

The access to companies’ files in the Commercial Register (CR) will be permitted only after registration of the respective user. According to amendments to the Commercial Register Act, adopted yesterday at second reading in Parliament, potential users will be granted access to the CR in the regional offices of the Registry Agency after submitting applications and identity documents. Companies’ files can be checked via Internet by the use of electronic signatures or digital certificates. Thus, in practice, a very small part of the companies’ information will be publicly available.

Deputy Minister of Justice, Janeta Petrova defended the bill, saying: "Free access to the CR is not allowed anywhere in Europe ... The Ministry has money to buy the certification software, which would limit the excessive free access to companies’ files, but it has no capacity to engage some 1,000 employees to search the millions of documents with already disclosed data and to delete the personal data in them. According to her, the way in which the CR was up was not correct and, if possible, she would close it.

Maya Manolova, MP from BSP, took a stand against the changes related to the publicity of the register. According to her, if free access is no longer permitted, privatisation contracts, minutes of general meetings of public companies and others will not be visible and this will facilitate fraud. "The only thing you will achieve is an increase in fraud and uncertainty. Limiting access to the CR will provoke the next big scandal in Bulgaria, there will be social unrest and questions on the part of the EC," said Martin Dimitrov from the Blue Coalition.

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