News item | 29-06-2022 | 18:00
All sole proprietorships will soon be able to have their business address fully protected in the Trade Register of the Chamber of Commerce (KvK). Now this is only possible for the residential address and on request with the business address when there are threats. In addition, Minister Micky Adriaansens (Economic Affairs and Climate) proposes that telephone numbers and e-mail addresses for all entrepreneurs should no longer be made public and there will be a ban on the commercial use of data in the Trade Register for marketing, for example. This is stated in the proposal for the Data vision Trade Register which the minister sent to the House of Representatives today. The proposed measures will be discussed in September this year during two digital sessions where stakeholders and stakeholders can respond to these measures.
Minister Micky Adriaansens (EZK): “I propose this adjustment so that the privacy and therefore also the security of entrepreneurs will increase. At the same time, it remains possible to check certain data in order to maintain legal certainty in economic transactions and to prevent fraud. After all, foreclosure should not lead to a situation in which unreliable entrepreneurs can more easily defraud their customers or other companies. Stakeholders can comment on this proposal and I think that’s important. With this proposal I meet a widely expressed social and political wish and the Trade Register as a basis for entrepreneurship can again keep up with the times.”
Abuse and threats led to Datavisie Trade Register
In recent years, more and more entrepreneurs have suffered from unwanted use of their business data. Information that is public is used, for example, for marketing purposes, while no permission has been given for this. Address details of individuals are published on the internet (doxing) and more and more independent entrepreneurs in particular are experiencing threatening situations online and physically. The government and the House of Representatives agree that the current public Trade Register is no longer appropriate for this time.
Proposed changes
The previously proposed amendment to the law (screening off all residential addresses, and additionally, on request, business addresses in the event of a threat) is already being applied in practice. In the proposal from Minister Adriaansens, this amendment to the law will be further expanded: all sole proprietorships will soon be able to protect their business address on request. Entrepreneurs must register an alternative postal address for this, such as a PO box. In anticipation of this, the Minister has already instructed the Chamber of Commerce to implement this in practice as soon as possible. In addition, the proposal is to stop making telephone numbers and email addresses public in the Trade Register and to make them available to everyone. This applies to all persons and entities. This data can then only be viewed by government organizations or professional groups that have legal permission to do so, such as the tax authorities, lawyers and bailiffs. VvEs (Associations of Owners of Apartments) are largely protected and the commercial use of data from the Trade Register is prohibited.
By shielding address details, citizens and companies themselves can obtain less information from the Trade Register. It is therefore important to initiate other matters such as public registration of administrative bans imposed by the court. This makes it more difficult for convicted fraudsters to continue. This prevents the use of a so-called black list with few or no procedural guarantees. The control of the data is being tightened up by the Chamber of Commerce.
In addition to the government, private organizations sometimes also have social tasks that justify using data from the Trade Register. This is now often possible on the basis of public information. Where that will no longer suffice, organizations must also be authorized to use non-public data or to search for natural persons. In order to tackle fraud and errors, administrative bodies must report discrepancies that they see between the data and the information from other sources to the Chamber of Commerce.
Continuation
The proposed measures are discussed during two digital sessions. These are organized in September. Stakeholders and stakeholders can then respond to these measures. If no obstacles emerge from these sessions, the above proposed measures and the associated legislation and regulations are elaborated.