Power monopoly of the Chamber of Commerce

DISCLAIMER: This article is specifically written about the Dutch Chamber of Commerce and does not apply to other Chambers of Commerce.
The Chamber of Commerce (CoC) is the place where their dreams began for the many registered entrepreneurs. The Chamber of Commerce is also a business partner for many entrepreneurs; they buy the business information from the Trade Register and then resell it. Nevertheless, these trade relations are in danger of being overthrown now that the Chamber of Commerce is asking higher prices for the data and imposing more restrictions. Five major purchasers of business information have recently formed an association and have spoken out against the policy of the Chamber of Commerce. They are even considering filing a lawsuit to "ensure that the Trade Register remains public."

Public law monopoly

The Chamber of Commerce is an independent administrative body of the Dutch government. An independent administrative body is an organization that carries out government tasks, but does not fall directly under the government; they have "some public authority." The Chamber of Commerce has been given six statutory tasks by the government, including the maintenance of the Trade Register. All Dutch companies are required to be registered in the Trade Register and everyone can view this information against payment.

The Chamber of Commerce has been commercially active in the sale of business information for a few years now. Commercial parties have since noticed that the Chamber of Commerce is increasingly trying to protect the data. The Chamber of Commerce is in the process of realizing a power monopoly by selling the data at an increasingly expensive price and by selling it with more restrictions. For providers of business information it is no longer attractive to buy and resell the data from the Chamber of Commerce; leaving the Chamber of Commerce as the only provider. The strange thing about this situation is that the Chamber of Commerce is using its public-law role to bring about the monopoly of power.

Because entrepreneurs are obliged to register with the Chamber of Commerce, to send annual accounts and nowadays also to register the UBO (The Chamber of Commerce is the only one with the legal authority for these registrations), it is felt that the data should therefore also be publicly accessible, without additional restrictions. However, the Chamber of Commerce is of the opinion that since the amendment of the Trade Register Act, they can set more conditions for the use of this Trade Register. 

The Association for B2B Business Information consists of five trade partners of the Chamber of Commerce and has spoken out against this policy of the Chamber of Commerce. They doubt whether the Chamber of Commerce can impose an additional condition on the use of the Trade Register, because it is a public database.

The Chamber of Commerce naturally works with more trading partners, who generally have a more nuanced view of the issue. The SCOPE CDD On Demand solution also uses company information from the Trade Register from the Chamber of Commerce for the UBO investigation and the investigation into group relationships. The Chamber of Commerce acts as a "data partner" that provides input for the UBO investigation. Your client's Chamber of Commerce registrations can be requested. 

You enter a company name with place of business, or the Chamber of Commerce number, and CDD On Demand then takes over most of the work. The UBO research of SCOPE CDD On Demand provides insight into the company structure quickly and easily, in which the CDD On Demand solution indicates:

• which person (s) is the UBO;
• which person(s) may be the potential UBO or;
• which person(s) can lead you to the UBO.

When you are talking to a client, you can immediately verify how the company structure works by means of CDD On Demand. The UBO investigation is part of an extensive Wwft client investigation.

In addition to identifying the UBO, the compliance check also looks at sanctions lists, receivership and administration registers and risk countries. You can read more about our comprehensive compliance check here . The CDD On Demand solution also offers the possibility to monitor for new or additional risk factors, in this case. you will immediately receive a notification. The CDD On Demand solution has been specially developed to save you time and take the customer due diligence investigation off your hands. You can try it yourself for free, you can request ten free credits and you can use it to conduct a Wwft client screening yourself and experience the convenience of CDD On Demand yourself.