Electronic trade register extract to be free of charge

Amendments to the Trade Register Act and the Business Information Act will take effect in August next year. The amendments will update the Acts to comply with two EU Directives. Trade register data will move more easily between EU Member States in future. In addition, a electronic trade register extract will become free of charge through a decree amendment.

On 16 December 2021, the President of the Republic of Finland adopted amendments to the Trade Register Act and the Business Information Act that materially affect the activities of the Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH), more specifically the Trade Register maintained by PRH. The amendments will take effect on 1 August 2022. 

The legislative amendments are a consequence of two EU Directives: the Digitalisation Directive concerning business registers and the Anti-Money Laundering Directive.

In future, companies will not have to report the same information to several different registration authorities

The amendments, which will take effect in August, will facilitate the movement of business register information between the registration authorities of different EU Member States. If, for example, the persons in charge of a limited liability company change, information on the changes will also move to the country where a registered branch of the limited liability company operates. 

In addition, information on beneficial owners within the meaning of the Anti-Money Laundering Directive will be more readily available between Member States, and a notification of the establishment of a limited liability company that is submitted electronically should be processed within five working days.

The Digitalisation Directive requires that certain information on limited liability companies be free of charge in future. Such information includes, for example, the entries in the register concerning the persons in charge of a limited liability company. Trade register data will be made free of charge more broadly than required by the EU Directive through an amendment to the decree on fees chargeable by the Finnish Patent and Registration Office, issued by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment on 2 December 2021. 

The electronic trade register extracts of all companies entered in the Trade Register will be free of charge from 1 August 2022. Information on beneficial owners will continue to be subject to a fee.

Inquiries: 
Jyri Oksanen, Senior Specialist, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, tel. +358 295 047 123