Opinion of the European Central Bank of 25 May 2021 on the establishment of a register for basic enterprise data (CON/2021/19)
Date: 2021-05-25
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: legal basis

EN 

ECB-PUBLIC 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 25 May 2021  

on the establishment of a register for basic enterprise data 

(CON/2021/19) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On 4 May 2021 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the German Federal Ministry 

for Economic Affairs and Energy for an opinion on a draft law on the establishment and management of a 

register  on  basic  enterprise  data  and  the  introduction  of  a  national  business  identification  number  for 

enterprises  (hereinafter  the  ‘draft  law’).  The  ECB’s  competence  to  deliver  an  opinion  is  based  on 

Articles 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and the third 

and  fourth  indents  of  Article 2(1)  of  Council  Decision  98/415/EC1,  as  the  draft  law  relates  to  Deutsche 

Bundesbank  and  the  collection,  compilation  and  distribution  of  monetary,  financial,  banking,  payment 

systems  and  balance  of  payments  statistics.  In  accordance  with  the  first  sentence  of  Article 17.5  of  the 

Rules of Procedure of the European Central Bank, the Governing Council has adopted this opinion. 

1. 

Purpose of the draft law 

1.1  The  main  purpose  of  the  draft  law  is  it  to  establish  a  central  register  on  basic  enterprise  data 

(hereinafter,  the ‘basic register’)  and  to  introduce  a  national,  i.e.  Germany-wide,  business 

identification  number  for  enterprises.  The  basic  register  and  the  business  identification  number 

supplement  the  various  existing  registries  and  identification  numbers  which  currently  exist  in 

Germany.  Under  the  draft  law,  information  on  economic  operators  is  made  centrally  available  for 

different public authorities for the performance of various public tasks. The establishment of the basic 

register is an infrastructural prerequisite for a comprehensive digitalisation of administrative services 

in Germany and considered an important element in establishing the so-called ‘once-only’ principle 

according  to  which  an  enterprise  only  needs  to  register  once  in  order  to  be  subject  to  any 

administrative measure. The basic register aims to not only reduce the administrative burdens for 

businesses  but  also  improve  the  quality  of  register  data  and  increase  the  efficiency  of  the  public 

administration by connecting the various existing registries. 

1.2  Basic register and national business identification number for enterprises 

Under the draft law, the Statistisches Bundesamt (the Federal Statistical Office) is designated as the 

registration  authority,  which  is  responsible  for  the  establishment  and  management  of  the  basic 

register 2. The draft law also provides that the basic register is geographically and organisationally 

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2  

Council Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the consultation of the European Central Bank by national authorities 
regarding draft legislative provisions (OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42). 

Section 1, paragraph 1 of the draft law.  

 
 
 
 
 
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separated from the areas that assume responsibilities in federal statistics 3. In addition, the draft law 

introduces a national business identification number for enterprises, which will be used to identify the 

enterprises  recorded  in  the  basic  register  unequivocally  across  all  registers 4.  The  data-receiving 

public  authorities  are  entitled  to  store  and  use  the  national  business  identification  number  for  the 

performance of their tasks 5. 

The basic register must produce consistent, complete and up-to-date data from existing data in the 

registries or other public data files and the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation.6 Any economic 

unit  that  pursues  an  economic  activity  is  covered  by  the  basic  register.7  Basic  enterprise  data 

comprises master data, identification numbers and metadata8. The master data concerns information 

such as the name, address and legal form of the economic unit. The identification numbers to be 

stored  range  from  the  newly  introduced  national  business  identification  number  for  enterprises  to 

commercial register numbers and the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) 9. The metadata covers information 

such as the name of the register from which the data for the basic register was retrieved and the 

entry date in the basic register. 

1.3  Transmission to and by the registration authority 

For  the  purpose  of  establishing  and  operating  the  basic  register,  specifically  nominated  public 

authorities,  such  as  judicial  authorities  or  the  Bundeszentralamt  für  Steuern  (Federal  Central  Tax 

Office), transmit data to the registration authority 10. The data must be reported in the event that an 

undertaking is newly created, modified or closed 11. Additionally, the registration authority is entitled 

to use data from the Global Legal Entity Foundation for the purposes of establishing and maintaining 

the register. The Federal Statistical Office itself does not transmit any data but acts as registration 

authority only.  

The  registration  authority  may  transmit  data  to  designated  public  authorities  provided  that  the 

transmission serves the respective purpose stipulated in the draft law12. The data may be transmitted 

to specifically designated authorities either once, when the basic register is established, or regularly 

and on a recurring basis in the event of the establishment, modification or closing of an undertaking 13. 

Other specifically designated public authorities may receive data upon request from the registration 

authority in an automated procedure provided that such data is necessary for the fulfilment of the 

public tasks of this public authority 14. The registration authority is to check the admissibility of the 

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Ibid.  
Section 2 of the draft law 
Section 2, paragraph 3 of the draft law. 

Section 1, paragraph 2 of the draft law. 
Section 3, paragraph 1 of the draft law. 

Section 1, paragraph 3 of the draft law. 
For obligations of Member States in relation to the development, attribution and maintenance of LEIs, see, in particular, 
Article  13(1)  of  Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2017/590  of  28  July  2016  supplementing  Regulation  (EU) 
No 600/2014  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  with  regard  to  regulatory  technical  standards  for  the 
reporting of transactions to competent authorities (OJ L 87, 31.3.2017, p. 449). 
Section 4, paragraph 1 of the draft law. 

Section 4, paragraph 2 of the draft law. 
Section 5, paragraph 1 of the draft law. 
Section 5, paragraph 2 of the draft law. 

Section 5, paragraph 3 of the draft law. 

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receipt of data by means of appropriate sampling procedures, whenever there are indications for the 

necessity of such checks15. 

The draft law provides that Deutsche Bundesbank is one of the designated public authorities which 

receives data from the registration authority automatically, both at the time of establishment of the 

basic  register  and  regularly  and  recurrently  when  an  enterprise  is  newly  established,  modified  or 

closed. Deutsche Bundesbank may receive the data for the purpose of storing and using the data in 

the ECB Register of Institutions and Affiliates Data (RIAD16)17. As Deutsche Bundesbank is to receive 

data automatically under the draft law, it is not necessary for it to submit a request to the registration 

authority to receive data. 

1.4  Technical measures 

Any data transmission must be recorded and stored for two years, without prejudice to reasons that 

may require a longer storage or deviating statutory provisions, and non-natural persons may seek 

access to their transmission records 18. 

The  registration  authority  is  responsible  for  the  quality  assurance  of  the  basic  data  in  terms  of 

completeness, accuracy, consistency and timeliness.  

In  order  to  fulfil  this  obligation,  the 

registration authority must introduce a procedure to clarify inconsistencies in the data19. 

The registration authority must take appropriate technical and organisational security measures for 

the management of the basic register, the transmission of data to and by the registration authority 

and for the recording of data transmissions20. For the purpose of further defining these measures, 

the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and the Federal 

Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection are authorised to issue a joint ordinance 21. 

The draft law and the effectiveness of the adopted measures will be reviewed five years after the 

draft law enters into force22. 

2. 

Observations  

2.1  The ECB welcomes the introduction of a national business identification number for enterprises. The 

availability of a single registration number to identify enterprises promises to significantly improve the 

quality  of  master  data  on  German  entities  in  RIAD  and  thus  for  the  European  System  of  Central 

Banks (ESCB) including the ECB. Quality master data on German entities and a national business 

identification number supports the clear identification of individual entities and connections between 

them. Quality master data is a key requirement for drawing a reliable map of the global economic 

and  financial  landscape.  The  global  economy  is  based  on  an  intricate,  tightly  knit  and  extremely 

complex network of financial transactions that are created by a vast number of cross-border contracts 

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Ibid, final sentence. 

Guideline (EU) 2018/876 of the European Central Bank of 1 June 2018 on the Register of Institutions and Affiliates 
Data (ECB/2018/16) (OJ L 154, 18.6.2018, p. 3). 

Section 5, paragraph 1, point 8 of the draft law. 
Section 7 of the draft law. 

Section 8 of the draft law. 
Section 9 of the draft law. 
Section 10 of the draft law. 

Section 11 of the draft law. 

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with effects reaching across the world. This network comprises not only financial institutions, but all 

entities that have relationships with each other and with financial markets. Breakage of any single 

crucial node in this network has the  potential to cause large parts of the network to unravel, with 

significant global implications.23  

2.2  A single registration number that remains valid at all times and in all locations in Germany is a very 

welcome  development  and  will  significantly  reduce  the  amount  of  potentially  erroneous  register 

entries. Switches by an economic unit from one geographically-defined register to another are prone 

to generate erroneous entries in the registries, e.g. by double entries. Switches between registers 

may  also  hamper  the  possibility  to  follow  a  given  enterprise  over  its  lifecycle.  An  important 

precondition for the effective functioning of the system is that the proposed single registration number 

is unique and exclusive to each enterprise, and that it is not reused for two distinct entities though 

they may be active at different points in time. The completion of the envisaged ‘once-only’ principle 

and  the  timely  registration  and  forwarding  of  any  modifications  will  further  contribute  to  these 

improvements. While the basic register will be very important, it will not remain the only source for 

basic enterprise information. The ECB understands that the draft law entitles Deutsche Bundesbank 

to also store and use the content of the basic register in RIAD.  

2.3 

It is of utmost importance that the ECB’s competence to use and store information that it receives 

from Deutsche Bundesbank is not impaired by limiting its use for ESCB purposes. In this regard, it 

is  noted  that  RIAD  contains  the  shared,  multi-purpose  master  dataset  on  institutional  units.  It 

facilitates the integration of various databases operated and collected by the ECB, ESCB and the 

Single  Supervisory  Mechanism  (SSM).  Moreover,  RIAD  supports  business  processes  across  the 

Eurosystem and the performance of the tasks of the ESCB and the SSM. 24 It is also understood that 

the draft law supports the Deutsche Bundesbank’s ability to use all information available at national 

level  to  ensure  that  the  reference  information  in  RIAD  is  complete,  accurate  and  up-to-date25. 

Furthermore, the draft law should not affect the Deutsche Bundesbank’s competence to collect the 
information  necessary  for  the  fulfilment  of  its  ESCB  tasks  and  its  national  law  tasks26.  The 

competence of the ESCB to collect information is a necessary element for assuring the fulfilment of 

its tasks under the TFEU and the Statute of the ESCB and the ECB. For statistical information, for 

instance, that competence derives directly from Article 5.1 of the Statute and from Council Regulation 

(EC) No 2533/98.27 

2.4 

It is equally understood that the reference in the draft law to RIAD, and the draft law in general, do 

not impose any restrictions on the use and transmission of information within the ESCB, including 

any exacting restrictions on the onward transmission of information by the Deutsche Bundesbank, 

23  

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27  

Recommendation  of  the  European  Systemic  Risk  Board  of  24  September  2020  on  identifying  legal  entities 
(ESRB/2020/12) (OJ C 403, 26.11.2020, p.1) elaborates further on the importance of having a unique identification.  
See recital 1 of Guideline (EU) 2018/876 of the European Central Bank of 1 June 2018 on the Register of Institutions 
and Affiliates Data (ECB/2018/16) (OJ L 154, 18.6.2018, p. 3). 
Ibid., Article 4(4). 

At the national level, the competence of the Deutsche Bundesbank to collect statistical data derives from section 18 
of  the  Law  on  the  Deutsche  Bundesbank  (Bundesbankgesetz).  The  competence  of  the  Deutsche  Bundesbank  to 
collect  information  in  general  is  necessary  in  order  to  carry  out  its  tasks  within  the  ESCB,  and  at  national  level  in 
accordance with section 3 of the Law on the Deutsche Bundesbank. 
Council Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 of 23 November 1998 concerning the collection of statistical information by the 
European Central Bank (OJ L 318, 27.11.1998, p. 8). 

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the ECB or the ESCB for the purpose of fulfilling the tasks of the ESCB and the SSM and for any 

other legitimate purposes. This includes, for example, the exchange of information for cooperative 

purposes with the European Statistical System, authorities responsible for supervision or financial 

stability,  and  other  parties  with  which  the  ECB  agrees  to  share  information  stored  in  RIAD  in 

accordance with Union law and the relevant confidentiality requirements. 

2.5 

It is also important that the part of the basic register which is related to the identification of entities 

and respective basic classification variables 28 should be available, at a minimum, to the registered 

entities – e.g. banks and other financial institutions – to support their reporting activities, and ideally 

should also be available to the public at large. This approach would support digitalisation initiatives 

both at national and at European level. 29 

This opinion will be published on EUR-Lex.  

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 25 May 2021. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Christine LAGARDE 

28  

29  

This includes master data, such as national business identification number, name, address, legal status, economic 
sector classification, and data regarding the lifecycle of the entities.  
One  such  initiative  is  the  Integrated  Reporting  Framework  (IReF)  which  is  part  of  the  broader  ESCB  integrated 
reporting strategy; further information on the IReF is available on the ECB’s website at www.ecb.europa.eu.  

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