Open data

What it means

Open data are data that public institutions publish in machine-readable form for free use. Examples include registers of legal entities, the register of financial statements, the central register of contracts, lists of tax debtors and statistics.

The difference from an ordinary website is that the data can be downloaded in bulk or retrieved through an API and processed by software. Nobody has to copy them by hand from individual pages, so they can feed analyses, comparisons and entirely new services.

Open data increase the transparency of the public sector and save companies time. They made possible commercial portals that bring together information from the commercial register, financial statements and court decisions about a particular company in one place.

How it works in practice

Before signing a contract a company can quickly check a partner using open data: who the director is, whether it owes the state, what its revenue and profit are, whether it is VAT-registered and whether it is in liquidation. This is the basis of simple due diligence even for small deals.

Accounting and advisory firms use open data to autofill customer details on invoices and to monitor changes in registers. When dealing with the state, an entry in the register of public sector partners must also be verified.

In market analysis one can compare competitors' results from published statements, follow public procurement or count the companies in a sector and region. Such sources are cheap and verifiable, which is why banks and investors routinely expect them in business plans.

What to watch out for

Open data are not always current or complete. Register entries can lag, and financial statements are published months after the year ends. For an important decision it pays to verify the details directly in the official register as at the signing date.

Where the data contain personal information, such as directors' names, further processing is governed by the GDPR. Publication by the state does not mean a company may freely combine, store and use the data for marketing; a purpose and a lawful basis are always required.