ECRF / CRF Survey of 2008 Annika Bränström Swedish Companies Registration Office

Goal Gather and compare annually data on: – Company registration practices – New registrations, total registrations and business terminations

Survey questions About the organization Company registration process Business terminations Annual accounts Online services European companies (only for ECRF members) Share capital Data on registrations New questions for ECRF 2008 Refusal of bankruptcy Transfer of seats

ECRF participants of 2008 Austria * Czech Republic Denmark * Estonia * Finland * France * Great Britain * Guernsey (new) Hungary Ireland * Isle of Man Italy * Jersey * Latvia * Liechtenstein * Lithuania * Luxembourg * Netherlands * Norway * Portugal (new) Romania * Serbia Slovenia Spain (x2 registrars) Sweden * Switzerland * (27 registrars of 32) (* trend available for 18 registrars)

CRF participants of 2008 Australia * Botswana (new) Canada * Cook Islands Hong Kong * India * Malaysia * New Zealand * Pakistan * Samoa Singapore * South Africa * Sri Lanka United Kingdom * Zambia (15 registrars of 21) (* trend available for 10 registrars)

Type of structure versus type of organization TypeCentralizedDecentralizedOther GovernmentalECRFDenmark, Estonia, Finland, Great Britain, Guernsey, Jersey, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Sweden Austria, Ireland, Isle of Man, Lithuania, Romania, Switzerland CRFBotswana, Canada, Cook Islands, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Samoa, South Africa, Sri Lanka, United Kingdom Australia, India, Zambia Singapore Court of justiceECRFCzech Republic, Slovenia(Germany*), Hungary OtherECRFFrance, SerbiaItaly, NetherlandsSpain CRFMalaysia, Pakistan * Non-respondents data is from 2007

What fees and charges do you collect ? ECRFCRF count% % Information fees Company formation fees Some services are free of charge Application fees for changes Fees for reg. of annual accounts Other fees Annual fees to keep a company on the register

What are the most frequent changes in your companies register? ECRFCRF count% % Change of particulars for Director or Secretary Change of address of registered office Change of business/company name Increase/Decrease in capital If other, please specify Change of accounting reference date2 7 17

Processing times for formation/incorporation ECRFCRF maxmedianmaxmedian goal in workdays 7231 average number of workdays 72,552 minimum number of workdays 2131 maximum number of workdays ,5

Processing times for changes ECRFCRF maxmedianmaxmedian goal in workdays 7362 average number of workdays minimum number of workdays 3141 maximum number of workdays 30672,5

Most popular means of communication regarding filed documents ECRFCRF count% % Letter Phone Fax Sms Other Portugal Spain x2 New Zealand Singapore

ECRF Analysis: Differences in most popular means of communication

How do you examine the company/business names Company nameBusiness name ECRFCRFECRF (n=14)CRF (n=6) count% % % % formally legally against national trademark database against ALICANTE trademark database 415 ** 17 ** against companies register don't examine at all * not available for CRF members Lithuania Spain Sweden Finland

Lithuania Spain Sweden Finland (*)

What payment methods do you accept ECRFCRF Count%count% Cash Online payments Major credit/debit cards Bank draft/checks Invoice Money orders Deposit accounts Postal/money orders If other, please specify

Do you register / decide on the following types of business termination decide onregister ECRFCRFECRFCRF count% % % % Bankruptcy Wind up/ Liquidation Merger Strike off Austria

How do you accept annual accounts ECRF (n=22)CRF (n=11) count% % By mail (hard copy) Electronically (other format) Electronically (XBRL) By (pdf, word format, etc.) By fax (paper copy) 1500 If other, please specify Netherlands Liechtenstein Latvia

What formats of the annual accounts are available to the public ECRF(n=22)CRF(n=11) count% % pdf/ps/eps scanned images tiff/giff 6273 rtf/doc If other, please specify

Do you charge penalty fees for the late filing of annual accounts (excluding non-respondents) ECRFCRF count% % Yes No6251 8

Graph shows mean percentage filed on time Dotted lines are maximum and minimum percent filed on time Data on ECRF-members that have not answered 0%

Shown: difference between members mean percentage filed on time by penalty fee (yes/no) Data on ECRF-members that have not answered 0%

Which institution performs a legal check of transfer of seat process? (NEW) ECRF (n=16) Count% Our registry1275 Public notary425 Governmental authority00 Other institutions425

When leaving your jursidiction do you wait for it’s new registration in the other country? (NEW) ECRF (n=16) Count% We do not delete such leaving entities 319 Yes, we wait for the other registry before deletion 1169 No, we do not necessarily wait for the other registry before deletion 16

If you delete such entities that transfers their seat, do you notify the entity’s new registry of your deletion? (NEW) ECRF (n=16) Count% No 1063 Yes, we notify the central registry 213 Yes, we notify the local registry 16 Yes, we notify to other authorities 16