Information on beneficial owners in open data format is available on the Unified State Web Portal of Open Data.
A vital step has been taken to implement the previously signed Memorandum of Understanding and develop cooperation between the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the State Agency for E-Governance, Transparency International Ukraine and the OpenOwnership consortium to transfer information about beneficial owners to the Global Registry.
The Prime Minister of Ukraine, Volodymyr Groysman, on his Facebook page commented: “Good News! Ukraine has launched data on beneficiaries of companies and has become the first country in the world joining the Global Registry of Beneficial Owners – the Transparency International Initiative to Promote Transparency and Fight Corruption. Open data is the core for building a transparent and efficient state, as well as a powerful source of development for commercial and community projects. As a result, media and the public can easily use and analyze open data to ensure public control, and IT-business – to create new online services and projects that will enrich the economy and will be useful to its users. Open Ukraine Together!”
Disclosure of beneficial owners is one of the obligations under the National Action Plan and the Paris Declaration on the Implementation of Open Government Partnership Initiative, as well as the outcome documents of the Anti-corruption Summit in London in 2016. Available end-user data is important for fighting corruption and corporate accountability issues. After the launch of the Global Registry in April 2017, Ukraine has become the first country which officially confirm its willingness to integrate data on beneficiaries in an electronic format.
“Ukraine is developing new ways to cooperate within the global partnership initiative taking part in development of the Register of Beneficial Owners. Disclosure of beneficiaries can be considered as the launch of a powerful tool for fighting corruption and preventing grand corruption,” explained Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, executive director of TI Ukraine.
To launch the Global Registry of the beneficial owners, a great contribution was made by a consortium of international organizations: Transparency International, OpenCorporates, World Wide Web Foundation, Global Witness, the B Team, ONE Campaign та Open Contracting Partnership. This step is the result of the member countries political will as a part of the global Anti-Corruption Summit held in London in May 2016. The Registry has become an authoritative source of information about the company and organizations owners. These data will link different jurisdictions, sectors, and databases.
“Dream, faith in the victory, reliable and responsible partners, well-developed strategy and tactics is the key to achieving results in the near future. Another challenge is to integrate our data into the Global Register of Beneficial Owners and present the results during the UN General Assembly in September this year,” said Olesia Arkhypska, Transparency International Ukraine, expert on governance, member of the Coordination Council on the implementation of the Open Government Partnership Initiative.
Chronology:
August 7-8, 2017 – representatives of the Global Register of Beneficial Owners (OOR) Zosia Sztykowski, Project Coordinator, and Chris Taggart, Executive Director and Founder of OpenCorporates visited Ukraine.
July 27, 2017 – the official invitation on behalf of the leaders of The B Team to the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko to participate in the Plenary Session “Toward a New Trust: Serving Public Interests Through Transparency and Integrity” between Heads of State, global business and civil society leaders, on September 19, 2017, New York, USA during the UN General Assembly
June 16, 2017 – Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation was signed between the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, the State Agency for E-Governance of Ukraine, Transparency International Ukraine and BitFury Holding BV. On the development of blockchain technology at state registers and land cadastre, development of the first Development Index of blocks in the public sector and the receipt of the first data audit node for a public organization.
On June 14, 2017 – the international initiative “Open Government Partnership” congratulated Ukraine, the first of all countries which joined the Global Register of Beneficial Owners.
May 22, 2017 – The Memorandum of Understanding and Development of Cooperation between the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the State Agency for E-Government, Transparency International Ukraine and the OpenOwnership Consortium on the transfer of information on beneficiary owners to the Global Registry was signed.
May 18, 2017 – The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine supported the initiative of Transparency International Ukraine to transfer information on beneficial owners to the Global Registry and approved amendments to Resolution No. 593, September 8, 2017.
