A study conducted by Transparency International Lithuanian Chapter (TI Lithuania) and partners shows that the “Center of Registers” data on ultimate owners of legal entities is less accessible than in other Nordic and Baltic countries.
The data on beneficial ownership is collected in Estonia, Latvia, Sweden, and Denmark. Lithuania, on the other hand, does not have such a register, though it was foreseen to be made public from January 10th, 2020.
Lithuania is best rated for data showing who finances political campaigns in the country. This data is available as open data, thus, it is easily accessed, comprehensive and user-friendly.
Lithuania is the only country that publishes data on lobbying activities. However, this data is not machine-readable, which means it is impossible to compare, reuse or redistribute this data.
During the evaluation, TI Lithuania conducted a survey of more than fifty experts. The results show a pressing need for open data. Every third respondent uses such data at least once a week, however many of them (4 out of 10) are still not satisfied with its availability.
The experts indicated the greatest demand for public procurement data. Currently, it is not available in an open data format.
“Open data ensures real-time transparency and allows one to quickly and easily see how, for example, politicians are connected to a business or who actually owns a company that is involved in a procurement process. I would really like for Lithuania to become an open data champion, and for colleagues from the Centre of Registers, the COEC and other institutions to open up the most important data they collect.”, said Sergejus Muravjovas, CEO of Transparency International Lithuania.
Open data is the primary cumulative data of public sector institutions, which is provided in a machine-readable format and is free of charge. Open data is timely, easily accessed, and published in XLSX, XML, CSV and other formats.
An ultimate beneficial owner is a natural person who ultimately owns or controls a legal entity through direct or indirect ownership (i.e. owns more than 25 percent of shares).
This research took place from September to November 2019 and was conducted by interviewing 54 experts and viewing the publicly available information. There were seven countries rated from Baltic and Nordic regions: Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Finland, and Sweden. Information and data of five public sector areas have been reviewed during the evaluation: lobbying, conflict of interest and financial disclosure, political financing, beneficial ownership, and public procurement.
This initiative was implemented by Transparency International Lithuania, Transparency International Latvia, and Open Knowledge Sweden.
A short summary can be found here (in Lithuanian), and more information about the study can be found here (in English).
More information: Sergejus Muravjovas, +370 689 97579, Ieva Dunčikaitė, +370 5 212 69 51.
For methodological questions contact Antonio Greco from TI Latvia: antonio@delna.lv.