We attend to our responsibilities

By ensuring order, simplification and digitalisation, we make it easier for businesses and the general public to have contact with the public administration. The job done by the Brønnøysund Register Centre is an important contribution to value creation in Norway.

Business and industry, the authorities and the general public have to cooperate every day. To ensure that this can take place in a secure and efficient manner, we must have an overview of – and openness about – who undertakes to do what. The Brønnøysund Register Centre ensures that rights and responsibilities are clearly defined, and that this information is easily accessible for everyone online.

Electronic reporting from businesses is steadily increasing, and 70% of all reporting is now electronic. This also applies to the retrieval of information, where the number of inquiries increased by 40% in 2012, to 180 million.

The government's amendment of the Limited Liability Companies Act and the reduced requirements as regards the use of an external auditor have generated a lot of activity at the Brønnøysund Register Centre. There has been a strong increase in the number of limited companies and a strong decrease in the number of registrations of Norwegian-registered foreign enterprises. This has made it easier to start and run a business. Simplification work has high priority at the Brønnøysund Register Centre, and a separate simplification unit was established last year to concentrate on and strengthen this effort.　

The government launched its digitalisation programme in 2012. The Brønnøysund Register Centre plays an important role in this programme as the administrator of the Central Coordinating Register for Legal Entities and Altinn, and through the other digital services it provides. More and more data are becoming easily accessible through our online services and as open data at www.data.norge.no.

Altinn is one of the most advanced e-administration solutions in the world, and its success has resulted in big savings for society. Just how important Altinn has become to society was made clear when the tax returns were made available in March. Due to an error in Altinn, we decided to shut down the solution for security reasons. Unfortunately, this meant that professional users such as accountants and auditors who use Altinn every day were unable to do their jobs. People who wanted to see their provisional tax settlement also had to wait.

The error in Altinn was quickly remedied and the solution was thoroughly quality assured. An increase in funding in the revised national budget for 2012 and a substantial increase in our budget for 2013 have enabled us to implement several technical upgrades to increase stability and capacity in the Altinn solution. This has also enabled us to ensure expedient testing and quality procedures to a much greater extent. In parallel with this, we have made good progress in the work of strengthening the Altinn organisation through an organisational development process, and have recruited more expertise.

Sixty new services were launched in Altinn during the year, in addition to significant changes being made to many of the current services. As the service owner, the Brønnøysund Register Centre has implemented a solution for electronic official registration of vendor's lien on motor vehicles, and at the turn of the year, a new solution for the administration of estates in liquidation was launched. This is the first collaboration service in Altinn. It comprises 32 different services.

When Minister of Trade and Industry Trond Giske visited the Brønnøysund Register Centre in September, he brought good news with him: that a decision had been made to start work on a new building for the Brønnøysund Register Centre and that Statsbygg will be allocated funding for this work. The work on planning a more versatile and modern building will be important in the time ahead.

The year 2012 was also an important landmark in the history of the Brønnøysund Register Centre, as Erik Fossum retired after 18 years as director general. The status enjoyed by the Brønnøysund Register Centre today is largely due to his great enthusiasm and tireless efforts.

The Brønnøysund Register Centre will be 25 years old this year. Order, simplification and digitalisation have been important tasks in the past 25 years. We are looking forward to celebrating the anniversary this spring.