The indications are that these options would require legislative underpinning to a greater
or lesser extent depending on the option chosen. Therefore, it would seem prudent to
operate on the basis that any enhancement of existing co-operation arrangements,
particularly if the legislative route is chosen, is likely to have significant cost implications
for Member States.

If the legislative route is chosen the Commission have indicated they intend to carry out
an impact assessment, however, Ireland believe there is probably a need for the
Commission to have the whole project subjected to a full cost benefit analysis to see, in
particular, if it warrants being a priority in these difficult budgetary times. A full cost
benefit analysis will help to determine such things as the level of work on cross border
procedures deriving from the various Directives/seat transfers and what aspects are not
happening currently.

The proposed "governance agreement" between Member States and the business
       registries seems to constitute a practical basis for developing an accessible
       network of relevant business information throughout the EU. Ireland recommends
       that an agreement, perhaps by way of a directive, would enhance the progress
       towards full EU coverage at Business Register level.

 supports the cooperation and direct link between the electronic network
       set up by the Transparency Directive for the storage of regulated information on
       listed companies and the EBR centralized service providing access to the EU
       Member States business registers.

Perhaps a stepped approach to advancing the project rather than trying to move
       everything forward at the same time would make more sense. In this regard,
       Ireland strongly recommends that the IMI should be used for appropriate services
       and should not focus on repeating operations in sectors that have already
       identified solutions to automated inter-institutional requirements. Furthermore,
       IMI is in the full control of the Commission, all Member States take part in the
       system, no significant investment is required from the Member States, and it
       could facilitate cross border mergers and seat transfers in particular.

However, in the case of disclosure of Branches it would be necessary,
       Commission point out, to amend the Branches Directive (11th) to provide a legal
       basis for co-operation in this area. Ireland recommends that all member states
       should be required to participate in the Branch Disclosure Service (BDS)
       provided by the EBR to ensure that the 11th Directive operates effectively.
