As a public sector body, the CRO is subject to the above Regulations. The CRO imposes a charge for the re-use of documents that are supplied by it pursuant to a request coming within the Regulations.

It should be noted that the CRO is not required under the Regulations to create or adapt any document in order to comply with a request, or to provide extracts from documents where this would involve disproportionate effort, going beyond a simple operation or to continue the production of a certain type of document with a view to re-use.

If a request which comes within the Regulations for the re-use of documents is made, such that the CRO is required by the Regulations to release the documents, the material specified by the requestor will be released by the CRO subject to the terms of the standard-form PSI General Licence No. 2005/08/01, available at data.gov.ie, and subject to an additional charging clause being included in the Licence (see below). An applicant for the re-use of documents under the Regulations is required to agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of this Licence to enable the CRO to release the documents requested.

If an individual requests the CRO to release documents for the purpose of re-use of public sector information, and the CRO is obliged under the Regulations to release said documents, the CRO will notify the applicant of the level of charge applicable to the re-use of the specified documents. The applicant should then forward to the CRO a duly completed PSI General Licence No. 2005/08/01 with the addition of the charging clause setting out the applicable level of charge as notified to the applicant by the CRO. The documents requested will be released by the CRO following receipt of the executed Licence agreement.

The text of the charging clause is as follows:

11. Clause 2 shall be construed subject to this clause – this Licence applies only to the following documents:

[insert specification of documents requested by the applicant in his/her request to CRO]

The Licensee agrees to pay to the Licensor an amount of € [ ] in respect of the release of the documents covered by this Licence, as specified above, which amount shall be paid in respect of each release of said documents by the Licensor to the Licensee. [Specify frequency of release of the documents if the request is for a continuing release of the documents by CRO, for instance daily, weekly etc.]

As required by the Regulations, charges for the re-use of documents will be calculated by the CRO on the basis that the expected total income from supplying and allowing the re-use of documents will not exceed the estimated cost of collection, production, reproduction and dissemination, together with a reasonable return on investment. Charges will be cost-oriented over the appropriate accounting period and calculated in line with the accounting principles applicable to the CRO.

Individual Inspections of the CRO Register

The information filed with the CRO pursuant to the Companies Act 2014 is available for public inspection pursuant to those statutes, usually for a small fee, which has been fixed by the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. These inspection fees are fixed by the Minister having regard to the estimated cost of collection, production, reproduction and dissemination of company information, which is a requirement under European law.

Certain vital information, such as company name and registered office address, may be checked free of charge on the CRO Web Search Facility. A more detailed synopsis of a company is available by ordering a company printout or a copy of any document filed. This again can be obtained using the web search facility and a charge applies, again as fixed by the Minister pursuant to statute. This information is also available over the counter at our public office or by postal request.

The fees applicable under the legislation are as follows:

Search                                                                                                                                       Paper              Electronic

  • Image of a document                                                                     €2.50                €2.50
  • Printout of basic company details/business names                               €3.50                €3.50
  • Search on company/business name paper file (mostly older documents)  €3.50                €3.50
  • Duplicate certificate of a company                                                   €12.00                Nil (Public Sector use only)

 

Supply of Bulk Data

The CRO supplies, under licence, data in bulk format for high volume users of our data. The data concerned is company information in respect of all companies on the register. It is in a specified format which may be updated to take account of changes in filing requirements. Daily updates of the data may be downloaded via the internet – a password is assigned to a Licensee to facilitate this. The fee for the daily data update service has been fixed by the Minister at €31,000 per annum.

Copies of all scanned documents received by CRO can also be made available at a cost of €63,360 per annum, again determined by the Minister. These can be downloaded daily from a hosted website.

There are conditions attached to the supply of the data updates and of the scanned images and, in particular, that it is necessary to sign a formal Licence Agreement prior to commencement of supply. Purchasers of the data would also require computer expertise to enable them to read the data. Link to Bulk Data Documents.