From the first of January 2007 onwards data which have to be published by companies can be retrieved over the Internet. This is the plan of a draft which has just been agreed by the federal government. This development will render obsolete the conventional disclosure of these data in the daily press. This new electronic company register will channel into one pool register entries, publications at the end of a financial year as well as the list of associates.
Another thing which is planned: Local courts will keep the responsibility for commercial, cooperative and partnership registers, but the respective documents, however, from January 1st of 2007 may only be submitted electronically. The federal states may authorize transition periods until 2009. In future, for the publishing of the year-end financial statement the electronic Bundesanzeiger will be responsible and not the local courts anymore.
These change overs to the Internet and electronic data bases are supposed to be advantageous especially to small and medium-sized companies and start-ups, since they will reduce costs and accelerate the procedures in question. The publishers which up to now delivered the forms to be filled in with the respective data are of course “not amused”, but one just cannot always please everybody. 