BRITE - Business Register Interoperability Throughout Europe - an Integrated Project (IP) funded by the European Commission, DG Information Society & Media, officially started on 1st March 2006. This 36 month project, involving a consortium of 22 organisations including European Business Registers & Chambers of Commerce, IT Companies, Universities and SMEs, ambitiously aims to develop, implement and demonstrate an advanced, innovative interoperability model, ICT service platform and management instrument for Business Registers (BRs) to interact across the EU.

The EC has adopted a fully integrated approach in the legislation designed to achieve this: regulations to promote transparent financial markets, to facilitate free movement of companies and services, to prevent financial crime and money-laundering are examples of coordinated laws impacting several administrative domains. To implement, enforce, amend and maintain these laws in respect of the declared objective will require an unprecedented degree of cross-border and cross-domain interoperability of systems, services and organisations, both public and private.

BRITE will undertake research in knowledge management, will implement and demonstrate novel ICT engineering and will establish a new European cooperation instrument so that public bodies can effectively respond to the changes imposed on them by the new EU laws and new market requirements.

The Business Registers are amongst those public operators most deeply affected by EU Company Law; they represent an enormous potential asset and catalyst for realising the objectives of the related EU legislation. Yet, there is still no EU-wide instrument that makes it possible to exploit this potential by allowing them to adapt in a coordinated manner. BRITE is an initiative that will unlock that potential. It will allow the Business Registers of Europe to effectively respond to legislative changes and contribute to building up the EU market.