The Central Register of Establishments and Enterprises (CRE) is Statistics Norway's register of all enterprises (juridical units) and establishments in the private and public sector in Norway. The CRE is to be a complete and correct register, which forms the basis for a common population for economical and industrial statistics as well as statistics on persons.
The CRE is one of many registers that are associated to the Central Coordinating Register for Legal Entities (CCRLE). The other registers are:
- The Register of Enterprises, Brønnøysund Register Centre
- Register of Employees and Employers, NAV (previously The National Insurance Administration)
- VAT- register and Corporate Tax Data register, Directory of Taxes
- Register of foundations, The Norwegian Gaming and Foundation Authority
All associated registers cooperate with the CCRLE. The registers have the right and duty to use the CCRLE. The purpose of the cooperation is to create a complete register in terms of units as well as more updated variables. The cooperation has resulted in a consistency among the different registers, and the quality of the populations and variables has increased significantly. The cooperation is regulated by the Law on the Central Coordinating Register for Legal Entities (CCRLE).
One of the main elements of the cooperation is that one report is sent only once and to only one register. That register is responsible to update the CCRLE with that information. Each of the other registers is then updated with the same information by the CCRLE. Each register has got a regulated responsibility to control different units and variables. Statistics Norway gives information to the CCRLE to take care of the responsibility Statistics Norway has taken. This is regulated by the Statistics Act and the permission by The Norwegian Data Inspectorate of March 16, 2006.
The CCRLE is responsible of controlling the juridical units. Statistics Norway is responsible for establishments and has to make sure that the link to the juridical unit is correct. Establishments are units for reporting employees to the Register of Employees and Employers. Furthermore, Statistics Norway is responsible for the industrial activity code and the sector code, as well as all units and the structure in the public sector. Statistics Norway also reports the number of employees from the Register of Employees and Employers of The National Insurance Administration to the CCRLE. The cooperation between the CCRLE and CRE was changed in 2004 when the CCRLE got responsible for small units, including setting the industrial activity code, whereas Statistics Norway got responsible of large units within the private and public sector as well as relations of enterprise groups.
Externally, the most important cooperation is the "Cooperation Forum for The Register of Legal Units" where each register is represented. In Statistics Norway, the cooperation concerning population management is organised through an advising committee as well as working groups representing different divisions. In addition, working groups are established when needed.
The updating of the register is done in extern and intern cooperation. All registers that are associated to the CCRLE are sources for updating. Each register is obliged by law to report any changes to the CCRLE.
Other sources are among others information from Statistics Norway's different inquiries on enterprises and establishments. Statistics Norway also has direct contact with the units themselves, and works for enhancing the quality of the population and variables.
Variables in the CRE, which are collected from other administrative data sources than the CCRLE, are:
- Number of employees. The National Insurance Administration
- Employment. Statistics Norway's structural inquiries and register calculations by the Division of Business Register
- Turnover. Statistics Norway's structural inquiries and register calculations by the Division of Business Register
The CRE is updated daily via The Brønnøysund Register Centre, and all changes that are reported to the associated registers are included.
The updating is based on reports from the units themselves directly to the CCRLE as well as reports from the associated registers that are in contact with enterprises and establishments. Each unit is contacted at least once a year.
Statistics Norway also has developed a surveillance system, which detects activity or non-activity in units by putting together information from different data sources. Thus, it is possible to distinguish between units with and without activity.
The industrial activity code of establishments and enterprises is constantly updated. The unit itself shall report changes in its industrial activity to the CCRLE. To ensure a high quality in the register, there is contact with the enterprises via Statistics Norway's structural inquiries and other administrative sources, like the annual inspection of The National Insurance Administration. In addition, Statistics Norway provides information to different users in the private and public sector. These users also report errors in the data.
Enterprises and establishments
Enterprise: In the Standard for Industrial Classification (SN) an enterprise is defined as an organisational unit comprising all economic activities engaged in by the same owner. Hence, an enterprise is a legal entity covering one or more productive units. Establishment: In SN an establishment is defined as a local kind of activity unit, which mainly is conducting activities within a special industry group.
All enterprises and establishments in the private and public sector in Norway
List of the most important variables:
Organization number (ID) Name Postal address Business address Basic statistical units Geographical x-coordinates geographical y-coordinatesTelephone number:
Telefax number:
E-mail address:
Internet address Legal form Roles (owner, contact person, chairman of the board and so on) Activity codes (active, not active) Status codes (information about bankruptcies notice, mergers an so on) Institutional sector Industrial classification (NACE) Number of employees Employment Turnover Dates linked to the different variables mentioned above, included date of birth and date of cessationEnterprise groups
Information from the VAT-register
Not relevant
Not relevant
It is important that the register contains classification variables of good quality so that the different needs for producing statistics are met. Among these variables are address, industrial activity code, sector code, legal form, status, turnover, employment and change of ownership. Still, errors in registration and missing information occur. The quality is checked continuously and errors are documented.
Outdated information is a source of error as a result of late registrations. Changes might be registered later than they actually happened.
The population of active enterprises is updated by direct contact with the units in connection with collecting data for structural statistics and by linking administrative registers in the surveillance system for establishments in the CRE. Enterprise dropouts are normally registered with a time lag. All actual dropouts within a period of time are therefore not always registered at any given time, but can be registered after as much as two years. Consequently, the number of dropouts is too low while the stock of enterprises is proportionally too high.
In some cases, new enterprises are also registered with a time lag. When an enterprise is established, the owner has to inform whether it is a new company or a change of ownership. When that information is missing possible changes of ownerships are identified by controlling existing enterprises for duplicates. However, all changes of ownership are not detected in these routines.
The CRE is daily updated on-line from BRC.
From 1966 data is stored for each year until 1997. From 1997, data has been taken out from the register twice a month. Information on the basic statistical units and coordinates is updated and stored each quarter.
Until the establishment of the CCRLE in 1995, the CRE was a register for internal use in Statistics Norway. Its content and extent depended on the needs for different statistical inquiries, mainly annual structural inquiries. The main focus was on establishments. In addition, each 10th year establishments were counted. The last count dates back to 1974. Today, the CRE is complete and all relevant units are constantly updated.
The development of the extent is as following:
1963: 96 000 establishments
1974: 200 000 juridical units 220 000 establishments
1995: 410 000 juridical units 430 000 establishments
2003: 640 000 juridical units 470 000 establishments
Of those approximately 425 000 juridical units with activity
2007: 784 000 juridical units 487 000 establishments
Of which approximately 431 000 juridical units with activity
The growth in the extent is not an actual growth in the number of establishments, but the result of a long-term and systematic quality work in order to make the CRE/CCRLE a complete register system. In addition to the strong growth, the number of units and new variables in the register has increased in order to meet different statistical and administrative needs.
The frequency of changes of the population is also increasing. Approximately 50 per cent of the population in the register changes in the course of one year. The extent of juridical units without activity is constantly increasing and was at around 200 000 units in the CCRLE in 2005. It is important to exclude these units from units with activity.
Documentation: Only available in Norwegian.
Bedrifts- og foretaksregisteret. Regler og rutiner for ajourhold (pdf)
Dokumentasjon av registrering av selvstendige i 2000 - kriterier for opplasting og oppfølging (pdf)
Overvakingssystemet for bedrifter i BoF (pdf)
Stedfesting av bedrifter i BoF (pdf)
Rapport fra arbeidsgruppa om forslag til arbeidsdeling mellom Brønnøysundregistrene (BR) og Statistisk sentralbyrå (SSB) (pdf)
Camilla Torp, telephone +47-62 88 55 48, e-mail cat@ssb.no