Trade registers and companies’ accounts to be under perusal of National Statistics Office

The Government has licensed in an official capacity the National Office of Statistics (ONS) to secure all the necessary information and data related to traders’ registers now active in Algeria and to periodically scrutinize all accounts of national companies.

The authorities’ decision comes in light of the growing phenomenon of fake records and front companies that are exploited by their owners to smuggle hard currency earnings overseas or to circumvent import regulations.

Therefore, the National Office of Statistics will be given total access to databases managed by the national trade center as part of this monitoring endeavor aimed at protecting the national economy.

This is a situation that should be corrected, regarding the cleansing of trade registers and accounts’ monitoring by the relevant authorities. This is because the accounts of the social accounts provide detailed and refined information on turnover, personnel costs, depreciation allowances, which are important data to measure the financial health of companies and work out analyzes in the different economic sectors. 

A senior official of the Cnrc also envisages prohibiting an economic operator, even if he is registered as a legal entity, from listing several economic activities in a single CR or trade register, while noting that a number of operators file a single balance sheet for all cumulative activities. 

It will also be proposed to the Ministry of Trade to exchange the Cnrc databases with its counterparts in the countries that are major suppliers of Algeria: “this measure that will allow us to identify, the suppliers of Algerian importers and to ensure transparency in all commercial transactions”.

On another front, he also announced that the withdrawal of the trade register via the Internet will be launched towards the end of 2017 through a brand-new application. 

This application is available in two versions: one intended for the general public allowing access to the identity of the holder of the trade register whereas the second version is intended for controllers and partners of the CNRC (banks, customs, taxes) giving access to more detailed information.