Implementing a Unique Business Identifier in Government : Guidance Note for Practitioners and Nine Country Case Studies

In an increasingly online world, governments are realizing that previous silo approaches to implementing IT systems have created barriers to the sharing of information among business regulators. As they undertake efforts to increase tax compliance, streamline business start-up, enhance data sharing...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: World Bank Group
Format: Report
Language:en_US
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10986/23742
Description
Summary:In an increasingly online world, governments are realizing that previous silo approaches to implementing IT systems have created barriers to the sharing of information among business regulators. As they undertake efforts to increase tax compliance, streamline business start-up, enhance data sharing, improve public service delivery, reduce administrative burdens and monitor the health of financial systems, governments are implementing unique business identifiers (UBIs) as part of their larger approach to achieving these goals and realizing the related benefits. A UBI provides the foundational information related to legal entities, enabling government and business to uniquely identify legal entities in various transactions and regulatory interactions. This guidance note draws on a set of nine case studies looking at individual country efforts to implement a UBI. It summarizes the experience to date and emerging good practices in the implementation of a UBI, including organizational, technological, governance and financial considerations.