Proposed Data Sharing Agreement between the Office of the Revenue Commissioners and all parties to this agreement (DSA for Unique Business Identifier Number data)

The Data Sharing and Governance Act Framework for sharing data builds upon the Data Sharing and Governance Act 2019 (DSGA) by setting out a common set of practices for all Public Bodies to follow when they wish to use the Act as their legal basis for sharing data. Under the Framework, data sharing agreements between public bodies for the purpose of sharing personal data will be made available for public consultation for a period of 28 days.

The Office of the Revenue Commissioners intends to enter into a Data Sharing Agreement under the DSGA with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine; the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment; the Road Safety Authority; Tailte Éireann - Valuation; and the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform, for the purpose of sharing Unique Business Identifier Number (UBIN) data.

The purpose of this DSA is to:

• enable the consistent identification of businesses across the public service
• improve the quality and accuracy of business data holdings in the public service
• facilitate the efficient linking of business data within and across Public Service Bodies (PSBs)

The first beneficiaries will be the parties outlined in this notification, that use the UBIN service.

The UBIN dataset will have the following benefits:

• it will remove out of date company data held by PSBs
• it will provide up to date company data and validate existing company data held by PSBs, removing duplication of business records, improving Public Services by harnessing data effectively, leading to better data sharing and interoperability to streamline service delivery, aligning with the principles to deliver a Digital and ICT Strategy for Ireland’s Public Service by 2030
• it will allow PSBs to identify companies that have entitlements to, or are beneficiaries of, grants or other types of Government and/or European Union (EU) funding
• where necessary, the cross referencing of company data will lead to more accurate reporting to Government and the EU
• when Revenue is notified by a company of a change in their company name or address etc., this information will automatically be updated to the parties outlined in this DSA and any PSB that is not a signatory but seeks accession to this agreement, therefore reducing the burden on companies to update this data with multiple PSBs

In all, the UBIN dataset will reduce the administrative burden of companies by providing PSBs with a consistent and reliable source of identification of a company, the type of business that company carries out and the location/s of the company.

You are invited to make submissions by email to consultations.dsa@per.gov.ie

Please include the full DSA name “REVUBIN 023/240125 DSA for UBIN data” in the subject line. Please note that only submissions made to this email will be accepted.

The start date for public consultation is 17 July 2024 and it will run for a period of 28 days. The public consultation will end on 14 August 2024. Submissions will not be accepted once the public consultation period has expired.

We will consider your submission and may respond. Where the proposed parties consider it appropriate, they may also amend the proposed agreement to take into account your submissions.

Note: As part of the Data Sharing and Governance Act 2019 (DSGA) Playbook process, the Data Governance Board Secretariat provides administrative support to the designated lead agency through the consultations mailbox. The Data Governance Board Secretariat forwards emailed submissions to all parties on behalf of the designated lead agency, in line with provisions of the DSGA.

As part of the Playbook process the Data Sharing Committee advise the Board in relation to Data Sharing Agreements. Please note that personal information in the submission is redacted before it is shared with the Data Sharing Committee. The Data Governance Board receive the full submission as set out in DSGA s(57)(2)(g).

The DSGA Data Sharing Playbook provides a full step-by-step process for data sharing and is available with other relevant DSGA framework publications on the OGCIO website. More information on the Data Governance Board is available on the Data Governance Board website.