Access to business data
Business data refers to data on Danish enterprises and Danish trade and industry. This page gives an overview of who can get access to business data from Statistics Denmark and the possibilities to apply for an exemption to get access.
Business data and business data with limited access
Business data from Statistics Denmark covers a wide range of data on industries and data on the size, location, accounts, employment, development over time, etc. of Danish enterprises. Some types of business data involve competition- and market-sensitive information, which is why access is limited. For example when data concerns the activities or financial affairs of enterprises.
See the overview of business data with limited access in Statistics Denmark (Excel, in Danish)
Note: To protect competition- or market-sensitive information, business data with limited access is not available until at least one year after the reference year.
Business data – who has access?
A person can get access to all (pseudonymised) business data in Statistics Denmark, including business data with limited access, if that person has an approved association agreement with a Danish institution that is authorised under Statistics Denmark’s Research scheme and that is
- a Danish public institution, or
- a private Danish institution in the category “interest organisation, think tank, etc.”
‘Danish institution’ means an institution within the national community of Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. You can find the special rules for Greenland and the Faroe Islands under Authorisation of institutions.
Business data with limited access – who does not have access?
- Generally, people employed in Danish private consultancies may not get access to business data with limited access.
- People employed in Danish or foreign private sole-proprietorships or foreign consultancies may not get access to business data with limited access.
Business data with limited access – who can apply for an exemption?
In connection with specific projects, Danish private consultancies that do not have access in general to business data with limited access can apply for an exemption. This is only an option if:
- the data controller institution for the project is a public, Danish and authorised institution (see “a” above) or
- the data controller institution for the project is a private and Danish institution in the category “interest organisation, think tank, etc.” (see “b” above) or
- the data controller institution for the project is a public, Danish institution and an institution authorised as a client, which engages a private consultancy to perform an analysis for the institution for which business data with limited access is needed and the consultancy’s authorisation does not grant access to this data. Read more under Authorisation of institutions
Apply for an exemption
If you are eligible to apply for an exemption (and thus comply with item 1, 2 or 3 above) and want to apply, please inform the project owner in Statistics Denmark early in the project proposal process. This ensures that the project owner can take this into consideration during the approval of the project proposal.
Furthermore, you need to complete the request template from Statistics Denmark and send it to your project owner, when the project for which you are applying for business data with limited access has been approved.
Note: The request template must be adjusted with your own official business stationery design, signed and sent (in Word or PDF format). If you need help filling in the template, for example purpose and description, you can consult Statistics Denmark’s guide on how to create a project proposal.
Request for exemption – how does it work?
For every request for exemption, Statistics Denmark makes a thorough assessment in four steps:
- When the project proposal has been approved, the data controller institution completes a request template, adapt it with their own official business stationery design, sign it and send it to the project owner in Research Services.
- The project owner in Research Services assesses if there are grounds for an exemption. Note: The criteria for approval are the same as for a project proposal. Read more in How to create a project proposal
- The project owner in Research Services sends the request for exemption for approval by the Director General of Statistics Denmark.
- When the request for exemption has been approved, the approval is returned to the data controller institution and the consultancy charged with the task.
If you have questions about exemption, please contact Forskningsservice@dst.dk or your project owner in Research Services. In the subject field, you should write: ’Project number xxx - Re. exemption with respect to business data with limited access’.