Business Licenses and Registrations
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| Current Status | Informal Discussion |
| Potential Implementing Agencies | Local and State agencies responsible for issuing business licenses and registrations |
| Potential Founding/Sponsoring Organizations | Code for America |
Analysis -- Future Potential and Adoption
Local data on business registrations is fragmented and largely unavailable.Private companies, such as Dun and Bradstreet and InfoUSA collect this data from state and local governments, but it is frequently out-of-date.In many municipalities, registration of a new business is required, but the municipality does not require a similar process when a business ceases operation.
The Census Bureau manages a federal standard, National American Industry Classification System (NAICS), for classifying businesses and employment data and would be in a good position to develop an open data standard for use by local and state levels.In addition, a new startup, OpenCorporates, has successfully assembled business registration listings for most countries in the world and now makes this data available through their web site and an API.
Additional Resources
- NAICS - https://www.census.gov/eos/www/naics/
- OpenCorporates - https://opencorporates.com/