The authorities seek to create a new internet register in order to crack down on the grey economy, the Tampere-based daily Aamulehti reports.

“The authorities wish to clamp down on the construction industry’s grey economy with the help of a new electronic register.

The change would apply to the customer responsibility law, according to which for example the main contractor of a construction yard has to investigate the subcontractor’s background.

In the new model the main contractor could check all the data as required by the customer responsibility law from an internet register that is open to all.

It would, for example, reveal the amount of the subcontractor’s possible tax debts and neglect with regards to employment pension insurance.

This year the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health together with the Ministry of Finance is working on the creation of the register.

The project is listed in the Government Programme.

According to Janne Martti-
nen, the head of Virke, a government development project that co-ordinates the fight against white-collar crime between various authorities, the service could be ready by 2013. Nowadays a main contractor can only receive tax debt data via the subcontractor, for example.

The customer, meaning the main contractor, has to check whether the subcontractor is listed in the preliminary taxation register and whether he has taken care of his tax obligations, among other things.”

AAMULEHTI 14 February. TANELI KOPONEN