Base registries are a component of the European Interoperability Framework its Conceptual model for integrated public services provision.


Base registries are the cornerstone of European public service delivery. A base registry is a trusted and authoritative source of information which can and should be digitally reused by others, where one organisation is responsible and accountable for the collection, use, updating and preservation of information. Base registries are reliable sources of basic information on data items such as people, companies, vehicles, licences, buildings, locations and roads. This type of information constitutes the ‘master data’ for public administrations and European public service delivery. ‘Authoritative’ here means that a base registry is considered to be the ‘source’ of information, i.e. it shows the correct status, is up-to-date and is of the highest possible quality and integrity.

In case of centralised registries, a single organisational entity is responsible and accountable for ensuring data quality and for having measures in place to ensure the correctness of the data. Such registries are under the legal control of public administrations, whereas operation and maintenance can be outsourced to other organisations if required. There are several types of base registries, e.g. population, businesses, vehicles, cadastres. For the administrations, it is important to obtain a high level overview of the operation of base registries and of the data they store (a registry of registries).

In case of distributed registries there must be a single organisational entity responsible and accountable for every part of the register. Additionally a single entity must be responsible and accountable for the coordination of all parts of the distributed registry.

A base registry framework, ‘describes the agreements and infrastructure for operating base registries and the relationships with other entities’.

Access to base registries should be regulated to comply with privacy and other regulations; base registries are governed by the principles of information stewardship.

The information steward is the body (or possibly individual) responsible and accountable for collecting, using, updating, maintaining and deleting information. This includes defining permissible information use, complying with privacy regulations and security policies, ensuring that information is current and ensuring the accessibility of data by authorised users.

Base registries should draw up and implement a data quality assurance plan to ensure the quality of their data. Citizens and businesses should be able to check the accuracy, correctness and completeness of any of their data contained in base registries.

A guide to the terminology used and/or a glossary of relevant terms used in each base registry should be made available for both human and machine-readable information purposes.


These are recommendations related to base registries:


Source: European Interoperability Framework - Promoting seamless services and data flows for European public administrations, COM(2017)134, 23 March 2017, url (Available in the languages of the EU Member States)