118 ANNUAL REPORT 2014 2014-32. DATA EXTRACTION. SPECIAL CONFIDENTIALITY PROVISION. FEW AND SIMPLE COMMANDS A journalist asked the Danish Business Authority for information from the Central Business Register (CBR) about the number of employees in specific companies. The information was publicly available via extraction from the CBR but only in larger unit groups. The journalist wanted either to be informed of the exact number of employees or to receive the information in smaller unit groups. The Danish Business Authority refused the request with, i.a., reference to the provision in section 18(7) of the Act on the Central Business Register which says that information about the number of employees shall only be passed on in the form of size groups. It was the Danish Business Authority’s assessment that the provision had the character of a specific confidentiality provision which prevented the information being given out in smaller unit groups than those already determined. The Ministry of Business and Growth confirmed the decision. The journalist then complained to the Ombudsman who stated that he agreed with the Danish Business Authority and the Ministry that the provision in the Act had to be considered a specific confidentiality provision, at least with regard to the passing on of information about the current, precise number of employees in CBR-registered companies. Thus, though a grouping of information about the exact number of employees could be produced via few and simple commands, the Ombudsman could not criticise that the authorities had not carried out a data extraction of this nature pursuant to section 11 of the Access to Public Administration Files Act. In addition, the Ombudsman agreed with the authorities that a grouping of information on the number of employees in smaller unit groups than those already determined in the CBR could not be carried out via few and simple commands. Therefore, the Ombudsman could not criticise that the authorities had not carried out a data extraction of this nature pursuant to section 11 of the Access to Public Administration Files Act. On this basis, the Ombudsman did not find grounds for considering whether the provision in the CBR Act prevented information about the number of employees being given out in smaller unit groups.