Section 150.230  Computer Access to Information

a)         Computer connections by non-Department users.

1)         Computer terminal connections to the Secretary's computer may be provided to other State agencies.  This service may be made available at no charge so long as the requesting agency incurs all costs and so long as the service does not substantially increase costs or network traffic on the Secretary's computer.

2)         Fees for information supplied by means of computer connections between the Secretary of State's computers and those of any other agency, corporation, or person may be paid on a daily or monthly basis for all information delivered during that day or month, as determined by the Secretary and the agency or person to be the economically simplest way of billings.  The proper fee shall be determined by negotiation between the agency or commercial user and the Director based upon telephone line charges, rental or purchase fees for terminals, and any other appropriate factors, such as statutory fees (see 805 ILCS 5/15.10) for certain types of information and the requirements of this Subpart.

3)         Computer terminal connection may be allowed to commercial users provided that all costs are borne by the commercial user.  The allowance of computer terminal connections shall be contingent upon the best interests of the Office of the Secretary of State, which is based upon the volume of requests received, the cost-effectiveness of providing the information through computer terminal connections as opposed to other methods, and other factors which may impede the operations of the Office of the Secretary of State.  This service will be suspended at any time, should the connection interfere with the Secretary's internal work schedules and processing.

b)         Corporate information is available for purchase from the Department in the following specific formats only.

1)         All purchase requests shall be submitted in writing to the Director. Payment shall be made to the Department before delivery of the information to the purchaser.  No refunds will be made after the request is approved by the Director.  Payment shall be made by check or money order, made payable to the "Secretary of State".   If the purchaser wants the information on computer tape, the purchaser shall supply a computer tape or tapes compatible with the Secretary's equipment.

2)         The only formats of corporate information for purchase on computer tape are the master business corporation list and the master not for profit corporation list.  The master business corporation list format includes the file number, state of origin, date of incorporation or qualification, the corporate name, the registered agent's name and registered office address, the name of the incorporator (if the corporation is newly formed) or the name and address of the president and secretary of the corporation, the years in which the two previous annual reports were filed, the types of stock, the amount of paid-in capital and the assumed corporate names.  (The information available by means of a computer connection shall include all of the above, and also the microfilm roll and image number, and the amount of franchise tax paid.)  The fee for this list shall be $1,500.00. Information concerning the master not for profit corporation list is found at 14 Ill. Adm. Code 160.12.

3)         The Department makes available for purchase to commercial users the master business and not for profit corporation lists (as stated in subsections (b)(1) and (2) above), and the assumed name file, together with a daily update list of newly formed corporations (business and not for profit), and a monthly list of newly formed corporations, all of which information is only available for purchase as a whole unit, to be known as the "Daily Transmittal Package (DTP)".  In addition to the total fee for the two active corporate files of $3,000.00, the commercial purchasers shall pay to the Department:  a fee of $72.00 per day to create tapes of updates and new transactions, transmitted daily to the purchasers; a fee of $137.00 per month to create computer tapes to update the corporate files on a monthly basis; a monthly maintenance fee of $310.00; a staff reimbursement cost of $35.00 per hour for any additional programming; and any telephone charges to transmit the information to the commercial purchaser.  Payments to the Department shall be made monthly.  The commercial purchaser shall enter into a written agreement for a term of not less than 2 years duration, nor more than 5 years, encompassing other terms and conditions as are deemed appropriate by the commercial purchaser and the Department, or by Illinois law.  The commercial purchaser shall provide a computer terminal for the use of the Department to ascertain the correctness of the corporate information as presented by the commercial purchaser to the public.

4)         The commercial purchaser shall not resell to any other purchaser the information obtained from the Department in the same form or format in which it is obtained from the Department.  No other corporate information in quantity shall be sold or otherwise made available for purchase or for free.  This subsection does not prevent a member of the public from making inquiries or purchases of information concerning an individual corporation in which he or she is specifically interested.  However, any person requesting information arranged by a specific field of the formats shall be referred to all commercial vendors of corporate information who have obtained the information pursuant to subsection 3, and the Department shall not provide the corporate information to the requester.  The Department shall not state any preference of commercial vendor to the requester, but shall provide all names and addresses of the commercial vendors to the requester.

(Source:  Amended at 20 Ill. Reg. 7026, effective May 8, 1996)