Know their status

For those faced with Council Tax, Penalty Charges.or any charge from
what is perceived an authority.
I would suggest you send a foi to them requesting their D-U-N-S number.
Word your request to include but not limited to the names of all subsiduary
entities belonging to or operating in conjunction with them.
This is needed as many if not all operate (trade) under more than one name.

Study the info in this video ,and you should find remedy.

I'm performing due diligence regarding the DUNS numbers, following from the OD's latest content trying to find material evidence that it does have a consensual relationship with our 'public establishments'. Most FOI requests featured on www.whatdotheyknow? are either classified as "awaiting classification", "information not held", "long overdue" or "partially successful" with only a few as "successful"; although that's being generous. Now I realise of course it's highly unlikely they're going to admit the number relates to their standing as a corporation and the minion that answers probably isn't aware anyway. I found a couple of the "successful" ilk. These are extracts of the answers:

1. To Swindon Borough Council: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/dun_and_bradstreet_registration#outgoing-559690

“Swindon Borough Council isn't registered with D&B”

“Please note that we have no business relationship with D&B either in the
UK or in the USA. Our understanding is that D&B (amongst other things)
carry out completely independent credit checks on a huge range of
businesses and organisations for risk management purposes. They do not
need our permission to do so, therefore any information they hold is not
as a result of any registration process that the Council has engaged in”.

“I have been in contact with the Officers concerned and been advised the
link does not indicate that the Council are trading as a private company;
it shows that Swindon Borough Council exists”.

2. To House of Lords: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/request_for_information_concerni_7

“We are aware of one DUNS number which was automatically assigned to the House of Lords (as a legislative body) by Dun & Bradstreet (D & B)”.

“we contacted Dun & Bradstreet and were informed that they had automatically assigned a number to the House of Lords. The reason given was that Dun & Bradstreet automatically assign numbers to government agencies and bodies”.

So as I understand it they’re essentially saying Dun & Bradstreet are a database with no ties. Any thoughts?

If they don't have a DUNS number they cannot commercially operate, so if they have no DUNS then they cannot enter into a commercial agreement with you and tell you to pay Council Tax or anything else as its a commercial action.

assassin wrote:If they don't have a DUNS number they cannot commercially operate, so if they have no DUNS then they cannot enter into a commercial agreement with you and tell you to pay Council Tax or anything else as its a commercial action.

That's understood. So does D&B obtain their data independently or do the corporations intentionally make contact with them to register? I cannot find any evidence that they themselves register. The corporations say their financial statistics are on D&B without their knowledge.

I think both.  For example pretty much every local limited company that I deal with is register, but the sole traders and partnerships aren't.  None of those companies would have any reason to need a DUNS number.   From that I suspect that D&B automatically create entries for limited companies as they are created.

Aside from that a company can specifically request a number if they have some special need for it, or possibly if the records are inaccurate.  See ..

What is a DUNS number and do I need one

flyingfish wrote:I think both.  For example pretty much every local limited company that I deal with is register, but the sole traders and partnerships aren't.  None of those companies would have any reason to need a DUNS number.   From that I suspect that D&B automatically create entries for limited companies as they are created.

Aside from that a company can specifically request a number if they have some special need for it, or possibly if the records are inaccurate.  See ..

What is a DUNS number and do I need one

I concur with your statement.

It says "Getting a DUNS number is fairly straightforward if you have a registered company based in the UK or Ireland as all newly registered companies are automatically issued with their own DUNS number". This implies to me that all the corporations that appear on the D&B database must be a corporation if they are registered with them or not.

That link is a much better explanation that what's on D&B. Nice one!