License

nimistu.ee data and content are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC-BY-SA 4.0) license.

nimistu.ee is free public infrastructure. We want our work used as widely as possible — in journalism, research, civil society, and other public projects. At the same time, we want to ensure that what is built on our work also stays public. That's why we chose the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.

What it means

The CC-BY-SA 4.0 license gives you the right to freely use, share, and build upon our data and content — including for commercial purposes — under three conditions:

1. Attribute the source. Clearly indicate that the data or content comes from nimistu.ee. For example, “Source: nimistu.ee” with a link to the page the data came from.

2. Share alike. If you create something new from our data or content — an aggregate work, dataset, analysis, or tool — you must release it under the same CC-BY-SA 4.0 license.

3. Indicate changes. If you have modified the data or content, mark it clearly — so the reader can tell what is nimistu's original content and what you have added or changed.

The full license terms are on the Creative Commons site: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.

What the license covers

The license covers all nimistu.ee content, including:

• The database as a whole — the unified data model aggregating Estonian public registers
• Derived data and computations — cross-references, aggregate sums, VAT-group clusters, ownership links, sector analyses
• Views — the content and structure of the analytical views on /views
• Methodology pages and descriptions — the explanations published for each view and source
• Editorial content — categorisations, descriptions, daily summaries, general page text

What the license excludes

Some parts of nimistu.ee are subject to separate licenses or rights. These are:

Source data. Much of what nimistu displays comes from other registers and public sources — the Business Register, the Tax Board, MTR, EUIPO, OpenSanctions, GLEIF, and many others. Each source has its own license and terms of use, which you can find on the sources page: /en/sources. The nimistu CC-BY-SA license covers the added value we create — combining, cross-referencing, structuring, and editorial work. The source data's own licenses remain in force.

Logo and trademark. The “nimistu” name and logo are trademarks of Nimistu MTÜ. They are not covered by the CC-BY-SA license. The logo may be used to refer to nimistu and in case studies, but not to identify your own product or service. If in doubt, get in touch: /en/contact.

Personal data. The license governs reuse rights for the data, but does not affect data subjects' rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Every person whose data appears in nimistu retains their rights — including the right to rectification, restriction, and objection. The license does not permit you to use personal data from nimistu in any way that would violate GDPR or Estonian law.

How to cite

Recommended citation format:

Source: nimistu.ee, licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0

For a specific view, company profile, or source, link directly to the relevant page URL. For academic or research work, also include the date of access, since the data updates daily.

Example:

“Companies linked to PEPs among public-procurement winners,” nimistu.ee, accessed 20.05.2026, https://nimistu.ee/en/views/pep-procurement-winners, licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0.

Training AI

The license terms also apply to training AI systems. This means: nimistu data and content may be used to train AI models, including for commercial purposes — but in that case the trained model, or its outputs that contain a substantial part of nimistu's content, must be made available under the same CC-BY-SA 4.0 license. In addition, nimistu must be named among the training-data sources.

We want this stated explicitly, because the question is topical and the assumptions in this area are not always obvious.

What we expect in good faith

Beyond the formal license requirements, we have a few expectations that are not legally binding but that help keep nimistu's mission — a free, public, transparent database — intact:

• Be transparent about use. If you use nimistu in a larger project or publication, let us know — we like seeing where our work goes, and you may help other similar projects.
• Keep data fresh. If you republish data, mark the date. Stale data that looks fresh from nimistu can mislead both your users and us.
• Preserve source traceability. For every claim you take from nimistu, keep a reference to the original source where possible — found on nimistu's match page — to keep the whole ecosystem intact.
• Flag problems. If you find an error in the data, let us know via /en/contact — it helps everyone using the data.

These are recommendations, not obligations. But they are good practice.

Separate: terms of use

The license governs what you may do with nimistu's data. nimistu's terms of use govern how you use the website and services. Both apply in parallel. The terms of use are at: /en/terms.

Questions

For questions about interpreting the license, get in touch via the nimistu contact form.

This page took effect on 20 May 2026. The license terms may change, but the license on previously published data and content does not change retroactively — everything published while this page is in effect remains under CC-BY-SA 4.0.