[Mvandenbergh]

Well the system is designed to facilitate long distance and international trade (with a DUNS number you can look-up how long a business has existed and their payment history) even if you're in Pakistan and they're in Argentina. Since companies dealing in physical goods take much longer than 30 days to set-up anyway the process hasn't traditionally been a constraint. All that "unneccesary information" is very relevant for a textile shipper even if it isn't for someone selling a crossword app.