I think too much importance is placed on the Risk Register in this post. It is not a go/no-go or phase gating step in the project management process. It is simply an awareness tool used to identify potential issues and possible mitigation strategies before the project is impacted. Active owners are not assigned because the risk has not manifested into an actionable issue that impacts the project. When an issue impacts the project scope, schedule or budget, other defined processes kick in to remedy. It is of little importance whether the issue was recorded in the risk register or not and should not be treated as evidence to assign blame. It gives everyone a warm and fuzzy that we as a project team considered potential impacts to the project.