16 December 2011

European Commission proposes revision to public sector information rules

The European Commission has proposed to update a 2003 law on granting widespread publc access to information held by public authorities. According to the Commission, the large volumes of information collected by numerous public authorities and services are "a goldmine of unrealised economic potential", and a general principle of granting access to the data could stimulate new commercial initiatives.

The Commission proposed to update the 2003 Directive on the re-use of public-sector information by:

  • Making it a general rule that all documents made accessible by public-sector bodies can be re-used for any purpose, commercial or non-commercial, unless protected by third party copyright;
  • Establishing the principle that public bodies should not be allowed to charge more than costs triggered by the individual request for data (marginal costs); in practice this means most data will be offered for free or virtually for free, unless duly justified.
  • Making it compulsory to provide data in commonly-used, machine-readable formats, to ensure data can be effectively re-used.
  • Introducing regulatory oversight to enforce these principles;
  • Massively expanding the reach of the Directive to include libraries, museums and archives for the first time; the existing 2003 rules will apply to data from such institutions.


EU Digital Agenda commissioner Neelie Kroes said the Commission was sending a signal to public authorities. "Your data is worth more if you give it away. So start releasing it now: use this framework to join the other smart leaders who are already gaining from embracing open data. Taxpayers have already paid for this information, the least we can do is give it back to those who want to use it in new ways that help people and create jobs and growth," she said.

The Commission's proposed revision of the 2003 Directive must be agreed by the European Parliament and EU member state governments before taking effect.

Further information is available at the Commission's public-sector information website.

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