Open Data in the EU

1. Introduction and evolution of legislation on open data

Public sector information (PSI) refers to all information that public bodies produce, collect or purchase. PSI may include geographical data, statistics, weather information, data from publicly-funded research projects, and digitised books from libraries. “Open public data” are PSI that is readily and widely accessible and can be re-used, sometimes under non-restrictive conditions.

Access and re-use of data can be made difficult by public authorities due to several barriers: 

• A lack of information that specific data exists and are available; 

• A lack of clarity regarding which public authority holds the data and on the terms of re-use; 

• Data made available only in formats that are difficult or expensive to use;   

• Complicated licensing procedures or prohibitive fees; 

• Exclusive re-use agreements with one commercial entity or re-use restricted to a governmentowned company. 

Opening up governmental data for re-use can have significant benefits for citizens, businesses, society, and governments themselves: 

• New businesses can be built on the basis of these data; 

• Transparency in public administration is increased, improving the visibility of previously inaccessible information, informing citizens and business on policies, public spending and outcomes; 

• Evidence-based policy making and administrative efficiency.

Not all data are re-usable: personal data (e.g. medical data), data protected under existing privacy protection or accessibility rules (e.g. protection of national and public security) and data protected by intellectual property rights of third parties are excluded from re-use. Public bodies should make their data available for re-use as freely as possible. However, there may be conditions on re-use, such as the requirement to indicate a source reference, but they should not unnecessarily restrict how the information can be reused or limit competition. On the other hand, every type of re-use is allowed irrespective of its purpose, commercial or non-commercial.

Studies conducted on behalf of the European Commission show that industries and citizens still face difficulties in finding and re-using PSI. In response, from December 2011, the Commission adopted a package of measures to overcome barriers to re-use, and to reduce the fragmentation of data markets. The key element was Directive 2013/37/EU amending Directive 2003/98/EC on the re-use of public sector information.

The Directive 2003/98/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on the re-use of public sector information (amended in 2013 and replaced by the Directive 2019/1024) aimed to facilitate the re-use of PSI throughout the EU by harmonising the primary conditions for reuse and by removing significant barriers to re-use in the internal market. It was based on two pillars of the internal market: transparency and fair competition, and it applied to all public sector bodies, who were obliged to: 

• be transparent on conditions for re-use; 
• avoid any form of discrimination between re-users;
• deal with applications for re-use within a set maximum time; 
• not enter into exclusive arrangements other than in exceptional circumstances. 

The Directive established the regulatory bases for the start of the processes of opening data and public documents in the different administrations of the Member States to favour their re-use by anyone for any purpose, establishing minimum rules on access, licenses, standards of non-discrimination between re-users, and pricing principles and transparency.

Communication from the Commission on Open Data: Open data: An engine for innovation, growth and transparent governance, 12 December 2011 

The Commission observed firstly that public data have significant and untapped potential for re-use in new products and services and that the overall economic gains resulting from the opening of this resource could amount to 40 billion Euros per year in the EU, not to mention the increased participation by citizens in political and social life. In December 2011 the Commission presented a package of measures to overcome existing barriers and fragmentation across the EU on the opening of public data which consists of three mutually reinforcing strands: 

• adapting the legal framework for data re-use, including legal, soft law and policy measures;
• mobilising financing instruments in support of open data, and deployment actions, such as the creation of European data portals;
• facilitating coordination and experience sharing across the Member States.
  

The Commission invited the Member States to contribute to the real openness of data through the rapid adoption, transposition and application of the revised directive on the re-use of PSI, to define and apply open data policies, adopting the examples of good practices used in the EU and to contribute to the development of a pan-European data portal. 

The Commission also invited the European Parliament and the Council, in their respective areas of competence, to create the correct framework conditions for the re-use of PSI within the EU and to support projects and infrastructures that can transform Europe's public data bodies into a driver for innovation, growth and transparency.