Open data in Italy, Austria, Estonia, France, Ireland, Romania and Slovenia

2. Definition and context

In general, open data is not defined by law. 

However, three key elements identify open data across countries: free access and availability, free-of-charge data re-use, and the publication of data being in the public interest. 

In Italy there is a legal definition which refers to the characteristics of the data. 

Accordingly, open data are data having the following characteristics: 

• they are available under the terms of a licence or a regulatory provision, allowing them to be used by anyone, even for commercial purposes, in disaggregated format;
• they are accessible through information and communication technologies, including public and private data networks, in open forms, suitable for automatic use by computer programmes and provided with the relevant metadata; 
• they are made available free of charge through information and communication technologies, including public and private telematic networks, or they are made available with marginal costs incurred for their reproduction and dissemination. 

However, as emphasised in the French report, open data is also a movement consisting of “making available to citizens, civil society and economic actors, the data produced, collected or held as part of a public service mission and authorising their reuse for private or commercial purposes”. 

The rationale of open data is related to the transparency and accountability of the public administration.

The justification is, therefore, much broader than merely the fight against corruption. However, as highlighted in the most recent Communication from the Commission on Public Procurement in Europe: “the digital transformation, the growing wealth of data in general and the availability of open data standards offer opportunities to create better analytics for needs driven policy-making and warning systems to signal and tackle corruption in public procurement".