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

8. Sanctions

The provision of sanctions is quite varied between the Member States. 

In Austria, the disclosure of open data is not compulsory but is a voluntary action of the public administration; therefore, there are no provisions for sanctions or even rewards. 

Ireland and France do have compulsory publication but do not apply any sanction for breaching the publication obligation.

Italy, Romania, Slovenia and Estonia do apply sanctions. 

They are mainly administrative sanctions imposed for not having published or disclosed information as required. 

In Estonia, if a holder of public information does not comply with the provisions on access to open data or fails to answer promptly any requests for information, the Data Protection Inspectorate may issue a warning and may issue precepts, proposals, and recommendations. 

A sanction may only be issued if no action is taken by the public administration. 

In Romania and Italy, the power to sanction is related to the anti-corruption framework and is not seen as sanctioning the breach of open data policies in itself.