Reuse of public sector information Riga, 19 October 2005

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Re-use of public sector informationRiga,
19 October 2005
European trends and the Latvian perspective

• Luis FerrãoEuropean Commission
• DG Information Society and Media

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Public Sector Informationa key resource

• Public sector a major source of information
• Geographic, transport, statistics, weather,
  legal
• information increasingly accessible online
• Improved communication between Administrations
  and citizens
• PSI an important economic resource

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but under-exploited

• Value of EU investment on PSI
• 68 billion /year or 1 of GDP
• Value of the whole information sector (largely
  based on PSI) in the US
• 750 billion /year or 9 of GDP
• (Pira International, Commercial Exploitation of
  Europes Public Sector Information, 2000)

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The challenge

• PSI a raw material of major importance for the
  content market
• Barriers remain at European level
• Competitive disadvantage vis-à-vis the US
• Diverging trend of re-use conditions

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The barriers
difficulties to produce European products

• Absence of clear rules and policies
• No legal framework for PSI re-use
• Mindset of public sector bodies
• Little re-use culture and public-private sinergy
• Unfair competition
• Exclusive agreements, cross-subsidies
• Lack of transparency
• On available PSI, re-use conditions and means of
  reddress
• High charges
• Neither proportionate to cost nor limited

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Towards an European solution

• The Green Book (1999)
• The Communication (2001)
• Set of consistent measures
• Projects, PSI Group
• The Directive (co-decided in November 2003)

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(No Transcript)
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Communication, 2001

• Economic importance, fragmented market
• Right to commercial use of accessible PSI
• Basic orientations price,
  transparency, competition
• Explore the need for a Directive

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Directive, 2003

• Minimal harmonisation to facilitate cross-border
  re-use
• Transparency of price and conditions
• Prohibition of exclusive arrangements
• Non-discrimination between users
• Clear procedures, means of redress
• Assets lists, online licenses

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Means of redress

• Mandatory communication of means of redress
• Instrumental to an open, transparent and
  non-discriminatory PSI environment
• Downwards effect on charges and re-use conditions

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Means of redress the principles

• transparency (Art. 4.4 and 7, recital 15)
• Obligation to inform the applicants on means of
  redress against decisions and practices affecting
  them
• legality (Art. 4.3)
• Obligation to substantiate negative decisions or
  those imposing re-use charges

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Re-use at no cost or other conditions

• Disclaimer (of liability)
• Waiving (of rights)
• Restrictions (to the reproduction of logos,
  lay-out, seals)
• Acknowledgement (of the source)

no license required
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Re-use at no cost or other conditions

• Advantages of no-license approach
• Fast and easy (less red tape)
• Reduce overheads (set plus collect charges)
• Allow PSB to focus on core tasks (rather than
  monitor license agreements)

US approach
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Re-use at cost or other conditions

• - not to unnecessarily restrict (Art. 8.1)
• Possibilities for re-use (derivative works,
  added-value products)
• Competition (grant-back obligations)

License agreement
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Licenses - requirements

• Reasonable time-limit, consistent with access one
  (art. 4.1)
• Refusal properly substantiated, on the basis of
  access regime, absence of re-use autorisation or
  Directive exclusions (art. 4.3)
• Charges, if any, limited to collection,
  production, reproduction and dissemination costs
  reasonable return on investment (Art. 6)

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Licences - conditions

• Should not discriminate comparable categories of
  re-users, whether public or private art. 10.1
• Should not be exclusive, unless necessary for the
  provision of a service in the general interest,
  nor lead to cross-subsidies - art. 10.2
• Exclusive rights, if any, subject to regular
  review and only to the extent necessary to
  provide a service in the general interest - art.
  11.1

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Licenses practical arrangements

• MS to ensure proper offer of (art. 8.2)
• standard forms available in digital form for PSI
  re-use
• Adaptable for particular license applications
• Electronically processed

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Online licenses

• Validity and enforcement issues (proof of
  consent)
• Distance contracts Directive 97/7/EC
• Electronic commerce Directive 2000/31/EC
• Electronic signatures Directive 1999/93/EC

same requirements as off-line
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Review Article 13.2

• Scope
• exclusions, art. 1.2
• impact
• Increase on PSI re-use
• Effects of the charging principles
• Re-use of official texts of an administrative or
  legal nature (Art. 2.4 Berne)
• Further improvement
• Of the functioning of the Internal Market
• Of the European content industry

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Some questions

• Commercial law, not freedom of information one
• Intellectual property rights of public sector
  bodies
• Charges (criteria, calculation method)
• Additional burden imposed on Administrations

Discussion also at Member States level
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Outlook

• transparency, fair competition, downwards effect
  on charges
• First ever legislation in some Member States
• Speed-up developments in others
• Recitals go beyond Articles, but
• Review clause

culture change in public sector
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What next

• Transposition by 1.07.2005 (expired)
• Transposition in Latvia
• Role of the Commission
• PSI Group three meetings in 2004, one in 2005
• Comparative study MEPSIR (29/10/2004
  29/04/2006)
• Exploitation of Public Sector Information
  Benchmarking of Eu framework conditions 
• Review in 2008

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Transposition chart

• 13 MS notified transposition
• AT, DK, EE, FI, FR, HU, IE, LT, PL, SE, SI, SK
  and UK
• (AT and LT partial)
• 12 MS did not notified transposition
• BE, CY, CZ, DE, EL, ES, IT, LU, LV, MT, NL and PT

Status 18 October 2005
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Conclusion

• PSI a major component of the content market
• Barriers restrict full impact on employment and
  growth
• Directive creates minimal legal security to
  stimulate investment
• Proper, timely transposition will help to build
  up new European framework for PSI re-use

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To know more
http//europa.eu.int/information_society/policy/ps
i/