Public Consultation on the evaluation of the PSI Directive

Among its first key actions, the Digital Agenda for Europe lists the revision ofthe Directive 2003/98/EC on the reuse of public sector information (PSI Direc-tive).The agenda highlights that governments can stimulate content markets by makingPSI available on transparent, effective and non-discriminatory terms. This is animportant source of potential growth of innovative online services.In that context the European Commission launched a public online consultationon the PSI Directive a couple of months ago.The Danish Government finds that the public sector information (PSI) plays avery important role in achieving growth in general as well as new innovativeonline services, but that the PSI Directive alone cannot fulfil the economic poten-tial of the reuse of public sector information.A study made by Gartner Group estimates that the business potential in the reuseof public data in Denmark alone could be worth at least a yearly DKK 600 mil-lion (more than EUR 80 million).

The Revision of The PSI Directive

The Danish Government finds that regulation is not the main driver for increasedreuse of public sector information in Denmark. However, to the extent that thePSI Directive is amended, article 6 concerning the principles governing chargingshould be changed.High charges are a barrier for reuse of public sector information. Public sectorbodies collect, produce, reproduce and disseminate data (public data) to fulfiltheir public tasks. Activities falling outside the definition "public data" will typi-cally include data that are produced and charged for exclusively on a commercialbasis and in competition with others in the market. The Danish Government findsthat e.g. the innovation potential in SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises)could be improved significantly if the cost for getting access to public data wereset with marginal cost as an upper limit.Consequently, “reasonable return on investment” should not be included in themaking of charges.

The Danish 'Open Data Innovation Strategy'

The Danish Government sees guidelines and sharing of good practise as the maindriver for the reuse of public data and henceforth the keys to deliver the eco-nomic potential of this area.The Danish 'Open Data Innovation Strategy’ (ODIS) is about creating easier andmore uniform access to public data as raw material for the private sector in thedevelopment of innovative digital products and services, useful analyses, datavisualisations and data journalism. The initiative was launched in May 2009 bythe Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and is managed by the Na-tional IT and Telecom Agency (NITA).Access to government data provides the basis for new services and differentanalyses, new information and better insights that are useful to citizens and busi-nesses alike. ICT companies are able to create new business in developing digitalservices and advanced content based on public data, and citizens can convertideas and creativity into practical solutions to everyday problems. Open andavailable government data is a key resource in this process to benefit competi-tiveness and strengthen openness, participation and democracy.However, the lack of uniform practice when it comes to access to public dataconstitutes a significant barrier for innovative businesses and creative citizenslooking to reuse data. This means, among other things, that many businesses andentrepreneurs do not know that specific data exist and that many public authori-ties are not aware of the potentials of private reuse of their data.Under the auspices of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, NITAis working on developing a vision and a concept for how a business, an entrepre-neur or a citizen can access government data in a uniform way – possibly creatinga “one entry to public data reuse” policy and service, where legal, economic andpractical aspects are dealt with in a uniform and efficient manner. A commonEuropean solution, for instance an internet portal with basic information on pub-lic authorities, which give access to data, could be analysed further. Such an ini-tiative could increase awareness and transparency for businesses. The use of theexisting European Business Register (EBR) as a basis for further developmentmay be considered. In any rate, the development and the operation of the EBRmay provide valuable experiences for future initiatives.

Previous And Planned Activities

At the time of the launch of the 'Open Data Innovation Strategy’ the National ITand Telecom Agency (NITA) held seminars for PSI reusers and public authoritiesin order to determine what key issues needed attention at that point and beganbuilding relationships with key stakeholders. In general, the PSI re-users and thepublic authorities had no previous contact and had little knowledge about eachother, and the seminars thus served the purpose of bringing these stakeholdergroups together and encourage dialogue between them.In the Summer of 2009 NITA launched a Public Data Catalogue listing approxi-mately 950 public data sets. The Data Catalogue was hosted at the public col-laborative platform for digitisation, Digitaliser.dk.

In September 2009 NITA launched a data contest, inviting private businesses,NGOs, entrepreneurs and citizens to enter ideas for products and services basedon public sector data. Three winners were selected and a prize ceremony washeld as part of a conference on PSI reuse, organised by NITA in February 2010.During the Summer of 2010, NITA established a small unit of “Data Hunters” re-sponsible for locating interesting public data, helping public authorities publishtheir data, and assisting PSI reusers to request data from public authorities.NITA recently published simple and easy-to-use technical, practical and legalguidelines on how to publish public data to help public authorities initiate opendata projects.Currently, NITA is working on guidelines and simple software tools to be usedwhen publishing or reusing data.Ministeriet for Videnskab

In November 2010 NITA plan to launch a new and optimised version of the Pub-lic Data Catalogue which will help data reusers locate and access public data.The catalogue will be a directory, not a repository, in the sense that data will re-main on the public authorities own servers or chosen host servers.

Conclusion

Realisation of the potential of public data depends on a variety of parameters andnot just regulation. Thus the European Commission should play an active role inpromoting reuse of public data. It may be necessary to amend the PSI Directive,but it is equally critical that the European Commission actively promotes knowl-edge sharing between Member States. Furthermore, it is important that the Euro-pean Commission initiates other concrete initiatives to highlight and illustrate thenecessity of public data reuse.Prior to the adoption in the European Commission of a revised proposal, Den-mark suggests that the Commission conducts an in-depth study of barriers andchallenges and socio-economic benefits of a more targeted focus in the field on aEuropean level.

European Commission

Information Society and Media Directorate-General

Unit E4 – ”Access to Information”

Att: Mr. Andrej Osterman

Public Consultation on the evaluation of the PSI Directive

The Revision of The PSI Directive

The Danish 'Open Data Innovation Strategy'

Previous And Planned Activities

Conclusion