Law and Regulation

Over the past year, public sector information (PSI) re-use has been gaining momentum. Information and Communication Technologies, headed by the Internet, have changed access to public sector information and data and have opened new ways for its re-use, providing more opportunities for small-sized companies which develop new products and services.

Fully engaging the public sector on this issue remains a challenge. It is highly convenient to continue to work on policies that make the process of re-use as simple as possible and it is also important that the legal framework promotes re-use of PSI. In order to develop the market of re-use, several important issues such as the type of information that can be re-used, the process of how this information is delivered to the public, the conditions under which this information is provided or the prices this data is subject to should be addressed.

Spain, following the EC Directive, with the idea of creating a framework that encourages re-use, has established a minimum set of rules for a fair, proportional and non-discriminatory framework for re-use.

The 37/2007 Law (http://www.aporta.es/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=28c02272-f4a6-4090-b375-d10b87299e92&groupId=10128) (PSI Law) on re-use of PSI allows each public organization to decide whether it authorizes or denies the re-use of its information, whilst, at the same time, it underlines the social and economic value of PSI. The PSI law implements the Directive in all the territory providing a minimum of standards across Spain, which may be developed at the different governmental layers.

The Law establishes an ample definition of public sector information which covers not only traditional documents but also data sets. It defines the types of conditions under which re-use can be authorized and it sets the rules applicable to charging. Both process and conditions for re-use have to be established in a transparent and open manner. For example, the Law foresees, inter alia, the possibility of making PSI freely available under no restrictions. Moreover, the Law establishes that public administrations should make re-use easier by creating lists and indexes accessible online, with the aim to facilitate the identification of public information resources.

The Law specially pretends to encourage the re-use of public digital contents promoting the use of electronic means, inter alia, for the processing of requests for re-use. As a complementary action, Spain has developed the Aporta Project. During the last year Aporta has developed intensive communication and awareness-raising actions about the legal framework of the re-use process focused on public employees as well as private entrepreneurs. The Aporta Guidebook (http://www.aporta.es/web/guest/guia_reutilizacion) provides further guidance on the legal framework and the options available to public bodies when opening their information to re-use.

In Spain, other laws are also important in promoting the re-use of public digital contents. The 56/2007 Law for the Promotion of the Information Society (http://www.aporta.es/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=6eeebf8e-4f2c-4090-aa7e-814e2b29066c&groupId=10128) encourages public sector bodies to make all its digital content available to the citizens with no technological restrictions. For its part, the 11/2007 Law for e-Citizen Electronic Access (http://www.aporta.es/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=19d517c2-3ebc-4d3a-a3ed-40a3c5b47e44&groupId=10128) establishes that citizens have the right to electronically access public services, which implies that public administrations have to implement new electronic interaction tools to guarantee this right.

In the framework set out by these laws, some best practices have been developed by a number of Spanish public bodies, such as the National Cadastre (http://www.catastro.meh.es/) or the National Geographic Institute (http://www.ign.es).

The Aporta Project (www.aporta.es) has reached its first year and a half of life. Throughout this time, it has called the attention of Public Administrations, businesses and citizens to the benefits of the reuse of PSI and has raised awareness of its advantages for society.

The Aporta initiative, supported by the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade and the Ministry of the Presidency, was born in October 2008 in the framework of the Avanza Plan (http://www.planavanza.es/Paginas/Inicio.aspx).

Avanza Plan is the current initiative of the Spanish Government for developing the Information Society, within the Government Strategy that follows the European Lisbon Agenda. Its main aim is to improve Spain’s position within the Information and Knowledge Society, its economic productivity and the general welfare of all Spanish citizens.

Inspired by the European Directive 2003/92/CE and the Spanish Law 37/2007 on Re-use of PSI, the purpose of the Aporta Project is to foster a culture of re-use in Spain, to improve the access to public information and to boost PSI re-use.

Therefore, we have been working on different activities, including:

• The Aporta website (www.aporta.es): The website, with more than 20.000 visits in the last year, is conceived as a meeting point for public sector, businesses and citizens interested in re-use that offers information and news on PSI and that provides different communication and participation channels for all the members of the Spanish PSI community. All the materials posted on the website are reusable and in different formats, including open source files in order to enable its reuse.
• The Aporta Guidebook (http://www.aporta.es/web/guest/guia_reutilizacion): The Aporta Guidebook on Re-use of Public Sector Information is a handbook that explains the legal framework and all the issues of particular relevance for Public Administrations and re-users.
• The Aporta events (http://www.aporta.es/web/guest/eventos_aporta): In Aporta we think that the first step in promoting re-use is raising awareness of the potential of PSI re-use. At the moment, Aporta Project is closely cooperating with EPSI Platform on a meeting to be held in Madrid next June, whose aim is to unveil the economic value of public sector information.
• Training workshops (http://www.aporta.es/web/guest/formacion_aporta): Encouraging PSI re-use means also to explain the reuse process to the different actors involved. Therefore, Aporta has organized different training lectures during 2009 and has made available though its website all the training materials.
• Catalogue of Public Information (http://www.aporta.es/web/guest/catalogo-de-informacion-publica): A catalogue of freely accessible online public information, belonging to the Spanish General Administration, has been launched last Monday. It provides a single access point to the various government websites that offer public information resources.