Guest Blogs

Stockholm

I think we agree upon the difficulties in creating a fair market place for PSI re use. This is a marathon race and it will take a considerable amount of time to make the changes that will result in real growth in this European marketplace. However, if you look at the positive signs, it is easier to endure consistent work towards a better market place in the long run than a stop and start approach. Positive examples have a tendency to spread and this is why PSI Alliance now is looking for good practice in different countries.

We have a vision of a market where

• You can easily find information that is available for re use ( open asset lists )
• You are met by a positive attitude from the PSI Holder who really understands your role and wants to co-operate with you as a re user
• You are offered a fair price, primarily based upon the distribution cost
• You are offered conditions that do not restrict your product development
• You are not competing with the information holder itself, but with other value adding companies on the market
• You can easily and quickly find a way to solve any conflicts with the PSI Holder about the access to the information.

We obviously have the same vision. But how to get there?

As I have stressed before I think we have to join forces. One way to do it is to take part in the PSI Alliance, as I know you already are doing. The PSI Alliance is actively trying to find information about good and bad practice in different countries. But as you point out this does not seem to be enough to create the fast changes that we want. We have therefore suggested to the EU Commission that they should make continuous observations of the PSI market. This is similar to the review process that you are suggesting. I believe that the EU Commission needs to create a permanent PSI Market Observatory (PSIMO); this will assist in making observations between countries and between different PSI Holders. An Observatory, will enable us to follow the effects of different PSI price models, the different results if the authorities are or are not competing with the private industry, how special re-dress mechanisms influence the re-use business, the effects of active government support or non active support to re-users and other things that have an influence on the market.

Hopefully the creation of an Observatory will help show that changes in line with our vision will make the PSI re use market grow. We hope that evidence provided by an Observatory will help convince national governments and different authorities all over Europe to join us on the road to a better market for re use of PSI. Growth in the PSI marketplace will inevitably create more jobs in the European information industry – which is to everyone’s benefit. That is what we really want to happen - isn’t it?

Rolf Nordqvist

Chairman PSI Alliance

The European market for the re-use of Public Sector Information (PSI) is estimated to be 27 billion Euros a year. A huge amount of money. But we are not there yet and it is a large market to be exploited by the re-users. Why does it take such a long time to do what US re-users have already done? Why is Europe so far behind? I think that we have the answer in the way the different government authorities handles PSI in Europe. They act as if PSI belongs to them and not to the people and they are especially reluctant if private companies come and want to make profit out of “their” information. So when EU calls for PSI re-use the authorities continues the same way that they always have done – being restrictive and often preferring to distribute the information by themselves.

But what are the re-users doing? They often handle the discussion about access and re-use one by one with the authorities. Sometimes they complain about their situation to administrative courts or in some cases they complain to the EU Commission. But often they remain silent to avoid disturbing the relationship with their supplier of information, normally an authority in a monopoly situation.

Some of the re-users have started an organization to be stronger in their struggle to get better conditions for PSI re use. The PSI Alliance was founded last year (2008) with ambitions to exchange good and bad practice among its members and to speak with one voice to different stakeholders.

The PSI Alliance is now one year old and is active in the debate about what actions could or should be taken in order to raise the activity on the re-use market. On the 25 June PSI Alliance held a members meeting in Brussels to discuss different ways of going forward. We all agreed that the best way of doing that is to highlight good practice or good thinking and spread the best solutions among the re-users and PSI Holders. This was the theme on our re-user conference and is the theme for PSI Alliance during the forthcoming year.

Key examples of good practice and good thinking highlighted at the conference were:

• New pricing policies in the Netherlands. They are moving towards marginal cost/delivery cost on PSI. Of special interest in the meeting was pricing in the meteorological area. As from January 2009 prices on synoptic and radar observations are to be based on delivery costs.
• A new and more flexible re-dress mechanism has been implemented in Slovenia. In Slovenia you can apply to the Information Officer if you are dissatisfied with the decisions from Public Sector Bodies. In 2008 the Information Officer had to deal with 328 cases when Public Sector Bodies denied access/re-use to PSI or did not make any decision at all.
• The Competition Authority in Sweden has suggested (in a report to the Swedish government) that central government agencies should be prohibited to sell goods and services (including information) in competitive markets. Competitive distortions should be reduced by more effective rules for public selling activities.

This is good news for the PSI Alliance. We have for a long time struggled for better solutions when it comes to fair prices (marginal costs/delivery costs), fair competition (only competition among private companies) and more flexible ways to appeal when re-users and companies disagree. Now we can see signs that changes may happen in different European countries. So, if you have examples of good practice or good thinking please send them to the PSI Alliance and we will publish it on our web site for others to follow.

Rolf Nordqvist

Chairman PSI Alliance

In most countries there are authorities that are committed to sell the information that they have created for other purposes, as part of their public task. Since the information they hold is stored in their databases they can easily sell it on the market. Sometimes these businesses goes under the name of trading funds or in my country ( Sweden ) they are called information providing authorities. This is big business when it comes to maps, real estates, company information or weather information. The money created covers daily production, goes into the development of new products and the surplus is sometimes delivered directly to the Government .

If you are a re-user you often have to buy information from this kind of authority and re-sell it on the market. You are then buying value added data since, in many cases , the raw data is not available. The price is set by the authority and can sometimes be very high if the authority is making costly product development or if you have to pay for their service organisation around their products. As a consequence of their product development, you sometimes as a re-user meet your information provider on the market in the shape of a competitor and have to find some way to compete and make money on your own products. Your product is the result of value adding to the already value added products that you bought. That can sometimes be really tough.

This, sadly, is the situation in many markets. Is this what we want? To have to compete directly with PSI Holders? No , what you want is to buy information from an authority that is not on the market. And of course you want to buy raw data, so that you can get a fair price and have the margin that you need to add value to the information and still be able to offer a reasonable price to your customers. Adding value to existing value added data often results in prices that are too high.

To have a situation that supports existing and new PSI re-users, I think it is necessary to regard the sale of public data not as a public task but as a task for companies dedicated to disseminate information on the market. If the Government wants to stay in this market they have to follow the same rules as other re-users, which means not being part of a PSI Holder organisation, not having the advantage of exclusive contracts with PSI Holders and having an economy under the same rules as their competitors.

The Swedish Competition Authority has recently published a report stating that authorities shall not add value to raw data to be actors on a competitive market. You can find the same conclusions in another report from a special Swedish Administrative Committe specially designed to investigate the meaning and range of the public task in Sweden. I think both of the reports are correct in their conclusions. Neither the Government or local authorities should sell information on the market. It is not their public task. They have other things to do instead of competing with private companies , who work as professional PSI re-users on the market.

The EU Commission has in their review of the PSI Directive also highlighted this situation and is encouraging member states to look into the meaning and range of the public task when it comes to PSI. We are waiting for the member states to do this. If Member States look into the meaning of their public task they will see where the skills are to add value to public data, create new products , market and sell the information to different customers, namely inside the private actors on the market. And they will understand the need for fair play on the market without the government as a competitor.

We are waiting for actions taken by the member states to create better conditions for the PSI re-users on the market.

Rolf Nordqvist
Chairman PSI Allliance