PSI Pricing policy

UN Economic Commission for Europe publishes proceedings of the Warsaw workshop

Geneva: 5 June 2009

The United Nations Economic Commission (UNECE) for Europe has published the papers and presentations from the Work session on the communication and dissemination of statistics that was held in Warsaw on the 13 to 15 May 2009. The workshop program considered:

Session 1: Managing communication and credibility
Session 2: To charge or not to charge: Fundraising, access licences and costing models
Session 3: Working with the media
Session 4: Improving internal communication: Working better together
Session 5: Education and outreach strategies for communication with hard-to-reach respondents

Within Session 2 two papers were presented:

Dissemination Policies in the ESS (Eurostat) ( Presentation – 14 Slides – format PPT )( Paper – 12 pages – format PDF )
The paper presents the results of a survey undertaken of 35 European Statistical Institutes including EUROSTAT on data dissemination conditions and charging policy. The response to the survey was 100%. The paper conclusions state:

“27. The results of the survey show that all countries have well-established practices for disseminating statistical data, which for the larger part are disseminated for free; the most common exceptions are tailor-made data sets, microdata and paper publications.

28. Sometimes, however, these practices are not as well-documented as they could be, especially for international users (in English). Practical arrangements, on the one hand, are usually communicated in a satisfactory way to potential users, especially the national ones.

29. However, a single policy document which coherently spells out dissemination principles is still absent in many countries. Specific dissemination conditions and procedures can, as a rule, be found on an ad hoc basis in many different places, but not bundled together in one place, on the web site or in a document.

30. The overview shows very markedly that policies, some times implicit ones, are quite similar across the ESS. The summary of current principles and practices of NSIs could constitute a first outline of a basic 'Dissemination Policy Charter' for the European Statistical System:

• Statistical data and metadata are disseminated free of charge for all users, with few or even no exceptions.
• All users can obtain custom-made data extractions at no more than production cost or even for free.
• Use, re-use and redistribution of statistical data and metadata are allowed on two conditions only: respect for the integrity of data and mention of the source.
• Microdata are available free of charge for all eligible users providing sufficient guarantees, especially on the respect of confidentiality.

31. Other aspects (such as sales of non-statistical products) are marginal and need not be included in an overall policy document.”

Informing the Nation – Open Access to Statistical Information in Australia (ABS) ( Presentation – 15 slides – format PPT )( Paper – 15 pages - format PDF )
The papers Executive summary states:

“3. In 2005, the Australian Government released cost recovery guidelines in order to “heighten the transparency, consistency and accountability of cost recovery by Government agencies”. The new guidelines require fees and charges set by Government agencies to reflect the costs of producing and providing the products and services. In addition, where Government agencies produce products or services in direct competition with private sector providers, the guidelines require that the prices be set to reflect commercial costs and to ensure that the Australian Government’s Competitive Neutrality principle be observed.

4. Following a comprehensive review of the then ABS charging practice against the Government guidelines, the ABS fine tuned its charging policy. ABS statistics are now divided into:

• A Basic Information Set (BIS), which includes an extensive range of statistics for the wider Australia community. The BIS is funded by taxpayers and provided free of charge.
• An Additional Information Set (AIS) that comprises the ABS Supplementary Information Set (SIS) and Commercial Information Set (CIS). Pricing for the SIS is based on full cost recovery, and pricing for the CIS follows the Competitive Neutrality Principle.

5. In response to community expectations, and aspiring to expand the content of the BIS, in June 2005 the ABS sought and obtained additional funding from the Australian Government for free access to ABS publications on its website. In December 2005, the Minister made the announcement, in an event to mark the centenary for the establishment of the ABS, that as a centenary tribute to the people of Australia, all ABS statistical output on the web site would be made free of charge.

6. The recent advent of Web 2.0 technologies increases the potential to use, share and 'mix and match' ABS data sets to add value to ABS information. 'Mash ups' are an excellent example of how the value of a product may be significantly enhanced by including different layers of information with statistical information. To facilitate this, and other innovative uses of ABS data, the ABS needs to have an internationally recognised licensing framework for accessing, using and reusing its statistical information.

7. In December 2008, ABS introduced Creative Commons licensing by adopting the Attribution 2.5 Australia licence for its materials contained in the ABS website.”