Topic Reports

Topic Report 15: New Zealand moves to embrace PSI Re-use and Open data

European Public Sector Information Platform Topic Report no. 15 (published 13 August 2010)

Author: Keitha Booth, New Zealand State Services Commission

This report summarises the key features of New Zealand’s information policy environment and then describes the significant progress that has been made towards opening up New Zealand’s non-personal public sector information (PSI) for greater access and re-use.

• New Zealand moves to embrace PSI Re-use and Open data (pdf) (word)

Topic Report 14: State of Play: PSI Re-use in Spain - Aporta Project

European Public Sector Information Platform Topic Report no. 14 (published 27 July 2010)

Author: Aporta Project Team

Information generated by Public Administrations and public sector bodies is a key resource for the knowledge society, given its quality and variety. Most of the public sector information is reusable and can be used to generate new value-added products and services. In addition, the re-use of public sector information enables citizens to enhance their knowledge of public institutions’ activities, making them more transparent and accessible. The Spanish Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce and the Ministry of the Presidency carry out the Aporta Project, an initiative designed to foster re-use of public sector information in Spain.

• State of Play: PSI Re-use in Spain - Aporta Project (HTML) (pdf) (word)

Topic Report 13: State of Play: PSI Re-use in Australia

European Public Sector Information Platform Topic Report No.13 (published 16 July 2010)

Author: Professor Anne M Fitzgerald, QUT Law Faculty

After having lagged in developing information policy frameworks during the decade up to the mid-2000s, recent developments have seen Australian governments (at federal, state and local levels) re-position themselves close to the leading edge of policy and practice on public sector information (PSI) access and reuse. Acceptance of the recommendations proposed by committees of inquiry into the issue, the reform of Freedom of Information (FOI) laws to support proactive release of PSI, the establishment of Information Commissioner Offices by federal and State governments, the widespread adoption of Creative Commons licensing of government copyright materials and use of web 2.0 technologies to distribute PSI, demonstrate that Australian governments increasingly grasp the social and economic importance of PSI. The Australian Government’s Declaration of Open Government (July 2010) reaffirms the federal government’s commitment to this course, pursuing “open government based on a culture of engagement, built on better access to and use of government held information, and sustained by the innovative use of technology.” While real progress has been made towards the implementation of broad-reaching information strategies, attention is now required to the further development of the policy framework, the principles governing information access and re-use and practical guidance tools. A notable feature of the Australian experience is the use of open content licences (primarily Creative Commons licences) on copyright-protected PSI, not only as an operational mechanism for managing government copyright but also as a driver of information policy. By releasing their materials under non-exclusive, open content licences, government agencies have adopted a policy position that, by default, PSI that is made available for access will also be able to be used and reused.

• State of Play: PSI Re-use in Australia (HTML) (pdf file) (word file)

Topic Report No. 12: Open data in Finland - bottom up and middle out, but not yet from top down

European Public Sector Information Platform Topic Report No.12 (published 15 July 2010)

Author: Antti Poikola, HILA Open Ltd, Finland

The re-use of public sector information or open government data, whichever term is used, has recently been under close attention both in Finland and in the European Union in general. This topic report summarises the state of debate and the state of actions, and briefly discusses some legal and practical issues in the area of making government data available for re-use in Finland.

• Open data in Finland - bottom up and middle out, but not yet from top down (HTML) (pdf file) (word file)

Topic Report No. 11: Recognising the road to data.gov.de: An assessment of the European and national regulatory framework impacting PSI re-use in Germany

European Public Sector Information Platform Topic Report No.11 (published 9 July 2010)

Author: Michael Fanning, Online Consultants International GmbH

One of the positive starts to the new decade has been the Open Data developments where public authorities have been encouraged towards greater transparency by making their data accessible. Leaders here have been the UK and the USA. Germany implemented the PSI Directive with the IWG in December 2006. The IWG is a Federal law which has effect upon Federal authorities, Federal State authorities and municipal bodies alike. This is in contrast to related legislation such as the freedom of information, access to environmental information, consumer information and geoinformation which require implementation at the Federal and Federal State level. This Topic Report gives an overview of the German regulatory framework surrounding PSI re-use and provides a critical assessment of the extent to which it supports an Open Data agenda for Germany.

• Recognising the road to data.gov.de: An assessment of the European and national regulatory framework impacting PSI re-use in Germany (HTML) (pdf file) (word file)

Topic Report No.10: PSI Re-use in France: Overview and Recent Developments

European Public Sector Information Platform Topic Report No. 10 (published 5 July 2010)

Ruth Martinez, General Delegate, GFII (Groupement Français de l’Industrie de l’Information)

This report summarises the current situation and recent developments in France on the re-use of public sector information (PSI). Similar to other European countries, the French situation is under development and changing quickly due to many influences. There is increasing awareness by the public sector and community of the value of public sector information from economic, political and social perspectives. This theme is supported by new actors becoming involved in actively engaging in issues and promoting open data involving clusters of local authorities and citizen based organisations. APIE, Agence du patrimoine immatériel de l’État, (Agency for Public Intangibles of France) is engaged in PSI issues and policy development related to licensing, pricing and access, as well as co-ordinating the planning of a data portal. By the end of the year, a data.gov style portal will be implemented by the French Government.

• PSI Re-use in France: Overview and Recent Developments (HTML) (pdf file) or (word file)

Topic Report No. 9: PSI in Sweden: from infringement to enforcement?

European Public Sector Information Platform Topic Report No. 9 (published 2 July 2010)

Author: Fredrik Sand, Stockholm Chamber of Commerce

This Topic Report provides an overview of the reasons for the European Commission’s infringement related to the incorrect implementation of the European PSI Directive by the Swedish Government. The Swedish Government’s response to the infringement is described as is the new Swedish PSI legislation which came into effect on the 1^st of July 2010. The current Swedish PSI re-use market and initiatives are discussed and future challenges Sweden faces in facilitating PSI re-use for business or citizen interests are considered.

PSI in Sweden: from infringement to enforcement? (HTML) (pdf file) (word file)

Topic Report No. 8: PSI Portals: Overview of Progress (Part 1)

European Public Sector Information Platform Topic Report No. 8 (published 25 June 2010)

Author: Rob Davies, Co-ordinator, European Public Sector Information Platform

This Topic Report describes current progress in the establishment of PSI ‘Asset Registries’ in the context of the provisions of the PSI Directive, taking into account recent developments in the area of open data catalogues which are relevant to PSI re-use. It goes on to discuss the need to satisfy demand for easier discovery of PSI across Europe for re-users wishing to create cross-border services and products, describing the possible advantages and disadvantages of different models for approaching this issue. It will be followed by a second Topic Report covering current best practice in the implementation of PSI portals in greater depth.

• PSI Portals: Overview of Progress (Part 1) (HTML) (pdf file) (word file)

Topic Report No. 7: Linked Data and Government

European Public Sector Information Platform Topic Report No. 7 (published 1 June 2010)

Author: Paul Miller, The Cloud of Data, UK

Governments around the world are increasingly moving to open up access to non-personal data, and high-profile examples of this trend include the United States’ data.gov and the Canadian city of Vancouver. Building upon - and moving beyond - this trend is the broader concept of Linked Data. Built upon established specifications from the Semantic Web community and strongly backed by Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Linked Data offers a vision in which public sector information is unambiguously published to the Web in a manner that makes it easy for conforming systems elsewhere to incorporate - and understand - the data.

• Linked Data and Government (HTML) (pdf file) (word file)

Topic Report No. 6: State of Play: PSI Re-use in Slovenia

European Public Sector Information Platform Topic Report No. 6 (published 20 May 2010)

Author: Kristina Kotnik Šumah, Deputy Information Commissioner of Slovenia

This report summarises and discusses policy, legislation and practice in the field of PSI re - use in Slovenia. It answers several key questions:

• where to find information for re -use,
• what is the procedure to get it,
• what are the conditions of re - use and
• is there an appeal procedure.

• State of Play: PSI Re-use in Slovenia (HTML) (pdf file) (word file)

Topic Report No. 5: Momentum building for open government data in Norway

European Public Sector Information Platform Topic Report No. 5 (published 16 May 2010)

Author: Olav Anders Øvrebø, Journalist and Lecturer, Department of Information Science and Media Studies, University of Bergen

This report summarises and discusses recent Norwegian initiatives to make government data available for reuse, highlighting recommendations from independent reports and the government's own proposals.

• Momentum building for open government data in Norway (HTML) (pdf file) or (word file)

Topic Report No. 4: PSI in the Cultural Sector

European Public Sector Information Platform Topic Report No. 4 (published 27 November 2009)

Author: Rob Davies, Co-ordinator, European Public Sector Information Platform

This report summarises recent policy discussions regarding the case for bringing the cultural sector within the scope of the European Directive on PSI re-use.

• PSI in the Cultural Sector (HTML) (pdf file) (word file)

Topic Report No. 3: EC Communication on the PSI re-use Directive: PSI re-use stakeholder reaction

European Public Sector Information Platform Topic Report No. 3 (published 19 September 2009)

Author: Christopher Corbin, Independent researcher on Information policy, UK

Four months have elapsed since the European Commission adopted and published the communication on the Directive 2003/98/EC. The European Union Parliamentary elections have taken place, the new European Parliament was formerly constituted during July 2009 and the Chairs of the European Parliament’s committees have been announced. The formal process of appointing the new European Commission has commenced. The new Commission is expected to be in place by December 2009.

This paper briefly considers the:

• History of the European Union public sector information re-use Directive 2003/98/EC;
• Review process;
• Role of PSI re-use stakeholders during the 2008 review process and how this compares with earlier European Commission led consultations on public sector information;
• Role of the European Union institutions in responding to the European Commission’s communication on the Directive 2003/98/EC;
• Reaction of PSI re-use stakeholders since the Commission published the communication.

Topic Report No. 2: Good Practice in promoting PSI re-use: The IFTS brand

European Public Sector Information Platform Topic Report No. 2 (published 19 August 2009)

Author: Christopher Corbin, Independent researcher on Information policy, UK

This paper is one of a series that considers the role of branding Government initiatives related to the re-use of public sector information.

In September 2000 the UK Government announced new plans to boost the knowledge economy by overhauling the way government information could be acquired and reused. At that time the HMSO was charged with implementing the plans. Following a public consultation during 2001 the HMSO announced the Information Fair Trader Scheme and the IFTS brand in the summer of 2002. The 2002 announcement coincided with the European Commission publishing the proposed text of what was to become the European Union Directive 2003/98/EC on the re-use of Public Sector Information. The Directive came into force in all European Member States on the 1 July 2005. The implementation and administration of the IFTS is a regulatory function that has a legal base. The IFTS regulatory function operates in parallel with that of the regulatory function within Statutory Instrument 2005 No. 1515 that transposes the EU Directive 2003/98/EC into the UK legal framework.

This paper reviews the IFTS brand and the Information Fair Trader Scheme that has been in operation for seven years and how it relates to the implementation of the EU legal framework that governs the re-use of public sector information in the UK.

Topic Report No. 1: Good Practice in promoting PSI re-use: The OPSI brand

European Public Sector Information Platform Topic Report No. 1 (published 7 August 2009)

Author: Christopher Corbin, Independent researcher on Information policy, UK

This paper is the first of a series that considers the role of branding Government initiatives related to the re-use of public sector information.

In May 2005 the UK Government as part of a package of measures related to the transposition and implementation of the European Union Directive 2003/98/EC on the re-use of public sector information announced the formation of The Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) within the UK Government Cabinet Office. Since its formation OPSI has been central to driving forward the public sector information re-use agenda in the UK. As a result of its endeavours OPSI has gained wide recognition within Europe as one of the best practice models with respect to implementing the Directive. In June 2006 the UK Government announced that OPSI would be merged with The National Archives. This paper reviews the impact of the merger on the OPSI brand that has become synonymous with the implementation of the EU legal framework that governs the re-use of public sector information.