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.