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APPENDIX 30. EUROPEAN COMMISSION GREEN PAPER ON PUBLIC SECTOR 

INFORMATION IN THE INFORMATION SOCIETY 

PUBLIC SECTOR INFORMATION: A KEY RESOURCE FOR EUROPE136

TABLE OF CONTENTS137 

Introduction: The issue 

Chapter I: Why is public sector information a key resource for Europe? 

I.1 Importance of access for European citizens 

I.2 Public sector information: Opportunities for economic growth and employment 

Chapter II: The Information Society and the public sector 

II.1 Electronic Government 

II.2 Electronic Government and public sector information 

II.3 Electronic access for all? 

Chapter III: Issues linked to access and exploitation of public sector information 

III.1 Definitions 

III.2 Conditions for access to public sector information 

III.3 Practical tools for facilitating access 

III.4 Pricing issues 

III.5 Competition issues 

III.6 Copyright issues 

III.7 Privacy issues 

III.8 Liability issues 

III.9 EU information 

Concluding remarks

List of questions 

Annexe 1: Current situation in Member States regarding legislation and policy on access to public 

sector information. 

Annexe 2: European Commission action relating to public sector information The background to this 

Green Paper 

Annexe 3: Current situation in the US: the legal framework 

THE ISSUE 

1. Public sector information138 plays a fundamental role in the proper functioning of the internal 

market and the free circulation of goods, services and people. Without user-friendly and readily 

available administrative, legislative, financial or other public information, economic actors cannot 

make fully informed decisions. 

 

136 This excerpt is available at http://www.nclis.gov/govt/assess/assess.appen30.pdf. 137 Only the introduction and Chapter 1 are reproduced in this report. European Commission, Public Sector Information: A 

Key Resource For Europe; Green Paper On Public Sector Information In The Information Society (Com(98)585final, 

Adopted on 20 January 1999); http://europa.eu.int/ispo/docs/policy/docs/com(98)585/gp-intro.html.. 138 The definition of the public sector is an issue for discussion and is further analysed in Chapter III. However, state-owned 

companies operating under market conditions and subject to private and commercial considerations are clearly not meant to 

be covered by this Green Paper. 
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2. Public information in Europe is often fragmented and dispersed and so in many instances it is less 

clear than intended. This situation is mainly due to differing national legislation139 on the ways 

information can be accessed and exploited, and to various practices which hamper the availability 

of data. The issue at stake is not that Member States should produce more information, but that the 

information which is already available to the public should be clearer and more accessible to 

potential users. 

3. The ready availability of public information is an absolute prerequisite for the competitiveness of 

European industry. In this respect, EU companies are at a serious competitive disadvantage 

compared to their American counterparts, which benefit from a highly developed, efficient public 

information system at all levels of the administration.140 The timely availability of public sector 

information is also increasingly important to further the networked economy and valorise its 

economic potential. 

4. In Europe the issue is particularly crucial to SMEs, which have fewer resources to devote to an 

often difficult search for fragmented information. Ultimately, this has a negative bearing on job 

creation. The same goes for the difficulties European content firms encounter in comparison to 

their American counterparts as far as the exploitation of public sector information is concerned. 

5. Moreover, in today's economy and society in which the Euro fosters the integration process, the 

fact that EU citizens and consumers cannot make better use of public information available in 

other EU Member States is something of an anachronism. In effect, this situation constitutes a 

challenge to the rights of citizens under the EC Treaties. 

6. Whereas the increasing use of electronic media to store and to disseminate public sector 

information can serve to improve this situation, this has also tended to magnify still further the 

differences that already exist between Member States. Certain Member States have begun to 

examine the effects of new technologies on the public service and in particular on access to and 

exploitation of public sector information.141 This topic is also important for the enlargement of the 

EU, where candidate Member States will have to adapt their legal systems and public services to 

comply with the requirements of the EU membership. Better access to public sector information 

will contribute to this process. 

7. The need for launching a concerted debate at the European level is now more clear and urgent than 

ever. The objective of this Green Paper is to undertake a broad public consultation involving all 

the actors concerned with a view to examining the main issues at stake and also to triggering a 

political discussion at European level. The Green Paper draws on the results of an extensive 

preliminary consultation process that started in June 1996 and has involved representatives from 

the Member States, from citizens' and users' groups and from the private sector and more 

specifically the information industry. All those consulted considered it appropriate to launch a 

debate on this issue. 

8. The subjects addressed in the Green Paper were drawn from the results of this extensive 

consultation. The reactions to this Green Paper and to the questions it poses will guide future 

action on this issue. It is clear that further discussion and an exchange of best practice will be 

necessary with the Member States and the other key actors. 

9. Some issues may require technical solutions; some may be dealt with by improving administrative 

procedures; others will require political solutions. Depending on the results of the public 

 

139 See summary of legislation in Annexe 1. 140 Since the Freedom of Information Act was enacted in 1966, the US government has pursued a very active policy of both 

access to and commercial exploitation of public sector information. This has greatly stimulated the development of the US 

information industry. Annexe 3 gives a picture of the current legal framework in the US. 

141 e.g. The UK's Freedom of Information White Paper, the Dutch memorandum `Towards the Accessibility of Government 

Information' and the French Action Programme "Preparing France's entry into the Information Society". 
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consultation process, proposals for action could be formulated by the Commission to improve the 

situation at European level in specific fields. Such proposals will, of course, only be considered 

where consistent with the subsidiarity and proportionality principles. The type and intensity of any 

response must be limited to what is necessary to achieve the objectives of the Treaties. 

10. Nothing in this Green Paper, nor in any future action which it might lead to, should be seen as an 

attempt to prejudice national rules governing the system of property ownership, nor the role of any 

public body in the Member States. 

All interested parties, both from the public and private sectors, are strongly encouraged to provide 

their views on the issues raised in this document. The Commission would be pleased to provide 

additional background information on existing Commission or national access to public information 

policies upon request. Answers, comments and requests should be sent to the following address before 

1st June 1999. 

European Commission 

Attn. Mr. Huber 

Head of Unit DG XIII/E-1 

Bâtiment EUROFORUM 

Office 1174 

Rue Alcide de Gasperi 

L-2920 Luxembourg 

E-mail address: pubinfo@cec.be

Hard copies of all submissions will be made available at the conclusion of the consultation, unless a 

request for confidentiality is received. A Web site has been opened for the posting of both the Green 

Paper and submissions received at the address: http://www.echo.lu/legal/en/access.html. 

CHAPTER I: WHY IS PUBLIC SECTOR INFORMATION A KEY RESOURCE FOR 

EUROPE? 

I.1 Importance of access for European citizens

Taking advantage of EC rights 

1. The EC Treaty has conferred a number of fundamental freedoms on EU citizens. There are, 

however, considerable practical difficulties that can prevent people from exercising those rights. 

These difficulties result primarily from a lack of transparency for citizens, employers and 

administrations at all levels.

142 

2. In many cases, the information may be spread over different databases or information points of 

local administrations. A better transparency of public sector information can therefore strengthen 

the rights conferred by the EC Treaty by improving the practical conditions for their application. 

3. The existence of different languages in Europe will continue to hamper to some extent EU-wide 

access to public sector information. However, the provision of a multilingual information could be 

facilitated in particular through the use of ICT-technologies.143 

 

142 See for example the Single Market Scoreboard of May 1998, p. 14ff. 143 The language engineering activities in Framework Programme IV and V for R&D address the technological aspects of this 

issue. The R&D-actions are complemented by the market oriented MLIS programme: multiannual programme to promote the 

linguistic diversity of the Community in the Information Society, O.J. N° L306, 28.11.1996, p. 40. 
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4. Access to public sector information is essential for the mobility of both workers and categories 

like students and retired people within the EU. A better knowledge of opportunities, circumstances 

and procedures in countries throughout Europe can help them to make more informed choices 

about mobility and to take full advantage of the right to move to another EU country. 

5. The following example shows that efforts are being made at European level to improve 

information flows, thus enhancing mobility perspectives for individual workers within the 

European Union. 

The European Commission has created, together with the Member States the EURES

Network, with the support of the EU's Interchange of Data between Administrations 

(IDA) programme. This network aims to interconnect job vacancy databases in every 

European country to a common European network. This system not only provides jobseekers with job offers, but also with other relevant information that they will need to 

work in another EU country. At the same time it gives employers the chance to seek 

the skills they need Europe-wide. http://europa.eu.int/jobs/eures/. 

6. Access to public sector information goes beyond mobility issues. It also has an impact on the way 

citizens can take advantage of the internal market. Lack of information on administrative 

procedures or on prices, quality and safety conditions of products is one of the barriers that 

prevent consumers from buying goods and enjoying services from other Member States. It is, for 

example very difficult to obtain information on importing right-hand drive vehicles (or left-hand, 

as appropriate) from the British Isles to the Continent or vice-versa.144 Another example is the 

field of taxation, where taxpayers find it enormously difficult to obtain full information on 

international tax arrangements.145 

7. At the Cardiff European Council, a programme was launched called 'Dialogue with Citizens and 

Business'. This Community programme is a follow-on to the Citizens First initiative. It addresses 

citizens and business alike in an effort to encourage greater awareness of the opportunities offered 

by the Single Market. A better access to public sector information is extremely important in this 

respect. 

Participation in the European integration process 

1. A Citizens' Europe will only come about if citizens are to participate effectively in the building 

of the European Union. Such participation implies that they are well informed on issues related to 

the functioning of the EU and its activities. Access to information at both European and national 

level can greatly facilitate this. 

In the last elections of the European Parliament the lack of information on new 

election rights of European citizens had a negative influence: participation of nonnational voters in their Member State of residence was relatively low and only one 

non-national candidate was elected in her Member State of residence.146 

2. Indeed, an adequate access to information of and on the European Union can largely benefit the 

European integration process. The conclusions of the Cardiff European Council have therefore 

once more stressed the importance of the need to bring the European Union closer to the citizens 

by making it more transparent and closer to everyday life through the EU's commitment to 

 

144 `Listening to Citizens; The difficulties that people face in exercising their rights within the Single European Market'. 145 ` Ibidem. This report contains more example where lack of information makes life difficult for European citizens that 

exercise their internal market rights. 

146 See the Second report of the European Commission on Citizenship of the Union, COM/97/230 final. 
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allowing the greatest possible access to information on its activities.147 This is a concern for the 

EU and the Member States together since a significant part of the information related to the 

European Union activities is actually held at national level. It seems thus important that European 

citizens have a right of access not only to documents held by the Institutions, but also to EUrelated information, in the broadest sense, available in the Member States. 

3. To enhance the transparency of EU-action for European citizens, the Treaty of Amsterdam has 

firmly anchored their right to access documents of the European Parliament, Council and 

Commission in the EC Treaty.148 The provisions are particularly important in supporting the 

democratic process and in increasing the understanding of the European integration. They are an 

important step, given that a considerable number of the complaints lodged to the European 

Ombudsman deal with transparency and the access to information 

4. The EU institutions pursue an active policy in the field of dissemination of information on its 

functioning and the issues within its responsibility. Annexe 2 gives an overview of the initiatives 

in this field. The EUR-Lex website is one example. 

EUR-Lex displays, for example, free of charge the Official Journal for a period of 

forty-five days following publication, the Treaties, the legislation in force and the 

case-law. It is updated daily in 11 languages with the latest editions of the Official 

Journal. These are available on the Internet a few hours after the paper version is 

published. http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex. 

5. In spite of these efforts many European citizens would like to have more information on the EU. 

There is obviously a growing interest for EU-issues that have an impact on citizens' lives. 

68% of the surveyed persons need or would like more information on the European 

Union. Europeans want to know in particular more on their rights as citizens of the 

Union (49%), on the Single currency (45%) and on employment (42%), issues that are 

all absolute priorities for the European Union. Source: Euro barometer n°49, 

September 1998. 

6. Another aspect of a Citizens' Europe is a better access to information on other Member States. It 

will contribute to citizens' knowledge of other European countries, which in its turn can arouse a 

greater interest in the European integration process. To this end public sector bodies in the 

different Member States could make information with an interest for non-nationals more 

accessible to them. 

I.2 Public sector information: Opportunities for economic growth and employment

Why is access to public sector information important for businesses ? 

 

147 Conclusions of Cardiff Council, 15/16 June 1998. 148 New article 191a of the EC Treaty provides that: 

1. "Any citizen of the Union, and any natural or legal person residing or having its registered office in a Member 

State, shall have a right of access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, subject to the 

principles and the conditions to be defined in accordance with paragraphs 2 and 3. 

2. General principles and limits on grounds of public or private interest governing this right of access to documents 

shall be determined by the Council, acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 189b within two 

years of the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam. 

3. Each institution referred to above shall elaborate in its own Rules of Procedure specific provisions regarding 

access to its documents." 

Declaration no. 17 attached to the Maastricht Treaty had already prepared the field for this development. 
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1. Access to public sector information in the different Member States is a necessity to take 

advantage of the existing possibilities for all types of businesses operating in more than one 

Member State. 

2. The information relevant to business is in the first place of an administrative nature. At the 

moment it is still hard to get hold of a full picture of the rights, duties and procedures that allow a 

company to operate without difficulties in other European countries. 

58% of companies think that it is likely that access to information would enable them 

to expand their activities within the European Union. For instance, 66% of firms 

identified their need for precise information about administrative procedures. 25% of 

companies think that the persistence of obstacles to trade and business activities could 

be attributed to a lack of information about EU rules. Source: Single Market 

Scoreboard, October 1998 

3. The lack of administrative information particularly harms the SMEs that do not have the means to 

find pieces of information that are often dispersed. 

4. But also information of a non-administrative nature can be extremely important for the 

decisions of firms. Statistical, financial and geographic information are some examples. This 

information plays a key role for businesses in all sectors of activity in particular when defining 

business strategies, marketing decisions, export or investment plans. Quick and easy access to 

such information helps businesses to make informed choices. A lack of information may 

considerably delay decisions on transborder operations. 

5. The relevant business information throughout Europe as collected by the Chambers of Commerce 

is for example not readily available. An initiative at European level has been taken to improve the 

situation in this field (see the box below). 

EBR II Project. The European Business Register project has been established 

because the absence of a fully integrated information service on European Companies 

is a potential threat to the effective operation of the Single European Market. 

Aim of the project is to ensure that basic information on all companies in Europe is 

available throughout Europe without barriers due to differing technologies, 

languages, registration systems, networks etc. The EBR that is funded under the EU's 

Telematics Applications Programme (TAP) has become fully operational in December 

1998 and now allows electronic access to business data of 10 EU Member States plus 

Norway. http://www.ebr.org/. 

6. Also statistical information on European markets and economic trends is in many cases not timely 

available. This problem is however rather linked to the collection of national statistics (differing 

national methodologies, deadlines for submission to Eurostat, quality of indicators, decrease 

burden for SMEs, ...) than to the issue of access per se. 

7. The absence of accessible public sector information may create a competitive disadvantage for 

the foreign firms compared with local firms that can draw upon their own experience on the local 

situation. This is, for example true for insurance services that largely depend on specific local 

information on risks etc. 

8. It also has a negative effect on companies that, by their nature, have a transnational vocation. 

International transport companies offering their services throughout Europe are an example of this. 

Accurate local information -geographic information, traffic information and information on the 

weather amongst others- , is important for their daily operations. 
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9. Both administrative and non-administrative information are also relevant for public 

procurement.149 Transparency of Government action in this field is a prerequisite to the 

achievement of a real internal market. Access to information on the local situation is necessary to 

make the rules work efficiently and to optimise fair chances for all firms involved. Since the 

information at stake is not always transparent, public procurement is often in practice still a 

national affair notwithstanding EU legislation. 

10. Another example where the absence of transparency of the information leads to negative results at 

European level, is patent information. The European Patent Office estimates that every year more 

than 18 billion Euro is spent on research that has been done before. Better accessibility of 

information on the state of the art of research, could decrease this amount. 

Esp@cenet. Together with the Member States of the European Patent Organisation 

and the European Commission, the European Patent Office has launched a new 

service called esp@cenet, which is accessible via the Internet. The main aim of this 

new service is to provide users with a readily accessible source of free patent 

information (over 30 million patent documents). It also aims to improve awareness at 

national and international level, in particular among small and medium-sized 

enterprises, of the kind of information that is publicly accessible. 

http://www.european-patent-office.org/. 

11. The conclusion that access to public sector data is highly relevant for businesses throughout 

Europe is backed by the recent Report 'Managing Change' of the High level Group on economic 

and social implications of industrial change.150 It indicates as an immediate priority to 'enhance 

competitiveness by fully opening the European market in telecommunications and data services, 

and to increase freedom of access to government and other state owned data'. 

Public sector information: A potential to further explore and exploit 

1. The public sector, by nature of its size and scope of activities, represents the biggest single 

information content resource for the creation of value-added information content and services. 

Studies have shown that the bulk of commercial information services in the EU information 

market consists of services in areas where the public sector holds very important resources. 

2. Figure 2 clearly shows that public sector information is a key resource for a very large part of 

information services being either the core subject (government/political information, legal 

information) or an essential raw material (company profile, patent information, scientific, 

technical and medical –STM- information, etc.). 

3. Public sector information is therefore a prime information content, essential to the information 

industry and a key enabler for electronic commerce applications.151 

4. The information content industry is growing at an impressive rate and some four million people 

are employed in the content sector in Europe.152 Much of this growth will be within SMEs trying 

 

149 The Special sectorial report on public procurement, November 1997, illustrates the importance of access to information 

for this issue. See the report on European Commission, DG XV web site at the address 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/dg15/en/publproc/. 150 `Managing change', High level group on economic and social implications of industrial change, Final Report, November 

1998. The Special European Council of Luxembourg (21-22 November 1997) invited this Group to analyse industrial 

changes in the EU and to look at ways of anticipating and dealing with change and its economic and social effects. 

151 For a further analysis on recent trends and critical roles of content and the content industry within the network economy, 

see CONDRINET Study (CONtent and Commerce DRIven Strategies in Global NETworks), October 1998, commissioned 

by the European Commission and conducted by Gemini Consulting. 
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to exploit the potential to manage and add-value to information. The emergence and development 

of these highly dynamic companies need to be fostered in particular, as they are essential for the 

creation of new jobs in the 21st century. 

5. The European information industry is competing in a global market. During the preparatory 

process that has led to this Green Paper, European information industry representatives have 

strongly and repeatedly expressed their concerns about the competitive disadvantage of 

European publishers vis-à-vis their counterparts. 

6. Better possibilities for the exploitation of public sector information could partly redress this 

situation and would lead to new opportunities for job creation. In the US the favourable 

conditions for this type of exploitation has already boosted the information industries. 

7. There are hardly any rules in Europe on conditions for exploitation of public sector 

information by the private sector. Guidelines for the synergy of Public and Private Sectors in 

the Information Market were published by the Commission in 1989. Similar guidelines were 

produced by the UK Department of Trade and Industry in 1985. In 1994, a French Prime 

Minister's circular was published and a Memorandum of Understanding was adopted by the Dutch 

government in 1997. 

8. Although these are good initiatives, there is no clear and consistent set of principles throughout 

Europe. This lack of clear and consistent principles means that European industry finds itself in 

a competitive disadvantage vis a vis its US competitors. In some cases this has lead to leading 

European companies investing in products based on US public sector information. 

The British/Dutch Reed Elsevier plc group, has acquired the US based LEXIS-NEXIS 

company, a leading provider of online information services and management tools for 

a variety of professionals (1.4 billion documents in more than 8,692 databases, 1.5 

million subscribers, 1200 employees world wide). They are amongst others 

specialised in legal information. 

9. Pilot projects within the European INFO2000 programme153 have shown that private partners are 

interested in cross-border collaboration with public sector bodies to exploit public sector 

information and that there is a real potential to be further explored and exploited at European 

level. 

The EU potential as shown by INFO 2000 call for proposals

In 1998, in the framework of the INFO2000 programme, the European Commission 

invited proposals for shared-cost pilot, or exploratory projects. The objective of the 

Call was to make the information resources held by the public sector more readily 

available for exploitation in European multimedia content services 

A total of 141 proposals was received by the closing date. The total cost of work 

proposed amounted to 109.7 MECU, and the total EU contribution requested came to 

50.6 MECU. The over subscription of the Call was, therefore, in the order of 7, given 

the indicative budget resource of 7 MECU. 

10. In some cases, the commercial reuse of public sector information may however raise questions as 

to the boundaries and limitations on the roles of the different actors. Once private sector 

interests enter the market for public information the safeguarding of access for all citizens may 

become more difficult. At the same time, if the public sector adds value to its own information, 

 152 European Information Technology Observatory, 1998, Content data include media, publishing, marketing and advertising 

sectors. 

153 INFO2000 programme (Council decision of 20 May 1996, O.J. N° L 129, 30.5.1996, p. 24). 
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launching commercial information products onto a hitherto private information market, the issue 

of fair competition may be raised. 

11. These issues and possible obstacles at European level to the exploitation of public sector 

information will be addressed in chapter III.154 

 

154 Chapter III is not included in this report, but is available from the European Commission website at 

http://europa.eu.int/ISPO/docs/policy/docs/COM(98)585/iii1.