COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
Brussels, 20.01.1999 
COM(1998) 585 final 
-PUBLierSECTORWNF-ORMATON^^ 
•>• i-GREEN PAPER ON PUBLIC SECTOR INFORMATION 
IN THE INFORMATION bOCIL IY 
(presented by the Commission) 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
Introduction: The issue 1 
Chapter I: Why is public sector information a key resource for Europe? 3 
1.1 Importance of access for European citizens 3 
1.2 Public sector information: Opportunities for economic growth and employment 5 
Chapter II: The Information Society and the public sector 8 
11.1 Electronic Government 8 
11.2 Electronic Government and public sector information 9 
11.3 Electronic access for all? 10 
Chapter III: Issues linked to access and exploitation of public sector information 11 
111.1 Definitions 11 
111.2 Conditions for access to public sector information 11 
111.3 Practical tools for facilitating access 12 
111.4 Pricing issues 13 
111.5 Competition issues 15 
111.6 Copyright issues 15 
111.7 Privacy issues 16 
111.8 Liability issues 16 
111.9 EU information 17 
Concluding remarks 18 
List of q uestions 19 
Annexe 1: Current situation in Member States regarding legislation and policy 
on access to public sector information. 20 
Annexe 2: European Commission action relating to public sector information 
The background to this Green Paper 26 
Annexe 3: Current situation in the US: the legal framework 28 
A*-
iThe issue' ^Sb iftft'-sSr 
1. Public sector information1 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. 
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 
legislation2 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.3 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. 
1 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. 
2 See summary of legislation in Annexe 1 
3 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. 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.4 
7. 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. 
8. 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. 
9 . 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. 
10. 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 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. 
11. Nothing in this Green Paper, nor in any 
future action which it might lead to, should be 
4 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" 
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 1s'June 1999 
European Commission 
Attn. Mr. Huber 
Head of Unit DGXIII/E-1 
Batiment 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 resourcejor Europe?«r '"• ' .•'•-"';;>">..;.. 
17*1 Importance".iof access for -"European 
citizens 
[Takirfg advantage of EC Tig hts 
12. 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.^ 
13. 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. 
14. The existence of different languages in 
Europe will continue to hamper to some extent 
Ell-wide access to public sector information. 
However, the provision of a multilingual 
information could be facilitated in particular 
through the use of ICT-technologies.6 
15. 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. 
16. 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 job-seekers 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. 
httpJ/europa. eu. int/jobs/eures/ 
17. 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-versa7 
Another example is the field of taxation, where 
taxpayers find it enormously difficult to obtain full 
information on international tax arrangements."^ 
18. 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 
process in-!the" European-' integration 
19. 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. 
^ See for example the Single Market Scoreboard of May 
1998, p.14ff. 
" '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. 'Listening to Citizens; The difficulties that people face in 
exercising their rights within the Single European Market'. 
8' Ibidem. This report contains more example where lack of 
information makes life difficult for European citizens that 
exercise their internal market rights. 
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 non-national voters in their Member 
State of residence was relatively low and only one 
non-national candidate was elected in her Member 
State of residence. 
20. 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 committment to allowing the 
greatest possible access to information on its 
activities.10 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 EU-related 
information, in the broadest sense, available in 
the Member States. 
21. 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.11 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 
22. The EU institutions pursue an active policy 
in the field of dissemination of information on 
its functioning and the issues within its 
9 See the Second report of the European Commission on 
Citizenship of the Union, COM/97/230 final. 
10 Conclusions of Cardiff Council, 15/16 June 1998 
11 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 ina Member State, 
shall have a right of access to European Parliament, 
Council and Commissiondocuments, subject to the 
principles and the conditions to be defined in accordance 
withparagraphs 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. 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. 
httpJ/europa. eu. int/eur-lex 
23. 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. 
Fig.1 :Desire to know more 
about the EU 
B 
A 
L 
D 
UK 
IRL 
NL 
EU15 
E 
DK 
FIN 
S 
F 
P 
I 
GR 15 | ^s^^^35-?.g»jg--^^|^^^^^^^44o.^i 
22 [ $**&+„/£9 '#<%**%/* \ „- -43 ,,,,,,• 
-21- ,,-•^•30 . tth, 
-24- \^^.,„%%^„.„ :| ;,.' SI.J "39"^ 
22 \M&&m@zx*3y»«4v® ? ^t" i '*Tf*&ts&t.oO>&? t*jr*&%? 
-»-iwmmt*x-3t | *°H^Hs*<sg# J J &tm<&e&$>ti 
•YZr m* 1^37 
-23" \i#!t«&frfmim£5*m^m*m$\ ^A*^29^A^^ 
-20- \g0tm****~ -*8-r- hf, i N^< ¥¥^i.u mf°«&i£\ 
-rr- I mmmmmmimv-i ^^gUS^I ^y^2fl SfrjjS-^j 
17 | t^msimmmmmSi mh^»i^mwiii»\ tur 23 
-32- nnwmM»mt?Hi I W»ay2 I dwt 
-23- \<i&mmiM>mm'51 ">'»**m>!H"»a(A <*tt,2.Qifn* 
-28-m jS-fc; »K» t«T 
• % Real need to know more 
B % Would like to know more 
• % Happy with present knowledge 
Source : Eurobarometer 49, 1998 
24. 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. 
1.2 Public sector information: Opportunities 
for economic growth and employment 
Why is access to public section:information 
important for businesses ?,!> --«7J^ 
25. 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. 
26. 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 
27. The lack of administrative information 
particularly harms the SMEs that do not have 
the means to find pieces of information that are 
often dispersed. 
28. 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. 
29. 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). EBRII 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. HttpJ/www.ebr.org 
30. 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. 
31. 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. 
32. 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. 
33. Both administrative and non-administrative 
information are also relevant for public 
procurement12. 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. 
34. Another example where the absence of 
transparency of the information leads to 
12 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/ 
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,offree 
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/ 
35. 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.13 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 
36. 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. 
37. Figure 2 clearly shows that public sector 
information is a key resource for a very large 
rJart 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.). Fig.2 : Revenues of electronic information services 
in the European Economic Area by subject area 
Travel, 
tourism Legal 
information. 
4% 
STM 
6% Patent 
information 
1% 
Finance 
34% 
Further 
business 
8% Gvt./political 
information 
15% Company 
profiles 
24% 
Source : MS Study of the markets for electronic 
information services in the EEA, 1994 
(Total revenues in 1994 : 5517 MECU) 
38. Public sector information is therefore a 
prime information content, essential to the 
information industry and a key enabler for 
electronic commerce applications^. 
39. The information content industry is growing 
at an impressive rate and some four million 
people are employed in the content sector in 
Europe^. Much of this growth will be within 
SMEs trying 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. 
40. 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-a-vis 
their counterparts. 
41. 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. 
13 '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. 14 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, at http.//www2.echo.lu/condrinet/ 
'* European Information Technology Observatory, 1998, 
Content data include media, publishing, marketing and 
advertising sectors. 
42. 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. 
43. 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 pic 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. 
44. Pilot projects within the European INFO2000 
programme16 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. 
45. 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, launching commercial 
information products onto a hitherto private 
information market, the issue of fair 
competition may be raised. 
46. These issues and possible obstacles at 
European level to the exploitation of public 
sector information will be addressed in chapter 
16 INFO2000 programme (Council decision of 20 May 1996, 
O.J. N° L 129, 30.5.1996, p. 24) 
Khapter.ll-:Th6;lnformation Society, and thc'U:. 
public sector • . • ••;;•. •'•*•• • .• 
47. The discussion on public sector information 
should be seen in the context of the emerging 
Information Society. The new Information and 
Communication Technologies are quickly 
changing the ways public sector bodies operate. 
which makes a timely debate on public sector 
information all the more important. 
48. The emerging Information Society, largely 
driven by an ever increasing and pervasive use 
of information and communication technologies 
is more and more affecting the public sector. 
Administrations follow the example of the private 
sector and benefit from the enormous potential 
of these technologies to improve their efficiency. 
This development is often labelled 'Electronic 
Government' and covers both the internal and 
external application of Information and 
Communication Technologies (ICT) in the public 
sector. 
49. The importance of this development is 
increasingly acknowledged in many countries 
around the world. In Europe experiments are 
being conducted at all levels of government -
local, regional, national and European - to 
improve the functioning of public services 
concerned and to extend their interaction with 
the outside world. 50. Indeed, the use of Information and 
Communication Technologies does not only 
smoothen public administration internal 
operations, but also strongly supports the 
communication between different 
administrations as well as the interaction with 
citizens and businesses. This is one of the key 
elements of 'Electronic Government': it brings 
public sector bodies closer to citizens and 
businesses and leads to better public sector 
services. At EU level programs like IDA and the 
actions within Framework Programme V for R&D 
addressing Administrations enhance the 
progress in this field. 
51. Electronic government services can 
generally be distinguished according to the three 
main functions they serve. 
Information services to retrieve sorted and 
classified information on demand (e.g. WWW 
sites). 
Communication services to interact with 
individuals (private or corporate) or groups of 
people (e.g. via e-mail or discussion fora). 
acquire products or 
submit data (e.g. Transaction services to 
services on line or to 
government forms, voting). 
Table 1 gives an overview of possible services 
and their application areas. 
Table 1 
A typology of Electronic Government services 
Information services Communication services Transaction services 
Everyday life 
Tele-administration 
Political participation Information on work, 
housing, education, health, 
culture, transport, 
environment, etc. 
Public service directory 
Guide to administrative 
procedures 
Public registers and 
databases 
Laws, parliamentary 
papers, political 
programmes, consultation 
documents 
Background information in 
decision making processes Discussion for a dedicated 
to questions of everyday 
life; 
Jobs or housing bulletin 
boards 
e-mail contact with public 
servants 
Discussion for a dedicated 
to political issues 
e-mail contact with 
politicians e.g. ticket reservation, 
course registration 
electronic submission of 
forms 
referenda 
elections 
opinion polls petitions 
Source: Institute of Technology Assessment, Austrian Academy of Sciences and Centre for Social, Background Paper to "the 
Information Society, Bringing Administration Closer to the Citizens Conference", November 1998 (organised by the Centre for Social 
Innovation on behalf of the Information Society ForumAWori< Group 5/Public Administration). 
52. Transaction services are generally seen as 
the future of electronic government, since forms 
have a key role in all administrative processes. 
In a recent German Delphi study, transaction 
services were regarded by the experts 
interviewed to become reality in the next ten 
years. It is estimated that in the US already 40 
percent of all forms of the public administration 
are available electronically. This way of dealing 
with government can considerably lower the 
administrative burden for citizens and 
businesses alike. 
The TESS (Telematics for Social Security) project, 
funded under the IDA programme, aims at 
simplifying and accelerating administrative 
procedures in order to ensure citizen's access to their 
rightful social security benefits. The objective is to 
replace paper forms for information provision by 
electronic exchange. The two major areas currently 
addressed by TESS are old age pensions (to ensure 
that migrant workers get the pensions due to them) 
and to facilitate reimbursement of sickness benefits in 
kind (in case the Member State where the benefit in 
kind was advanced is different to that where the 
person is insured). 
53. Reengineering public services may require 
substantial investments by government bodies 
at all levels as well as a change in culture. 
However the results are worth it. 'Electronic 
government' leads to a public service that 
performs better and is closer to the citizens. 
54. The EU is itself involved in considerable 
reengineering efforts to benefit from the 
possibilities offered by 'electronic government'. 
Transactions with and information to citizens will 
have an ever increasing 'electronic' character. 
One example: before long the Commission will 
be able to handle electronic project proposals 
within the Fifth Framework Programme for 
Research and Development. Legal barriers at 
EU level have to be solved to turn these 
transactions into reality. 
55. One aspect of Electronic Government that is 
often forgotten is its potential impact on the 
information market. By applying new 
technologies and innovative concepts, public 
authorities at all levels of government can have 
a role as a driver of the Information Society. 
The Report on job opportunities in the 
Information Society17 presented to the Vienna 
European Council of December 1998 has once 
more stressed this role of governments. Their 
example as a leading edge customer will 
convince citizens and businesses to adopt new 
technologies themselves and will invite the ICT-
industries to explore new pathways. 
*' "Job opportunities in the Information Society: Exploiting 
the potential of the information revolution" COM (1998) 590 
final. 56. The use of new technologies can 
considerably increase the efficiency of the 
collection of information. It gives public bodies 
the possibility to share available information 
when this is in conformity with data protection 
rules, rather than duplicating its collection from 
citizens and businesses. This can notably 
reduce the administrative burden on citizens 
and business, and in particular SMEs. 
57. At the same time, sharing information leads 
to better informed public bodies, that have 
access to all data relevant for their functioning. 
In the EU context, more and more information is 
exchanged between Member States in areas 
like customs, agriculture, environment, health, 
statistics, etc. 
58. The 'electronic revolution' also has a major 
impact on the accessibility and dissemination 
of information. The Internet has a huge 
potential as a platform where citizens and 
business can easily find public sector 
information. All Member States in the EU are 
taking advantage of this potential. 
59. As part of their dissemination policies, the 
EU-institutions increasingly use the possibilities 
offered by the Internet. They maintain a family of 
web sites offering a large amount of information 
on the EU and its activities. 
60. More and more people find their way to 
these web sites, which is shown by the following 
example: In September 1998 almost 7 million of 
Commission documents were consulted 
electronically, more than double the number of 
consultations of September 1997. 
61. The new technologies will also allow the 
provision of information and services in a more 
integrated form. Such integration is especially 
desirable where a specific information need 
necessitates contacts with a number of different 
administrative bodies. This objective goes under 
the name of "one stop service" or "one stop 
shopping". The europa.eu.int website forms a 
single access point for information on all EU 
institutions. 
62. The digitisation of public sector information 
facilitates not only access, but also possibilities 
for its exploitation. A better access to 
information together with its digital format makes 
it easier to combine data from different sources. 
This will allow for the creation of new information 
products that have public sector information as 
their raw material. 
63. The digitisation process makes the 
differences that exist between public sector 
bodies in Europe in terms of access and 
exploitation of public sector information more 
visible and more relevant. These differences 
create barriers to the full use of the opportunities 
offered by the new technologies and make a 
debate on public sector information at European 
level all the more necessary. 
IH13;Electronic access for all?j 
64. Our societies are moving towards a situation 
where everyone has access to the new 
electronic tools. The penetration of Internet is 
happening at a much faster pace than the 
penetration of other information tools like the 
telephone or television earlier this century. 
Nevertheless it will take time until a 
generalised access is realised. 
65. Dissemination of public sector information 
on the Internet does not automatically imply that 
all citizens have an equal access to it. 
Substantial differences exist in access to the 
tools of the Information Society 
(computers/modems etc.) and the ability to use 
them. In this context the Report on job 
opportunities in the Information Society18 
stresses that the access to such tools and the 
skills to use them are prerequisites for job 
creation and need to be prioritised. 
66. This observation points to the need of 
investing in infrastructures that provide 
access for all to the electronic networks. 
Libraries seem to be particularly fit to fulfil this 
public role, but other possibilities should also be 
explored. 
Infocid 
In Portugal a network of 'Cyber-kiosks' has been 
installed throughout the country to give citizens 
access to the Internet and in particular to information 
on the public sector. The global, integrated 
multimedia Infocid system, gives access to 
government information on a wide range of subjects 
like employment and training, education, the Law 
and Courts, housing etc. 
httpJIwww. infocid.pt/ 
67. In addition this point stresses the importance 
of investment in Information and 
Communication Technology-skills. Lacking 
investment may lead to a society fundamentally 
split between people that can and people that 
cannot use the new information tools. Several 
projects at European level already address this 
problem, tackling it at the base. EUN- The European Schoolnet 
The aim of the project, funded by the Task Force 
"Educational Multimedia" and coordinated by the 
SOCRA TES programme, is to establish a European 
school information network - the European 
Schoolnet — as a multimedia and communication 
platform at the services to schools in Europe and as a 
framework for collaboration at a European level 
among national educational authorities, universities 
and industry to develop ICT in schools as regards 
content, pedagogical approaches and technology. 
http://www. eun. org/ 
68. Improved skills will in the long run-also lead 
to a better use of public sector information. 
More informed, computer-literate citizens and 
businesses will ask for more and better 
information and will act as an incentive for the 
public sector to provide better information 
services and for the information industry to 
create more value-added information products 
and services. 
1** "Job opportunities in the Information Society: Exploiting 
the potential of the information revolution" COM (1998) 590 
final. 
10 
Chapter III: Issues linked to access and 
exploitation of public sector information 
69. The access to public sector information as 
well as the commercial exploitation of this 
information entail a whole range of issues that 
need careful consideration. They vary from the 
definition of public sector information to issues 
related to privacy and liability. 
70. The questions that follow each section are 
for guidance only. Readers are invited to take an 
open and innovative approach, considering all 
areas discussed here and other issues which 
they consider to be of relevance. 
111.1 Definitions 
Public sector information 
71. A definition of public sector information is 
important because it will help to determine the 
scope of the replies to this Green Paper and a 
possible follow-up. 
72. The definition of public sector varies from 
one Member State to another. In the laws and 
discussions on access to public sector 
information three possible approaches appear to 
emerge: 
• The functional approach, in which the 
public sector includes those bodies with 
state authority or public service tasks19. 
• The legalist/institutional approach: only 
bodies that are explicitly listed in the 
relevant law(s) . have a public sector 
character. 
• The financial approach, whereby the public 
sector includes all bodies mainly financed by 
public funds (i.e. not operating under the 
normal rules of the market). 
Whatever methodological approach will be 
chosen, the information of public bodies at 
different levels of government, central, regional 
and local, shall be taken into consideration. 
In all cases, state owned companies operating 
under market conditions and subject to private 
^ Directive 90/313/EEC on the freedom of access to 
environment information excludes from the definition of 
public sector, bodies acting in a judicial or legislative 
capacity. It provides that national, regional or local public 
authorities having responsibilities and holding information 
relating to the environment should place this information at 
the disposal of any natural or legal person requesting it, 
regardless of whether that person has a legal interest. As its 
purpose is to promote the protection of the environment, 
commercial issues are not addressed. Specific provisions of 
this Directive are referred to in appropriate sections of 
Chapter II. Any actions resulting from this Green Paper will 
not prejudice access to information concerning the 
environment as provided for by this Directive, which will 
possibly be reviewed in 1999, nor the relevant "acquis 
communautaire". and commercial laws are not meant to be 
covered by either of these definitions. 
MB®fSGiM,ii§!?iM^'r,format'on 
73. Public sector information may be classified 
along different lines. A first possible distinction is 
the one between administrative and non-
administrative information. The first category 
relates to the function of Government and the 
administration itself and the second category to 
information on the outside world that is gathered 
during the execution of public tasks (Geographic 
Information, information on businesses, on R&D 
etc.). 
74. Within administrative information a further 
distinction can be made between information 
that is fundamental for the functioning of 
democracy (like laws, court cases, 
Parliamentary information) and information that 
does not have such a fundamental character. 
75. Another possible distinction draws a line 
between information that is relevant for a 
general public (like Parliamentary information) 
or for a very limited set of persons that have a 
direct interest. 
76. From a market perspective, information can 
be divided according to its (potential) economic 
value. It should be noted that both 
administrative and non-administrative 
information can have a considerable market 
value. 
77. The above mentioned distinctions may have 
consequences for the way the different types of 
information are treated: They can have a 
considerable bearing on issues like pricing and 
copyright and touch upon delicate issues like 
data protection. 
Question 1 : 
Which definition of public sector i 
appropriate in your view? 
What categories 
should be used in of public sector 
the debate? s the most 
information 
III.2 Conditions for access to public sector 
information ;. 
78. The existence of an access right does not 
mean automatically unlimited and unconditional 
access to public sector information. In this 
regard different Member States and the EU 
apply different rules and have different practices. 
79. The different conditions for access raise a 
number of questions that are relevant for both 
citizens and for the competitiveness of 
businesses. Views related to both perspectives 
are welcome. 
11 
Existence of an interest Time 
80. The large majority of national laws do not 
require a person or company need to have a 
particular interest as a condition for access to 
public sector information. However, since this 
may be the case in certain circumstances, the 
issue merits discussion. 
Exemptions to the right of access 
81. All national regulatory frameworks provide 
for exemptions to the right of access. Such 
exemptions may roughly be distinguished in four 
categories: 
• exemptions in the interest of the state for 
example relating to national security, public 
order, economic interests, international relations, 
legislative procedures, etc. ; these are mostly of 
exclusive Member State competence. 
• exemptions in the interest of third parties, for 
example relating to privacy, intellectual property, 
commercial secrets, judicial procedures, etc. 
• exemptions to protect the decision making 
process, for example, preliminary or 'internal 
use' of information etc. 
• exemptions to avoid unreasonable costs or 
workload in the administrations concerned, for 
example information already published or 
excessive requests. 
Directive 90/313/EEC provides a list of possible 
exemptions which cover all of the above areas 
of concern.20 
82. Exemptions and their interpretation differ to 
some extent between Member States. Some 
commentators consider that this may interfere 
with the ability of companies and citizens to 
access the information which they need on a 
pan-European basis. 
Time, quantity, format 
83. The emergence of new technologies and 
faster networks makes issues of time, quantity 
and format of information less relevant. If 
information is available over electronic networks 
instantaneously, citizens can download what 
they need and when and where they need it. 
84. However, as not all public sector information 
will be available in electronic format in the 
foreseeable future, the question remains of how 
quickly the public authorities should react to 
requests and how much information they should 
provide. These issues are related to'the need to 
avoid unreasonable requests and excessive 
workload. 85. National access laws vary as to the 
deadlines set for the public sector to respond to 
an access request. The French law gives a 2 
month deadline, while the Swedish law 
stipulates a "prompt response". In some cases, 
there is no reference to time limits. Directive 
90/313/EEC gives a two month time limit. 
Quantity and Format 
86. The question of whether there should be 
limits to the quantity of information requested is 
more complex. In principle, some quantity 
limitations may be imposed if information in 
manual format requires an excessive effort to 
assemble. The need to ensure low cost access 
for citizens to information needs to be balanced 
against the need to avoid excessive burdens on 
the public services. In cases where public sector 
information is available and can be accessed in 
electronic format, quantity limitations are more 
difficult to justify. 
87. In the execution of its primary tasks, the 
public sector produces a vast amount of raw 
data. The format of this public sector information 
may often be unattractive and difficult to access. 
Having taken this issue into account, many 
public sector bodies are engaged in tailoring raw 
data to customer needs. 
88. This also draws the attention to another 
interesting issue: the right of citizens to have 
access to the raw data and data at intermediate 
levels and not just to the data in their final, 
elaborated form. 
Question 2 : 
Do different conditions for access to public 
sector information in the Member States create 
barriers at European level? 
If so, what elements are concerned: requirement 
of an interest, exemptions, time, format, 
quantity? 
What solutions can be envisaged? 
89. Citizens and businesses alike can be seen 
as the 'clients' of the information services that 
are offered by the public sector. The concept of 
client implies that the needs of citizens and 
businesses are being taken into account when 
the services are conceived and that user-
friendly search mechanisms are put in place. 
90. The data sets available in the public sector 
are numerous. 
20 See footnote 19, p 11 
12 
A recent estimate of the number of public databases 
in the Netherlands alone came up with a figure of 
some 36.000 21 
To help the 'information clients' in finding their 
way in this mass of data it may be necessary to 
establish meta-data and directories. This leads 
to the following question: 
Question 3 : 
Could the establishment of European meta-data 
(information on the information that is available) 
help the European citizens and businesses in 
finding their way in the public sector information 
throughout Europe? 
If so, how could this best be realised? 
What categories of content should directories of 
public sector information resources contain? 
91. Pricing as well as pricing models vary 
enormously in different Member States and in 
different public sector bodies of the same 
Fig.3 : Unit Price for information on business in 
different countries 
(Source : Dun & Bradstreet Europe, 1998 
UK 
S 
F 
D 
A 
Dk 
P 
I 
NL ' - - ' 'I • 
• 1 
1 
1 1 
~„..-.v | 
•™ " "' 
. . - ,, | 1 
•"•"-"' 
«*i#&.SlS«W W* H&^W6!**^ >W#^ | 
^k, ^ v C-W < * pm *, *j -/** >W (••• , 1 
^™ 
Vs*&sf<*»!.w/"v$^?*$p1&$$-'* ..-->-»-» ^ < > < .*.-«*** »<-, «$Wim#tf-. **-m&»x8m>~h\ 
™ 1 1 
0 2 4 i 
6 8 EURO 1 
I Registered data 0 Financial Statements 
Member-State. As an example, figure 3 shows 
the wide range of prices Dun&Bradstreet, a 
business information provider, must pay when 
accessing companies registered data and 
financial statements throughout Europe. Pricing Models 
The 1994 French circular distinguishes between 
information collection and production costs (which 
are not charged for) and other costs, such as 
printing, updating, data retrieval and transmission 
(which can be charged for). Furthermore it 
distinguishes between types of information and types 
of use. 
The UK guidelines 1985 DTI guidelines favour a 
market approach: "Where an established market 
exists for Government-held tradable information 
provided by them already, Departments should 
charge a reasonable market price. In the case of 
tradable information which has not previously been 
exploited, contracts may initially be on the basis of 
charging only for costs incurred over and above 
those that would be incurred normally in handling 
the data or information for their own purpose". 
The 1989 European Commission Synergy 
Guidelines favour a distribution cost approach: 
"Pricing policies may vary depending on the nature 
of the information; A price should be established 
which reflects the costs of preparing and passing it to 
the private sector, but which does not necessarily 
include the full cost of routine administration. The 
price may be reduced if provision of the resulting 
information service is deemed to be necessary in the 
public interest". 
The US law allows charging for search, duplication 
and review costs but not for the value added by the 
public sector to the raw data. The US public sector 
should see the adding of value only as a tool to 
increase efficiency, not as a means for profit making. 
92. In the long run, the current trend to make 
public sector information increasingly available 
free of charge on the Internet may have an 
effect of prices and pricing models. 
93. Studies and discussions have shown that 
the dual purpose of a public sector information 
policy - access and exploitation - calls for a 
pricing policy that should take into account a 
number of interests: 
• affordable access for all 
• exploitation potential 
fair competition (treated 
paragraph) in the next 
21 BDO Consultants, Electronische bestanden van het 
bestuur, 1998 
13 
Figure 4: People interested in consulting from home, via a 
computer, local town or council services in order to get 
documents 
Source: Eurobarometer 47 
94. Pricing conditions are in the first place 
important in the discussion on access. Public 
information is produced at the expense of 
taxpayers. The question may therefore be raised 
whether public organisations have a right to 
charge for the provision of information. It may be 
argued, however, that it is usually a small section 
of the public who wish to use a particular public 
sector information product and that they should 
not be subsidised by the rest of the population. In 
fact, people are willing in certain circumstances 
to pay for the (information) services offered. 
Figure 4 clearly shows this. 
95. But pricing should be such that it does not 
preclude the access for all. In this respect 
mention should be made of the French initiative 
to identify categories of public sector information 
considered to be "essential" in view of the 
exercise of democratic rights by citizens. In 
principle, such public sector information is 
provided for free. 
96. At the exploitation side, it is important that 
efforts made by the public sector to render 
information accessible for commercial 
exploitation are recognised and rewarded. At the 
same time, if the private sector is to develop 
competitive products from public sector 
information, the raw materials must be available 
to them at a reasonable price. 
97. Pricing is therefore a crucial issue for the 
exploitation of public sector information by the 
content industries. It largely determines whether 
they will find an interest in investing in value 
added products and services based on public 
sector information. American companies benefit 
from the fact that they can obtain US public 
sector information for free. An American software firm is about to release a 
business mapping software product allowing users to 
find and illustrate points on the map, integrate maps 
in their documents and identify the trends of their 
business on the map. The objective is to make it easy 
for business users in organizations of any size to use 
maps to make better-informed business decisions. 
Over 15 million addressed street-level segments are 
included for all US and worldwide country-level 
boundaries. The estimated retail price of the product 
is $109. 
As an element of comparison, a German mapinfo 
company is offering geodata for one German state 
unit only for a total of 9.728 DM + VAT 16%. 
A UK based environmental pressure group has 
complained after the Ordnance Survey, Britain's 
national mapping agency, tried to charge the 
organisation more than £365.000 for digital mapping 
base-data of the country. 
Question 14:, 
What impact do different pricing policies have on 
the access to and exploitation of public sector 
information? 
Does this create differences in opportunities for 
citizens and businesses at European level? 
14 
msm 
98. Public sector bodies have cost structures 
which may differ from those of private 
businesses. In certain circumstances, it is 
possible that they offer products at less than the 
market price, or cross-subsidise other areas of 
their operations through the sale of information. 
99. Fair competition may thus be adversely 
affected once public sector organisations offer 
added-value information products on the market. 
This may also be the case when exploitation 
rights or exclusive contracts are ceded to semi-
private or private sector bodies. Unfair 
competition situations may also result from 
information being released at different speeds to 
different parties. 
National legislation 
100. All Member States' enforce some general 
competition rules. Some legislation specifically 
deals with competition issues in respect of 
commercialisation of public sector information. 
The UK guidelines state that government 
departments should not aim to compete with the 
private sector. According to French rules a public 
body should not directly intervene in the market 
and may only provide value added information 
services if this is in line with their legal mission. 
Divergent application of competition rules in 
different Members States may create market 
distortions. 
EU competition rules 
101. EU competition rules are determined by 
articles 85-94 of the EC Treaty. Several 
competition issues in this field are interrelated: 
• State aid 22: market distortion through public 
subsidies should be avoided 
• Abuse of dominant position 23: access to data 
not available elsewhere should be under 
reasonable conditions, on a cost-oriented 
basis (essential facility doctrine) 
• Agreements between companies 24; 
• Monopolies25. 
102. In the context of the State aid rules, 
public information providers may be, under-
certain circumstances, in competition with the 
private sector. Public financing could then 
constitute a state aid26 that could benefit from 
certain derogations27. Article 6 of the EC Treaty which prohibits discrimination on grounds of 
nationality is also relevant. Furthermore, the 
1989 Synergy guidelines published by the 
Commission make reference to competition 
rules. 
103. For competition policy purposes, a 
distinction is often drawn between information for 
which only one source exists, which must 
generally be made available at reasonable 
conditions, and information which is available 
from different sources (diversity principle), for 
which market prices may apply. 
104. Competition is also an essential principle 
of public procurement. It applies both to 
publishing contracts (where the public institution 
pays for publication or subsidises it) and to 
distribution contracts (in those cases where there 
are limitations to the number of distributors, in 
order to reach certain targets, e.g. geographical 
coverage). 
105. New technologies change fixed and 
variable costs, new national and multinational 
players appear on the market which creates 
opportunities to reduce prices or to increase the 
distributions targets. This may require changes in 
procurement policies and in tendering terms. 
Question 5 
To what extent and under what conditions, could 
activities of public sector bodies on the 
information market create unfair competition at 
European level? 
'III.6 Copytiig ht iss u es 
106. The Bern Convention (Art. 2 (4)) leaves 
Member States the freedom to determine the 
protection to be granted to official texts of a 
legislative, administrative or legal nature, and 
their official translations. 
107. The vast majority of Member States have 
used this provision to exclude these texts from 
any copyright protection. As to information of a 
different nature produced by the public sector, 
most Member States have extended the previous 
exclusion also to this information material. 
However, the extent to which copyright is granted 
to these materials does not limit in itself access 
by the public to the information. 
22 
23 
24 
25 
26 
27 article 92 
article 86 
article 85 
article 90 
within the meaning of Article 92(1) 
not only under Articles 92(2) and 92(3) (categories 
of aid that are or may be considered compatible with the common market), but also under Article 90(2) if the 
undertaking is entrusted with a service of general economic 
interest. In the latter case, all of the conditions of Article 90(2) 
would have to be fulfilled : the undertaking must be entrusted 
with a service of general economic interest; the amount of 
the aid must not exceed the net cost of ensuring the service 
of general economic interest; and the development of trade 
must not be affected to such an extent as would be contrary 
to the interests of the Community. 
15 
108. The public sector has two main reasons 
to protect its information. In the first place it may 
be a source of income. This may pose however 
questions in the field of competition. It may 
create market distortions between companies in 
the different Member States that want to reuse 
the information. 
109. Another reason for public sector bodies 
protecting their information could be the wish to 
maintain the integrity of the content. This is 
relevant in the perspective of liability questions 
Question 6 : 
Do different copyright regimes within Europe 
represent barriers for the exploitation of public 
sector information? 
.;jj"l'.~7lPriyacyissue's*! 
110. Part of the commercially interesting 
information held by the public sector is of a 
personal nature, i.e. relates to or allows the 
identification of individual persons. This is for 
example the case with respect to population, 
company, vehicle or credit registers. It also 
applies to information on medical, employment or 
social welfare data. Access to such information 
may be of use to private industry for marketing, 
research or other purposes. In such cases the 
right to information needs to be balanced with the 
individual's right to privacy. All national access 
laws show awareness of the need for such a 
balance. 
111. On 24 October 1995 Directive 
95/46/EC28 was adopted on the protection of 
individuals with regard to the processing of 
personal data and on the free movement of such 
data. This Directive establishes binding rules for 
both the public and the private sectors and 
achieves the necessary balance between the 
principle of access to public sector information 
and the protection of personal data. It must be 
fully observed in cases of personal data held by 
the public sector. 
112. It is up to the public bodies responsible to 
apply the agreed balances between the need for 
open access for commercial or other purposes 
on one hand and the right to privacy on the other, 
taking into account the principles established,by 
the EC Directive, in particular the principle of 
purpose limitation. In addition, national 
supervisory authorities have an important role 
and courts are expected to decide in cases of 
dispute. 
113. In the specific case of statistical data, the 
well-established statistical confidentiality principle 
reinforces the data protection level. Statistical confidentiality prevents not only access to any 
other private users but also the transmission of 
confidential data to administrative bodies other 
than statistical offices. 
114. The emergence of the Information 
society could pose new risks for the privacy of 
the individual if public registers become 
accessible in electronic format (in particular on­
line and on the Internet) and in large quantities. 
Question 7 : 
Do privacy considerations deserve specific 
attention in relation to the exploitation of public 
sector information? 
In what way could commercial interests justify 
access to publicly held personal data? 
jlll.8 Liability issues 
115. Clarity as to the liability issues may have 
a positive impact on access to and the 
exploitation of public sector information. In fact, 
liability may be a reason for the public sector to 
operate a prudent information policy. If the public 
body provides information to a requestor directly 
it could, in principle, be liable (in accordance with 
national liability laws) for any damages caused to 
the citizen concerned. 
116. The issue becomes more complex when 
more than two parties (public body, requester) 
are involved in the processing and dissemination 
of information. This is the case, for example, 
when the public sector has ceded the information 
to a private company. In that case, public bodies 
could still be liable for the information provided, 
unless they have limited this liability by contract. 
117. The more actors are involved, the more 
difficult it becomes, in cases of conflict, to identify 
the one who has defaulted or acted unlawfully. 
Some commentators believe that coordinated 
European approaches to this issue are 
particularly important in view of the difficulty of 
establishing which national law applies in cases 
involving several countries29. 
28 O.J. N§ L281, 23.11.1995, pp. 31-50 29 The proposal for a directive on certain legal aspects of 
electronic commerce in the Internal market submitted by the 
Commission on 18 November 1998 recognises the need to 
clarify the responsibility of on-line service providers for 
transmitting and storing third party information (i.e. when 
service providers act as "intermediaries") in the context of 
commercial communications. To eliminate the existing legal 
uncertainty and to bring coherence to the different 
approaches that are emerging at Member State level, the 
proposal establishes a "mere conduit" exemption and limits 
service provider's liability for other "intermediary" activities. 
16 
Question 8 : 
To what extent may the different Member States' 
liability regimes represent an obstacle to access 
or exploitation of public sector information? 
IHI;9 EUlnfoffnafiorT 
118. As indicated in paragraph 1.1 and in 
annexe 2 of this Green Paper, the EU is 
developing policies to improve the access to its 
information and the dissemination of this 
information. All EU institutions maintain for 
example a family of WWW sites accessible 
through one single gateway (http://europa.eu.int) 
and offering a large amount of information. 
119. It would help these policies if, in reaction 
to this paper, comments were received on the 
actions in this field and the way they are 
perceived. This leads up to the following 
question. 
Question 9 : 
To what extent are the policies pursued by the 
EU institutions in the field of access and 
dissemination of information adequate? 
In what way can they further be improved? 
17 
tdofJcludffi^Hipcs'. • •.•..:.•.".' • .v-:--. •• 
120. The lack of transparency of public sector 
information throughout Europe forms a 
substantial barrier for citizens and business alike 
that want to exercise the rights granted by the EC 
Treaty and benefit of the advantages of the 
internal market. 
121. At the same time the European 
information industry is faced with a plethora of 
different laws and practices which the 
Commission believes may be preventing them 
from fully exploiting Europe's information 
potential. 
122. Subject to the responses to this Green 
Paper and, in particular, comments on the 
regulatory or other barriers and obstacles which 
may hinder the possibilities for access and 
exploitation of public sector information, 
consideration can be given to what, if any, 
response may be required at European level. 
123. Such response could for example 
address: 
• Legislation (e.g. need for recommendations, 
guidelines or binding measures). 
• Information exchange throughout Europe, 
allowing public bodies to learn from each 
others experiences. 
• Awareness raising at all levels (citizens, 
business and administrations) concerning the 
existing information sources. 
• Demonstration and pilot projects allowing 
the spread of technologies supporting new 
information services and experiments with 
new models of public/private partnerships. 
• Education and Training initiatives 
enhancing the information management 
capacities of administrations and individuals. 
124. Comments are invited on these possible 
fields for action or concerning any other type of 
measures felt to be appropriate. 
Question 10 : 
Which actions should be given priority attention 
at European level? 
List of Questions . •'•"-'• 
The following list recapitulates the questions raised in Chapter I 
1 Which definition of public sector is the most appropriate in your view? 
What categories of public sector information should be used in the debate? 
2 Do different conditions for access to public sector information in the Member States create 
barriers at European level? 
If so, what elements are concerned: requirement of an interest, exemptions, time, format, 
quantity? 
What solutions can be envisaged? 
3 Could the establishment of European meta-data (information on the information that is 
available) help the European citizens and businesses in finding their way in the public sector 
information throughout Europe? 
If so, how could this best be realised? 
What categories of content should directories of public sector information resources contain? 
4 What bearing do different pricing policies have on the access to and exploitation of public 
information? 
Does this create differences in opportunities for citizens and businesses at European level? 
5 To what extent and under what conditions, could activities of public sector bodies on the 
information market create unfair competition at European level? 
6 Do different copyright regimes within Europe represent barriers for exploitation of public 
sector information? 
7 Do privacy considerations deserve specific attention in relation to the exploitation of public 
sector information? 
In what way could commercial interests justify access to publicly held personal data? 
8 To what extent may the different Member States' liability regimes represent an obstacle to 
access or exploitation of public sector information? 
9 To what extent are the policies pursued by the EU institutions in the field of access and 
dissemination of information adequate? 
In what way can they further be improved? 
10 Which actions should be given priority attention at European level? 
19 
Annexe 1: Current situation in Member States regarding legislation and policy on access to 
" •' ''"'••' public sector information. 
Austria 
There is constitutional law (1987/285) of 
15.5.1987, which stipulates a general right 
of access. This constitutes a minimum 
framework: All officials at the federal, 
regional or local level entrusted with 
administrative duties as well as the officials 
of other public law corporate bodies should 
impart information about matters pertaining 
to their sphere of competence in so far as 
this does not conflict with a legal obligation 
to maintain secrecy. Citizens' access is 
usually free but in some cases a charge is 
made covering, inter alia, the reproduction 
and dissemination costs. Each department 
defines its commercialisation policy under 
the control of the Minister responsible, on a 
case-by-case basis. There are some cases 
of public and private sector co-operation, in 
the telecoms, debt recovery, judicial and 
government information sectors, for 
example. 
Belgium 
There are laws, at the federal (11.4.1994) 
and regional level (Flanders 23.10.1991 and 
13.6.1996), on civil transparency, providing 
a general right of access to documents held 
by a public authority. These laws, however, 
provide that administrative documents 
thereby obtained may not be further 
distributed or used for commercial ends. 
There is no general law on 
commercialisation of public sector 
information. In the context of the civil 
transparency law, access is given free of 
charge or at marginal cost. 
Commercialisation policies are pursued by 
some government departments on the basis 
of case-by-case contract relationships. 
Public and private co-operations have been 
established, for example in the vehicle 
registration, statistics and geographic 
information sector. In the latter sector, 
however, there have also been cases of 
litigation involving the relevant state body. 
As regards active dissemination, Postbus 
3000 distributes information of the Federal 
government by means of television and 
radio and by means of advertising in 
newspapers and magazines. These forms of 
communication contain pointers to 
brochures freely available to the public. The 
brochures hold contact information and 
additional information on the subjects and 
the services involved. Furthermore, citizens 
can obtain additional information via Postbus 3000. Postbus 3000 is a service 
provided by the Federal Information Service. 
As of 24 March 1995, the Federal government 
maintains an extensive Internet website in four 
languages (Dutch, French, English and 
German) at http://belgium.fgov.be. This 
'umbrella website' contains pointers to all 
Federal departments. A wide variety of 
information is available, such as: general 
information on Belgium, decisions of the 
Council of Ministers, useful addresses of 
governmental organisations and initiatives 
regarding public sector information. The 
Communities and Regions also maintain their 
own websites. These are accessible through 
the Federal website by means of hyperlinks. 
At present the establishment of a call center is 
being prepared (at Federal level), enabling 
citizens to submit questions to the government. 
The Flemish Community is undertaking 
comparable actions; In the Walloon Region 
such centre is already in its operational phase. 
Under a recommendation of the Council of 
Europe, As of 1997 the Council of State is 
under the legal obligation to publish most of its 
decisions, which are made available by means 
of CD-ROM and Internet." 
Denmark 
A law is underway to replace two existing 
freedom of information laws which give a 
general right of access to government 
documents. The Bill covers all the society and 
is close to the EC 95/46 Directive statements. 
Pilots are planned concerning open public 
mailing lists ; a standard about electronic 
publishing is published, and all public 
publications will gradually be electronically 
accessible. All public institutions have e-mail 
and are represented through the Internet. Still 
more public electronic based self-service 
possibilities are present. Access to electronic 
legal data and information is freely available. 
As regards citizens access to print documents, 
the principle is that citizens should only pay for 
the cost of access which is stipulated to be 10 
DKR for the first page and 1 DKR for each 
additional page. There is no specific law on 
commercialisation of public sector information 
although the Info-Society 2000 Programme 
makes some reference. There has also been a 
1992 Ministry of Finance Budget Guide 
covering the public sector in general and setting 
"long term average costs" and "fair competition" 
principles. Since the Danish market for 
electronic information services is still relatively 
small, most of the public sector information 
20 
dissemination, both in print and electronic 
form, is carried out by the public sector. 
Some commercial interest has been 
expressed in the fields of population, 
company and land registers, law and 
statistics in which there have been cases of 
public and private sector co-operation and 
competition. 
A new pricing model concerning sale of 
public data is now worked into the Budget 
Guide covering the public sector and 
decision has been taken on principles about 
quality of and access to public data and the 
ongoing development activity. The tendency 
is that new steps to create the open 
information society are quickly done. 
Finland 
There is a Publicity of Official Documents 
Act (83/9.2.1951), providing a general 
access right to any document prepared and 
issued by a public authority, as well as any 
document sent or given to a public authority 
and in its possession. In 1987 this right was 
extended to documents produced "by the 
use of punch marks, magnetisation or other 
comparable means and intended to be read, 
listened to or otherwise understood by 
means of technical devices". The law is 
currently being revised and modernised. The 
new law will promote the use of authorities' 
information matter outside the 
administration. 
The Finnish market and commercialisation 
situation is otherwise similar to that in 
Denmark. Private sector interest is still 
rather small and the main dissemination 
initiatives are still within the public sector. 
A 1995 report "Developing a Finnish 
Information Society" makes a brief reference 
to encouraging commercial reuse by the 
private sector. Pricing policies were 
established by the 1992 Act on Charging 
Criteria for the State which distinguishes 
three types of government goods and 
services: a) those in the public interest, 
provided free of charge b) those offered by 
monopoly bodies, or following a legal 
requirement, provided at cost price and c) 
others, provided at commercial price. 
France 
There is a general law on access to 
administrative documents (part of a wider 
law concerning relations between the 
administrations and the public, 78-
753/17.7.1978, amended in 1979), which 
excludes the possibility of reproducing, 
disseminating or commercially exploiting the 
documents concerned. Access "in situ" is 
free of charge, while copying costs are charged to the requester. There is also a Prime 
Minister's circular of 14.2.1994 concerning the 
dissemination of public data which establishes 
some policy principles for the commercialisation 
of such data, distinguishing between raw data 
(being freely accessible) and value-added data 
(in certain cases protected by copyright) and 
discussing the information dissemination roles 
of the public and the private, sectors including 
competition and pricing issues. 
There is a large private sector participation in 
the public sector information market. This has 
been more successful in some areas 
(geographic, company information) than in 
others (agricultural, judicial information). There 
is a policy of providing public concessions to 
private sector companies which, some 
commentators feel raises competition issues. 
In the Government action programme 
"Preparing France's entry into the information 
society" published on 16 January 1998, the 
French Government announced that "essential 
public data" will be freely available on the 
Internet. This initiative recognises that the 
development of the networks has profoundly 
changed the traditional distinction between 
access to public information " and its 
dissemination. Furthermore it stresses the fact 
that the ability to access public sector 
information sources is vital to the development 
of the information market and thus the 
information industry. 
Germany 
Germany has neither a general access law nor 
a law on commercialisation of public sector 
information. A large number of sectoral laws 
offer access to specific types of information 
(e.g. administrative complaints, environmental 
information). Some Lander have constitutional 
provisions and are in the process of preparing 
general access laws. Commercialisation 
practices have been developed by different 
authorities separately. In some cases (e.g. 
financial-commercial statistics) there are 
examples of successful public/private sector co­
operation while in others (e.g. company 
information) there have been difficulties. Pricing 
policies also differ widely, depending on the 
legal basis of the request, the public sector 
agency in question and the intended use of the 
information. This variety of policies is 
accentuated by the federal structure of the 
state. 
Greece 
Greece has a law providing general access 
(1599/1986), which does not allow for the 
commercial exploitation of the public sector 
documents concerned. Although there is no 
general law or policy concerning commercial 
dissemination of public sector information, the 
21 
Ministry of the Interior and Public 
Administration is working on its legal 
framework. The electronic information 
market is very small and the market 
potential of public sector information has not 
yet been established (apart from a few 
exceptions in the cultural, tourism, 
agriculture and legal fields). Several 
government bodies are already in a process 
of developing information systems to make 
their content accessible both to business 
and citizens. 
Ireland 
The Freedom of Information Act, 1997, was 
the first significant piece of legislation that 
obliged government Departments and 
Offices to publish details of their information 
holdings. This Act asserts the right of 
members of the public to obtain access to 
official information to the greatest extent 
possible consistent with the public interest 
and the right to privacy. 
Under the Act, public bodies are required to 
publish certain information about themselves 
and also to make available details of their 
internal rules, procedures, interpretations, 
etc. used in decision making. Many 
Departments and Offices publish this 
information on the Internet. The central 
purpose of this information is to assist the 
public in ascertaining the information held by 
each organisation and how to access it. 
In respect of non-personal information, fees 
may be charged in respect of the time spent 
in efficiently locating and retrieving records, 
based on a standard hourly rates. 
Photocopying charges may also apply. In 
respect of personal records, copying 
charges only will apply, save where a large 
number of records are involved. No charges 
may apply in respect of the time spent by 
public bodies in considering requests. 
In addition, most government Departments 
and Offices produce publications relating to 
their interests. These are generally issued 
free where it is desirable for purposes of 
public policy, or are priced on a cost 
recovery basis. 
While there is no general law or policy on 
the commercialisation of public sector 
information some organisations (e.g. Land 
Registry, Ordnance Survey, etc.) market 
information. Where this happens pricing 
policy is, in general, market-led with the 
commercial rate being charged. 
Commercialisation and public/private sector 
co-operation occur mainly in the field of law 
and statistics. The 1996 report "Information Society Ireland -
Strategy for Action" envisages free or low cost 
access to public databases and information 
services, coupled with the use of information 
and communications technologies in the public 
sector to deliver citizen-centred applications to 
the public. All newly published government 
information is to be made available 
electronically and on paper at the same time 
from a specified data ; low cost ("lo-call") 
telephony access to government Departments 
and Offices has already been introduced and 
will be enhanced with self-service over the 
Internet, fax on demand, etc.; government web 
sites will be developed with a view to increasing 
interactivity and potential for service-delivery. 
Italy 
There is a general access law (241/7.8.1990), 
although in many cases access depends on the 
existence of a legal interest. There is no 
general law or policy concerning 
commercialisation of public sector information. 
Access based on the aforementioned law is 
free of charge. Pricing policies for commercial 
purposes differ in the various public sector 
bodies. Examples of public/private co-operation 
exist in areas like company information and 
statistics. In some cases there have been 
complaints relating to competition rules. 
Luxembourg 
There is neither a general access law nor any 
general rulings regarding commercial 
exploitation of public sector information, 
although a working group has been set up to 
examine this issue. In practice, when available, 
public sector information is either given free of 
charge or at distribution cost price. There are, 
as yet, no examples of public/private sector co­
operation. The tiny size of the market probably 
discourages strictly national initiatives. 
Netherlands 
There is a Government Information Act 
(entered into force in 1980, amended in 1992) 
which compels administrative authorities to 
disseminate government information actively, 
and to provide information upon request. There 
are, however, exemptions from and restrictions 
to these obligations. These exemptions and 
restrictions . are comparable to those under 
other general access laws (e.g. exemptions in 
the interests of the state, third parties and the 
protection of the decision making process). 
The Ministry of the Interior has a co-ordinating 
role regarding public sector information policy. 
As yet, there is no general policy on the 
exploitation or commercial reuse of public 
sector information. Consequently, 
administrative authorities set out their own 
22 
policies. However, steps have been taken 
towards the development of a general 
policy. 
As a first step the Cabinet issued a 
memorandum "Towards the accessibility of 
government information, Policy framework 
for increasing the accessibility of 
government information through information 
and communication technology" in June 
1997. The key topic in the memorandum is 
which public sector information should be 
made available electronically, who for, why, 
how and at what price. In the Cabinet's view, 
so-called basic information of the democratic 
constitutional state (legislation and 
regulation, statements by the judiciary courts 
and parliamentary information) should be 
made accessible as much as possible since 
this category of information is generally 
speaking, public. ICT may be an important 
instrument in this. Regarding electronic data 
files of administrative authorities, the 
Cabinet has noted in the memorandum that 
a policy needs to be developed governing 
access to file data, in particular the access 
by the private sector. 
As a follow-up to the memorandum, 
electronic data files of administrative 
authorities are currently being examined on 
type, use, origin of the data and legal status. 
The aim is to categorise electronic data files 
in order to develop policy measures for the 
access to specific types of data files. Such 
measures are considered necessary since it 
is unlikely that exploitation or commercial 
reuse of electronic public sector data files, 
given their diversity, can be covered by a 
general rule. 
Portugal 
There is a general access to public sector 
information law (65/26.8.1993), but no 
general rules or policies concerning 
commercialisation. In general, information is 
charged at the lowest possible price, in view 
of the public service mission of the public 
authorities. There is a public citizens access 
project providing kiosk-type access to 
specific areas of public sector information, 
the technical execution of which is to some 
extent entrusted to the private sector. Some 
further examples of public/private sector co­
operation exist in the company and legal 
information areas, although the small size of 
the market and the relative lack of electronic 
government databases does not encourage 
such commercial initiatives. 
Spain 
Spain has a general access law 
(30/26. T1.1992) which does not currently 
apply to computerised information. A legal interest in the requested information is required. 
A royal decree has recently been adopted 
regulating the use of electronic information 
techniques by the central general 
administrations. Reference is included to the 
relationship between administration and citizen. 
Recent studies have shown that information on 
34% of public services is accessible to the 
public, access being provided in certain cases 
in collaboration with the private sector. There is 
no general commercialisation policy. Tariffs 
vary from zero(40% of the cases) to market 
prices. There are many examples of 
public/private sector co-operation especially at 
regional and local level in areas like external 
trade, finance, culture, education and science 
while in areas like company information and 
statistics, co-operation has been either non­
existent or unsuccessful. 
Sweden 
Sweden has the oldest access law in the world 
(the 1766 Freedom of the Press Act, last 
amended in 1994) giving access to documents 
kept by a public authority, including electronic 
documents. All documents drawn up or 
received by an authority are included. Access 
to documents is free of charge, although a 
charge is made for documents over 9 pages. 
There is no obligation to make available 
records for electronic data processing in any 
form other print-outs. 
Access can be denied, only with reference to a 
specific clause in legislation demanding 
secrecy (the Secrecy Act). 
In principle, this legislation also covers 
information held in databases and registers of 
public authorities. Access to information in data 
systems and registers are in practice limited to 
such data that can be extracted and delivered 
with routine procedures. There are special 
provisions in the Data Protection Act for a 
citizen to get information on what data are 
recorded concerning him/herself in public 
registers. 
A new Personal Data Act will come into force in 
October 1998. The Act is largely based on the 
EU directive on protection of personal data. The 
new legislation does not impinge upon the 
constitutional right of public access to official 
documents. 
A limited number of larger national databases 
and public registers are by law authorised to be 
used for commercial information services 
(addresses to persons and companies, real 
estate and land information, vehicle 
information, etc.).Within the business sector, 
such information can then be used for value 
added services. Pricing of the public 
information is normally based on a cost 
23 
recovery principle. No other commercial 
sales of public register information is 
allowed. 
Government and municipal authorities are 
organising their information resources so 
that they can provide more information 
electronically , and not only with reference to 
the Freedom of Press Act, which presently 
only guarantees access to documents in 
paper form, but as a service to the public 
and to business. 
A Committee has been given the task of 
reviewing the constitutional rules on the 
public's right of access to official documents 
from an IT perspective. 
The Government IT Bill, passed by 
Parliament in Spring 1996, outlines the 
direction in the Government policy for further 
opening up public sector to electronic 
access. The Bill stresses the power of IT to 
strengthen transparency, democracy and to 
create economic advantages for society, 
and sets out general guidelines for public 
and business sector access to information, 
as well as for the citizens. 
In the Government Public Administration Bill 
of 1998 information service in the public 
sector is one of the main issues. As a basic 
principle pricing of public information should 
be based on recovery of distribution costs. 
The Government also sets the direction of 
the further work in this field, including how to 
define national basic data and how to make 
information from public registers more easily 
accessible in electronic form. The authorities 
whose work is primarily at dealing with 
companies and individuals should offer 
electronic services for self-service as a 
complement to traditional services. 
There is a proposal from the Ministry of 
Justice for renewal of the Legal Data 
Information System, Rixlex 2000, which is 
currently subject for consultation. The 
system has a decentralised structure. Each 
of the suppliers of information to the system 
is responsible for the accuracy of the 
contents of submitted material. 
Within the general framework outlined 
above, a number of practical and legislative 
activities are continuing to further adapt and 
develop information management, 
openness, synergy and liability in the new 
electronic environment. 
United Kingdom 
There is no law giving a general right of 
access to information held by central 
government. A Code of Practice, published 
in 1994, gives rights of access to information 
broadly comparable with statutory regimes in other countries. These include a commitment 
for government departments to voluntarily 
disclose certain types of information of public 
interest. The Code is not legally enforceable but 
is policed by the Parliamentary Ombudsman, 
who is independent of government. A separate 
Code of Practice on Openness in UK health 
services was issued in 1995. 
The present Government took office in May 
1997 with the clear commitment to a Freedom 
of Information Act. A White Paper entitled "Your 
right to know" was published in December 
1997, setting out proposals for Freedom of 
Information legislation which would go 
significantly beyond the Code of Practice in it's 
openness requirements. 
A draft Freedom of Information Bill is due to be 
published by the Government in 1999. 
The Government has also established an 
Internet service for government information 
(at.www.open.gov.uk). All new statutes and 
statutory instruments are published on the 
Internet (at www.hmso.gov!uk). There is a right 
of access to information held by local 
government (Local Government Act 1985) and 
to various types of personal information, such 
as medical records and information held by 
social services departments. 
The Department of Trade and Industry 
guidelines on Government-Held Tradable 
Information were first published in 1986 to 
provide guidance to government departments 
on making their information available to the 
private sector. These were last revised in 1990 
and, because of recent changes, the 
Government considers there may now be 
scope for further revision. They cover issues 
like identifying the tradable information, costs 
and charges, contract matters, Crown copyright 
obligations, security and privacy, liability, 
competition, non-exclusivity and non­
discrimination towards EC service providers. 
The development of government executive 
agencies run on cost recovery lines has 
reinforced the tendency for Government to 
make information available in a number of 
ways, both commercially and non-commercially. 
The level of charging depends on the type of 
material and the degree to which it is being sold 
for commercial re-use. 
There have been calls from the private sector 
for liberalisation of the copyright licensing 
regime in order to facilitate the non-exclusive 
licensed reproduction by the private sector of 
various types of information and the 
government has announced various initiatives 
in copyright policy governing reproduction of 
statutory material and the use of class licences. 
In the UK, which has the biggest and longest 
established electronic information market in the 
24 
E.U., there have been many examples of 
public/private sector co-operation such as 
geographic, legal and company information. 
A Green Paper entitled "Crown Copyright in 
the Information Age" dealing with access to 
public sector information, was published in 
January 1998. 
25 
Annexe 2: European Commission action relating to public sector information -The 
background to this Green Paper 
1. Some Milestones 
In September 1996, in its resolution on the 
Commission's Action Plan for the Information 
Society, the European Parliament requested 
that new forms of electronic distribution be 
exploited for the dissemination of public 
information to all citizens at European and 
national level. 
In October 1996, in its resolution on new 
policy priorities in the information society, the 
Industry Council urged Member States to 
improve access to public information, 
through the accelerated use of information 
society tools and partnerships between the 
public and private sector. 
Access to public sector information has been 
one of the priority issues addressed by the 
ministerial declaration issued at the 
conference on Global Information Networks, 
which took place in Bonn on 6-8 July 1997. 
Non-governmental actors have also been 
encouraging action in this area. A strong 
request for an access to public information 
initiative has recently been made by the 
Information Society Forum (Vienna 
Declaration of 13-11 -1998). 
In addition, mention should be made of 
initiatives that are being undertaken in other 
international bodies, for instance, the 
activities of the Council of Europe. 
2. Openness of EU institutions 
Since the signing of the Maastricht Treaty, 
the openness of EU institutions has been 
substantially improved. Considerable efforts 
have been made to ensure an easier access 
to the Institutions documents. In 1994 the 
Commission issued, for example, a decision 
on public access to Commission documents 
(decision of 8 February 1994 as modified on 
19 September 1996). 
In the Amsterdam Treaty the importance of 
this issue was underlined by the inclusion of 
a specific provision regarding transparency 
of the European institutions. A new article 
has been inserted into the Treaty, stipulating 
that any citizen of the Union, and any natural 
or legal person residing or having its 
registered office in a Member State, has a 
right of access to documents of the 
European institutions (Parliament, the 
Council and the Commission), subject to 
principles and conditions to be defined in 
Council legislation and in the rules of 
procedure of each institution, with a view to 
the greatest possible openness. In terms of the transparency principle, the Amsterdam 
Treaty marks a new stage in the process of 
creating an ever closer union among the 
peoples of Europe, in which decisions are 
taken as openly as possible and as closely 
as possible to the citizen. 
The Treaty also states that the Council, when 
acting in its legislative capacity, is under an 
obligation to make votes and explanations of 
vote public. 
A user's guide available in print and on the 
World Wide Web sets out the practical 
details of the current Commission's access 
policy (http://europa.eu.int/en/comm/accdoc/ 
contents.html). 
3. An active information dissemination 
policy 
All EU institutions maintain a family of WWW 
sites accessible through one single gateway 
(http://europa.eu.int) and offering a large 
amount of information. 
Within the framework of PRINCE, the 
information programme for the European 
citizen, three "Priority Information Actions" 
have been launched : 
• the "Building Europe Together" web site 
(http://europa.eu.int/en/comm/dg10/build/ 
build.htm) provides thematic information 
on the challenges of the European 
integration; 
• http://europa.eu.int/euro/ is the European 
Commission's internet site dedicated 
exclusively to the euro 
* a Dialogue with citizens and business is 
maintained at http://citizens.eu.int/. This 
initiative is a follow up to the Citizens 
First initiative. 
The Office for Official Publications of the 
European Communities (EUR-OP) is the 
official publisher of the institutions of the 
European Union. The three principal 
functions of EUR-OP are editing, technical 
and administrative support and distribution. 
EUR-OP, with a number of representatives of 
European publishing houses, has created a 
EU - Publishers Forum. Acting on behalf of 
all the institutions. EUR-OP is to give access 
to data currently available on databases and 
is to encourage publishers to use 
unpublished EU material. EUR-OP has 
always recommended to the institutions to 
follow the 1989 Synergy Guidelines of the 
Commission. The conditions to which the 
dissemination is subject to vary with the 
26 
value-added attached to the information. For 
instance, EUR-Lex (http://europa.eu.int/eur-
lex/) displays free of charge the Official 
Journal for a period of forty-five days 
following publication and is updated daily in 
11 languages with the latest editions of the 
Official Journal, which are available on the 
Internet a few hours after the paper version 
is published. 
CELEX (http://europa.eu.int/celex/) is a 
subscription-based computerised inter 
institutional documentation system for Union 
law containing the whole body of European 
Union law : a flat fee subscription to CELEX 
is available offering unlimited consumption 
for ECU 960/year. 
4. Background initiatives to the Green 
Paper 
The potential importance of public sector 
information as a resource first attracted the 
Commission's attention in the mid 1980s, 
when, in the context of the IMPACT 
programme for creating a Community 
information market and in response to a 
need perceived by the information industry, it 
started a consultation process with public 
and private sector information providers' and 
users' representatives. In addition, studies 
were carried out with respect to these issues. 
Furthermore, the Commission organised a 
number of preparatory discussions with the 
help of the Legal Advisory Board (for more 
information see the LAB Home Page on the 
European Commission WWW server l*M 
EUROPE at the address: 
http://www2.echo.lu/legal/en/labhome.html). 
These initiatives resulted in a set of 19 
guidelines for 'Improving the Synergy 
between the Public and Private Sectors in 
the Information Market'. However, 
subsequent studies proved that the impact of 
these guidelines was rather disappointing. In 
most Member States the guidelines seem to 
have had little, if anyf impact. 
The Commission organised a meeting in 
Stockholm on June 27 and 28, 1996, at 
which a large number of participants 
discussed various issues related to this 
Green Paper. Participants expressed their 
consensus on the actions undertaken so far 
(the proceedings are available on request). 
The first legislative initiative in this area was 
the adoption of Directive 90/313/EEC of 23 
June 1990 on the freedom of access to 
information on the environment, providing all 
legal and natural persons with a right of 
access to information concerning the 
environment held by public authorities. 
Further actions have been taken by the EU in 
the environment field. In particular the work 
done by the European Environment Agency should be recalled in that respect. 
Furthermore, on 25 June 1998, the 
Presidency of the Council and the 
Commission have signed the UN/ECE 
Convention on access to information, public 
participation in decision-making and access 
to justice in environmental matters. 
27 
Annexe 3: Current situation in the US: the legal framework 
The United States have a long experience of 
active public sector information policy. In 
1966 the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 
was enacted. The FOIA was amended in 1996 
by the Electronic Freedom of Information Act 
(EFOIA) which guarantees public access to 
federal government information 
electronically. 
Government Information Locator Services 
(GILS) have been set up with a view to ensuring 
access to federal information by identifying 
resources relevant to users, describing the 
information available and assisting in assuring 
access (see http://www.gils.net/). 
Through a number of acts additional to the FOIA 
(like the Paperwork Reduction Act and the 
Government in the Sunshine Act and detailed 
policy documents such as the Office of 
Management and Budget circular A130) - the 
US has strongly encouraged the private sector 
to exploit public sector information 
commercially. 
The 1986 Uniform Freedom of Information Act 
Fee Schedule and Guidelines issued by the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) deals 
amongst others with pricing issues. It contains 
provisions essentially charging for search, 
duplication and (possibly) review costs but not 
for the value added by the public sector to the 
raw data. The US pricing philosophy is that the 
public sector should see the adding of value only 
as a tool for its own efficiency purposes, and not as an incentive for profit making. On the other 
hand, if the private sector is to make a 
commercially viable product or service, it should 
be able to add value beyond that added by the 
public sector and sell it at a profit making price. 
There is no copyright on government information 
at federal level. 
In the US, the most important reference to 
competition related issues is made in the 
4.1.1995 Paperwork reduction Act, Section 
3506, dealing with federal agency 
responsibilities. It stipulates that: 
"each agency shall ensure that the public has 
timely and equitable access to the agency's 
public information..." 
but also indicates that it should not, except 
where specifically authorised by statute: 
"A) establish an exclusive, restricted, or other 
distribution arrangement that interferes with 
timely and equitable availability of public 
information to the public; 
B) restrict or regulate the use, resale, or 
redissemination of public information by the 
public; 
C) charge fees or royalties for resale or 
redissemination of public information; or 
D) establish user fees for public information that 
exceed the cost of dissemination". 
28 
ISSN 0254-1475 
COM(98) 585 final 
DOCUMENTS 
EN 15 16 06 01 
Catalogue number : CB-CO-99-021-EN-C 
Office for Official Publications of the European Communities 
L-2985 Luxembourg