Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on:the Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions eEurope 2002: creating a EU framework for the exploitation of public sector information, andthe Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the re-use and commercial exploitation of public sector documents
Date: 2002-11-21
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: Internet, access to information, approximation of laws, data protection, dissemination of information, fixing of prices, information policy, public service

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Official Journal of the European Union

26.3.2003

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on:

— the ‘Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the
Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions eEurope 2002: creating
a EU framework for the exploitation of public sector information’, and

— the ‘Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the re-use

and commercial exploitation of public sector documents’

(2003/C 73/10)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

having regard to the Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the
Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions — eEurope 2002: creating a EU
framework for the exploitation of public sector information (COM(2001) 607 final) and the Proposal for
a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the re-use and commercial exploitation of
public sector documents (COM(2002) 207 final — 2002/0123 (COD));

having regard to the decision of the Council of 24 July 2002, under the first paragraph of Article 265 of
the Treaty establishing the European Community, to consult the Committee on this matter;

having regard to its Bureau’s decision of 12 March 2002 to instruct the Commission for Culture and
Education to draw up an opinion on the matter;

having regard to the Green Paper on Public sector information: a key resource for Europe (COM(98) 585
final);

having regard to its opinion (CdR 190/1999 fin) (1) on Public sector information: a key resource for
Europe — Green Paper on public sector information in the information society (COM(98) 585 final);

having regard to the eEurope 2002 Draft Action Plan: An Information Society for All (COM(2000) 330
final);

having regard to the Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the
Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions — The Introduction of Third
Generation Mobile Communications in the European Union: State of Play and the Way Forward
(COM(2001) 141 final);

having regard to the multiannual Community programme to stimulate the development and use of
European digital content on the global networks and to promote linguistic diversity in the information
society eContent (Council Decision 2001/48/EC of 22 December 2000) (2);

having regard to the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the harmonisation of
certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society (2001/29/EC);

having regard to the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the legal protection of
databases (96/9/EC);

having regard to the study for the European Commission on commercial exploitation of public sector
information (October 2000) drawn up by Pira International;

having regard to its draft opinion (CdR 134/2002 rev.) adopted on 30 September 2002 by the CoR
Commission for Culture and Education [rapporteur: Ms Adela María Barrero Flórez, Director General of
European Affairs, Government of the Principality of Asturias (E/PES)],

adopted the following opinion at its 47th plenary session of 20 and 21 November 2002 (meeting of
21 November).

(1) OJ C 57, 29.2.2000, p.11.
(2) OJ L 14, 18.1.2001.

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1. The Committee of the Regions’ views

The Committee of the Regions’ underlines

1.9.
the huge impact on the economic and social develop-
ment of contemporary society of a more efficient and extensive
use and exploitation of public sector information by the public
sector as well as by citizens, companies and organisations;

the huge benefits that the development of the infor-
1.1.
mation and knowledge society has on the quality of life of
citizens, the competitiveness of companies, job creation and
the quality of public services;

1.2.
the predominant role that the exploitation and re-use
of information plays in developing the so-called information
and knowledge society;

1.3.
the great economic and, therefore, job-creation poten-
tial of the invaluable information that the public sector creates,
compiles and exploits and which forms an essential basis for
many digital information products in the content sector and
an important raw material for new added-value services, in
both the private and public sector, which use various channels
including the wireless internet;

1.4.
that local and regional authorities are among the main
producers, compilers, owners and suppliers of public sector
information and therefore place great importance on a proper
and extensive compilation and exploitation of such infor-
mation;

1.5.
the at present limited possibilities for exploiting public
sector information in Europe owing, to a large extent, to the
lack of clear and consistent rules and practices governing
this area throughout the European Union, and insufficient
information in the public sector itself;

the general uncertainty about the conditions for using
1.6.
and exploiting public sector information in the European
Union which, to a large extent, prevents companies in the
content sector from carrying out cross-border exploitation of
such information;

1.7.
the importance for local and regional authorities of
disseminating and re-using generally accessible information in
order to exercise more effectively their public task as the
political representatives closest to citizens, organisations and
companies;

1.8.
the different cultural and administrative traditions
between Member States and between local and regional bodies
regarding the collection and organisation of public sector
information and the fact that, at all events, the issue of access
to public sector information is a national, regional and local
competence;

the importance of and need for common rules and
1.10.
practices governing the re-use and exploitation of public sector
information to ensure that the same basic conditions are
applied to all players in the European information market,
conditions for re-using such information are more transparent,
and distortions of the internal market are eliminated;

that the documents discussed in the draft Directive
1.11.
are part of a package of political measures being developed in
connection with the establishment of a minimum set of
common rules governing the commercial and non-commercial
exploitation of public sector information in the Member States.

2. The Committee of the Regions’ recommendations

The Committee of the Regions

2.1.
agrees with the Communication that improved use of
public sector information could turn this resource into a
valuable asset for citizens, businesses and administrations, who
can greatly benefit from a good provision of public sector
information on the Internet;

shares the Commission’s belief

that public sector
2.2.
information has a considerable economic potential as it is an
essential basis for many digital information products and could
become an important raw material for new services and in
particular for the wireless internet;

2.3.
agrees with the draft Directive that a minimum har-
monisation of the rules and practices of the Member States on
the re-use of public sector information will help create better
conditions for the exploitation of such information. This in
turn will considerably boost economic activity and job cre-
ation, and lead to a better use of this information, bringing
other benefits for citizens in the form of a range of added-
value information products that the public sector itself cannot
provide;

welcomes the fact that the Directive limits itself to the
2.4.
minimum harmonisation needed to give market players legal
certainty and transparency, thereby helping to ease or over-
come the main barriers for industry, gives the Member
States a sufficient margin for manoeuvre with regard to its
implementation and, as a general principle, allows each public
sector body to decide whether or not to allow the re-use of
general information;

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2.5.
regrets the title of the proposed Directive because, as is
clear from the title of the Communication, it is the exploitation
of public sector information and not the exploitation of public
sector documents that needs regulating, the latter already being
covered by the legislation of some Member States;

2.6.
considers that both the scope of the Directive and the
possible grounds for exclusion from it should refer not only to
information contained in documents held by public sector
bodies but also to documents produced by them;

2.7.
also believes that, in line with the Directive’s aim and
scope, the definition of ‘re-use’ found in the proposed Directive
should include the ‘exploitation’ as well as the ‘use’ of public
sector information;

2.8.
welcomes the fact that the Directive’s scope respects
the rules established in the Member States for defining
generally accessible documents and, at all events, safeguards
the protection of privacy and the intellectual property rights
of third parties;

believes that the definition of ‘document’ should be
2.9.
clarified so that the differences in terms of,
inter alia, data
security between the release of a single document and the
release of a block of documents would be taken into account;

2.10.
believes that the scope of the draft Directive should
exclude not only the types of public sector information listed
but also documents produced or held by the political bodies
of public administrations that must be excluded according to
national legislation;

supports the re-use of generally accessible public
2.11.
sector information for both commercial and non-commercial
purposes, and welcomes the fact that the proposed Directive
attempts to reduce to a minimum the additional administrative
burden that making such information available may place on
public bodies;

2.12.
considers that the Directive should set out require-
ments for the use of public sector information by commercial
this could mean,
companies. For commercial companies,
among other things, a requirement to preserve the quality of
public sector information and to ensure that it is up-to-date,
that is used correctly, and is not open to misinterpretation.
The information must retain its authenticity and the source be
properly acknowledged;

2.13.
believes that, as part of the experimentation and
dialogue actions proposed by the Commission, priority should

Brussels, 21 November 2002.

be given to supporting and fostering experimentation, at all
levels of the public sector, regarding the standardisation of
electronic formats and metadata structures, as these issues
have a huge practical
impact for information available in
electronic format and could avoid the need to provide such
information in all pre-existing formats;

2.14.
agrees with the principles for charging laid down in
the proposed Directive as they entitle public bodies, whenever
they deem it necessary or appropriate, to recover the cost
of producing, reproducing and disseminating information
through the charge for re-using it but, given that this concerns
generally accessible information of public sector bodies, con-
siders it inappropriate for the charging principles to include a
profit margin;

is also concerned about the potential economic value on the
market of products which are obtained through the exploi-
tation of public sector information by the private sector and
may significantly reduce its general use;

2.15.
agrees with the proposed Directive on the general
need to prevent conduct that may constitute an abuse of a
dominant position and welcomes the fact
that exclusive
arrangements for the exploitation of public sector information
may be allowed in some specific cases when such arrangements
are needed to safeguard the provision of services of general
interest;

is concerned that the proposed Directive’s failure
2.16.
to consider transitional provisions or periods may affect
conventions or contracts for the re-use or exploitation of
information that have been concluded between public bodies
and private companies and are in force at the time of entry
into force of the draft Directive;

2.17.
Directive’s global
reviews to be carried out following its entry into force;

proposes defining objective indicators so that the
impact can be properly analyzed in the

2.18.
welcomes the establishment of a Group to Promote
Digital Public Data that will act as a coordination platform and
sounding board and, in order to highlight the importance of
giving consideration to interested decentralised bodies when
applying the open method of coordination, insists that local
and regional authorities participate in this Group.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Albert BORE