COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS Open dataAn engine for innovation, growth and transparent governance
Date: 2011-12-12
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: access to information, digital archiving, dissemination of information, exchange of information, information industry, information society, innovation, research and development

EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Brussels, 12.12.2011 
COM(2011) 882 final 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

Open data 
An engine for innovation, growth and transparent governance 

 
 
 
 
  
 
COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

Open data 
An engine for innovation, growth and transparent governance 

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

The  central  aim  of  the  EU  2020  strategy  is  to  put  Europe’s  economies  onto  a  high  and 
sustainable growth path. To this end, Europe will have to strengthen its innovative potential 
and use its resources in the best possible way. 

One  of  these  resources  is  public  data1  —  all  the  information  that  public  bodies  in  the 
European  Union  produce,  collect  or  pay  for.  Examples  are  geographical  information, 
statistics, weather data, data from publicly funded research projects, and digitised books from 
libraries.  This  information  has  a  significant  — currently  untapped  —  potential  for  re-use  in 
new products and services and for efficiency gains in administrations. Overall economic gains 
from  opening  up  this  resource  could  amount  to  €
 40  billion  a  year  in  the  EU.  Opening  up 
public  data  will  also  foster  the  participation  of  citizens  in  political  and  social  life  and 
contribute to policy areas such as the environment. 

This  Communication  presents  a  package  of  measures  to  overcome  existing  barriers  and 
fragmentation  across  the  EU,  as  part  of  the  Digital  Agenda  for  Europe.  It  consists  of  three 
strands that reinforce each other: 

• 

• 

• 

Adapting the legal framework for data re-use. A proposal for a revised Directive on 
the re-use of public sector information and a revised Commission Decision on the re-
use of its own information are adopted together with this Communication, 

Mobilising  financing  instruments  in  support  of  open  data,  and  deployment  actions 
such as the creation of European data-portals, 

Facilitating coordination and experience sharing across the Member States. 

The actions focus on areas where the functioning of the internal market is at stake and where 
common  standards  and  approaches  will  lead  to  new  and  better  services  and  information 
products for the European consumer. They build on and do not affect the national regimes for 
access to information. 

1 

The concepts of 'data' and 'information' as used in this Communication are interchangeable and refer to 
any content, whatever its medium. 

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2. 

OPEN DATA, WHY DOES IT MATTER FOR EUROPE? 

2.1. 

Untapped business and economic opportunities 

The 2009 Digital Britain Report described data as ‘an innovation currency’ and ‘the lifeblood 
of the knowledge economy’2. A large part of this innovation currency is produced, collected or 
paid for by governments across the EU. It is an essential raw material for a wide range of new 
information products and services that build on new possibilities to analyse and visualise data 
from different sources. 

These  products  range  from  decision  support  systems  for  businesses,  location-based 
services  and  car  navigation  systems  to  weather  forecasts  and  other  ‘apps’  for  our 
smartphones. 

The  market  size  and  growth  of  the  geographic  information  sector  shows  the  potential  of 
public  data  as  an  engine  for  job  creation.  The  German  market  for  geo-information  in  2007 
 1.4 billion, a 50 % increase since 20003. In the Netherlands, the geo-sector 
was estimated at €
accounted for 15 000 full time  employees in  2008. Other areas such as  meteorological data, 
legal information and business information also form the basis of steadily growing markets. 

A recent study estimates the total market for public sector information in 2008 at €
 28 billion 
across  the  EU4.  The  same  study  indicates  that  the  overall  economic  gains  from  further 
opening up public sector information by allowing easy access are around €
 40 billion a year 
for  the  EU27.  The  total  direct  and  indirect  economic  gains  from  PSI  applications  and  use 
across the whole EU27 economy would be in the order of €

 140 billion annually. 

2.2. 

Addressing societal challenges 

Intelligent  processing  of  data  is  essential  for  addressing  societal  challenges.  Data  can  for 
example  be  used  to  enhance  the  sustainability  of  national  health  care  systems.  The  2011 
McKinsey report estimated that effective use of data could generate $ 300 billion in value per 
year5. 

Progress  in  genomics,  drug  discoveries  and the  diagnosis  and  treatment  of  serious 
diseases  such  as  cancer  or  heart  failure  increasingly  depend  on  sophisticated  data 
capturing and analysis techniques. 

Data  management  is  also  essential  for  tackling  environmental  challenges.  Examples  are  the 
processing of energy consumption patterns to improve energy efficiency or of pollution data 
in  traffic  management.  Informed  policy  decisions  in  the  areas  of  transport,  land  use  and 
climate change depend increasingly on analysis of the available data. 

2 
3 

4 
5 

EN 

http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm76/7650/7650.pdf. 
Assessment  of 
the  Re-use  of  Public  Sector  Information 
Meteorological Information and Legal Information sectors, MICUS, December 2008. 
Review of recent studies on PSI re-use and related market developments, G. Vickery, August 2011. 
Mc Kinsey report on ‘Big Data, The next frontier for innovation, competition and productivity’, May 
2011. 

the  Geographical  Information, 

in 

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2.3. 

Accelerating scientific progress 

Scientific activities are increasingly undertaken through global collaboration on the internet, 
using  very  large  data  collections,  huge  computing  resources  and  high-performance 
visualisation. e-science (research enabled by e-infrastructure/ICT) is essential for meeting the 
challenges of the 21st century in scientific discovery and learning. The data used come from 
simulations, digital instruments, sensor nets, and observatories. 
The  2010  report  ‘Riding  the  Wave’6  underlined  the  crucial  role  of  data  for  science  and  its 
potential to change the very nature of scientific process. 

Wide access to scientific data will for example help researchers in different domains 
to  collaborate  on  the  same  data  set,  to  engage  in  entirely  new  forms  of  scientific 
research and to explore correlations between research results. 

The  shift  in  the  scientific  process  brought  about  by  e-science  will  increase  research 
productivity  and  prompt  new  and  unexpected  solutions  to  societal  challenges.  Furthermore, 
the  cross-fertilisation  between  publicly  funded  research  and  the  commercial  sector  in  the 
‘online European Research Area’ will increase the pace and impact of innovation. 

2.4. 

Need to act at all levels: local, regional national and EU level 

Public data are produced at all levels of government. The conditions under which the data are 
made available for commercial or non-commercial re-use have an effect on competition and 
competitiveness. 

Many  of  the  products  and  services  based  on  public  sector  information  have  a  cross-border 
nature. You do not want your mobile service to stop at the border, and Europe-wide business 
information  services  with  gaps  for  one  or  more  countries  will  lose  much  of  their  interest. 
Moreover,  in  order  to  benefit  from  the  size  of  the  internal  market  and  to  help  SMEs  grow 
beyond  their  national  borders,  the  deployment  of  services  across  the  whole  EU  should  be 
facilitated. 

Therefore,  the  same  basic  conditions  should  apply  across  the  European  Union.  This  will 
create a level playing field and stimulate a thriving market of innovative products and services 
based on public data. 

3. 

WHERE DO WE STAND AND WHAT HAS BEEN ACHIEVED SO FAR? 

3.1.  Where do we stand? 

The  thrust  towards  open  data  is  gaining  momentum  in  several  Member  States.  They  are 
embracing  the  concept  for  reasons  of  transparency,  administrative  efficiency  and  the 
economic  potential  of  re-use.  They  are  supporting  open  government  through  legislation  and 
practical  measures,  such  as  the  production  of  data  in  machine-readable  formats  and  the 
creation of data portals. 

The  UK  has  set  up  the  data.gov.uk  portal,  which  brings  together  data  from 
government  organisations  at  all  levels.  Other  Member  States  are  creating  similar 

6 

Final report of the High Level Expert Group on Scientific Data, October 2010. 

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portals, e.g. France with ETALAB. Data portals also exist at regional level, such as 
dadesobertes.gencat.cat in Catalunya and dati.piemonte.it in Piemonte, Italy. 

Nevertheless, the degree of initiative and the awareness of open data issues are uneven among 
the Member States. There is a risk that Europe will miss out on the opportunities offered by 
open data, and will lag behind other regions where open data policies are well established. 

3.2.  What has been achieved at EU level? 

3.2.1.  Legislative framework and policy initiatives 

(1)  Directive on the re-use of public sector information 

The 2003 Directive on the re-use of public sector information7 set out the general legislative 
framework  at  European 
level.  The  Directive  provides  for  a  minimum  degree  of 
harmonisation.  The  2009  review  of  the  Directive  indicated  that,  in  spite  of  progress  since 
2003, barriers to the cross-border use of public sector information still existed. Some of these 
barriers can be tackled within the existing legislation, others cannot. 

(2)  Policy initiatives 

The  general  re-use  policy  is  complemented  by  legislative  or  policy  initiatives  in  specific 
sectors. Examples are: 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

the  Access  to  Environmental  Information  and  INSPIRE  Directives8,  aimed  at 
the  widest  possible  dissemination  of  environmental  information  and  the 
harmonisation of key datasets; 

the  Commission  Communication  on  Marine  Knowledge  20209,  aiming 
amongst other things to make marine data easier and less costly to use; 

the  initiatives  within  the  2008  Action  Plan10  for  the  Deployment  of 
Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), looking at, amongst other things, access 
for private service providers to travel and real-time traffic information; 

the  Commission’s  policy  on  open  access  to  scientific  information11,  which 
includes a pilot for open access to publications resulting from projects funded 
by the European Union and a pan-European, participatory e-Infrastructure of 
Open Access Repositories; The JRC publications repository is also relevant in 
this context. 

the  policies  for  the  digitisation  of  cultural  heritage  and  the  development  of 
Europeana, Europe’s digital library, archive and museum, aiming to ensure the 
widest possible use of digitised cultural material and the related metadata. 

7 
8 
9 
10 
11 

OJ L 345/90, 31.12.2003. 
Directives 2003/4/EC, OJ L 41/26, 14.2.03 and 2007/2/EC, OJ L108/1, 14.3.2007. 
COM(2010) 461 final. 
COM(2008) 886 final/2. 
Communication  on  scientific  information  in  the  digital  age,  COM(2007) 56,  Communication  on  ICT 
infrastructures for e-Science COM(2009) 108 and related Council Conclusions. 

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The re-use of public sector data, whether for commercial or non-commercial purposes, should 
fully  respect  European  and  national  privacy  legislation.  The  objectives  of  fostering  open 
government data and protecting personal data can reinforce each other if based on pro-active 
and conscious information management by the public sector. 

Moreover,  the  implementation  of  open  data  policies  should  fully  respect  the  intellectual 
property  rights  of  third  parties  and  the  European  Union’s  obligations  under  international 
treaties on intellectual property rights. 

3.2.2.  Co-funding of R&D&I 

The Commission has supported open data through its funding programmes, in particular the 
Framework Programmes for Research and Development, the Competitiveness and Innovation 
Programme, and the ISA programme. The projects cover a range of research and application 
areas and types of organisations. 

The Linked Open Data (LOD2) project12 started in September 2010 and will run for 
4 years. It addresses exploitation of the web as a platform for data and information 
integration,  and  the  use  of  semantic  technologies  to  make  government  data  more 
useable. 

The OpenAIRE project13, which started in December 2009 with partners from 25 EU 
countries  and  several  associated  countries,  aims 
to  build  a  participatory 
infrastructure for the EC Pilot for Open Access to Research Information. 

The  ISA  Action  on  semantic  interoperability  (SEMIC.EU)14  promotes  the  idea  of 
Open  Government  Metadata  as  a  first  step  towards  metadata  alignment  at  both 
national and European level. 

3.2.3.  Practising what is preached 

In 2006, the Commission put in place an open re-use policy for its own information resources 
through  the  Decision  on  the  Re-use  of  Commission  Information.  It  makes  all  generally 
accessible Commission information available for commercial and non-commercial purposes. 
Examples are  Eurostat  data and translation  memories  of EU institutions.  The information is 
normally  available  for  free,  or  in  exceptional  cases  in  return  for  the  marginal  costs  of 
dissemination. 

4. 

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES 

4.1. 

New opportunities through technological progress 

Several developments spur new opportunities for the re-use of data — including public sector 
data — in new information products and services. 

12 
13 
14 

http://lod2.eu/. 
http://www.openaire.eu/. 
http://www.semic.eu/ 

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First  of  all,  the  amount  of  data  in  the  world  is  exploding.  The  US  Library  of  Congress 
collected  235  terabytes  of  data  in  April  2011  alone15.  Growth  in  global  data  generated  per 
year is projected at 40 %. 

Part of this growth comes from new types of data. Already, more than 30 million networked 
sensor nodes can be found in the transport, automotive, utility and other sectors16. 

In  parallel,  we  are  witnessing  a  revolution  in  the  technologies  for  analysing,  exploiting  and 
processing data, for example on multilingual search and the automatic extraction of meaning 
from networks of sensors. 

4.2. 

Challenges and remaining barriers 

In  recent  years  some  progress  has  been  made  to  open  up  public  data,  but  different  barriers 
persist. 

The legal framework 

Despite  the  minimum  harmonisation  in  2003  through  the  Directive  on  the  re-use  of  public-
sector information, significant differences in national rules and practices persist. This leads 
to fragmentation of the internal information market and hinders the creation of cross-border 
information services. 

Differences  are  the  clearest  with  respect  to  charging,  with  cost  recovery  practised  in  some 
cases and re-use free or practically free in others. An analysis of recent studies indicates that 
from a macro-economic point of view the open data model leads to better overall results17. A 
series of case studies on public sector bodies that moved from full cost recovery to a marginal 
costs  system  show  that  the  move  not  only  increased  re-use,  but  also  benefited  the  public 
sector bodies concerned18. Moreover the open data approach eliminates possible monopolistic 
tendencies based on single-source data. 

Awareness of public organisations and businesses 

Another key factor is the lack of awareness among public organisations of the potential of 
open  data.  There  is  still  a  widespread  fear  of  losing  control.  Some  of  the  concerns  are 
legitimate, such as privacy protection, national security and the need to protect the intellectual 
property rights of third parties. Other arguments seem to be rather excuses for inaction.19 

Changing the mindset in administrations requires strong political commitment at the highest 
level and a dynamic dialogue between stakeholders, including administrations and public data 
holders,  businesses  and  the  academic  community.  Pilot  and  test  cases,  the  sharing  of  good 
practices,  and  mobilisation  campaigns  (using  for  example  open  data  competitions)  can  help 
the public sector in adopting a culture of open data. This will also increase business awareness 
of data availability and the opportunities it offers. 

15 
16 
17 
18 
19 

McKinsey, op.cit. 
idem. 
G. Vickery, op.cit. 
Study on ‘Pricing of Public Sector Information’, Deloitte consulting and others, June 2011. 
Some examples at http://www.dr0i.de/lib/2011/07/04/a_sample_of_data_hugging_excuses.html 

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Practical and technical hurdles 

Finally,  there  are  practical  and  technical  issues  to  be  addressed.  Language  barriers  and 
interoperability  aspects  need  to  be  tackled  so  that  information  resources  from  different 
organisations  and  countries  can  be  combined.  The  availability  of  the  information  in  a 
machine-readable format as well as a thin layer of commonly agreed metadata could facilitate 
data cross-reference and interoperability and therefore considerably enhance its value for re-
use.  And  the  technical  infrastructure  needs  to  be  in  place  to  ensure  the  availability  of 
information in the long term. In addition, more support is needed for R&D and innovation in 
data analysis and visualisation tools. 

4.3. 

Conclusion 

Public data exploitation holds enormous potential for the EU economy and consumer welfare. 
However,  the  existing  regulatory  tools  and  their  implementation,  the  lack  of  awareness  of 
administrations  and  businesses  and  the  slow  uptake  of  innovative  technologies  are  holding 
back  the  development  of  a  true  market  for  the  re-use  of  public  data  and  do  not  allow  the 
maximum  benefits  to  be  reaped  from  the  new  opportunities  that  data  and  evolving 
technologies offer. 

These  considerations  have  led  the  Commission  to  revise  and  strengthen  its  public  data 
strategy by targeting the legal framework for re-use and available support tools. 

5. 

ACTIONS AT EUROPEAN LEVEL: REVISED STRATEGY FOR PUBLIC OPEN DATA 

The Commission’s revised strategy is built on three complementary strands: 

• 

• 

• 

Adapting  the  framework  for  data  re-use,  including  legal,  soft  law  and  policy 
measures, 

Mobilising  financing  instruments  by  prioritising  open  data  in  R&D&I  and 
infrastructure programmes, 

Facilitating coordination and experience sharing across the Member States. 

5.1. 

A revised legislative framework conducive to openness and re-use 

This Communication is accompanied by a proposal for revising the Directive on the re-use of 
public sector information, by: 

– 

– 

– 

Introducing the principle that all public information that is not explicitly covered by 
one of the exceptions is re-usable for commercial and non-commercial purposes; 

Setting the amount that can be charged for public sector information at not more than 
the marginal costs of dissemination; in exceptional cases, charging the full costs for 
producing and disseminating the information remains possible. 

Expanding  the  scope  of  the  Directive  to  include  libraries,  archives,  museums  and 
university libraries, though in a way that limits the possible financial effects and does 
not impose a major administrative burden on these institutions. 

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Also  for  other  public  sector  bodies  the  modifications  in  the  Directive  will  entail  at  most  a 
limited financial and administrative burden that is by far outweighed by the expected benefits 
for society as a whole. 

At the same time, the Commission is updating the rules on the re-use of its own information 
resources. The main changes concern the inclusion of the research information produced by 
the  Joint  Research  Centre,  measures  to  improve  the  implementation  of  the  Decision,  and  a 
provision  on  machine-readable  formats.  In  2012  the  Commission  will  explore  whether  and 
how similar rules could be taken up by the other EU institutions and key European agencies. 

In  its  forthcoming  legislative  and  policy  initiatives  in  areas  such  as  transport,  environment, 
maritime policy and space policy, the Commission will take full account of the opportunities 
offered by open data.  Where  relevant, it will go beyond the minimum conditions set by the 
Directive on the re-use of public sector information, to ensure the widest possible use of data 
resources. 

5.2. 

Soft law for open research information 

Because  of  the  specificities  of  research  data,  the  Commission  will  set  out  in  detail  and  in 
separate documents its strategy for scientific and research data and associated infrastructures. 
It intends to adopt in 2012 a Communication and Recommendation on the accessibility and 
preservation  of  scientific  information.  It  will  work  with  Member  States  to  step  up  their 
activities  to  provide  open  access  to  scientific  information  on  the  basis  of  a  concrete  set  of 
measures. In parallel, the Commission will detail how it will deal with the results of research 
funded by the European Union.. 

5.3. 

Financing and support measures: Stimulating R&D&I in open data 

The Commission will continue stimulating activities to open up government data through its 
funding  programmes.  It  will  use  different  instruments  to  stimulate  the  market,  to  test  and 
promote the development of innovative solutions, and to ensure the widest possible uptake of 
open data. 

(1)  Support for R&D&I 

The  Commission  will  continue  to  support  R&D  in  data-handling  technologies,  e.g.  data 
mining, analytics or visualisation. In the period 2011-2013 the Commission will spend around 
 100  million  on  R&D  in  these  fields.  Information  management  is  also  one  of  the  priority 
areas  envisaged  for  ICT  in  Horizon  2020,  which  will  cover  EU  support  for  research  and 
innovation in the period 2014-2020. 

The Commission will support technology innovation and uptake through pilot actions, testing 
and  showcasing  innovative  applications  such  as  geographical  information  systems  and 
location-based  services  (GIS)  and  creative  content  applications  in  education,  culture  or 
fashion.  These  will  be  supported  under  the  CIP-ICT  PSP  in  2012-13  and  further  support  is 
envisaged under Horizon 2020. 

In  addition,  the  Commission  will  help  organise  open  data  competitions  to  foster  the 
development  of  new  information  services,,  and  take  initiatives  to  improve  access  to  capital 
for entrepreneurs who build new information services based on public sector data. 

(2)  Support for data infrastructures — data portals for Europe 

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€
In  order  to  facilitate  the  development  of  information  products  and  services  combining  data 
from  across  the  European  Union,  the  Commission  will  work  towards  the  creation  of  two 
interlinked European data portals. 

In 2012 it will start operating a portal that will make the Commission’s own data resources 
and those of other European institutions and agencies easily accessible and usable. In parallel, 
metadata  definitions  with  high  re-use  potential  will  be  identified  and  promoted.  Standard 
conditions  for  use  will  aim  to  ensure  the  widest  possible  uptake  of  European  data  in 
innovative  information  services,  in  line  with  the  Commission  Decision  on  the  re-use  of 
Commission information. 

The  Commission  will  work  together  with  Member  States,  public  sector  bodies  and  regional 
aggregators to establish a pan-European data portal that will start operating in 2013, and that 
will give direct access to a range of datasets from across the EU (including the data available 
through  the  Commission  portal).  Where  possible,  the  work  will  build  on  existing  structures 
and developments, and the portal will gradually expand its content to cover key datasets from 
all the Member States. 

Support will be provided from the CIP programme in the inception phase (2011-2013). In the 
period 2014-2020, funding for the European e-service infrastructure for public data will come 
from the Connecting Europe Facility20. 

The Commission will also continue to support digitisation activities and the development of 
the Europeana platform, which addresses an important aspect of data re-use. 

(3)  Support for research data infrastructures 

The Commission supports in FP7, and envisages continued support in Horizon 2020 for the 
development of a persistent and robust service infrastructure for scientific data in Europe that 
responds  to  the  needs  of  the  data-intensive  science  and  research  of  2020,  guided  by  the 
recommendations of the ‘Riding the Wave’ report. It will allow access to and interaction with 
a continuum of information, from raw observational and experimental data to publications in 
all areas of science. 

This infrastructure encompasses technical, organisational and regulatory aspects that require 
extensive  coordination  with  Member  States  and  also  with  third  countries  and  international 
organisations  to  ensure  global  interoperability  and  reciprocal  access.  The  Commission  will 
work together with our international partners to develop standards for global data access and 
interoperability. 

5.4. 

Coordinating measures at Member State and EU level 

The  Commission  will  continue  facilitating  coordination  and  experience  sharing  across  the 
Member States, in particular through: 

• 

The  PSI  group,  a  Member  States’  expert  group  for  the  exchange  of  good 
practices and initiatives supporting public-sector information re-use, 

20 

See the Commission proposals for the CEF, COM(2011)665, COM(2011)657/3. 

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• 

• 

The  Public  Sector  Information  platform.  This  web  portal  provides  news  on 
European  developments,  good  practices,  examples  of  new  products  and 
services, and legal cases concerning PSI re-use, 

The  LAPSI  network,  which  analyses  legal  issues  related  to  public  sector 
information  and  fosters  debate  among  researchers  and  stakeholders.  It  will 
produce a set of guidelines for access and re-use policies and practices, 

• 

The ISA action on semantic interoperability. 

The  Commission  will  continue  to  support  and  participate  in  policy  advisory  groups  such  as 
the e-Infrastructures Policy Forum and the e-Infrastructures Reflection Group, important for 
coordination between Member States on scientific data infrastructures. 

6. 

CONCLUSION 

Information  produced,  collected  or  paid  for  by  public  organisations  across  the  European 
Union is a key resource in the information economy. At the moment, its full potential is far 
from  being  realised.  In  this  Communication,  the  Commission  proposes  concrete  steps  to 
unlock  the  potential  of  Europe's  public  sector  resources,  ranging  from  a  review  of  the 
Directive on the re-use of public sector information to the creation of a pan-European portal. 

Member  States  can  contribute  to  making  open  data  a  reality  through  the  rapid  adoption, 
transposition  and  implementation  of  the  revised  Directive  on  the  re-use  of  public  sector 
information. This will create the conditions for economic activity based on open data, and will 
stimulate cross-border applications. 

In  addition,  Member  States  should  formulate  and  implement  open  data  policies,  taking  up 
good-practice  examples  from  across  the  EU.  Support  should  for  example  be  given  to  open 
data pilots and open data competitions, in particular those targeting the development of cross-
border products and services. 

Finally, the Commission calls on the Member States to contribute to the development of the 
pan-European data portal. The Commission will engage in discussions with experts from the 
Member  States  in  order  to  ensure  that  the  portal  has  a  solid  foundation.  During  the 
deployment  phase,  Member  States  will  have  to  make  a  wide  range  of  datasets  available 
through the portal to turn it into a successful service and a basis for economic activity. 

The  Commission  invites  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council,  within  their  respective 
responsibilities,  to  create  the  right  framework  conditions  for  the  re-use  of  public  sector 
information  across  the  European  Union,  and  to  support  the  projects  and  infrastructures  that 
can turn Europe’s public data into a motor for innovation, growth and transparency. 

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Open data strategy, key measures 

The legislative framework 
• 

Proposal for a revised Directive on the re-use of public sector information, December 
2011; 
Revised Commission Decision on the re-use of Commission information, December 
2011; Work to expand the regime to other European Institutions and Agencies, 2012; 
Open data to be taken up in sector-based legislative and policy initiatives. 

European open data portals and platforms 
• 

Portal  giving  access  to  Commission  data  and  data  from  other  EU  institutions  and 
agencies, spring 2012; 
Launch of a pan-European data portal, giving access to datasets from across the EU, 
spring 2013, following preparatory work with Member States from 2011; 
Co-funding  of  the  European  e-service  infrastructure  for  open  data  through  the 
Connecting Europe Facility 2014-2020. 

Open data for science 
• 

Communication  and  Recommendation 
information, early 2012; 
Expansion of the open access pilot for scientific publications to the whole of Horizon 
2020 + pilot with open access to research data. 

the  Member  States  on  scientific 

to 

Research and innovation 
• 

Research  and  innovation  projects  relevant  for  open  data,  in  particular  through  FP7, 
CIP  and  Horizon  2020,  with  funding  for  research  infrastructures  supporting  open 
access to research articles and data; 
Open data competitions (2012-2013) + improving access to capital for entrepreneurs 
in this area.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

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Targets 

The Commission is committed to: 
• 
• 

the launch of a Commission open data portal in 2012. 
the launch in 2013 of a pilot-portal with a multilingual interface and search facilities, 
with datasets from across the EU. 

The work with the Member States should lead to: 
• 

the  formulation  and  implementation  of  open  public  data  policies  in  all  Member 
States by early 2013. 
1/3  of  all  available  structured  government  data  in  the  Member  States  searchable 
through the pan-European data-portal by 2015. 

• 

Overall envisaged impact: 
• 

by 2017 (three years after the expected transposition date of the Directive on the re-
use of public sector information), the overall gains of PSI re-use to reach €
 100 bn per 
year in the EU, including new business development and efficiency gains in public 
sector services. 

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