Source: EURLEX
Language: en
Format: md

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| COMBINED EVALUATION ROADMAP/INCEPTION IMPACT ASSESSMENT | | | |
| Title of the initiative | Review of the Directive on the re-use of public sector information (Directive 2003/98/EU) | | |
| Lead DG – responsible unit – AP Number | CONNECT.G1 | Date of roadmap | 3/08/2017 |
| Likely Type of initiative | Legislative proposal + Communication | | |
| Indicative Planning | Q2 2018 | | |
| Additional Information | <https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/european-legislation-reuse-public-sector-information> | | |
| This combined evaluation roadmap/Inception Impact Assessment aims to inform stakeholders about the Commission's work in order to allow them to provide feedback on the intended initiative and to participate effectively in future consultation activities. Stakeholders are, in particular, invited to provide views on the Commission's understanding of the current situation, problem and possible solutions and to make available any relevant information that they may have, including on possible impacts of the different options. The roadmap/Inception Impact Assessment is provided for information purposes only and its content may change. This roadmap/Inception Impact Assessment does not prejudge the final decision of the Commission on whether this initiative will be pursued or on its final content. | | | |
| A. Context, Evaluation, Problem definition and Subsidiarity Check | | | |
| Context | | | |
| In the May 2017 Mid-Term Review of the Digital Single Market Strategy (COM(2017) 228), the Commission announced that it would, "in spring 2018, based on an evaluation of existing legislation and subject to an Impact Assessment, prepare an initiative on accessibility and re-use of public and publicly funded data and further explore the issue of privately held data which are of public interest".  With the review of the Directive on the re-use of Public Sector Information ("PSI Directive"), the Commission can fulfil the periodic review obligation contained in Article 13 of the Directive, and at the same time contribute to fulfilling the goals of the DSM Strategy in the field of the data economy. The ongoing evaluation of the Directive on legal protection of databases 96/9/EC ("Database Directive", see  <roadmap> ) will feed into this exercise by providing evidence as to potential issues with the interplay between the PSI and Database Directives. The initiative will also be aligned with the follow-up actions to the REFIT mid-term policy evaluation of Directive 2007/2/EC, "INSPIRE"  The review falls under the REFIT Programme and will aim to identify opportunities to reduce regulatory costs and to simplify the existing legislation without negatively affecting the achievement of the underlying policy goals. | | | |
| Evaluation | | | |
| The review will first evaluate the functioning of the PSI Directive based on the state of play regarding the re-use of public sector information in a representative number of EU Member States and then, on the basis of this evaluation, assess the expected impacts of a number of options for policy interventions.  In accordance with the Better Regulation Guidelines, the evaluation will assess the effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, relevance and EU added value of the PSI Directive. It will pay attention to the impact of the Directive on the EU's data economy in the light of the changes introduced by Directive 2013/37/EU, in particular by examining the extent of the increase in data re-use, the effects of the principles applied to charging and licensing, the re-use of documents and the interaction between data protection rules as well as interplay with the Database Directive. The evaluation will also assess and quantify the direct and indirect costs and benefits resulting from the PSI with a particular focus on data re-use and aim to identify simplification potential. The evaluation will focus on the period starting from the transposition deadline of the Directive 2013/37/EU (July 2015) and cover all EU Member States. | | | |
| Problem the initiative aims to tackle | | | |
| Despite progress in opening up public datasets for re-use since the adoption of the Directive, a number of obstacles to wide public sector information re-use still persist. Rapid technological progress has allowed public sector bodies to generate a wealth of dynamic datasets (such as public transport data). The provision of real-time access to such data, via adequate technical means (Application Programming Interfaces) and in conformity with recognised interoperable standards is nevertheless still rare, depriving re-users of a chance to tap into this pool of high-value datasets for further re-use (e.g. real time travel apps). This is made worse by unclear data management practices, including insufficient use of persistent identifiers, low frequency of updates, and lack of rules for maintaining track of different versions of the data.  Several public sector bodies also continue to set charges for re-use well above the sums needed to cover the costs related to their reproduction and dissemination despite a body of evidence pointing to the lack of its macroeconomic justification and resulting in an obstacle to re-use and a market barrier, which is further amplified by the use of heterogeneous set of licences (often not machine-readable) with varying degrees of limitations on access and re-use. Importantly, many datasets of considerable value for society and the economy remain shielded from the EU’s legal framework due to the fact that, in numerous Member States, the execution of public sector tasks is increasingly entrusted to independent private sector entities not covered by the PSI Directive. This may also be the case with data held by publicly owned utility companies or transport operators. Moreover, the re-use of some types of valuable publicly-funded data, such as research data, are so far not covered by EU-level legislative rules.  Problems may arise in situations where public bodies rely on rights provided by the Database Directive to prevent the re-use of the content of their databases. Similarly, there is some uncertainty regarding the relationship with the INSPIRE Directive and Public Access to Environmental Information Directives, (PAEI) 2003/3/EC.  Finally, given the evolution of the public sector’s role in the data economy public sector bodies of the Member States face an increasing need to access data held by private entities, whenever the insight derived would improve the functioning of the public policies and services such as delivery of official statistics or help advance research. | | | |
| Subsidiarity check (and legal basis) | | | |
| The legal basis for intervention is Article 114 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.  The removal of the remaining obstacles to an open re-use of public sector information cannot be achieved by Member States alone. Diverging national legal solutions would compromise the growing tendency towards cross-border re-use, whereas the different levels of 'open data readiness' across EU Member States would persist or deepen, having a negative effect for the homogeneity and competitiveness within the Digital Single Market. The actions proposed are proportionate, since national intervention will not be able to achieve the same results (increase in openly re-useable PSI) whilst at the same time ensuring a competitive and non-discriminatory environment across the entire Single Market. The proposed actions can be seen as a next step towards full availability of PSI for re-use: a policy objective accepted by the Member States already in 2003 and confirmed in 2013. | | | |
| B. Objectives and Policy options | | | |
| The overall aim of this initiative is to enhance the positive effect of the re-use of public sector data on the economy and society by increasing the amount of public sector data available for re-use, bringing down the remaining obstacles to an open re-use of such data, and addressing the technological changes in the fields of data access and transfer. The initiative will accommodate the growing importance of the public sector as the key data consumer and re-user. In addition, it will contribute to the implementation of the Once Only Principle.  The baseline scenario used as a benchmark for the assessment of the policy options is the current situation in which the socio-economic impact of many datasets remains limited due to persisting obstacles (prohibition of access, high fees for re-use, obsolete technical infrastructure, etc.)    The Impact Assessment will investigate various policy options, including a possible regulatory intervention (e.g. amendment of the existing Directive, alignment of specific provisions in the INSPIRE and PAEI Directives), soft law measures (e.g. such as the Commission Notice 2014/C 240/01 'Guidelines on recommended standard licences, datasets and charging for the re-use of documents') as well as a combination of the two. The option of regulatory intervention could in particular consist of extending the scope of the Directive with an aim to a) allow for the re-use of data held by public sector bodies (e.g. public utility companies) currently excluded from the scope of the PSI Directive, due to the commercial or industrial nature of their activities, b) allow for the re-use of data held by private entities entrusted with fulfilling public sector tasks on the basis of concession (delegation) of public service contracts, c) allow for the re-use of data held by educational and research establishments, in particular aiming at a wider re-use of research data, d) enhancing access to and re-use of dynamic public data, e) lowering the charges for the re-use and promoting legal interoperability of licences. It could also be used to provide a clarification on the interplay between the PSI and the Database, INSPIRE and PAEI Directives.  Soft law measures will be considered among the policy options both as stand-alone actions and as support to some or all of the elements covered by legislative action. They are particularly adapted to thematic areas currently covered by such instruments (e.g. access to research data and scientific publications) but could be used also for new areas of intervention (access to privately held data of public interest, e.g. for production of official statistics).Possible accompanying measures such as standardisation and demonstration activities or promoting the engagement of Member States, e.g. in the context of the eGovernment Action Plan 2016-2020 will also be considered. | | | |
| C. Preliminary Assessment of Expected Impacts | | | |
| Studies have proven that the extent of the economic impact is directly related to the amount of public sector information available for open re-use across the EU. Therefore, the measures proposed in this initiative will aim at increasing the quantity of PSI released as open data (extension of scope to new sources of data, lowering of charges for re-use) and their provision in a manner which facilitates re-use in a digital environment (enhancing access to dynamic data).  The economic actors likely to benefit most from the initiative can be grouped into categories of 'developers' (design, build and sell data-based applications to customers), 'enrichers' (use open data to gain new insights that they can deliver as services), and 'enablers' (provide platforms and technologies that other businesses and individuals use). Based on the example of Spain, the most concerned sectors are: market research, financial services, spatial information sector, publishing and culture. | | | |
| Likely economic impacts | | | |
| A wide array of companies along the data value chain (e.g. developing, enriching, analysing data) in sectors such as publishing, market research or IT are likely to benefit from increased availability of PSI. In particular, public data is an asset sought after by innovative start-ups, given the relatively modest initial capital investment necessary to launch a data-driven business. This beneficial effect on start-ups and SMEs has been shown by a recent incubator programme supported by the EU (opendataincubator.eu) as well as market studies in EU Member States (Spain, UK), which show that the community of commercial re-users of open data is predominantly composed of companies that employ up to 10 people.  The proposed initiative is expected to be of considerable benefit to SMEs and start-ups due to open data's effect of lowering of market entry barriers and by increasing supply of machine-readable data – a key resource for SMEs s in the data processing sector. The public sector could benefit from efficiency gains thanks to an easier access and use of privately held data (i.e. the production of relevant, timely and detailed official statistics).  The total economic impact of opening up public sector data for re-use is significant for EU 28: the 2014 WISE Report (Warsaw Institute of Economic Studies) estimated the direct effect of an increased competition stimulated by the opening of a public sector data as surpassing 10 billion EUR by 2020' whilst the 2015 European Data Portal Study forecasted the market size of Open Data to increase by 36.9%, to a value of 75.7 billion EUR in 2020, with the accumulated cost savings for public administrations to equal 1.7 billion EUR by that date. | | | |
| Likely social impacts | | | |
| One of the most important social impacts of increased re-use of open data is an increase in employment within the data-intensive economic sectors that also rely on public sector information. Based on the approximate number of Open Data jobs in 2016 and assuming their increase at a rate of 7.3%, it is expected that additional 25,000 direct Open Data jobs could be created in the period 2016-2020.  Opening up data also leads to outcomes which are difficult to quantify in terms of monetary value, but which have a noticeable effect on social interactions: it can make monitoring easier, enable faster access to information, better resource allocation, save time (e.g. thanks to fewer traffic jams) and increase automation, standardisation and interoperability. In practical terms, open data can e.g. help choose a healthcare provider based on treatment outcomes, but also stimulate healthcare providers to share their best practices. Easier and faster access to relevant information is also invaluable in emergency situations to help find the most efficient response.  In addition, openness of public administration improves government accountability and increases the trust of citizens in their institutions. It facilitates communication between citizens and authorities and improves evidence-based policy making. Ultimately, citizen empowerment and improved governance lead to solutions that target real public problems and magnify the effects of public policies on the relevant (e.g. local) communities.  Other indirect social impacts have also been reported. For instance, applying Open Data in transport services can save 629 million hours of unnecessary waiting time on the road in the EU and possibly lead to saving 1,425 lives a year (i.e. 5.5% of the European road fatalities). The development of smart cities services will also benefit from both the commercial re-use of public data and the public use of relevant data held by private companies. | | | |
| Likely environmental impacts | | | |
| The initiative is likely to have a beneficial effect on the environment due to the cost-saving and efficiency-enhancing effects of open data re-use which can be realised both in the public (e.g. data-based decision making avoiding excessive electricity consumption for inefficient data storage and repeated computation) and private sector (e.g. inter-modal transport solutions allowing for reduction of traffic and fuel consumption). | | | |
| Likely impacts on fundamental rights | | | |
| Fundamental rights will not be negatively affected due to the current safeguards in the text of the Directive (e.g. precedence of data protection rules, exclusion on the grounds of 3rd party Intellectual Property Rights).  However, the way in which companies do business may be affected by the provisions intended to extend the scope of the Directive towards data held by certain commercial entities as well as by the measures aiming at facilitating access to privately-held data for public interest purposes. In this respect, it could be considered as affecting the freedom to conduct a business (Article 16 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights). | | | |
| Likely impacts on simplification and/or administrative burden | | | |
| The proposed measures are unlikely to increase the administrative burden on Member States administrations. On the contrary, streamlining and simplifying rules in the areas of charging and licencing for the re-use of PSI as well as measures designed to promote the use of APIs are likely to result in an increased efficiency and reduce the human and organisational resources needed for the provision of PSI for re-use by third parties. The opening up of data held by commercial bodies for the purpose of conducting actions in the public interest will significantly decrease the administrative burden related to the purchase of such data.  Some public sector bodies may be affected by the loss of revenues currently generated by the application of charges. However, available evidence suggests that the actual number of such public sector bodies is very low and that the benefits for the overall economy thanks to a decrease in prices will largely outweigh the losses concentrated in those few (and gradually shrinking number of) high-charging institutions. In addition, the administrative costs of processing and monitoring payments borne by the public administration often either outweigh the income generated by charging for re-use or at least call into question its economic viability. | | | |
| D. Data Collection and Better Regulation Instruments | | | |
| Impact assessment | | | |
| An impact assessment will support this initiative and inform the Commission's final decision regarding this policy proposal. It will be prepared in full alignment with the Better Regulation Guidelines. It will include the formation of an Inter-service Group chaired by the Secretariat General, a data collection exercise (see below), drafting of an impact assessment report to be submitted for the acceptance of the Regulatory Scrutiny Board, and a wide consultation covering all the relevant sectors and groups of stakeholders (see below). | | | |
| Data collection | | | |
| A sizeable body of evidence on the socio-economic potential of open data is available. A dedicated study will gather the necessary new evidence in support of the Impact Assessment exercise, including in the area of access to and reuse of privately held data for public interest. Additional data will be obtained thanks to an open public consultation and a study in the framework of the Database Directive's ongoing evaluation. Similarly, a quantitative evaluation and assessment study of spatial data covered by the INSPIRE Directive will be launched.  The preliminary selection of recent evidence supporting the initial scoping of the initiative and the expected impacts covers: The impact of open data on economic growth and innovation (11 studies), the impacts on society (2 studies), the impact of lowering charges on re-use (2 studies), open data in utility companies (2 studies). Additional evidence will be sought from the following sources:    a) Member States reports on the state of PSI re-use (foreseen by article 13.2 of the Directive)  b) Input from the Member States expert Group on PSI re-use, the  <PSI Group>  c) The annual landscaping exercise on Open Data Maturity in EU 28 by the European Data Portal  d) An Impact Assessment support study SMART 2017/0061  e) A PSI request repository to be set up (SMART 2016/0088)  f) Workshops and stakeholder dialogue foreseen as part of the consultation strategy  g) Study on the evaluation of the Database Directive (SMART 2017/0084)  h) INSPIRE Directive REFIT Communication and Staff Working Document.  i) Evidence on access to privately held data for official statistics, provided by national statistical institutes | | | |
| Consultation strategy | | | |
| In addition to the feedback received on the Inception Impact Assessment, a public online consultation is planned specifically on the PSI Directive. It will be announced  <in the consultation planning>  and will last 12 weeks. The questions will cover both the evaluation of the current Directive implementation and the problem, objectives and possible options for the future. In the context of the evaluation of the Database Directive an open public consultation was launched on 24 May and will close on 30 August.  Several workshops will be organised, some of which in the framework of the Impact Assessment study. They will target specific issues (access to privately-held data for public organisations, such as statistical offices) or specific stakeholders (businesses, Member States, public sector bodies). | | | |
| Will an Implementation plan be established? | | | |
| The review will examine the need and modalities for upgrading an existing and well established legislative instrument. An implementation plan may not be deemed necessary if the nature of changes is rather technical and the scope limited. | | | |

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