2006/291/EC,Euratom: Commission Decision of  7 April 2006  on the re-use of Commission information

20.4.2006 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 107/38
COMMISSION DECISION
of 7 April 2006
on the re-use of Commission information
(2006/291/EC, Euratom)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 218(2) thereof,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community, and in particular Article 131 thereof,
Having regard to the Treaty on European Union, and in particular Article 28(1) and Article 41(1) thereof,
Whereas:
(1) The new information and communication technologies have created unprecedented possibilities to aggregate and combine content from different sources.
(2) Public sector information is an untapped resource that could be the basis of new, added-value, information society products and services. The Commission underlined the economic potential of public sector information in its Communication of 23.10.2001 (1)‘eEurope 2002: Creating an EU framework for the exploitation of public sector information’.
(3) The Commission and the other Institutions are themselves holders of many documents of all kinds which could be re-used in added-value information products and services and which could provide a useful content resource for companies and citizens alike.
(4) The right to access Commission documents is regulated through Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (2).
(5) Directive 2003/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (3) sets minimum rules for the re-use of public sector information throughout the European Union. In its recitals it encourages Member States to go beyond these minimum rules and to adopt open data policies, allowing a broad use of documents held by public sector bodies.
(6) In its Communication ‘eEurope 2002: Creating an EU framework for the exploitation of public sector information’, the Commission announced an update of the policies on the re-use of information of the EU institutions. Several positive steps have been made in this respect, such as the new Eurostat policy on dissemination of information and the move towards a freely accessible Eurlex portal.
(7) The new Commission initiative ‘i2010 — a European Information Society for growth and employment’, aims among other things at facilitating the creation and circulation of European content. As part of i2010, this Decision determines the conditions for the re-use of Commission documents, with a view to achieving a broad re-use.
(8) An open re-use policy at the Commission will support new economic activity, lead to a wider use and spread of Community information, enhance the image of openness and transparency of the Institutions, and avoid unnecessary administrative burden for users and Commission services.
(9) This Decision should be implemented and applied in full compliance with the principles relating to the protection of personal data in accordance with Regulation (EC) 45/2001 of the European Parliament and the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data (4).
(10) This Decision should not apply to documents for which the Commission is not in a position to allow re-use, e.g. in view of third party intellectual property rights or where the documents have been received from the other Institutions,