Article 1 
Subject matter and scope 1. This Directive establishes a minimum set of rules governing the re-use and the practical means of facilitating re-use of existing documents held by public sector bodies of the Member States. 2. This Directive shall not apply to: (a) documents the supply of which is an activity falling outside the scope of the public task of the public sector bodies concerned as defined by law or by other binding rules in the Member State, or in the absence of such rules as defined in line with common administrative practice in the Member State in question; (b) documents for which third parties hold intellectual property rights; (c) documents which are excluded from access by virtue of the access regimes in the Member States, including on the grounds of: - the protection of national security (i.e. State security), defence, or public security, - statistical or commercial confidentiality; (d) documents held by public service broadcasters and their subsidiaries, and by other bodies or their subsidiaries for the fulfilment of a public service broadcasting remit; (e) documents held by educational and research establishments, such as schools, universities, archives, libraries and research facilities including, where relevant, organisations established for the transfer of research results; (f) documents held by cultural establishments, such as museums, libraries, archives, orchestras, operas, ballets and theatres. 3. This Directive builds on and is without prejudice to the existing access regimes in the Member States. This Directive shall not apply in cases in which citizens or companies have to prove a particular interest under the access regime to obtain access to the documents. 4. This Directive leaves intact and in no way affects the level of protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data under the provisions of Community and national law, and in particular does not alter the obligations and rights set out in Directive 95/46/EC. 5. The obligations imposed by this Directive shall apply only insofar as they are compatible with the provisions of international agreements on the protection of intellectual property rights, in particular the Berne Convention and the TRIPS Agreement. Article 2 Definitions For the purpose of this Directive the following definitions shall apply: 1. "public sector body" means the State, regional or local authorities, bodies governed by public law and associations formed by one or several such authorities or one or several such bodies governed by public law; 2. "body governed by public law" means any body: (a) established for the specific purpose of meeting needs in the general interest, not having an industrial or commercial character; and (b) having legal personality; and (c) financed, for the most part by the State, or regional or local authorities, or other bodies governed by public law; or subject to management supervision by those bodies; or having an administrative, managerial or supervisory board, more than half of whose members are appointed by the State, regional or local authorities or by other bodies governed by public law; 3. "document" means: (a) any content whatever its medium (written on paper or stored in electronic form or as a sound, visual or audiovisual recording); (b) any part of such content; 4. "re-use" means the use by persons or legal entities of documents held by public sector bodies, for commercial or non-commercial purposes other than the initial purpose within the public task for which the documents were produced. Exchange of documents between public sector bodies purely in pursuit of their public tasks does not constitute re-use; 5. "personal data" means data as defined in Article 2(a) of Directive 95/46/EC. Article 3 General principle Member States shall ensure that, where the re-use of documents held by public sector bodies is allowed, these documents shall be re-usable for commercial or non-commercial purposes in accordance with the conditions set out in Chapters III and IV. Where possible, documents shall be made available through electronic means.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL 1.1. Grounds for and objectives of the proposal Directive 2003/98/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on the re-use of public sector information (‘PSI Directive’) was adopted on 17 November 2003. The Directive aimed to facilitate the re-use of PSI throughout the Union by harmonising the basic conditions for re-use and removing major barriers to re-use in the internal market. The Directive contains provisions on non-discrimination, charging, exclusive arrangements, transparency, licensing and practical tools to facilitate the discovery and re-use of public documents. Article 13 of the Directive called for a review of the application of the Directive before 1 July 2008. The review was carried out by the Commission and resulted in the publication of Communication COM(2009) 212[1]. It found that, despite the progress made, a number of barriers still persisted, namely attempts by public sector bodies to maximise cost recovery, as opposed to benefits for the wider economy, competition between the public and the private sector, practical issues hindering re-use, such as the lack of information on available PSI, and the mindset of public sector bodies failing to realise the economic potential. The Commission concluded that a further review should be carried out by 2012, when more evidence on the impact, effects and application of the Directive would be available. This proposal of the Commission is the result of the second review. Public sector information is an important primary material for digital content products and services with a large hitherto unexploited potential. The general objective of this Union action is to contribute to economic growth and job creation by unlocking the economic potential of government-owned data through improved conditions for the exploitation of PSI. The general objective is fully in line with the Union’s horizontal strategies, in particular the Commission’s Europe 2020 Strategy, launched on 3 March 2010 with the aim of turning Europe ‘into a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy delivering high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion’. The opening up of PSI for re-use will also have a positive effect on the transparency, efficiency and accountability of governments and contribute to citizen empowerment. Ultimately therefore, the PSI Directive aims to catalyse a change of culture in the public sector, creating a favourable environment for value-added activities resulting from the re-use of public information resources. The regulatory challenge is to provide the market with an optimal legal framework to stimulate the digital content market for PSI-based products and services, including its cross-border dimension, and to prevent distortions of competition on the Union market for the re-use of PSI. The Commission proposal therefore targets the chain of commercial and non-commercial exploitation of PSI, to ensure specific conditions at different stages of the chain so that access is improved and re-use facilitated. Data must be unlocked and made discoverable and effectively available for re-use. Financial and non-financial transaction costs must remain as low as possible. Re-users must have access to an efficient and effective redress mechanism to be able to enforce their rights. The original Directive must be reinforced in order to overcome the remaining barriers, e.g. lack of information about what data are actually available, restrictive or unclear rules governing access and re-use conditions, discouraging, unclear and inconsistent pricing where the re-use of information is chargeable, and the overall excessive complexity of the process for obtaining permission to re-use PSI, in particular for SMEs. In addition, re-users and incumbent ‘hybrid’ public sector bodies (combining public tasks with the commercial exploitation of data) must enjoy a level playing field and competitive conditions unrestrained by any discriminatory treatment or unjustified exclusive agreements for the exploitation of PSI. Finally, the internal market for PSI re-use will thrive only if regulatory and practical borders to re-use across the Union are removed and the same types of data are available on similar, if not the same, terms and conditions irrespective of their national origin. Benefits to be gained from improved access and facilitated re-use include: innovation in products based directly on PSI and in complementary products; reduced transaction costs and efficiency gains in the public sector; and, increasingly, the combining of different public and private information to produce new goods. 1.2. General context Public bodies produce, collect or hold a wealth of information and content, ranging from statistical, economic or environmental data to archival material, collections of books or works of art. The digital revolution has significantly increased the value of this resource for innovative products or services based on data as raw material. The economic importance of opening data resources, including public data, is now widely recognised. For example, according to a 2010 report by The Economist, data have become ‘an economic raw input almost on par with capital and labour’[2], while the Digital Britain Final Report recognises data as ‘an innovation currency … the lifeblood of the knowledge economy’[3]. A recent study estimates the total market for public sector information in 2008 at € 28 billion across the Union[4]. 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. Beyond fuelling the innovation and creativity that stimulate economic growth, open public data also empower citizens, thereby enhancing participatory democracy and promoting transparent, accountable and more efficient government. The challenge for the Directive is to provide the market with an optimal legal framework to facilitate and stimulate the commercial and non-commercial re-use of public open data. Ultimately therefore, the Directive and its revision aim to catalyse a change of culture in the public sector, creating a favourable environment for value-added activities resulting from the re-use of public information resources. The review of the Directive thus forms part of the Digital Agenda for Europe and the Europe 2020 strategy aiming for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth[5]. The review is in fact a key action of the Digital Agenda (key action 1c).
Revised version (Article 1 Subject matter and scope):
1. This Directive establishes a minimum set of rules governing the re-use and the practical means of facilitating re-use of existing documents held by public sector bodies of the Member States. 2. This Directive shall not apply to: (a) documents the supply of which is an activity falling outside the scope of the public task of the public sector bodies concerned as defined by law or by other binding rules in the Member State, or in the absence of such rules, as defined in line with common administrative practice in the Member State in question, provided that the scope of the public tasks is transparent and subject to review; (b) documents for which third parties hold intellectual property rights; (c) documents which are excluded from access by virtue of the access regimes in the Member States, including on the grounds of: — the protection of national security (i.e. State security), defence, or public security, — statistical confidentiality, — commercial confidentiality (e.g. business, professional or company secrets); (c) documents which are excluded from access by virtue of the access regimes in the Member States, including on the grounds of: — the protection of national security (i.e. State security), defence, or public security, — statistical confidentiality, — commercial confidentiality (e.g. business, professional or company secrets); (ca) documents access to which is restricted by virtue of the access regimes in the Member States, including cases whereby citizens or companies have to prove a particular interest to obtain access to documents; (cb) parts of documents containing only logos, crests and insignia; (cc) documents access to which is excluded or restricted by virtue of the access regimes on the grounds of protection of personal data, and parts of documents accessible by virtue of those regimes which contain personal data the re-use of which has been defined by law as being incompatible with the law concerning the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data; (d) documents held by public service broadcasters and their subsidiaries, and by other bodies or their subsidiaries for the fulfilment of a public service broadcasting remit; (e) documents held by educational and research establishments, including organisations established for the transfer of research results, schools and universities, except university libraries and (f) documents held by cultural establishments other than libraries, museums and archives. 3. This Directive builds on and is without prejudice to access regimes in the Member States. 4. This Directive leaves intact and in no way affects the level of protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data under the provisions of Union and national law, and in particular does not alter the obligations and rights set out in Directive 95/46/EC. 5. The obligations imposed by this Directive shall apply only insofar as they are compatible with the provisions of international agreements on the protection of intellectual property rights, in particular the Berne Convention and the TRIPS Agreement.
Article 2 
Definitions For the purpose of this Directive the following definitions shall apply: 1. "public sector body" means the State, regional or local authorities, bodies governed by public law and associations formed by one or several such authorities or one or several such bodies governed by public law; 2. "body governed by public law" means any body: (a) established for the specific purpose of meeting needs in the general interest, not having an industrial or commercial character; and (b) having legal personality; and (c) financed, for the most part by the State, or regional or local authorities, or other bodies governed by public law; or subject to management supervision by those bodies; or having an administrative, managerial or supervisory board, more than half of whose members are appointed by the State, regional or local authorities or by other bodies governed by public law; 3. "document" means: (a) any content whatever its medium (written on paper or stored in electronic form or as a sound, visual or audiovisual recording); (b) any part of such content; 4. "re-use" means the use by persons or legal entities of documents held by public sector bodies, for commercial or non-commercial purposes other than the initial purpose within the public task for which the documents were produced. Exchange of documents between public sector bodies purely in pursuit of their public tasks does not constitute re-use; 5. "personal data" means data as defined in Article 2(a) of Directive 95/46/EC. Article 3 General principle Member States shall ensure that, where the re-use of documents held by public sector bodies is allowed, these documents shall be re-usable for commercial or non-commercial purposes in accordance with the conditions set out in Chapters III and IV. Where possible, documents shall be made available through electronic means.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL 1.1. Grounds for and objectives of the proposal Directive 2003/98/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on the re-use of public sector information (‘PSI Directive’) was adopted on 17 November 2003. The Directive aimed to facilitate the re-use of PSI throughout the Union by harmonising the basic conditions for re-use and removing major barriers to re-use in the internal market. The Directive contains provisions on non-discrimination, charging, exclusive arrangements, transparency, licensing and practical tools to facilitate the discovery and re-use of public documents. Article 13 of the Directive called for a review of the application of the Directive before 1 July 2008. The review was carried out by the Commission and resulted in the publication of Communication COM(2009) 212[1]. It found that, despite the progress made, a number of barriers still persisted, namely attempts by public sector bodies to maximise cost recovery, as opposed to benefits for the wider economy, competition between the public and the private sector, practical issues hindering re-use, such as the lack of information on available PSI, and the mindset of public sector bodies failing to realise the economic potential. The Commission concluded that a further review should be carried out by 2012, when more evidence on the impact, effects and application of the Directive would be available. This proposal of the Commission is the result of the second review. Public sector information is an important primary material for digital content products and services with a large hitherto unexploited potential. The general objective of this Union action is to contribute to economic growth and job creation by unlocking the economic potential of government-owned data through improved conditions for the exploitation of PSI. The general objective is fully in line with the Union’s horizontal strategies, in particular the Commission’s Europe 2020 Strategy, launched on 3 March 2010 with the aim of turning Europe ‘into a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy delivering high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion’. The opening up of PSI for re-use will also have a positive effect on the transparency, efficiency and accountability of governments and contribute to citizen empowerment. Ultimately therefore, the PSI Directive aims to catalyse a change of culture in the public sector, creating a favourable environment for value-added activities resulting from the re-use of public information resources. The regulatory challenge is to provide the market with an optimal legal framework to stimulate the digital content market for PSI-based products and services, including its cross-border dimension, and to prevent distortions of competition on the Union market for the re-use of PSI. The Commission proposal therefore targets the chain of commercial and non-commercial exploitation of PSI, to ensure specific conditions at different stages of the chain so that access is improved and re-use facilitated. Data must be unlocked and made discoverable and effectively available for re-use. Financial and non-financial transaction costs must remain as low as possible. Re-users must have access to an efficient and effective redress mechanism to be able to enforce their rights. The original Directive must be reinforced in order to overcome the remaining barriers, e.g. lack of information about what data are actually available, restrictive or unclear rules governing access and re-use conditions, discouraging, unclear and inconsistent pricing where the re-use of information is chargeable, and the overall excessive complexity of the process for obtaining permission to re-use PSI, in particular for SMEs. In addition, re-users and incumbent ‘hybrid’ public sector bodies (combining public tasks with the commercial exploitation of data) must enjoy a level playing field and competitive conditions unrestrained by any discriminatory treatment or unjustified exclusive agreements for the exploitation of PSI. Finally, the internal market for PSI re-use will thrive only if regulatory and practical borders to re-use across the Union are removed and the same types of data are available on similar, if not the same, terms and conditions irrespective of their national origin. Benefits to be gained from improved access and facilitated re-use include: innovation in products based directly on PSI and in complementary products; reduced transaction costs and efficiency gains in the public sector; and, increasingly, the combining of different public and private information to produce new goods. 1.2. General context Public bodies produce, collect or hold a wealth of information and content, ranging from statistical, economic or environmental data to archival material, collections of books or works of art. The digital revolution has significantly increased the value of this resource for innovative products or services based on data as raw material. The economic importance of opening data resources, including public data, is now widely recognised. For example, according to a 2010 report by The Economist, data have become ‘an economic raw input almost on par with capital and labour’[2], while the Digital Britain Final Report recognises data as ‘an innovation currency … the lifeblood of the knowledge economy’[3]. A recent study estimates the total market for public sector information in 2008 at € 28 billion across the Union[4]. 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. Beyond fuelling the innovation and creativity that stimulate economic growth, open public data also empower citizens, thereby enhancing participatory democracy and promoting transparent, accountable and more efficient government. The challenge for the Directive is to provide the market with an optimal legal framework to facilitate and stimulate the commercial and non-commercial re-use of public open data. Ultimately therefore, the Directive and its revision aim to catalyse a change of culture in the public sector, creating a favourable environment for value-added activities resulting from the re-use of public information resources. The review of the Directive thus forms part of the Digital Agenda for Europe and the Europe 2020 strategy aiming for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth[5]. The review is in fact a key action of the Digital Agenda (key action 1c).
Revised version (Article 2 Definitions):
For the purpose of this Directive the following definitions shall apply: 1. ‘public sector body’ means the State, regional or local authorities, bodies governed by public law and associations formed by one or several such authorities or one or several such bodies governed by public law; 2. ‘body governed by public law’ means any body: (a) established for the specific purpose of meeting needs in the general interest, not having an industrial or commercial character; and (b) having legal personality; and (c) financed, for the most part by the State, or regional or local authorities, or other bodies governed by public law; or subject to management supervision by those bodies; or having an administrative, managerial or supervisory board, more than half of whose members are appointed by the State, regional or local authorities or by other bodies governed by public law; 2. ‘body governed by public law’ means any body: (a) established for the specific purpose of meeting needs in the general interest, not having an industrial or commercial character; and (b) having legal personality; and (c) financed, for the most part by the State, or regional or local authorities, or other bodies governed by public law; or subject to management supervision by those bodies; or having an administrative, managerial or supervisory board, more than half of whose members are appointed by the State, regional or local authorities or by other bodies governed by public law; 3. ‘document’ means: (a) any content whatever its medium (written on paper or stored in electronic form or as a sound, visual or audiovisual recording); (b) any part of such content; 3. ‘document’ means: (a) any content whatever its medium (written on paper or stored in electronic form or as a sound, visual or audiovisual recording); (b) any part of such content; 4. ‘re-use’ means the use by persons or legal entities of documents held by public sector bodies, for commercial or non-commercial purposes other than the initial purpose within the public task for which the documents were produced. Exchange of documents between public sector bodies purely in pursuit of their public tasks does not constitute re-use; 5. ‘personal data’ means data as defined in Article 2(a) of Directive 95/46/EC. 6. ‘machine-readable format’ means a file format structured so that software applications can easily identify, recognize and extract specific data, including individual statements of fact, and their internal structure; 7. ‘open format’ means a file format that is platform-independent and made available to the public without any restriction that impedes the re-use of documents; 8. ‘formal open standard’ means a standard which has been laid down in written form, detailing specifications for the requirements on how to ensure software interoperability; 9. ‘university’ means any public sector body that provides post-secondary-school higher education leading to academic degrees.
Article 3 
General principle Member States shall ensure that, where the re-use of documents held by public sector bodies is allowed, these documents shall be re-usable for commercial or non-commercial purposes in accordance with the conditions set out in Chapters III and IV. Where possible, documents shall be made available through electronic means.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL 1.1. Grounds for and objectives of the proposal Directive 2003/98/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on the re-use of public sector information (‘PSI Directive’) was adopted on 17 November 2003. The Directive aimed to facilitate the re-use of PSI throughout the Union by harmonising the basic conditions for re-use and removing major barriers to re-use in the internal market. The Directive contains provisions on non-discrimination, charging, exclusive arrangements, transparency, licensing and practical tools to facilitate the discovery and re-use of public documents. Article 13 of the Directive called for a review of the application of the Directive before 1 July 2008. The review was carried out by the Commission and resulted in the publication of Communication COM(2009) 212[1]. It found that, despite the progress made, a number of barriers still persisted, namely attempts by public sector bodies to maximise cost recovery, as opposed to benefits for the wider economy, competition between the public and the private sector, practical issues hindering re-use, such as the lack of information on available PSI, and the mindset of public sector bodies failing to realise the economic potential. The Commission concluded that a further review should be carried out by 2012, when more evidence on the impact, effects and application of the Directive would be available. This proposal of the Commission is the result of the second review. Public sector information is an important primary material for digital content products and services with a large hitherto unexploited potential. The general objective of this Union action is to contribute to economic growth and job creation by unlocking the economic potential of government-owned data through improved conditions for the exploitation of PSI. The general objective is fully in line with the Union’s horizontal strategies, in particular the Commission’s Europe 2020 Strategy, launched on 3 March 2010 with the aim of turning Europe ‘into a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy delivering high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion’. The opening up of PSI for re-use will also have a positive effect on the transparency, efficiency and accountability of governments and contribute to citizen empowerment. Ultimately therefore, the PSI Directive aims to catalyse a change of culture in the public sector, creating a favourable environment for value-added activities resulting from the re-use of public information resources. The regulatory challenge is to provide the market with an optimal legal framework to stimulate the digital content market for PSI-based products and services, including its cross-border dimension, and to prevent distortions of competition on the Union market for the re-use of PSI. The Commission proposal therefore targets the chain of commercial and non-commercial exploitation of PSI, to ensure specific conditions at different stages of the chain so that access is improved and re-use facilitated. Data must be unlocked and made discoverable and effectively available for re-use. Financial and non-financial transaction costs must remain as low as possible. Re-users must have access to an efficient and effective redress mechanism to be able to enforce their rights. The original Directive must be reinforced in order to overcome the remaining barriers, e.g. lack of information about what data are actually available, restrictive or unclear rules governing access and re-use conditions, discouraging, unclear and inconsistent pricing where the re-use of information is chargeable, and the overall excessive complexity of the process for obtaining permission to re-use PSI, in particular for SMEs. In addition, re-users and incumbent ‘hybrid’ public sector bodies (combining public tasks with the commercial exploitation of data) must enjoy a level playing field and competitive conditions unrestrained by any discriminatory treatment or unjustified exclusive agreements for the exploitation of PSI. Finally, the internal market for PSI re-use will thrive only if regulatory and practical borders to re-use across the Union are removed and the same types of data are available on similar, if not the same, terms and conditions irrespective of their national origin. Benefits to be gained from improved access and facilitated re-use include: innovation in products based directly on PSI and in complementary products; reduced transaction costs and efficiency gains in the public sector; and, increasingly, the combining of different public and private information to produce new goods. 1.2. General context Public bodies produce, collect or hold a wealth of information and content, ranging from statistical, economic or environmental data to archival material, collections of books or works of art. The digital revolution has significantly increased the value of this resource for innovative products or services based on data as raw material. The economic importance of opening data resources, including public data, is now widely recognised. For example, according to a 2010 report by The Economist, data have become ‘an economic raw input almost on par with capital and labour’[2], while the Digital Britain Final Report recognises data as ‘an innovation currency … the lifeblood of the knowledge economy’[3]. A recent study estimates the total market for public sector information in 2008 at € 28 billion across the Union[4]. 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. Beyond fuelling the innovation and creativity that stimulate economic growth, open public data also empower citizens, thereby enhancing participatory democracy and promoting transparent, accountable and more efficient government. The challenge for the Directive is to provide the market with an optimal legal framework to facilitate and stimulate the commercial and non-commercial re-use of public open data. Ultimately therefore, the Directive and its revision aim to catalyse a change of culture in the public sector, creating a favourable environment for value-added activities resulting from the re-use of public information resources. The review of the Directive thus forms part of the Digital Agenda for Europe and the Europe 2020 strategy aiming for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth[5]. The review is in fact a key action of the Digital Agenda (key action 1c).
Revised version (Article 3 General principle):
1. Subject to paragraph 2 Member States shall ensure that documents to which this Directive applies in accordance with Article 1 shall be re-usable for commercial or non-commercial purposes in accordance with the conditions set out in Chapters III and IV. 2. For documents in which libraries, including university libraries, museums and archives hold intellectual property rights, Member States shall ensure that, where the re-use of such documents is allowed, these documents shall be re-usable for commercial or non-commercial purposes in accordance with the conditions set out in Chapters III and IV.
Article 4 
Requirements applicable to the processing of requests for re-use 1. Public sector bodies shall, through electronic means where possible and appropriate, process requests for re-use and shall make the document available for re-use to the applicant or, if a licence is needed, finalise the licence offer to the applicant within a reasonable time that is consistent with the time-frames laid down for the processing of requests for access to documents. 2. Where no time limits or other rules regulating the timely provision of documents have been established, public sector bodies shall process the request and shall deliver the documents for re-use to the applicant or, if a licence is needed, finalise the licence offer to the applicant within a timeframe of not more than 20 working days after its receipt. This timeframe may be extended by another 20 working days for extensive or complex requests. In such cases the applicant shall be notified within three weeks after the initial request that more time is needed to process it. 3. In the event of a negative decision, the public sector bodies shall communicate the grounds for refusal to the applicant on the basis of the relevant provisions of the access regime in that Member State or of the national provisions adopted pursuant to this Directive, in particular Article 1(2)(a), (b) and (c), or Article 3. Where a negative decision is based on Article 1(2)(b), the public sector body shall include a reference to the natural or legal person who is the rightholder, where known, or alternatively to the licensor from which the public sector body has obtained the relevant material. 4. Any negative decision shall contain a reference to the means of redress in case the applicant wishes to appeal the decision. 5. Public sector bodies covered under Article 1(2)(d), (e) and (f) shall not be required to comply with the requirements of this Article.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL 1.1. Grounds for and objectives of the proposal Directive 2003/98/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on the re-use of public sector information (‘PSI Directive’) was adopted on 17 November 2003. The Directive aimed to facilitate the re-use of PSI throughout the Union by harmonising the basic conditions for re-use and removing major barriers to re-use in the internal market. The Directive contains provisions on non-discrimination, charging, exclusive arrangements, transparency, licensing and practical tools to facilitate the discovery and re-use of public documents. Article 13 of the Directive called for a review of the application of the Directive before 1 July 2008. The review was carried out by the Commission and resulted in the publication of Communication COM(2009) 212[1]. It found that, despite the progress made, a number of barriers still persisted, namely attempts by public sector bodies to maximise cost recovery, as opposed to benefits for the wider economy, competition between the public and the private sector, practical issues hindering re-use, such as the lack of information on available PSI, and the mindset of public sector bodies failing to realise the economic potential. The Commission concluded that a further review should be carried out by 2012, when more evidence on the impact, effects and application of the Directive would be available. This proposal of the Commission is the result of the second review. Public sector information is an important primary material for digital content products and services with a large hitherto unexploited potential. The general objective of this Union action is to contribute to economic growth and job creation by unlocking the economic potential of government-owned data through improved conditions for the exploitation of PSI. The general objective is fully in line with the Union’s horizontal strategies, in particular the Commission’s Europe 2020 Strategy, launched on 3 March 2010 with the aim of turning Europe ‘into a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy delivering high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion’. The opening up of PSI for re-use will also have a positive effect on the transparency, efficiency and accountability of governments and contribute to citizen empowerment. Ultimately therefore, the PSI Directive aims to catalyse a change of culture in the public sector, creating a favourable environment for value-added activities resulting from the re-use of public information resources. The regulatory challenge is to provide the market with an optimal legal framework to stimulate the digital content market for PSI-based products and services, including its cross-border dimension, and to prevent distortions of competition on the Union market for the re-use of PSI. The Commission proposal therefore targets the chain of commercial and non-commercial exploitation of PSI, to ensure specific conditions at different stages of the chain so that access is improved and re-use facilitated. Data must be unlocked and made discoverable and effectively available for re-use. Financial and non-financial transaction costs must remain as low as possible. Re-users must have access to an efficient and effective redress mechanism to be able to enforce their rights. The original Directive must be reinforced in order to overcome the remaining barriers, e.g. lack of information about what data are actually available, restrictive or unclear rules governing access and re-use conditions, discouraging, unclear and inconsistent pricing where the re-use of information is chargeable, and the overall excessive complexity of the process for obtaining permission to re-use PSI, in particular for SMEs. In addition, re-users and incumbent ‘hybrid’ public sector bodies (combining public tasks with the commercial exploitation of data) must enjoy a level playing field and competitive conditions unrestrained by any discriminatory treatment or unjustified exclusive agreements for the exploitation of PSI. Finally, the internal market for PSI re-use will thrive only if regulatory and practical borders to re-use across the Union are removed and the same types of data are available on similar, if not the same, terms and conditions irrespective of their national origin. Benefits to be gained from improved access and facilitated re-use include: innovation in products based directly on PSI and in complementary products; reduced transaction costs and efficiency gains in the public sector; and, increasingly, the combining of different public and private information to produce new goods. 1.2. General context Public bodies produce, collect or hold a wealth of information and content, ranging from statistical, economic or environmental data to archival material, collections of books or works of art. The digital revolution has significantly increased the value of this resource for innovative products or services based on data as raw material. The economic importance of opening data resources, including public data, is now widely recognised. For example, according to a 2010 report by The Economist, data have become ‘an economic raw input almost on par with capital and labour’[2], while the Digital Britain Final Report recognises data as ‘an innovation currency … the lifeblood of the knowledge economy’[3]. A recent study estimates the total market for public sector information in 2008 at € 28 billion across the Union[4]. 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. Beyond fuelling the innovation and creativity that stimulate economic growth, open public data also empower citizens, thereby enhancing participatory democracy and promoting transparent, accountable and more efficient government. The challenge for the Directive is to provide the market with an optimal legal framework to facilitate and stimulate the commercial and non-commercial re-use of public open data. Ultimately therefore, the Directive and its revision aim to catalyse a change of culture in the public sector, creating a favourable environment for value-added activities resulting from the re-use of public information resources. The review of the Directive thus forms part of the Digital Agenda for Europe and the Europe 2020 strategy aiming for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth[5]. The review is in fact a key action of the Digital Agenda (key action 1c).
Revised version (Article 4 Requirements applicable to the processing of requests for re-use):
1. Public sector bodies shall, through electronic means where possible and appropriate, process requests for re-use and shall make the document available for re-use to the applicant or, if a licence is needed, finalise the licence offer to the applicant within a reasonable time that is consistent with the time-frames laid down for the processing of requests for access to documents. 2. Where no time limits or other rules regulating the timely provision of documents have been established, public sector bodies shall process the request and shall deliver the documents for re-use to the applicant or, if a licence is needed, finalise the licence offer to the applicant within a timeframe of not more than 20 working days after its receipt. This timeframe may be extended by another 20 working days for extensive or complex requests. In such cases the applicant shall be notified within three weeks after the initial request that more time is needed to process it. 3. In the event of a negative decision, the public sector bodies shall communicate the grounds for refusal to the applicant on the basis of the relevant provisions of the access regime in that Member State or of the national provisions adopted pursuant to this Directive, in particular points (a) to (cc) of Article 1(2) or Article 3. Where a negative decision is based on Article 1(2)(b), the public sector body shall include a reference to the natural or legal person who is the rightholder, where known, or alternatively to the licensor from which the public sector body has obtained the relevant material. Libraries, including university libraries, museums and archives shall not be required to include such a reference. 4. Any decision on re-use shall contain a reference to the means of redress in case the applicant wishes to appeal the decision. The means of redress shall include the possibility of review by an impartial review body with the appropriate expertise, such as the national competition authority, the national access to documents authority or a national judicial authority, whose decisions are binding upon the public sector body concerned. 5. Public sector bodies covered under Article 1(2)(d), (e) and (f) shall not be required to comply with the requirements of this Article.
Article 5 
Available formats 1. Public sector bodies shall make their documents available in any pre-existing format or language, through electronic means where possible and appropriate. This shall not imply an obligation for public sector bodies to create or adapt documents in order to comply with the request, nor shall it imply an obligation to provide extracts from documents where this would involve disproportionate effort, going beyond a simple operation. 2. On the basis of this Directive, public sector bodies cannot be required to continue the production of a certain type of documents with a view to the re-use of such documents by a private or public sector organisation. Article 6 Principles governing charging Where charges are made, the total income from supplying and allowing re-use of documents shall not exceed the cost of collection, production, reproduction and dissemination, together with a reasonable return on investment. Charges should be cost-oriented over the appropriate accounting period and calculated in line with the accounting principles applicable to the public sector bodies involved. Article 7 Transparency Any applicable conditions and standard charges for the re-use of documents held by public sector bodies shall be pre-established and published, through electronic means where possible and appropriate. On request, the public sector body shall indicate the calculation basis for the published charge. The public sector body in question shall also indicate which factors will be taken into account in the calculation of charges for atypical cases. Public sector bodies shall ensure that applicants for re-use of documents are informed of available means of redress relating to decisions or practices affecting them. Article 8 Licences 1. Public sector bodies may allow for re-use of documents without conditions or may impose conditions, where appropriate through a licence, dealing with relevant issues. These conditions shall not unnecessarily restrict possibilities for re-use and shall not be used to restrict competition. 2. In Member States where licences are used, Member States shall ensure that standard licences for the re-use of public sector documents, which can be adapted to meet particular licence applications, are available in digital format and can be processed electronically. Member States shall encourage all public sector bodies to use the standard licences. Article 9 Practical arrangements Member States shall ensure that practical arrangements are in place that facilitate the search for documents available for re-use, such as assets lists, accessible preferably online, of main documents, and portal sites that are linked to decentralised assets lists.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL 1.1. Grounds for and objectives of the proposal Directive 2003/98/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on the re-use of public sector information (‘PSI Directive’) was adopted on 17 November 2003. The Directive aimed to facilitate the re-use of PSI throughout the Union by harmonising the basic conditions for re-use and removing major barriers to re-use in the internal market. The Directive contains provisions on non-discrimination, charging, exclusive arrangements, transparency, licensing and practical tools to facilitate the discovery and re-use of public documents. Article 13 of the Directive called for a review of the application of the Directive before 1 July 2008. The review was carried out by the Commission and resulted in the publication of Communication COM(2009) 212[1]. It found that, despite the progress made, a number of barriers still persisted, namely attempts by public sector bodies to maximise cost recovery, as opposed to benefits for the wider economy, competition between the public and the private sector, practical issues hindering re-use, such as the lack of information on available PSI, and the mindset of public sector bodies failing to realise the economic potential. The Commission concluded that a further review should be carried out by 2012, when more evidence on the impact, effects and application of the Directive would be available. This proposal of the Commission is the result of the second review. Public sector information is an important primary material for digital content products and services with a large hitherto unexploited potential. The general objective of this Union action is to contribute to economic growth and job creation by unlocking the economic potential of government-owned data through improved conditions for the exploitation of PSI. The general objective is fully in line with the Union’s horizontal strategies, in particular the Commission’s Europe 2020 Strategy, launched on 3 March 2010 with the aim of turning Europe ‘into a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy delivering high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion’. The opening up of PSI for re-use will also have a positive effect on the transparency, efficiency and accountability of governments and contribute to citizen empowerment. Ultimately therefore, the PSI Directive aims to catalyse a change of culture in the public sector, creating a favourable environment for value-added activities resulting from the re-use of public information resources. The regulatory challenge is to provide the market with an optimal legal framework to stimulate the digital content market for PSI-based products and services, including its cross-border dimension, and to prevent distortions of competition on the Union market for the re-use of PSI. The Commission proposal therefore targets the chain of commercial and non-commercial exploitation of PSI, to ensure specific conditions at different stages of the chain so that access is improved and re-use facilitated. Data must be unlocked and made discoverable and effectively available for re-use. Financial and non-financial transaction costs must remain as low as possible. Re-users must have access to an efficient and effective redress mechanism to be able to enforce their rights. The original Directive must be reinforced in order to overcome the remaining barriers, e.g. lack of information about what data are actually available, restrictive or unclear rules governing access and re-use conditions, discouraging, unclear and inconsistent pricing where the re-use of information is chargeable, and the overall excessive complexity of the process for obtaining permission to re-use PSI, in particular for SMEs. In addition, re-users and incumbent ‘hybrid’ public sector bodies (combining public tasks with the commercial exploitation of data) must enjoy a level playing field and competitive conditions unrestrained by any discriminatory treatment or unjustified exclusive agreements for the exploitation of PSI. Finally, the internal market for PSI re-use will thrive only if regulatory and practical borders to re-use across the Union are removed and the same types of data are available on similar, if not the same, terms and conditions irrespective of their national origin. Benefits to be gained from improved access and facilitated re-use include: innovation in products based directly on PSI and in complementary products; reduced transaction costs and efficiency gains in the public sector; and, increasingly, the combining of different public and private information to produce new goods. 1.2. General context Public bodies produce, collect or hold a wealth of information and content, ranging from statistical, economic or environmental data to archival material, collections of books or works of art. The digital revolution has significantly increased the value of this resource for innovative products or services based on data as raw material. The economic importance of opening data resources, including public data, is now widely recognised. For example, according to a 2010 report by The Economist, data have become ‘an economic raw input almost on par with capital and labour’[2], while the Digital Britain Final Report recognises data as ‘an innovation currency … the lifeblood of the knowledge economy’[3]. A recent study estimates the total market for public sector information in 2008 at € 28 billion across the Union[4]. 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. Beyond fuelling the innovation and creativity that stimulate economic growth, open public data also empower citizens, thereby enhancing participatory democracy and promoting transparent, accountable and more efficient government. The challenge for the Directive is to provide the market with an optimal legal framework to facilitate and stimulate the commercial and non-commercial re-use of public open data. Ultimately therefore, the Directive and its revision aim to catalyse a change of culture in the public sector, creating a favourable environment for value-added activities resulting from the re-use of public information resources. The review of the Directive thus forms part of the Digital Agenda for Europe and the Europe 2020 strategy aiming for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth[5]. The review is in fact a key action of the Digital Agenda (key action 1c).
Revised version (Article 5 Available formats):
1. Public sector bodies shall make their documents available in any pre-existing format or language, and, where possible and appropriate, in open and machine-readable format together with their metadata. Both the format and the metadata should, in so far as possible, comply with formal open standards. 2. Paragraph 1 shall not imply an obligation for public sector bodies to create or adapt documents or provide extracts in order to comply with that paragraph where this would involve disproportionate effort, going beyond a simple operation. 3. On the basis of this Directive, public sector bodies cannot be required to continue the production and storage of a certain type of documents with a view to the re-use of such documents by a private or public sector organisation.
Article 6 
Principles governing charging Where charges are made, the total income from supplying and allowing re-use of documents shall not exceed the cost of collection, production, reproduction and dissemination, together with a reasonable return on investment. Charges should be cost-oriented over the appropriate accounting period and calculated in line with the accounting principles applicable to the public sector bodies involved. Article 7 Transparency Any applicable conditions and standard charges for the re-use of documents held by public sector bodies shall be pre-established and published, through electronic means where possible and appropriate. On request, the public sector body shall indicate the calculation basis for the published charge. The public sector body in question shall also indicate which factors will be taken into account in the calculation of charges for atypical cases. Public sector bodies shall ensure that applicants for re-use of documents are informed of available means of redress relating to decisions or practices affecting them. Article 8 Licences 1. Public sector bodies may allow for re-use of documents without conditions or may impose conditions, where appropriate through a licence, dealing with relevant issues. These conditions shall not unnecessarily restrict possibilities for re-use and shall not be used to restrict competition. 2. In Member States where licences are used, Member States shall ensure that standard licences for the re-use of public sector documents, which can be adapted to meet particular licence applications, are available in digital format and can be processed electronically. Member States shall encourage all public sector bodies to use the standard licences. Article 9 Practical arrangements Member States shall ensure that practical arrangements are in place that facilitate the search for documents available for re-use, such as assets lists, accessible preferably online, of main documents, and portal sites that are linked to decentralised assets lists.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL 1.1. Grounds for and objectives of the proposal Directive 2003/98/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on the re-use of public sector information (‘PSI Directive’) was adopted on 17 November 2003. The Directive aimed to facilitate the re-use of PSI throughout the Union by harmonising the basic conditions for re-use and removing major barriers to re-use in the internal market. The Directive contains provisions on non-discrimination, charging, exclusive arrangements, transparency, licensing and practical tools to facilitate the discovery and re-use of public documents. Article 13 of the Directive called for a review of the application of the Directive before 1 July 2008. The review was carried out by the Commission and resulted in the publication of Communication COM(2009) 212[1]. It found that, despite the progress made, a number of barriers still persisted, namely attempts by public sector bodies to maximise cost recovery, as opposed to benefits for the wider economy, competition between the public and the private sector, practical issues hindering re-use, such as the lack of information on available PSI, and the mindset of public sector bodies failing to realise the economic potential. The Commission concluded that a further review should be carried out by 2012, when more evidence on the impact, effects and application of the Directive would be available. This proposal of the Commission is the result of the second review. Public sector information is an important primary material for digital content products and services with a large hitherto unexploited potential. The general objective of this Union action is to contribute to economic growth and job creation by unlocking the economic potential of government-owned data through improved conditions for the exploitation of PSI. The general objective is fully in line with the Union’s horizontal strategies, in particular the Commission’s Europe 2020 Strategy, launched on 3 March 2010 with the aim of turning Europe ‘into a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy delivering high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion’. The opening up of PSI for re-use will also have a positive effect on the transparency, efficiency and accountability of governments and contribute to citizen empowerment. Ultimately therefore, the PSI Directive aims to catalyse a change of culture in the public sector, creating a favourable environment for value-added activities resulting from the re-use of public information resources. The regulatory challenge is to provide the market with an optimal legal framework to stimulate the digital content market for PSI-based products and services, including its cross-border dimension, and to prevent distortions of competition on the Union market for the re-use of PSI. The Commission proposal therefore targets the chain of commercial and non-commercial exploitation of PSI, to ensure specific conditions at different stages of the chain so that access is improved and re-use facilitated. Data must be unlocked and made discoverable and effectively available for re-use. Financial and non-financial transaction costs must remain as low as possible. Re-users must have access to an efficient and effective redress mechanism to be able to enforce their rights. The original Directive must be reinforced in order to overcome the remaining barriers, e.g. lack of information about what data are actually available, restrictive or unclear rules governing access and re-use conditions, discouraging, unclear and inconsistent pricing where the re-use of information is chargeable, and the overall excessive complexity of the process for obtaining permission to re-use PSI, in particular for SMEs. In addition, re-users and incumbent ‘hybrid’ public sector bodies (combining public tasks with the commercial exploitation of data) must enjoy a level playing field and competitive conditions unrestrained by any discriminatory treatment or unjustified exclusive agreements for the exploitation of PSI. Finally, the internal market for PSI re-use will thrive only if regulatory and practical borders to re-use across the Union are removed and the same types of data are available on similar, if not the same, terms and conditions irrespective of their national origin. Benefits to be gained from improved access and facilitated re-use include: innovation in products based directly on PSI and in complementary products; reduced transaction costs and efficiency gains in the public sector; and, increasingly, the combining of different public and private information to produce new goods. 1.2. General context Public bodies produce, collect or hold a wealth of information and content, ranging from statistical, economic or environmental data to archival material, collections of books or works of art. The digital revolution has significantly increased the value of this resource for innovative products or services based on data as raw material. The economic importance of opening data resources, including public data, is now widely recognised. For example, according to a 2010 report by The Economist, data have become ‘an economic raw input almost on par with capital and labour’[2], while the Digital Britain Final Report recognises data as ‘an innovation currency … the lifeblood of the knowledge economy’[3]. A recent study estimates the total market for public sector information in 2008 at € 28 billion across the Union[4]. 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. Beyond fuelling the innovation and creativity that stimulate economic growth, open public data also empower citizens, thereby enhancing participatory democracy and promoting transparent, accountable and more efficient government. The challenge for the Directive is to provide the market with an optimal legal framework to facilitate and stimulate the commercial and non-commercial re-use of public open data. Ultimately therefore, the Directive and its revision aim to catalyse a change of culture in the public sector, creating a favourable environment for value-added activities resulting from the re-use of public information resources. The review of the Directive thus forms part of the Digital Agenda for Europe and the Europe 2020 strategy aiming for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth[5]. The review is in fact a key action of the Digital Agenda (key action 1c).
Revised version (Article 6 Principles governing charging):
1. Where charges are made for the re-use of documents, those charges shall be limited to the marginal costs incurred for their reproduction, provision and dissemination. 2. Paragraph 1 shall not apply to the following: (a) public sector bodies that are required to generate revenue to cover a substantial part of their costs relating to the performance of their public tasks; (b) by way of exception, documents for which the public sector body concerned is required to generate sufficient revenue to cover a substantial part of the costs relating to their collection, production, reproduction and dissemination. Those requirements shall be defined by law or by other binding rules in the Member State. In the absence of such rules, the requirements shall be defined in accordance with common administrative practice in the Member State; (c) libraries, including university libraries, museums and archives. 3. In the cases referred to in points (a) and (b) of paragraph 2, the public sector bodies concerned shall calculate the total charges according to objective, transparent and verifiable criteria to be laid down by the Member States. The total income of those bodies from supplying and allowing re-use of documents over the appropriate accounting period shall not exceed the cost of collection, production, reproduction and dissemination, together with a reasonable return on investment. Charges shall be calculated in line with the accounting principles applicable to the public sector bodies involved. 4. Where charges are made by the public sector bodies referred to in point (c) of paragraph 2, the total income from supplying and allowing re-use of documents over the appropriate accounting period shall not exceed the cost of collection, production, reproduction, dissemination, preservation and rights clearance, together with a reasonable return on investment. Charges shall be calculated in line with the accounting principles applicable to the public sector bodies involved.
Article 7 
Transparency Any applicable conditions and standard charges for the re-use of documents held by public sector bodies shall be pre-established and published, through electronic means where possible and appropriate. On request, the public sector body shall indicate the calculation basis for the published charge. The public sector body in question shall also indicate which factors will be taken into account in the calculation of charges for atypical cases. Public sector bodies shall ensure that applicants for re-use of documents are informed of available means of redress relating to decisions or practices affecting them. Article 8 Licences 1. Public sector bodies may allow for re-use of documents without conditions or may impose conditions, where appropriate through a licence, dealing with relevant issues. These conditions shall not unnecessarily restrict possibilities for re-use and shall not be used to restrict competition. 2. In Member States where licences are used, Member States shall ensure that standard licences for the re-use of public sector documents, which can be adapted to meet particular licence applications, are available in digital format and can be processed electronically. Member States shall encourage all public sector bodies to use the standard licences. Article 9 Practical arrangements Member States shall ensure that practical arrangements are in place that facilitate the search for documents available for re-use, such as assets lists, accessible preferably online, of main documents, and portal sites that are linked to decentralised assets lists.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL 1.1. Grounds for and objectives of the proposal Directive 2003/98/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on the re-use of public sector information (‘PSI Directive’) was adopted on 17 November 2003. The Directive aimed to facilitate the re-use of PSI throughout the Union by harmonising the basic conditions for re-use and removing major barriers to re-use in the internal market. The Directive contains provisions on non-discrimination, charging, exclusive arrangements, transparency, licensing and practical tools to facilitate the discovery and re-use of public documents. Article 13 of the Directive called for a review of the application of the Directive before 1 July 2008. The review was carried out by the Commission and resulted in the publication of Communication COM(2009) 212[1]. It found that, despite the progress made, a number of barriers still persisted, namely attempts by public sector bodies to maximise cost recovery, as opposed to benefits for the wider economy, competition between the public and the private sector, practical issues hindering re-use, such as the lack of information on available PSI, and the mindset of public sector bodies failing to realise the economic potential. The Commission concluded that a further review should be carried out by 2012, when more evidence on the impact, effects and application of the Directive would be available. This proposal of the Commission is the result of the second review. Public sector information is an important primary material for digital content products and services with a large hitherto unexploited potential. The general objective of this Union action is to contribute to economic growth and job creation by unlocking the economic potential of government-owned data through improved conditions for the exploitation of PSI. The general objective is fully in line with the Union’s horizontal strategies, in particular the Commission’s Europe 2020 Strategy, launched on 3 March 2010 with the aim of turning Europe ‘into a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy delivering high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion’. The opening up of PSI for re-use will also have a positive effect on the transparency, efficiency and accountability of governments and contribute to citizen empowerment. Ultimately therefore, the PSI Directive aims to catalyse a change of culture in the public sector, creating a favourable environment for value-added activities resulting from the re-use of public information resources. The regulatory challenge is to provide the market with an optimal legal framework to stimulate the digital content market for PSI-based products and services, including its cross-border dimension, and to prevent distortions of competition on the Union market for the re-use of PSI. The Commission proposal therefore targets the chain of commercial and non-commercial exploitation of PSI, to ensure specific conditions at different stages of the chain so that access is improved and re-use facilitated. Data must be unlocked and made discoverable and effectively available for re-use. Financial and non-financial transaction costs must remain as low as possible. Re-users must have access to an efficient and effective redress mechanism to be able to enforce their rights. The original Directive must be reinforced in order to overcome the remaining barriers, e.g. lack of information about what data are actually available, restrictive or unclear rules governing access and re-use conditions, discouraging, unclear and inconsistent pricing where the re-use of information is chargeable, and the overall excessive complexity of the process for obtaining permission to re-use PSI, in particular for SMEs. In addition, re-users and incumbent ‘hybrid’ public sector bodies (combining public tasks with the commercial exploitation of data) must enjoy a level playing field and competitive conditions unrestrained by any discriminatory treatment or unjustified exclusive agreements for the exploitation of PSI. Finally, the internal market for PSI re-use will thrive only if regulatory and practical borders to re-use across the Union are removed and the same types of data are available on similar, if not the same, terms and conditions irrespective of their national origin. Benefits to be gained from improved access and facilitated re-use include: innovation in products based directly on PSI and in complementary products; reduced transaction costs and efficiency gains in the public sector; and, increasingly, the combining of different public and private information to produce new goods. 1.2. General context Public bodies produce, collect or hold a wealth of information and content, ranging from statistical, economic or environmental data to archival material, collections of books or works of art. The digital revolution has significantly increased the value of this resource for innovative products or services based on data as raw material. The economic importance of opening data resources, including public data, is now widely recognised. For example, according to a 2010 report by The Economist, data have become ‘an economic raw input almost on par with capital and labour’[2], while the Digital Britain Final Report recognises data as ‘an innovation currency … the lifeblood of the knowledge economy’[3]. A recent study estimates the total market for public sector information in 2008 at € 28 billion across the Union[4]. 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. Beyond fuelling the innovation and creativity that stimulate economic growth, open public data also empower citizens, thereby enhancing participatory democracy and promoting transparent, accountable and more efficient government. The challenge for the Directive is to provide the market with an optimal legal framework to facilitate and stimulate the commercial and non-commercial re-use of public open data. Ultimately therefore, the Directive and its revision aim to catalyse a change of culture in the public sector, creating a favourable environment for value-added activities resulting from the re-use of public information resources. The review of the Directive thus forms part of the Digital Agenda for Europe and the Europe 2020 strategy aiming for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth[5]. The review is in fact a key action of the Digital Agenda (key action 1c).
Revised version (Article 7 Transparency):
1. In the case of standard charges for the re-use of documents held by public sector bodies, any applicable conditions and the actual amount of those charges, including the calculation basis for such charges, shall be pre-established and published, through electronic means where possible and appropriate. 2. In the case of charges for the re-use other than those referred to in paragraph 1, the public sector body in question shall indicate at the outset which factors are taken into account in the calculation of those charges. Upon request, the public sector body in question shall also indicate the way in which such charges have been calculated in relation to the specific re-use request. 3. The requirements referred to in point (b) of Article 6(2) shall be pre-established. They shall be published by electronic means, where possible and appropriate. 4. Public sector bodies shall ensure that applicants for re-use of documents are informed of available means of redress relating to decisions or practices affecting them.
Article 8 
Licences 1. Public sector bodies may allow for re-use of documents without conditions or may impose conditions, where appropriate through a licence, dealing with relevant issues. These conditions shall not unnecessarily restrict possibilities for re-use and shall not be used to restrict competition. 2. In Member States where licences are used, Member States shall ensure that standard licences for the re-use of public sector documents, which can be adapted to meet particular licence applications, are available in digital format and can be processed electronically. Member States shall encourage all public sector bodies to use the standard licences. Article 9 Practical arrangements Member States shall ensure that practical arrangements are in place that facilitate the search for documents available for re-use, such as assets lists, accessible preferably online, of main documents, and portal sites that are linked to decentralised assets lists.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL 1.1. Grounds for and objectives of the proposal Directive 2003/98/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on the re-use of public sector information (‘PSI Directive’) was adopted on 17 November 2003. The Directive aimed to facilitate the re-use of PSI throughout the Union by harmonising the basic conditions for re-use and removing major barriers to re-use in the internal market. The Directive contains provisions on non-discrimination, charging, exclusive arrangements, transparency, licensing and practical tools to facilitate the discovery and re-use of public documents. Article 13 of the Directive called for a review of the application of the Directive before 1 July 2008. The review was carried out by the Commission and resulted in the publication of Communication COM(2009) 212[1]. It found that, despite the progress made, a number of barriers still persisted, namely attempts by public sector bodies to maximise cost recovery, as opposed to benefits for the wider economy, competition between the public and the private sector, practical issues hindering re-use, such as the lack of information on available PSI, and the mindset of public sector bodies failing to realise the economic potential. The Commission concluded that a further review should be carried out by 2012, when more evidence on the impact, effects and application of the Directive would be available. This proposal of the Commission is the result of the second review. Public sector information is an important primary material for digital content products and services with a large hitherto unexploited potential. The general objective of this Union action is to contribute to economic growth and job creation by unlocking the economic potential of government-owned data through improved conditions for the exploitation of PSI. The general objective is fully in line with the Union’s horizontal strategies, in particular the Commission’s Europe 2020 Strategy, launched on 3 March 2010 with the aim of turning Europe ‘into a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy delivering high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion’. The opening up of PSI for re-use will also have a positive effect on the transparency, efficiency and accountability of governments and contribute to citizen empowerment. Ultimately therefore, the PSI Directive aims to catalyse a change of culture in the public sector, creating a favourable environment for value-added activities resulting from the re-use of public information resources. The regulatory challenge is to provide the market with an optimal legal framework to stimulate the digital content market for PSI-based products and services, including its cross-border dimension, and to prevent distortions of competition on the Union market for the re-use of PSI. The Commission proposal therefore targets the chain of commercial and non-commercial exploitation of PSI, to ensure specific conditions at different stages of the chain so that access is improved and re-use facilitated. Data must be unlocked and made discoverable and effectively available for re-use. Financial and non-financial transaction costs must remain as low as possible. Re-users must have access to an efficient and effective redress mechanism to be able to enforce their rights. The original Directive must be reinforced in order to overcome the remaining barriers, e.g. lack of information about what data are actually available, restrictive or unclear rules governing access and re-use conditions, discouraging, unclear and inconsistent pricing where the re-use of information is chargeable, and the overall excessive complexity of the process for obtaining permission to re-use PSI, in particular for SMEs. In addition, re-users and incumbent ‘hybrid’ public sector bodies (combining public tasks with the commercial exploitation of data) must enjoy a level playing field and competitive conditions unrestrained by any discriminatory treatment or unjustified exclusive agreements for the exploitation of PSI. Finally, the internal market for PSI re-use will thrive only if regulatory and practical borders to re-use across the Union are removed and the same types of data are available on similar, if not the same, terms and conditions irrespective of their national origin. Benefits to be gained from improved access and facilitated re-use include: innovation in products based directly on PSI and in complementary products; reduced transaction costs and efficiency gains in the public sector; and, increasingly, the combining of different public and private information to produce new goods. 1.2. General context Public bodies produce, collect or hold a wealth of information and content, ranging from statistical, economic or environmental data to archival material, collections of books or works of art. The digital revolution has significantly increased the value of this resource for innovative products or services based on data as raw material. The economic importance of opening data resources, including public data, is now widely recognised. For example, according to a 2010 report by The Economist, data have become ‘an economic raw input almost on par with capital and labour’[2], while the Digital Britain Final Report recognises data as ‘an innovation currency … the lifeblood of the knowledge economy’[3]. A recent study estimates the total market for public sector information in 2008 at € 28 billion across the Union[4]. 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. Beyond fuelling the innovation and creativity that stimulate economic growth, open public data also empower citizens, thereby enhancing participatory democracy and promoting transparent, accountable and more efficient government. The challenge for the Directive is to provide the market with an optimal legal framework to facilitate and stimulate the commercial and non-commercial re-use of public open data. Ultimately therefore, the Directive and its revision aim to catalyse a change of culture in the public sector, creating a favourable environment for value-added activities resulting from the re-use of public information resources. The review of the Directive thus forms part of the Digital Agenda for Europe and the Europe 2020 strategy aiming for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth[5]. The review is in fact a key action of the Digital Agenda (key action 1c).
Revised version (Article 8 Licences):
1. Public sector bodies may allow re-use without conditions or may impose conditions, where appropriate through a licence. These conditions shall not unnecessarily restrict possibilities for re-use and shall not be used to restrict competition. 2. In Member States where licences are used, Member States shall ensure that standard licences for the re-use of public sector documents, which can be adapted to meet particular licence applications, are available in digital format and can be processed electronically. Member States shall encourage all public sector bodies to use the standard licences.
Article 9 
Practical arrangements Member States shall ensure that practical arrangements are in place that facilitate the search for documents available for re-use, such as assets lists, accessible preferably online, of main documents, and portal sites that are linked to decentralised assets lists.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL 1.1. Grounds for and objectives of the proposal Directive 2003/98/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on the re-use of public sector information (‘PSI Directive’) was adopted on 17 November 2003. The Directive aimed to facilitate the re-use of PSI throughout the Union by harmonising the basic conditions for re-use and removing major barriers to re-use in the internal market. The Directive contains provisions on non-discrimination, charging, exclusive arrangements, transparency, licensing and practical tools to facilitate the discovery and re-use of public documents. Article 13 of the Directive called for a review of the application of the Directive before 1 July 2008. The review was carried out by the Commission and resulted in the publication of Communication COM(2009) 212[1]. It found that, despite the progress made, a number of barriers still persisted, namely attempts by public sector bodies to maximise cost recovery, as opposed to benefits for the wider economy, competition between the public and the private sector, practical issues hindering re-use, such as the lack of information on available PSI, and the mindset of public sector bodies failing to realise the economic potential. The Commission concluded that a further review should be carried out by 2012, when more evidence on the impact, effects and application of the Directive would be available. This proposal of the Commission is the result of the second review. Public sector information is an important primary material for digital content products and services with a large hitherto unexploited potential. The general objective of this Union action is to contribute to economic growth and job creation by unlocking the economic potential of government-owned data through improved conditions for the exploitation of PSI. The general objective is fully in line with the Union’s horizontal strategies, in particular the Commission’s Europe 2020 Strategy, launched on 3 March 2010 with the aim of turning Europe ‘into a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy delivering high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion’. The opening up of PSI for re-use will also have a positive effect on the transparency, efficiency and accountability of governments and contribute to citizen empowerment. Ultimately therefore, the PSI Directive aims to catalyse a change of culture in the public sector, creating a favourable environment for value-added activities resulting from the re-use of public information resources. The regulatory challenge is to provide the market with an optimal legal framework to stimulate the digital content market for PSI-based products and services, including its cross-border dimension, and to prevent distortions of competition on the Union market for the re-use of PSI. The Commission proposal therefore targets the chain of commercial and non-commercial exploitation of PSI, to ensure specific conditions at different stages of the chain so that access is improved and re-use facilitated. Data must be unlocked and made discoverable and effectively available for re-use. Financial and non-financial transaction costs must remain as low as possible. Re-users must have access to an efficient and effective redress mechanism to be able to enforce their rights. The original Directive must be reinforced in order to overcome the remaining barriers, e.g. lack of information about what data are actually available, restrictive or unclear rules governing access and re-use conditions, discouraging, unclear and inconsistent pricing where the re-use of information is chargeable, and the overall excessive complexity of the process for obtaining permission to re-use PSI, in particular for SMEs. In addition, re-users and incumbent ‘hybrid’ public sector bodies (combining public tasks with the commercial exploitation of data) must enjoy a level playing field and competitive conditions unrestrained by any discriminatory treatment or unjustified exclusive agreements for the exploitation of PSI. Finally, the internal market for PSI re-use will thrive only if regulatory and practical borders to re-use across the Union are removed and the same types of data are available on similar, if not the same, terms and conditions irrespective of their national origin. Benefits to be gained from improved access and facilitated re-use include: innovation in products based directly on PSI and in complementary products; reduced transaction costs and efficiency gains in the public sector; and, increasingly, the combining of different public and private information to produce new goods. 1.2. General context Public bodies produce, collect or hold a wealth of information and content, ranging from statistical, economic or environmental data to archival material, collections of books or works of art. The digital revolution has significantly increased the value of this resource for innovative products or services based on data as raw material. The economic importance of opening data resources, including public data, is now widely recognised. For example, according to a 2010 report by The Economist, data have become ‘an economic raw input almost on par with capital and labour’[2], while the Digital Britain Final Report recognises data as ‘an innovation currency … the lifeblood of the knowledge economy’[3]. A recent study estimates the total market for public sector information in 2008 at € 28 billion across the Union[4]. 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. Beyond fuelling the innovation and creativity that stimulate economic growth, open public data also empower citizens, thereby enhancing participatory democracy and promoting transparent, accountable and more efficient government. The challenge for the Directive is to provide the market with an optimal legal framework to facilitate and stimulate the commercial and non-commercial re-use of public open data. Ultimately therefore, the Directive and its revision aim to catalyse a change of culture in the public sector, creating a favourable environment for value-added activities resulting from the re-use of public information resources. The review of the Directive thus forms part of the Digital Agenda for Europe and the Europe 2020 strategy aiming for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth[5]. The review is in fact a key action of the Digital Agenda (key action 1c).
Revised version (Article 9 Practical arrangements):
Member States shall make practical arrangements facilitating the search for documents available for re-use, such as asset lists of main documents with relevant metadata, accessible where possible and appropriate online and in machine-readable format, and portal sites that are linked to the asset lists. Where possible Member States shall facilitate the cross-linguistic search for documents.
Article 10 
Non-discrimination 1. Any applicable conditions for the re-use of documents shall be non-discriminatory for comparable categories of re-use. 2. If documents are re-used by a public sector body as input for its commercial activities which fall outside the scope of its public tasks, the same charges and other conditions shall apply to the supply of the documents for those activities as apply to other users. Article 11 Prohibition of exclusive arrangements 1. The re-use of documents shall be open to all potential actors in the market, even if one or more market players already exploit added-value products based on these documents. Contracts or other arrangements between the public sector bodies holding the documents and third parties shall not grant exclusive rights. 2. However, where an exclusive right is necessary for the provision of a service in the public interest, the validity of the reason for granting such an exclusive right shall be subject to regular review, and shall, in any event, be reviewed every three years. The exclusive arrangements established after the entry into force of this Directive shall be transparent and made public. 3. Existing exclusive arrangements that do not qualify for the exception under paragraph 2 shall be terminated at the end of the contract or in any case not later than 31 December 2008.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL 1.1. Grounds for and objectives of the proposal Directive 2003/98/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on the re-use of public sector information (‘PSI Directive’) was adopted on 17 November 2003. The Directive aimed to facilitate the re-use of PSI throughout the Union by harmonising the basic conditions for re-use and removing major barriers to re-use in the internal market. The Directive contains provisions on non-discrimination, charging, exclusive arrangements, transparency, licensing and practical tools to facilitate the discovery and re-use of public documents. Article 13 of the Directive called for a review of the application of the Directive before 1 July 2008. The review was carried out by the Commission and resulted in the publication of Communication COM(2009) 212[1]. It found that, despite the progress made, a number of barriers still persisted, namely attempts by public sector bodies to maximise cost recovery, as opposed to benefits for the wider economy, competition between the public and the private sector, practical issues hindering re-use, such as the lack of information on available PSI, and the mindset of public sector bodies failing to realise the economic potential. The Commission concluded that a further review should be carried out by 2012, when more evidence on the impact, effects and application of the Directive would be available. This proposal of the Commission is the result of the second review. Public sector information is an important primary material for digital content products and services with a large hitherto unexploited potential. The general objective of this Union action is to contribute to economic growth and job creation by unlocking the economic potential of government-owned data through improved conditions for the exploitation of PSI. The general objective is fully in line with the Union’s horizontal strategies, in particular the Commission’s Europe 2020 Strategy, launched on 3 March 2010 with the aim of turning Europe ‘into a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy delivering high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion’. The opening up of PSI for re-use will also have a positive effect on the transparency, efficiency and accountability of governments and contribute to citizen empowerment. Ultimately therefore, the PSI Directive aims to catalyse a change of culture in the public sector, creating a favourable environment for value-added activities resulting from the re-use of public information resources. The regulatory challenge is to provide the market with an optimal legal framework to stimulate the digital content market for PSI-based products and services, including its cross-border dimension, and to prevent distortions of competition on the Union market for the re-use of PSI. The Commission proposal therefore targets the chain of commercial and non-commercial exploitation of PSI, to ensure specific conditions at different stages of the chain so that access is improved and re-use facilitated. Data must be unlocked and made discoverable and effectively available for re-use. Financial and non-financial transaction costs must remain as low as possible. Re-users must have access to an efficient and effective redress mechanism to be able to enforce their rights. The original Directive must be reinforced in order to overcome the remaining barriers, e.g. lack of information about what data are actually available, restrictive or unclear rules governing access and re-use conditions, discouraging, unclear and inconsistent pricing where the re-use of information is chargeable, and the overall excessive complexity of the process for obtaining permission to re-use PSI, in particular for SMEs. In addition, re-users and incumbent ‘hybrid’ public sector bodies (combining public tasks with the commercial exploitation of data) must enjoy a level playing field and competitive conditions unrestrained by any discriminatory treatment or unjustified exclusive agreements for the exploitation of PSI. Finally, the internal market for PSI re-use will thrive only if regulatory and practical borders to re-use across the Union are removed and the same types of data are available on similar, if not the same, terms and conditions irrespective of their national origin. Benefits to be gained from improved access and facilitated re-use include: innovation in products based directly on PSI and in complementary products; reduced transaction costs and efficiency gains in the public sector; and, increasingly, the combining of different public and private information to produce new goods. 1.2. General context Public bodies produce, collect or hold a wealth of information and content, ranging from statistical, economic or environmental data to archival material, collections of books or works of art. The digital revolution has significantly increased the value of this resource for innovative products or services based on data as raw material. The economic importance of opening data resources, including public data, is now widely recognised. For example, according to a 2010 report by The Economist, data have become ‘an economic raw input almost on par with capital and labour’[2], while the Digital Britain Final Report recognises data as ‘an innovation currency … the lifeblood of the knowledge economy’[3]. A recent study estimates the total market for public sector information in 2008 at € 28 billion across the Union[4]. 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. Beyond fuelling the innovation and creativity that stimulate economic growth, open public data also empower citizens, thereby enhancing participatory democracy and promoting transparent, accountable and more efficient government. The challenge for the Directive is to provide the market with an optimal legal framework to facilitate and stimulate the commercial and non-commercial re-use of public open data. Ultimately therefore, the Directive and its revision aim to catalyse a change of culture in the public sector, creating a favourable environment for value-added activities resulting from the re-use of public information resources. The review of the Directive thus forms part of the Digital Agenda for Europe and the Europe 2020 strategy aiming for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth[5]. The review is in fact a key action of the Digital Agenda (key action 1c).
Article 11 
Prohibition of exclusive arrangements 1. The re-use of documents shall be open to all potential actors in the market, even if one or more market players already exploit added-value products based on these documents. Contracts or other arrangements between the public sector bodies holding the documents and third parties shall not grant exclusive rights. 2. However, where an exclusive right is necessary for the provision of a service in the public interest, the validity of the reason for granting such an exclusive right shall be subject to regular review, and shall, in any event, be reviewed every three years. The exclusive arrangements established after the entry into force of this Directive shall be transparent and made public. 3. Existing exclusive arrangements that do not qualify for the exception under paragraph 2 shall be terminated at the end of the contract or in any case not later than 31 December 2008.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL 1.1. Grounds for and objectives of the proposal Directive 2003/98/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on the re-use of public sector information (‘PSI Directive’) was adopted on 17 November 2003. The Directive aimed to facilitate the re-use of PSI throughout the Union by harmonising the basic conditions for re-use and removing major barriers to re-use in the internal market. The Directive contains provisions on non-discrimination, charging, exclusive arrangements, transparency, licensing and practical tools to facilitate the discovery and re-use of public documents. Article 13 of the Directive called for a review of the application of the Directive before 1 July 2008. The review was carried out by the Commission and resulted in the publication of Communication COM(2009) 212[1]. It found that, despite the progress made, a number of barriers still persisted, namely attempts by public sector bodies to maximise cost recovery, as opposed to benefits for the wider economy, competition between the public and the private sector, practical issues hindering re-use, such as the lack of information on available PSI, and the mindset of public sector bodies failing to realise the economic potential. The Commission concluded that a further review should be carried out by 2012, when more evidence on the impact, effects and application of the Directive would be available. This proposal of the Commission is the result of the second review. Public sector information is an important primary material for digital content products and services with a large hitherto unexploited potential. The general objective of this Union action is to contribute to economic growth and job creation by unlocking the economic potential of government-owned data through improved conditions for the exploitation of PSI. The general objective is fully in line with the Union’s horizontal strategies, in particular the Commission’s Europe 2020 Strategy, launched on 3 March 2010 with the aim of turning Europe ‘into a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy delivering high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion’. The opening up of PSI for re-use will also have a positive effect on the transparency, efficiency and accountability of governments and contribute to citizen empowerment. Ultimately therefore, the PSI Directive aims to catalyse a change of culture in the public sector, creating a favourable environment for value-added activities resulting from the re-use of public information resources. The regulatory challenge is to provide the market with an optimal legal framework to stimulate the digital content market for PSI-based products and services, including its cross-border dimension, and to prevent distortions of competition on the Union market for the re-use of PSI. The Commission proposal therefore targets the chain of commercial and non-commercial exploitation of PSI, to ensure specific conditions at different stages of the chain so that access is improved and re-use facilitated. Data must be unlocked and made discoverable and effectively available for re-use. Financial and non-financial transaction costs must remain as low as possible. Re-users must have access to an efficient and effective redress mechanism to be able to enforce their rights. The original Directive must be reinforced in order to overcome the remaining barriers, e.g. lack of information about what data are actually available, restrictive or unclear rules governing access and re-use conditions, discouraging, unclear and inconsistent pricing where the re-use of information is chargeable, and the overall excessive complexity of the process for obtaining permission to re-use PSI, in particular for SMEs. In addition, re-users and incumbent ‘hybrid’ public sector bodies (combining public tasks with the commercial exploitation of data) must enjoy a level playing field and competitive conditions unrestrained by any discriminatory treatment or unjustified exclusive agreements for the exploitation of PSI. Finally, the internal market for PSI re-use will thrive only if regulatory and practical borders to re-use across the Union are removed and the same types of data are available on similar, if not the same, terms and conditions irrespective of their national origin. Benefits to be gained from improved access and facilitated re-use include: innovation in products based directly on PSI and in complementary products; reduced transaction costs and efficiency gains in the public sector; and, increasingly, the combining of different public and private information to produce new goods. 1.2. General context Public bodies produce, collect or hold a wealth of information and content, ranging from statistical, economic or environmental data to archival material, collections of books or works of art. The digital revolution has significantly increased the value of this resource for innovative products or services based on data as raw material. The economic importance of opening data resources, including public data, is now widely recognised. For example, according to a 2010 report by The Economist, data have become ‘an economic raw input almost on par with capital and labour’[2], while the Digital Britain Final Report recognises data as ‘an innovation currency … the lifeblood of the knowledge economy’[3]. A recent study estimates the total market for public sector information in 2008 at € 28 billion across the Union[4]. 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. Beyond fuelling the innovation and creativity that stimulate economic growth, open public data also empower citizens, thereby enhancing participatory democracy and promoting transparent, accountable and more efficient government. The challenge for the Directive is to provide the market with an optimal legal framework to facilitate and stimulate the commercial and non-commercial re-use of public open data. Ultimately therefore, the Directive and its revision aim to catalyse a change of culture in the public sector, creating a favourable environment for value-added activities resulting from the re-use of public information resources. The review of the Directive thus forms part of the Digital Agenda for Europe and the Europe 2020 strategy aiming for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth[5]. The review is in fact a key action of the Digital Agenda (key action 1c).
Article 12 
Implementation Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by 1 July 2005. They shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof. When Member States adopt those measures, they shall contain a reference to this Directive or be accompanied by such a reference on the occasion of their official publication. Member States shall determine how such reference is to be made. Article 13 Review 1. The Commission shall carry out a review of the application of this Directive before 1 July 2008 and shall communicate the results of this review, together with any proposals for modifications of the Directive, to the European Parliament and the Council. 2. The review shall in particular address the scope and impact of this Directive, including the extent of the increase in re-use of public sector documents, the effects of the principles applied to charging and the re-use of official texts of a legislative and administrative nature, as well as further possibilities of improving the proper functioning of the internal market and the development of the European content industry. Article 14 Entry into force This Directive shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. Article 15 Addressees This Directive is addressed to the Member States. Done at Brussels, 17 November 2003. For the Parliament P. Cox The President For the Council G. Alemanno (1) OJ C 227 E, 24.9.2002, p. 382. (2) OJ C 85, 8.4.2003, p. 25. (3) OJ C 73, 26.3.2003, p. 38. (4) Opinion of the European Parliament of 12 February 2003 (not yet published in the Official Journal), Council Common Position of 26 May 2003 (OJ C 159 E, 8.7.2003, p. 1) and Position of the European Parliament of 25 September 2003 (not yet published in the Official Journal). Council Decision of 27 October 2003. (5) OJ L 209, 24.7.1992, p. 1. Directive as last amended by Commission Directive 2001/78/EC (OJ L 285, 29.10.2001, p. 1). (6) OJ L 199, 9.8.1993, p. 1. Directive as last amended by Commission Directive 2001/78/EC. (7) OJ L 199, 9.8.1993, p. 54. Directive as last amended by Commission Directive 2001/78/EC. (8) OJ L 101, 1.4.1998, p. 1. (9) OJ L 281, 23.11.1995, p. 31. (10) OJ L 167, 22.6.2001, p. 10. (11) OJ L 77, 27.3.1996, p. 20. This site is managed by the Publications Office of the European Union Need help? 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Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL 1.1. Grounds for and objectives of the proposal Directive 2003/98/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on the re-use of public sector information (‘PSI Directive’) was adopted on 17 November 2003. The Directive aimed to facilitate the re-use of PSI throughout the Union by harmonising the basic conditions for re-use and removing major barriers to re-use in the internal market. The Directive contains provisions on non-discrimination, charging, exclusive arrangements, transparency, licensing and practical tools to facilitate the discovery and re-use of public documents. Article 13 of the Directive called for a review of the application of the Directive before 1 July 2008. The review was carried out by the Commission and resulted in the publication of Communication COM(2009) 212[1]. It found that, despite the progress made, a number of barriers still persisted, namely attempts by public sector bodies to maximise cost recovery, as opposed to benefits for the wider economy, competition between the public and the private sector, practical issues hindering re-use, such as the lack of information on available PSI, and the mindset of public sector bodies failing to realise the economic potential. The Commission concluded that a further review should be carried out by 2012, when more evidence on the impact, effects and application of the Directive would be available. This proposal of the Commission is the result of the second review. Public sector information is an important primary material for digital content products and services with a large hitherto unexploited potential. The general objective of this Union action is to contribute to economic growth and job creation by unlocking the economic potential of government-owned data through improved conditions for the exploitation of PSI. The general objective is fully in line with the Union’s horizontal strategies, in particular the Commission’s Europe 2020 Strategy, launched on 3 March 2010 with the aim of turning Europe ‘into a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy delivering high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion’. The opening up of PSI for re-use will also have a positive effect on the transparency, efficiency and accountability of governments and contribute to citizen empowerment. Ultimately therefore, the PSI Directive aims to catalyse a change of culture in the public sector, creating a favourable environment for value-added activities resulting from the re-use of public information resources. The regulatory challenge is to provide the market with an optimal legal framework to stimulate the digital content market for PSI-based products and services, including its cross-border dimension, and to prevent distortions of competition on the Union market for the re-use of PSI. The Commission proposal therefore targets the chain of commercial and non-commercial exploitation of PSI, to ensure specific conditions at different stages of the chain so that access is improved and re-use facilitated. Data must be unlocked and made discoverable and effectively available for re-use. Financial and non-financial transaction costs must remain as low as possible. Re-users must have access to an efficient and effective redress mechanism to be able to enforce their rights. The original Directive must be reinforced in order to overcome the remaining barriers, e.g. lack of information about what data are actually available, restrictive or unclear rules governing access and re-use conditions, discouraging, unclear and inconsistent pricing where the re-use of information is chargeable, and the overall excessive complexity of the process for obtaining permission to re-use PSI, in particular for SMEs. In addition, re-users and incumbent ‘hybrid’ public sector bodies (combining public tasks with the commercial exploitation of data) must enjoy a level playing field and competitive conditions unrestrained by any discriminatory treatment or unjustified exclusive agreements for the exploitation of PSI. Finally, the internal market for PSI re-use will thrive only if regulatory and practical borders to re-use across the Union are removed and the same types of data are available on similar, if not the same, terms and conditions irrespective of their national origin. Benefits to be gained from improved access and facilitated re-use include: innovation in products based directly on PSI and in complementary products; reduced transaction costs and efficiency gains in the public sector; and, increasingly, the combining of different public and private information to produce new goods. 1.2. General context Public bodies produce, collect or hold a wealth of information and content, ranging from statistical, economic or environmental data to archival material, collections of books or works of art. The digital revolution has significantly increased the value of this resource for innovative products or services based on data as raw material. The economic importance of opening data resources, including public data, is now widely recognised. For example, according to a 2010 report by The Economist, data have become ‘an economic raw input almost on par with capital and labour’[2], while the Digital Britain Final Report recognises data as ‘an innovation currency … the lifeblood of the knowledge economy’[3]. A recent study estimates the total market for public sector information in 2008 at € 28 billion across the Union[4]. 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. Beyond fuelling the innovation and creativity that stimulate economic growth, open public data also empower citizens, thereby enhancing participatory democracy and promoting transparent, accountable and more efficient government. The challenge for the Directive is to provide the market with an optimal legal framework to facilitate and stimulate the commercial and non-commercial re-use of public open data. Ultimately therefore, the Directive and its revision aim to catalyse a change of culture in the public sector, creating a favourable environment for value-added activities resulting from the re-use of public information resources. The review of the Directive thus forms part of the Digital Agenda for Europe and the Europe 2020 strategy aiming for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth[5]. The review is in fact a key action of the Digital Agenda (key action 1c).
Revised version (Article 12 Implementation):
Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by 1 July 2005. They shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof. When Member States adopt those measures, they shall contain a reference to this Directive or be accompanied by such a reference on the occasion of their official publication. Member States shall determine how such reference is to be made.
Article 13 
Review 1. The Commission shall carry out a review of the application of this Directive before 1 July 2008 and shall communicate the results of this review, together with any proposals for modifications of the Directive, to the European Parliament and the Council. 2. The review shall in particular address the scope and impact of this Directive, including the extent of the increase in re-use of public sector documents, the effects of the principles applied to charging and the re-use of official texts of a legislative and administrative nature, as well as further possibilities of improving the proper functioning of the internal market and the development of the European content industry. Article 14 Entry into force This Directive shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. Article 15 Addressees This Directive is addressed to the Member States. Done at Brussels, 17 November 2003. For the Parliament P. Cox The President For the Council G. Alemanno (1) OJ C 227 E, 24.9.2002, p. 382. (2) OJ C 85, 8.4.2003, p. 25. (3) OJ C 73, 26.3.2003, p. 38. (4) Opinion of the European Parliament of 12 February 2003 (not yet published in the Official Journal), Council Common Position of 26 May 2003 (OJ C 159 E, 8.7.2003, p. 1) and Position of the European Parliament of 25 September 2003 (not yet published in the Official Journal). Council Decision of 27 October 2003. (5) OJ L 209, 24.7.1992, p. 1. Directive as last amended by Commission Directive 2001/78/EC (OJ L 285, 29.10.2001, p. 1). (6) OJ L 199, 9.8.1993, p. 1. Directive as last amended by Commission Directive 2001/78/EC. (7) OJ L 199, 9.8.1993, p. 54. Directive as last amended by Commission Directive 2001/78/EC. (8) OJ L 101, 1.4.1998, p. 1. (9) OJ L 281, 23.11.1995, p. 31. (10) OJ L 167, 22.6.2001, p. 10. (11) OJ L 77, 27.3.1996, p. 20. This site is managed by the Publications Office of the European Union Need help? 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Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL 1.1. Grounds for and objectives of the proposal Directive 2003/98/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on the re-use of public sector information (‘PSI Directive’) was adopted on 17 November 2003. The Directive aimed to facilitate the re-use of PSI throughout the Union by harmonising the basic conditions for re-use and removing major barriers to re-use in the internal market. The Directive contains provisions on non-discrimination, charging, exclusive arrangements, transparency, licensing and practical tools to facilitate the discovery and re-use of public documents. Article 13 of the Directive called for a review of the application of the Directive before 1 July 2008. The review was carried out by the Commission and resulted in the publication of Communication COM(2009) 212[1]. It found that, despite the progress made, a number of barriers still persisted, namely attempts by public sector bodies to maximise cost recovery, as opposed to benefits for the wider economy, competition between the public and the private sector, practical issues hindering re-use, such as the lack of information on available PSI, and the mindset of public sector bodies failing to realise the economic potential. The Commission concluded that a further review should be carried out by 2012, when more evidence on the impact, effects and application of the Directive would be available. This proposal of the Commission is the result of the second review. Public sector information is an important primary material for digital content products and services with a large hitherto unexploited potential. The general objective of this Union action is to contribute to economic growth and job creation by unlocking the economic potential of government-owned data through improved conditions for the exploitation of PSI. The general objective is fully in line with the Union’s horizontal strategies, in particular the Commission’s Europe 2020 Strategy, launched on 3 March 2010 with the aim of turning Europe ‘into a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy delivering high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion’. The opening up of PSI for re-use will also have a positive effect on the transparency, efficiency and accountability of governments and contribute to citizen empowerment. Ultimately therefore, the PSI Directive aims to catalyse a change of culture in the public sector, creating a favourable environment for value-added activities resulting from the re-use of public information resources. The regulatory challenge is to provide the market with an optimal legal framework to stimulate the digital content market for PSI-based products and services, including its cross-border dimension, and to prevent distortions of competition on the Union market for the re-use of PSI. The Commission proposal therefore targets the chain of commercial and non-commercial exploitation of PSI, to ensure specific conditions at different stages of the chain so that access is improved and re-use facilitated. Data must be unlocked and made discoverable and effectively available for re-use. Financial and non-financial transaction costs must remain as low as possible. Re-users must have access to an efficient and effective redress mechanism to be able to enforce their rights. The original Directive must be reinforced in order to overcome the remaining barriers, e.g. lack of information about what data are actually available, restrictive or unclear rules governing access and re-use conditions, discouraging, unclear and inconsistent pricing where the re-use of information is chargeable, and the overall excessive complexity of the process for obtaining permission to re-use PSI, in particular for SMEs. In addition, re-users and incumbent ‘hybrid’ public sector bodies (combining public tasks with the commercial exploitation of data) must enjoy a level playing field and competitive conditions unrestrained by any discriminatory treatment or unjustified exclusive agreements for the exploitation of PSI. Finally, the internal market for PSI re-use will thrive only if regulatory and practical borders to re-use across the Union are removed and the same types of data are available on similar, if not the same, terms and conditions irrespective of their national origin. Benefits to be gained from improved access and facilitated re-use include: innovation in products based directly on PSI and in complementary products; reduced transaction costs and efficiency gains in the public sector; and, increasingly, the combining of different public and private information to produce new goods. 1.2. General context Public bodies produce, collect or hold a wealth of information and content, ranging from statistical, economic or environmental data to archival material, collections of books or works of art. The digital revolution has significantly increased the value of this resource for innovative products or services based on data as raw material. The economic importance of opening data resources, including public data, is now widely recognised. For example, according to a 2010 report by The Economist, data have become ‘an economic raw input almost on par with capital and labour’[2], while the Digital Britain Final Report recognises data as ‘an innovation currency … the lifeblood of the knowledge economy’[3]. A recent study estimates the total market for public sector information in 2008 at € 28 billion across the Union[4]. 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. Beyond fuelling the innovation and creativity that stimulate economic growth, open public data also empower citizens, thereby enhancing participatory democracy and promoting transparent, accountable and more efficient government. The challenge for the Directive is to provide the market with an optimal legal framework to facilitate and stimulate the commercial and non-commercial re-use of public open data. Ultimately therefore, the Directive and its revision aim to catalyse a change of culture in the public sector, creating a favourable environment for value-added activities resulting from the re-use of public information resources. The review of the Directive thus forms part of the Digital Agenda for Europe and the Europe 2020 strategy aiming for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth[5]. The review is in fact a key action of the Digital Agenda (key action 1c).
Article 14 
Entry into force This Directive shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. Article 15 Addressees This Directive is addressed to the Member States. Done at Brussels, 17 November 2003. For the Parliament P. Cox The President For the Council G. Alemanno (1) OJ C 227 E, 24.9.2002, p. 382. (2) OJ C 85, 8.4.2003, p. 25. (3) OJ C 73, 26.3.2003, p. 38. (4) Opinion of the European Parliament of 12 February 2003 (not yet published in the Official Journal), Council Common Position of 26 May 2003 (OJ C 159 E, 8.7.2003, p. 1) and Position of the European Parliament of 25 September 2003 (not yet published in the Official Journal). Council Decision of 27 October 2003. (5) OJ L 209, 24.7.1992, p. 1. Directive as last amended by Commission Directive 2001/78/EC (OJ L 285, 29.10.2001, p. 1). (6) OJ L 199, 9.8.1993, p. 1. Directive as last amended by Commission Directive 2001/78/EC. (7) OJ L 199, 9.8.1993, p. 54. Directive as last amended by Commission Directive 2001/78/EC. (8) OJ L 101, 1.4.1998, p. 1. (9) OJ L 281, 23.11.1995, p. 31. (10) OJ L 167, 22.6.2001, p. 10. (11) OJ L 77, 27.3.1996, p. 20. This site is managed by the Publications Office of the European Union Need help? Help pages Contact Sitemap Follow us X Legal Legal notice Cookies policy Accessibility Privacy statement Information About EUR-Lex Newsletter Useful links Other services European Data EU tenders EU research results EU Whoiswho EU publications N-Lex EU Law in Force EU Law Tracker Discover more on europa.eu Contact the EU Call us 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 Use other telephone options Write to us via our contact form Meet us at one of the EU centres Social media Search for EU social media channels Legal Languages on our websites Privacy policy Legal notice Cookies EU institutions European Parliament European Council Council of the European Union European Commission Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) European Central Bank (ECB) European Court of Auditors European External Action Service (EEAS) European Economic and Social Committee European Committee of Regions (CoR) European Investment Bank European Ombudsman European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) European Data Protection Board European Personnel Selection Office Publications Office of the European Union Agencies Switch to mobile Switch to desktop This site is managed by the Publications Office of the European Union Need help? Help pages Contact Sitemap Follow us X Legal Legal notice Cookies policy Accessibility Privacy statement Information About EUR-Lex Newsletter Useful links Other services European Data EU tenders EU research results EU Whoiswho EU publications N-Lex EU Law in Force EU Law Tracker This site is managed by the Publications Office of the European Union Need help? Help pages Contact Sitemap Follow us X Legal Legal notice Cookies policy Accessibility Privacy statement Need help? Help pages Contact Sitemap Help pages Contact Sitemap Help pages Contact Sitemap Follow us X Legal Legal notice Cookies policy Accessibility Privacy statement Legal notice Cookies policy Accessibility Privacy statement Legal notice Cookies policy Accessibility Privacy statement Information About EUR-Lex Newsletter Useful links Other services European Data EU tenders EU research results EU Whoiswho EU publications N-Lex EU Law in Force EU Law Tracker Information About EUR-Lex Newsletter Useful links About EUR-Lex Newsletter Useful links About EUR-Lex Newsletter Useful links Other services European Data EU tenders EU research results EU Whoiswho EU publications European Data EU tenders EU research results EU Whoiswho EU publications European Data EU tenders EU research results EU Whoiswho EU publications N-Lex EU Law in Force EU Law Tracker N-Lex EU Law in Force EU Law Tracker Discover more on europa.eu Contact the EU Call us 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 Use other telephone options Write to us via our contact form Meet us at one of the EU centres Social media Search for EU social media channels Legal Languages on our websites Privacy policy Legal notice Cookies EU institutions European Parliament European Council Council of the European Union European Commission Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) European Central Bank (ECB) European Court of Auditors European External Action Service (EEAS) European Economic and Social Committee European Committee of Regions (CoR) European Investment Bank European Ombudsman European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) European Data Protection Board European Personnel Selection Office Publications Office of the European Union Agencies Discover more on europa.eu Contact the EU Call us 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 Use other telephone options Write to us via our contact form Meet us at one of the EU centres Social media Search for EU social media channels Legal Languages on our websites Privacy policy Legal notice Cookies Contact the EU Call us 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 Use other telephone options Write to us via our contact form Meet us at one of the EU centres Call us 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 Use other telephone options Write to us via our contact form Meet us at one of the EU centres Call us 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 Use other telephone options Write to us via our contact form Meet us at one of the EU centres Social media Search for EU social media channels Search for EU social media channels Legal Languages on our websites Privacy policy Legal notice Cookies Languages on our websites Privacy policy Legal notice Cookies Languages on our websites Privacy policy Legal notice Cookies EU institutions European Parliament European Council Council of the European Union European Commission Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) European Central Bank (ECB) European Court of Auditors European External Action Service (EEAS) European Economic and Social Committee European Committee of Regions (CoR) European Investment Bank European Ombudsman European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) European Data Protection Board European Personnel Selection Office Publications Office of the European Union Agencies European Parliament European Council Council of the European Union European Commission Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) European Central Bank (ECB) European Court of Auditors European External Action Service (EEAS) European Economic and Social Committee European Committee of Regions (CoR) European Investment Bank European Ombudsman European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) European Data Protection Board European Personnel Selection Office Publications Office of the European Union Agencies European Parliament European Council Council of the European Union European Commission Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) European Central Bank (ECB) European Court of Auditors European External Action Service (EEAS) European Economic and Social Committee European Committee of Regions (CoR) European Investment Bank European Ombudsman European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) European Data Protection Board European Personnel Selection Office Publications Office of the European Union Agencies Switch to mobile Switch to desktop Switch to mobile Switch to desktop
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL 1.1. Grounds for and objectives of the proposal Directive 2003/98/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on the re-use of public sector information (‘PSI Directive’) was adopted on 17 November 2003. The Directive aimed to facilitate the re-use of PSI throughout the Union by harmonising the basic conditions for re-use and removing major barriers to re-use in the internal market. The Directive contains provisions on non-discrimination, charging, exclusive arrangements, transparency, licensing and practical tools to facilitate the discovery and re-use of public documents. Article 13 of the Directive called for a review of the application of the Directive before 1 July 2008. The review was carried out by the Commission and resulted in the publication of Communication COM(2009) 212[1]. It found that, despite the progress made, a number of barriers still persisted, namely attempts by public sector bodies to maximise cost recovery, as opposed to benefits for the wider economy, competition between the public and the private sector, practical issues hindering re-use, such as the lack of information on available PSI, and the mindset of public sector bodies failing to realise the economic potential. The Commission concluded that a further review should be carried out by 2012, when more evidence on the impact, effects and application of the Directive would be available. This proposal of the Commission is the result of the second review. Public sector information is an important primary material for digital content products and services with a large hitherto unexploited potential. The general objective of this Union action is to contribute to economic growth and job creation by unlocking the economic potential of government-owned data through improved conditions for the exploitation of PSI. The general objective is fully in line with the Union’s horizontal strategies, in particular the Commission’s Europe 2020 Strategy, launched on 3 March 2010 with the aim of turning Europe ‘into a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy delivering high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion’. The opening up of PSI for re-use will also have a positive effect on the transparency, efficiency and accountability of governments and contribute to citizen empowerment. Ultimately therefore, the PSI Directive aims to catalyse a change of culture in the public sector, creating a favourable environment for value-added activities resulting from the re-use of public information resources. The regulatory challenge is to provide the market with an optimal legal framework to stimulate the digital content market for PSI-based products and services, including its cross-border dimension, and to prevent distortions of competition on the Union market for the re-use of PSI. The Commission proposal therefore targets the chain of commercial and non-commercial exploitation of PSI, to ensure specific conditions at different stages of the chain so that access is improved and re-use facilitated. Data must be unlocked and made discoverable and effectively available for re-use. Financial and non-financial transaction costs must remain as low as possible. Re-users must have access to an efficient and effective redress mechanism to be able to enforce their rights. The original Directive must be reinforced in order to overcome the remaining barriers, e.g. lack of information about what data are actually available, restrictive or unclear rules governing access and re-use conditions, discouraging, unclear and inconsistent pricing where the re-use of information is chargeable, and the overall excessive complexity of the process for obtaining permission to re-use PSI, in particular for SMEs. In addition, re-users and incumbent ‘hybrid’ public sector bodies (combining public tasks with the commercial exploitation of data) must enjoy a level playing field and competitive conditions unrestrained by any discriminatory treatment or unjustified exclusive agreements for the exploitation of PSI. Finally, the internal market for PSI re-use will thrive only if regulatory and practical borders to re-use across the Union are removed and the same types of data are available on similar, if not the same, terms and conditions irrespective of their national origin. Benefits to be gained from improved access and facilitated re-use include: innovation in products based directly on PSI and in complementary products; reduced transaction costs and efficiency gains in the public sector; and, increasingly, the combining of different public and private information to produce new goods. 1.2. General context Public bodies produce, collect or hold a wealth of information and content, ranging from statistical, economic or environmental data to archival material, collections of books or works of art. The digital revolution has significantly increased the value of this resource for innovative products or services based on data as raw material. The economic importance of opening data resources, including public data, is now widely recognised. For example, according to a 2010 report by The Economist, data have become ‘an economic raw input almost on par with capital and labour’[2], while the Digital Britain Final Report recognises data as ‘an innovation currency … the lifeblood of the knowledge economy’[3]. A recent study estimates the total market for public sector information in 2008 at € 28 billion across the Union[4]. 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. Beyond fuelling the innovation and creativity that stimulate economic growth, open public data also empower citizens, thereby enhancing participatory democracy and promoting transparent, accountable and more efficient government. The challenge for the Directive is to provide the market with an optimal legal framework to facilitate and stimulate the commercial and non-commercial re-use of public open data. Ultimately therefore, the Directive and its revision aim to catalyse a change of culture in the public sector, creating a favourable environment for value-added activities resulting from the re-use of public information resources. The review of the Directive thus forms part of the Digital Agenda for Europe and the Europe 2020 strategy aiming for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth[5]. The review is in fact a key action of the Digital Agenda (key action 1c).
Revised version (Article 14 Entry into force):
This Directive shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union .
Article 15 
Addressees This Directive is addressed to the Member States. Done at Brussels, 17 November 2003
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL 1.1. Grounds for and objectives of the proposal Directive 2003/98/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on the re-use of public sector information (‘PSI Directive’) was adopted on 17 November 2003. The Directive aimed to facilitate the re-use of PSI throughout the Union by harmonising the basic conditions for re-use and removing major barriers to re-use in the internal market. The Directive contains provisions on non-discrimination, charging, exclusive arrangements, transparency, licensing and practical tools to facilitate the discovery and re-use of public documents. Article 13 of the Directive called for a review of the application of the Directive before 1 July 2008. The review was carried out by the Commission and resulted in the publication of Communication COM(2009) 212[1]. It found that, despite the progress made, a number of barriers still persisted, namely attempts by public sector bodies to maximise cost recovery, as opposed to benefits for the wider economy, competition between the public and the private sector, practical issues hindering re-use, such as the lack of information on available PSI, and the mindset of public sector bodies failing to realise the economic potential. The Commission concluded that a further review should be carried out by 2012, when more evidence on the impact, effects and application of the Directive would be available. This proposal of the Commission is the result of the second review. Public sector information is an important primary material for digital content products and services with a large hitherto unexploited potential. The general objective of this Union action is to contribute to economic growth and job creation by unlocking the economic potential of government-owned data through improved conditions for the exploitation of PSI. The general objective is fully in line with the Union’s horizontal strategies, in particular the Commission’s Europe 2020 Strategy, launched on 3 March 2010 with the aim of turning Europe ‘into a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy delivering high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion’. The opening up of PSI for re-use will also have a positive effect on the transparency, efficiency and accountability of governments and contribute to citizen empowerment. Ultimately therefore, the PSI Directive aims to catalyse a change of culture in the public sector, creating a favourable environment for value-added activities resulting from the re-use of public information resources. The regulatory challenge is to provide the market with an optimal legal framework to stimulate the digital content market for PSI-based products and services, including its cross-border dimension, and to prevent distortions of competition on the Union market for the re-use of PSI. The Commission proposal therefore targets the chain of commercial and non-commercial exploitation of PSI, to ensure specific conditions at different stages of the chain so that access is improved and re-use facilitated. Data must be unlocked and made discoverable and effectively available for re-use. Financial and non-financial transaction costs must remain as low as possible. Re-users must have access to an efficient and effective redress mechanism to be able to enforce their rights. The original Directive must be reinforced in order to overcome the remaining barriers, e.g. lack of information about what data are actually available, restrictive or unclear rules governing access and re-use conditions, discouraging, unclear and inconsistent pricing where the re-use of information is chargeable, and the overall excessive complexity of the process for obtaining permission to re-use PSI, in particular for SMEs. In addition, re-users and incumbent ‘hybrid’ public sector bodies (combining public tasks with the commercial exploitation of data) must enjoy a level playing field and competitive conditions unrestrained by any discriminatory treatment or unjustified exclusive agreements for the exploitation of PSI. Finally, the internal market for PSI re-use will thrive only if regulatory and practical borders to re-use across the Union are removed and the same types of data are available on similar, if not the same, terms and conditions irrespective of their national origin. Benefits to be gained from improved access and facilitated re-use include: innovation in products based directly on PSI and in complementary products; reduced transaction costs and efficiency gains in the public sector; and, increasingly, the combining of different public and private information to produce new goods. 1.2. General context Public bodies produce, collect or hold a wealth of information and content, ranging from statistical, economic or environmental data to archival material, collections of books or works of art. The digital revolution has significantly increased the value of this resource for innovative products or services based on data as raw material. The economic importance of opening data resources, including public data, is now widely recognised. For example, according to a 2010 report by The Economist, data have become ‘an economic raw input almost on par with capital and labour’[2], while the Digital Britain Final Report recognises data as ‘an innovation currency … the lifeblood of the knowledge economy’[3]. A recent study estimates the total market for public sector information in 2008 at € 28 billion across the Union[4]. 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. Beyond fuelling the innovation and creativity that stimulate economic growth, open public data also empower citizens, thereby enhancing participatory democracy and promoting transparent, accountable and more efficient government. The challenge for the Directive is to provide the market with an optimal legal framework to facilitate and stimulate the commercial and non-commercial re-use of public open data. Ultimately therefore, the Directive and its revision aim to catalyse a change of culture in the public sector, creating a favourable environment for value-added activities resulting from the re-use of public information resources. The review of the Directive thus forms part of the Digital Agenda for Europe and the Europe 2020 strategy aiming for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth[5]. The review is in fact a key action of the Digital Agenda (key action 1c).
Revised version (Article 15 Addressees):
This Directive is addressed to the Member States.