Subject files - Directive on Open data and the re-use of public sector information - Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection

The EC adopted a proposal for a revision of the directive on the re-use of public sector information on 25.04.2018. The directive builds upon the Proposal on free flow of data and aims at facilitating cross-border reuse of public sector data for products and services. The IMCO opinion, adopted in October 2018, addressed a number of issues, including the renaming the Directive, by adding the terms “open data” in the title. The IMCO Opinion was more ambitious than the EC proposal

in limiting the obstacles to access and re-use of data, based on the principle that the access to information is a fundamental right. Member States were encouraged to design open data policies, to use more permissive licences and to limit charging, in line with the exceptions defined by the ECJ, namely those related to the cost of the public document. The new aspects also included a list of categories of high value data in areas, such as statistics, procurement, national law, budget and spending, companies, geospatial data, earth observation and environment. The EC was given delegated powers to update this list.

ITRE Committee adopted its report on 2.12.2018, integrating the majority of suggestions put forward by IMCO. In particular, the high-value datasets include categories, such as geospatial data, Earth observation and environment, meteorological data, statistics, companies and company ownership, as well as mobility. The Open Data Directive was adopted in plenary in April 2019.