EU PSI Re-use DirectiveReview Completed – What next?

Chris CorbinIndependent researcher on Information Policy

GI2009 Symposium, Dresden,14th May 2009

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The global spread & the 30 year story!20 Year Summary

1st Decade: (1989-1998)Much talk but little action!

2nd Decade (1999-2008):Set of laws put in place, a lot of action, awareness raised, but a number of stubborn issues persist, review completed.

3rd Decade (2009-2018): Making it work!

The knowledge bankEuropean and OECD timeline of actions

2005

2006

2008

1989

1999

2004

Europe has Implemented

the PSIFramework

OECD in parallelMember States such as New Zealand

& Australia acting on OECD policy

MS = 12

MS = 15

MS = 25

MS = 27

April June

EC Commissioned studies

May

2009

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Published 7th May 2009

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Published 7th May 2009

http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/psi/index_en.htm

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European Commission: Review completed

The Commission published a Communication on the 7th May 2009

COM(2009) 212 final (Available in 22 EU languages)

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

Re-use of Public Sector Information – Review of Directive 2003/98/EC –[SEC(2009) 597]

The publication of the Communication marks the end of the European Commission review of the PSI re-use Directive (as required by Article 13 of the Directive).

The publication commences the next review period that will run for three years from 2009 through to 2012

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2009 – 2012 What Next?

Member States have been put on notice to fully implement the Directive.

Member States have been put on notice to implement the Directive correctly.

The European Commission shall monitor Member State progress and take action where necessary.

WHY DOES THIS MATTER?

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Why is further action needed?

The value of the EU PSI market is estimated at €27 billion.

This is four times the EU market for mobile roaming services.

This shows the central role of public sector content in the digital age as a driver of economic activity.

A further increase in the use of this resource will therefore directly contribute to the EU’s goals of increasing competitiveness and creating more jobs.

Source: EC Communication 7 May 2009

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European Commission Communication: Member States

Member States to:

- Ensure full and correct implementation and application of the Directive

- Terminate exclusive arrangements as prescribed by the Directive

- Apply licensing and charging models that facilitate the re-use of PSI

- Ensure fair competition between public sector bodies and re-users

In addition, Member States are encouraged to promote the identification and ready availability of information resources and to set up quick and inexpensive conflict resolution mechanisms.

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European Commission Communication: The Commission actions

The Commission will:

- Closely monitor implementation and application of the Directive

- Scrutinise exclusive arrangements (2009-10) in particular

- Analyse the economic case for marginal costs

- Encourage exchange of good practices (proactive re-use policies, public tasks, conflict resolution)

- Further review by 2012, accompanied where appropriate by a proposal for amendments to the Directive

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European Commission Communication: What next

The Commission states :

Full implementation and application of the PSI Directive

The Commission will continue to monitor whether Member States meet their obligations and act against those who are in breach of the Directive.

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European Commission Communication: What next

The Commission states (continued):

Terminating Exclusive Arrangements

The Commission will closely scrutinise observance of this obligation. It will launch an exercise investigating the extent of such arrangements in summer 2009.

Charging

Further, continuous analysis of the economic case for marginal costs is a Commission priority for the future, to be carried out in cooperation with Member States and stakeholders.

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European Commission Communication: What next

The Commission states (continued):

Facilitating re-use

The Commission will promote the exchange of good practices in measures facilitating re-use between Member States, in particular through the PSI expert group. It will contribute to awareness-raising and the deployment of re-use policies through projects such as thePSI platform.

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The European Public Sector Information (PSI) Platform

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European Commission Communication: What next

The Commission states (continued):

Ensuring fair competition between public sector bodies and re-users

The Commission encourages Member States to define public tasks in such a way that they allow maximum PSI re-use, and will promote good practices and monitor developments in this area.

Conflict resolution

The Commission encourages Member States to set up PSI complaint mechanisms and will monitor developments in this area.

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European Commission Communication: What next

Will this be enough to ensure the economic benefit is achieved?

Is the Commission warning that further infringement procedures will be initiated if Member States fail to act be enough? (based on past experiences reported by the Commission in the Communication) For example:

Non-communication of implementation initially Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain (Ended at Court of Justice with decisions against: Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg and Spain)

Non-conformity of national implementing measures with the Directive - infringement actions in process.

Italy, Poland and Sweden

Intensive administrative cooperation resulted in changes in the following Member States:

Denmark, Greece, Ireland, Malta and Spain

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European Commission Communication: What next

Will this be enough to ensure the economic benefit is achieved? (Continued)

Raising Awareness

• PSI Group – is this enough – so far it meets infrequently, not all Member States attend and those that do have delegations that are at a reporting level rather than a policy change level.

• European PSI Platform – will run two annual pan European Conferences over the next two years – provides an opportunity to exchange knowledge – but this will not be enough.

Will this be enough? The short answer is NO

• Member States must be far more proactive in raising awareness.

• European and National Conferences related to PSI should ALWAYS INCLUDE at least one presentation or session devoted to the re-use of PSI. For example as here in GI2009, Dresden. (Has done so for 3 years & has undertaken awareness surveys)

• Representative bodies must be far more proactive in raising awareness.

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European Commission Communication: What next

Summary

• The review has been completed and there will be a further 3 years of monitoring of the implementation of the PSI Re-use Directive.

• The action over the next 3 years is mainly at the Member States level with PSI stakeholders and the European Commission supporting.

• The Commission will take further infringement actions against Member States if they do not take the appropriate actions.

• The INSPIRE Directive is currently an unknown quantity at the current time as to whether it will assist improve the PSI re-use framework within the next 3 years.

• PSI Stakeholders including Associations and other representative bodies will have to be far more pro-active than they have been to date to assist the Member States and the European Commission deliver the change required.

Interested in PSI? Then why not visit:

www.ePSIplus.net

&http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/psi/index_en.htm

Thank you for your attention

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