The revised PSI Directive – European Commission publishes guidelines on re-use of public sector information | White & Case LLP - JDSupra

"On July 17th, 2014, the European Commission published guidelines[1] for the re-use of public sector information ('PSI'). These guidelines shall support the EU Member States in the transposition of the 2013 revision[2] of the so called 'PSI Directive'[3], and to encourage the re-use of public sector information especially in the digital market. The PSI Directive was adopted in 2003 to make public sector information, such as weather data, traffic data, property asset data or maps, more easily accessible to third parties. Public sector information can be used for innovative value-added services and products, such as mobile apps, by using the data as basis for the services and/or products. This can lead to significant economy growth and is capable of increasing the accountability and transparency of the administrative and governmental practice. Even after the PSI Directive came into force, interested parties faced difficulties in gaining access to and use PSI. Reasons were the fragmentation of the original PSI Directive's transposition into national law and ambiguities affecting its interpretation and a certain hesitation of public sector authorities to disclose PSI. Against this background, the PSI Directive was revised in 2013. The now published guidelines shall provide non-binding guidance on three topics: recommended standard licenses, datasets and charging ..."