Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information

Today, the Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information is holding its annual seminar at the Oxford Internet Institute.  APPSI has invited external speakers who are key to the re-use of public sector information agenda.

Presentations

• Javier Hernandez ros Head of Unit, Access to Information, DG Information Society & Media, European Commission .pdf (183.81 KB)
• William Dutton Director Oxford Internet Institute.pdf (783.59 KB)
• John Sheridan, Head of e-Services, The National Archives
• Hector MacQueen, APPSI representative member, Scotland
• Christine Gifford, APPSI Member Information Management Community.pdf (127.53 KB)
• Vanessa Lawrence Chief Executive, Ordnance Survey .pdf (2.17 MB)
• Natalie Ceeney, Chief Executive, The National Archives

Agenda

APPSI annual seminar agenda.pdf (88.13 KB)

Pictures

Seminar Discussion.jpg (210.87 KB)

Presentation Hector MacQueen.jpg (152.91 KB)

Presentation Vanessa Lawrence.jpg (136.59 KB)

Presentation John Sheridan.jpg (163.82 KB)

Presentation Discussion Natalie Ceeney.jpg (155.93 KB)

Minutes

9.12.08-APPSI-Seminar-minutes.pdf (220.41 KB)

This report is the outcome of a study undertaken by MICUS Consulting GmbH during 2008 on the behalf of the European Commission.
The report states that:

• the PSI Directive has had its strongest impact in the sector of geographical information (GI)
• 66% of GI re-users' income has increased and the market is enriched by new re-user groups which offer innovative application for GI
• 79% of private re-users would like to access more public GI, but some do not take it up, primarily because of unfavourable pricing and licensing conditions.
• 79% of holders of legal and administrative information provide their information free of charge on the internet
• since 2002 the market for legal and administrative information has grown by 40%
• in the sector of meteorological information the Directive has had little impact, even though the National Meteorological Services (NMSs) have introduced numerous changes in their data policy, only 5 of 25 NMSs have reported that they changed their data policies based on a change in their national legislation
• the market for private weather services  is growing, with 74% respondents recording a data volume download
• Re-users in all three sectors - geographical Information, legal and administrative information, and meteorological information, still complain about restrictive licensing and high prices.

Assessment of the Re-use of Public Sector Inforamtion in Geographical Information, Meteorological and Lecal Information Sectors

The European Commission has published a summary report on the results of the Review of the EC PSI Directive. The Review received 37 responses in total from a range of stakeholders including PSI content holders re-users, non-profit organisations, commercial associations, and private individuals. Many of these responses have also been published along with the report.  This report does not indicate how the Commission intends to address the issues raised by the consultation as the Commission’s Communication on the Review of the Directive is still currently under preparation. A general overview of the replies are as follows:

• Respondents have signalled that the Directive has had a positive impact on promoting PSI re-use in their respective countries by providing and establishing a legislative framework in a previously unregulated market.
• A majority of respondents say that significant barriers remain that would need to be addressed to fully exploit the PSI re-use potential in the EU.
• A majority of re-users suggest legislative amendments to the Directive to make it 'sharper' and 'tighter'.
• A majority of respondents believe that the implementation of the Directive has had very little impact on the pricing of PSI, although some exceptions have been signalled.
• The problems that have been frequently signalled are:

- lack of awareness of the potential of PSI re-use and of the Directive amongst public sector bodies, especially at regional and local level

- little effort from public sector bodies for facilitating and promoting re-use

- lack of knowledge or mechanisms to identify what information is available for re-use

- the non-mandatory requirements for PSI re-use

- strict licensing conditions imposed by public sector content holders

- the limits of the public task when public bodies commercially compete with private firms

- unfair competition practices by public sector bodies

- very limited transparency on public sector bodies' re-use policies and notably on the way charges are calculated

- the absence of efficient means of redress.

• Diverging views exist between public sector bodies (the supply side) and re-users (the demand side) on the PSI current re-use environment.
• The public sector bodies that represent the supply side believe that the Directive is working well.
• Re-users consider that the implementation of the Directive has been much too slow.
• Some respondents state that the Directive has been neither properly implemented nor applied in Member States.
• A significant number of stakeholders have expressed their support for extending the scope of the Directive to cultural, research, and broadcasting institutions.
• Respondents suggested the implementation of national asset lists / repositories and the obligation for Member States to report annually to the Commission on their actions towards promoting PSI.
• It was strongly recommended that guidance should be issued on specific terms of the Directive, e.g. the definitions of 'public tasks', 'documents', 'marginal cost pricing', and 'reasonable return on investment.'

See also the submissions to the EC Review consultation.