Open AccessMaking Access to Government Data Work
Author(s) -
Mireille van Eechoud
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
masaryk university journal of law and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.186
H-Index - 4
eISSN - 1802-5951
pISSN - 1802-5943
DOI - 10.5817/mujlt2015-2-4
Subject(s) - directive , work (physics) , government (linguistics) , business , public sector , open government , civil society , public administration , key (lock) , access to information , open data , public relations , computer security , political science , information access , law , computer science , engineering , politics , mechanical engineering , linguistics , philosophy , programming language , library science
The EU Directive on Re-use of Public Sector Information of 2013 (the PSI Directive) is a key instrument for open data policies at all levels of government in Member States. It sets out a general framework for the conditions governing the right to re-use information resources held by public sector bodies. It includes provisions on non-discrimination, transparent licensing and the like. However, what the PSI Directive does not do is give businesses, civil society or citizens an actual claim to access. Access is of course a prerequisite to (re)use. It is largely a matter for individual Member States to regulate what information is in the public record. This article explores what the options for the EC are to promote alignment of rights to information and re-use policy. It also flags a number of important data protection problems that have not been given serious enough consideration, but have the potential to paralyze open data policies