The negotiators from the European Parliament (EP) and the Council of the EU reached an agreement on the legislative proposal on the revised Directive on Public Sector Information (PSI). It is part of the measures taken to strengthen the Common European Data Space. The main goal is to make PSI and data from publicly funded sources re-usable as part of the general Open Data policy of the European Commission (EC). It addresses material held by public administrations in the EU at national, regional and local level, such as ministries, municipalities or state agencies, as well as organisations largely funded or controlled by public authorities (like e.g. meteorological institutes).
With some exceptions, public sector bodies will not be able to charge more than the marginal cost for re-using their data. As the revised PSI directive should boost the European Data Economy, attention was notably placed on high-value datasets, such as statistics or geospatial data, that could serve as basis for a range of services and products. Transparency on data deals shall be guaranteed and agreements that lead to exclusive licenses to re-use public sector data shall be avoided. From now on, the PSI Directive will also cover data made available from public service companies in the transport and utilities sector. The boost in available real-time data shall allow companies to develop new products and services like e.g. mobility apps.
The provision that publicly-funded research data will from now on be covered by the PSI directive was discussed controversially same as the associated rules. Business Europe, Science Europe, the European University Association, the European Association of Research and Technology Organisations and Digital Europe asked for extensive rights to opt out of opening up research data. The compromise text, about to be published, features amendments that clearly state that under the national open access policies that need to be set up in all Member States, publicly-funded research data should as the default option be open. However, this should follow the principle ‘as open as possible, as closed as necessary’, as the research and innovation stakeholder associations demanded. In addition, the Directive shall not cover any data that is related to national or public security. Research data in the frame of this regulation refers to any documents in digital form, other than publications, collected or produced in the course of research activities to validate research findings and results. The rules for the re-use of such data, which is accessible via repositories, shall be harmonised across the EU.
The EP and the Council of the EU still need to formally adapt the revised rules. After that, the Member States have to transpose the directive into national legislation within two years. In parallel, the EC will start together with Member States on identifying high-value datasets, which shall be set out in an implementing act.
Furthermore, on 23 January, the EC adopted an adequacy decision, which allows the free flow of personal data between the EU and Japan based on protection guarantees, creating the world’s largest area of safe data flows. This allows European companies to benefit from a better access to the large Japanese market, which should help spur data-based innovation.