1. The Role for Freedom of Information Laws in Open PSI LAPSI/EVPSI Conference Torino 09.07.2012. Mireille van Eechoud Institute for Information Law (IVIR)

2. Re-use of public sector data 1.Arrange for data to be publicly available 2.Allow re-use 3.Ensure practical and legal conditions foster alternative uses PSI Directive operates effectively at stage 3 PSB intellectual property impacts mostly stages 2-3 Freedom of information laws mostly geared at stage 1 (access) LAPSI Torino 2012 | eechoud@ivir.nl2

3. Access to public sector data landscape  Freedom of Information acts (‘FOIA’) (≠ right to free speech, freedom of expression, free flow of information)  Access to legal information (publishing of laws, making public court decisions)  Specific regulation (e.g. registries: companies, vehicles, cadastral; statistics, meteo, archives) LAPSI Torino 2012 | eechoud@ivir.nl3

4. A bit of the public sector data landscape (NL) LAPSI Torino 2012 | eechoud@ivir.nl 4 privileged access (confidentiality) public access (openness) general tax funded (citizen charges) full cost recovery (user charges) police registers FOIA laws, case law statistics meteo land registry company registry persons registers vehicle register

5. Aspects of Freedom of Information Acts Which public sector bodies are subject to obligations to make information ‘public’. What documents or information is covered (incl. for example datasets, audio-visual content). Nature of the duty to publish pro-actively and of the right to request access. Grounds for refusing access (interests ranging from national security to privacy, from commercial or other economic interests to public safety). LAPSI Torino 2012 | eechoud@ivir.nl5

6. Aspects of Freedom of Information Acts II What type of access is given (format, inspection only or copies). The procedure to be followed. What fees apply. What use can be made of the information. What if any judicial review procedure is available LAPSI Torino 2012 | eechoud@ivir.nl6

7. Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official documents (Tromsø 2009) Focus on right to access on request (‘passive’) – procedures not conceived for bulk supply of (dynamic) data Datasets: discretion to regard easily retrievable datasets as documents covered Active access: much discretion as to which information is actively published, how and when Value of PSI as an economic resource not a recognized driver LAPSI Torino 2012 | eechoud@ivir.nl7

8. Short term – What can EU do? Legislative: no direct competence to harmonize FOIA (beyond environmental information) Local access regimes essential building block in EU re-use policy – push ratification Access Convention with MS Build on existing access provisions on environmental and more widely spatial data? – INSPIRE requires active dissemination spatial data (much of it not subject to generic FOIA) LAPSI Torino 2012 | eechoud@ivir.nl8