Stockholm, 29 September 2011

(by Marc de Vries)

The Swedish government is taking an increasing interest in PSI re-use. This is mirrored in the Budget Bill (pdf download) that was submitted to Parliament last week, where it commits itself to close monitoring of the compliance by public sector bodies to the obligations under the PSI Directive, in particular in relation to fair conditions for re-use, including charging. Interestingly, it also announces to look into possible centralization of this monitoring task within a central authority, possibly also hinting to the establishment of a (semi) advisory and maybe even regulatory body.

English translation of the relevant part of the Budget Bill of 19 September 2011:

“Re-use of Public Information

The conditions for re-use of information from government authorities/agencies for commercial and non-profit purposes need to be improved. Authorities' information can , just like their services, provide the basis for services developed by commercial and nonprofit actors. It is important that efficiency and service always are balanced against the protection of individual privacy in the development of new e-services. This is particularly important when government registers and other information provided for re-use and processed by other agencies or companies.

The Government will monitor how the authorities are conforming to the Act (2010:566) on the re-use of the public administration and how they improve the conditions for further use. One issue that in particular will be highlighted in the government's future work is whether an authority should be given the task of monitoring compliance with the Act and to support authorities in their efforts to provide information for re-use. As examples of tasks that could be given to an authority is to provide authorities with guidance on legal matters and questions regarding charges for information, to develop and manage standard conditions and to coordinate the information that authorities should distribute and the conditions and fees connected to the data delivered for re-use. An important issue for the government is to consider what kind of support and what kind of coordination that is needed in order to make it possible for authorities to consider re-users' needs in an effective way."

Original Swedish text:

"Vidareutnyttjande av offentlig informationron

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Regeringen följer hur myndigheterna efterlever lagen (2010:566) om vidareutnyttjande av handlingar från den offentliga förvaltningen och hur de förbättrar förutsättningarna för vidareutnyttjande. En fråga som särskilt kommer att uppmärksammas i regeringens fortsatta arbete är om någon myndighet bör ges i uppgift att övervaka efterlevnaden av lagen och att stödja myndigheterna i deras arbete med att tillhandahålla information för vidareutnyttjande. Exempel på sådana uppgifter som skulle kunna läggas på en myndighet är att ge myndigheterna vägledning i rättsliga frågor och frågor om avgifter för information, att ta fram och förvalta standardvillkor samt att samordna den information som myn-digheterna ska lämna och villkor, avgifter och om data för vidareutnyttjande. En viktig fråga för regeringen att beakta är vilket stöd och vilken samordning som behövs för att myndigheterna på ett effektivt sätt ska kunna beakta vidareutnyttjarnas behov."