Parliamentary questions
31 October 2011 E-009844/2011
Question for written answer
to the Commission
Rule 117
Marietje Schaake (ALDE)
Subject: Public Sector Information Directive: pricing, extension and standards
The Public Sector Information (PSI) Directive, which is currently under review, allows Member States to apply pricing strategies for PSI that cover the cost of collection, production, reproduction, dissemination and a reasonable return on investment. Despite the directive, discrepancies in the European PSI market remain. Several studies have shown that a zero- or marginal-cost pricing model will result in the highest net benefit to society(1). Differences in pricing strategies hinder the formation of the single European digital market and act as a barrier to the realisation of PSI’s full business potential(2).
1. Does the Commission agree that current commercial and cost-averaging pricing models for PSI constitute a barrier to the creation of a single European digital market?
2. Does the Commission agree that, in view of the experience gained with the current directive and academic research, citizens should have a right to re-use publicly funded PSI and PSI should therefore be available freely by default (although certain exceptions might apply) and on the basis of zero-cost pricing models? If not, why not?
The current directive does not cover publicly funded information created by academic, cultural and public broadcasting organisations. Extending the directive’s scope to cover these areas will greatly increase the dissemination of cultural material throughout Europe and help to spread the knowledge gathered in European educational institutions more widely.
3. Does the Commission agree with the Council(3) that the current directive should be extended to cover these domains? If not, why not?
The current directive does not include guidelines regarding data quality, data standards and real-time data services, and this is hindering the use of PSI by businesses. The lack of an interoperability roadmap constitutes a barrier to cross-border information services, and thus to a digital single market.
4. Does the Commission agree that incentives for interoperability, data quality, data standards and the promotion of real-time data provisioning by public sector bodies are necessary in order to maximise the value of re-use of public sector information and the cross-border dissemination of data, and thus to support the digital single market? If not, why not?
(1) Public Sector Information, Economic Indicators & Economic case study on charging model, Corbin C., 2010.
(2) Pollock, R., The economics of public sector information, Cambridge University, May 2009.
(3) Visby Declaration, Creating impact for an eUnion 2015, November 2009.
Please find the answer here.
