Brussels, 24/03/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 19 March, the European Commission, in sending a letter of formal notice, launched infringement proceedings against Italy for incomplete and incorrect transposition of the EU Directive on the re-use of public sector information (PSI Directive).
The Commission believes that several aspects of the PSI Directive have either been incorrectly transposed into Italian law, or have not been transposed at all. One concern is the exclusion of cadastral and mortgage data which includes land register information with details on the ownership, tenure, precise location and boundaries of each parcel of land, as well as the use of real estate as collateral to secure loans. Other missing provisions in Italian law include the scope and definition of re-use, procedural requirements for processing requests for re-use, specific conditions of re-use including available formats and charging, and non-discrimination.
Italy has two months to reply to the letter of formal notice. If the Commission receives no reply, or if the observations presented by Italy are not satisfactory, the Commission may decide to issue a reasoned opinion. If Italy still fails to fulfil its obligations under EU law after that, the Commission will refer the case to the European Court of Justice. The Commission has already pursued infringement procedures against Poland and Sweden for incomplete and incorrect transposition of the PSI Directive, in October 2008.
In a press release, the Commission points out that public sector bodies produce large amounts of information, most of which has commercial potential for re-use as the basis for new products and services. The value of the EU public sector information market is estimated at €27 billion, but despite its economic value much of Europe's public sector information is not re-used. At the Commission's proposal, the EU adopted the directive on re-use of public sector information in 2003 in order to remove the barriers that limit cross-border re-use of this kind of information. All 27 EU member states have made the directive part of their national body of law.
The PSI Directive has created a clear set of rules in a previously unregulated market. It sets out how public sector bodies should make their information available for re-use, and deals with key issues like transparency of what is available and under which conditions, fair competition and non-discrimination between potential users.
The Commission, states the same press release, is currently completing its review of the PSI Directive. As part of this review, it ran an online consultation from June 2008. Results showed that the PSI Directive had improved the conditions for public sector bodies to widely disseminate, share and allow re-use of their data and has created new opportunities for the content industry in Europe. Nevertheless, the Commission acknowledges that there are still barriers that “prevent the boost of cross-border re-use of public sector information”. The Commission will present the review of the PSI Directive in coming months. (O.L./rt/jl)