Exclusive Arrangements

EC signals early warning with respect to phasing out exclusive arrangements

Brussels: 13 June 2008

During the opening plenary session of the ePSIplus Conference – PSI Re-use: Who takes action next? Mr Horst Forster, Director ‘Content’ of the European Commission’s Directorate General for Information Society and Media of the European Commission referred to the need for Member States to comply with Article 11 of the Directive 2003/98/EC by taking action to phase out exclusive arrangements by the 31 December 2008 that are preventing re-use of Public Sector Information. Mr Forster indicated that the European Commission would at the beginning of 2009 commence a review of the actions taken by Member States, which may lead to the Commission taking action to ensure Member States complied with Article 11.

Pamela Young of the Netherlands Ministry of the Interior and Marc de Vries, ePSIplus Analyst jointly presented the action taken by the Netherlands with respect to exclusive arrangements. The Ministry in 2006 took action by initiating a study to consider the impact of phasing out the existing central government exclusive arrangements. All but one of the exclusive arrangements identified have now been phased out. By the end of 2008 the last agreement will have been phased out. An English language version of the study has been published.

In the panel session at the end of the Conference programme Mr Javier Hernandez-Ros, Head of Unit E.4: Digital Libraries and Public Sector Information, European Commission in his reaction to the days proceedings posed the question - Why was it that some Member States have taken action (The Netherlands) yet others appear to have taken no action?

Although during the presentation made by the Director of the UK Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) Carol Tullo made no reference to the phasing out of exclusive arrangements the OPSI have produced a Guidance Note: 6 List of Exclusive Arrangements that states that public sector bodies must comply with the Directive. The OPSI has published a list pertinent to its responsibilities.

During the presentation made by Inese Betaga of the Latvia Ministry for Special Assignments for Electronic Government Affairs mentioned was made that a survey of existing exclusive arrangements within central government was made but none were found.

The presentations and debate during the Conference on exclusive arrangements highlighted one of the issues Member States face when implementing the Directive in that Central/Federal government do not have direct jurisdiction over all public sector information holders as they may be at the State level, Local government level for example and they have to use their influence only to persuade public sector bodies to comply as was mentioned during the Netherlands and Latvian presentations. Hence the ePSIplus recommendation that a regulator needs to be appointed that can ensure compliance irrespective of which part of the public sector a public sector body resides.

Member States should take note of the signal that the European Commission has given during the Conference that they will be seeking evidence that Member States have complied with Article 11 of the Directive once 2009 arrives!

Please submit reactions to this news item on the ePSIplus Forum or by email to the Conference Chair