Opening information held by the public sector for innovative use and re-use has been a long-standing Commission priority. In 2011 it had proposed to amend the legal instrument in this field, the PSI Directive (Directive 2003/98/EC). Amendments were adopted by the Union legislator in July 2013 (Directive 2013/37/EU). The deadline for transposition into national legislation ended on 18 July 2015. The Commission today has started formal infringement proceedings against 17 Member States that have not yet notified the relevant national implementation measures.
Until today eleven Member States informed the Commission about relevant national implementing measures (see our overview of national implementing legislation). Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Ireland, France, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland have not notified the Commission that they have fully completed transposition into national law. Accordingly, the Commission has today addressed letters of formal notice to those Member States. This marks the beginning of formal infringement procedures. Member States are now given the opportunity to formally inform the Commission on what steps they intend to take in order to fully transpose the revised PSI Directive.
Background:
The PSI Directive introduced in 2003 a first set of measures harmonising the basic rules opening up government-held information for re-use across Europe. However, due to a number of remaining obstacles, re-use of public sector information did not reach its full potential. Therefore, the Commission in 2011 proposed to revise the PSI Directive.
Please read more on the rights the PSI Directive gives to persons, organisations and companies seeking to re-use government-held information. Find out what new features the 2013 revision of the PSI Directive introduced.