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Colleagues,
On the 12th December 2011 the European Commission announced a proposal to amend the European Directive on the re-use of Public Sector Information:
The aim of the proposal is to boost research, development and industry across Europe by removing barriers to the re-use of information held by public sector bodies in new information products and services developed by third parties.
Who is covered
Public sector archives, libraries (including university libraries) and museums are being brought within the scope of the Directive for the first time. The proposal is that services which form part of broadcasting or performing arts organisations will generally not be brought within scope, but some private or voluntary sector services may be, depending upon the levels of public funding they receive, or the nature of any regulatory regime to which they are subject.
What is Covered
The great majority of archives, libraries and museums already permit a wide variety of commercial and non-commercial re-use of information by third parties, for example by licensing reproduction of images from their collections. The increasing scale of digitisation activity in particular is providing an important route for both public access and income generation to support services, but re-use in its widest sense is nothing new for the cultural sector: it has always been an important part of what we do.
What the Directive Does
The Directive aims to provide a transparent, fair and consistent legal framework to encourage this activity. The Directive contains provisions on non-discrimination between re-users, limits on exclusive arrangements and charging, transparency, licensing, and practical tools to facilitate re-use, such as guides and catalogues of what information is available..
How it Affects Archives, Libraries and Museums
The majority of archives, libraries and museums are already likely to meet the requirements as a matter of good practice, but the Directive will introduce an element of external regulation, and services will be legally required to comply.
The proposals do recognise the particular circumstances of cultural institutions. Most importantly, they will have much greater freedom in setting levels of charging than other parts of the public sector, and will not be required to permit the re-use of information from their collections in which the copyright is owned by a third party.
Timing
Once the proposed Directive is agreed and comes into force it is anticipated that member states will have eighteen months in which to implement it in national legislation.
What Next?
As the National Archives has the UK policy lead on public sector information and will have the joint lead, with the Cabinet Office, on negotiating the final terms of the Directive and the UK law implementing it, we will work with colleagues at national and European level to ensure that the Directive encourages and supports re-use and can be implemented effectively by the whole sector. As part of that process we shall consult widely with public sector stakeholders, including the wider archival and cultural sectors. We shall continue to provide you with updates and details of developments.
Nick Kingsley
Head of Archives Sector Development & Secretary of the Historical Manuscripts Commission
The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU
Tel: +44 (020) 8392 5369
Website: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
Further Background
The original PSI Directive was adopted on 17 November 2003:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2003:345:0090:0096:EN:PDF
The UK implemented the Directive in 2005 under The Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005 (S.I 2005 No. 1515): www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/information-management/psi-regs-2005.pdf
Neither required public sector bodies to make their information available for re-use by others, but if they did, they had to do so in a fair and transparent way..Educational and cultural bodies were not covered at all. Following a detailed review of the impact of the Directive and a public consultation, the Commission concluded that despite progress being made a number of barriers to re-use remained. The Commission would also like to see more public sector information brought within the scope of the Directive.
The text of the proposed amendments can be seen here:
and the accompanying Communication at:
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