Dear Friends,
The following Friends of the Earth Press release came to my attention
recently. Does anyone know how it developed (if at all) or what the
OS reaction was?
Tinho
Saturday 1st August 1998
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EU Slams UK Over Maps "Right to Know" Case
The European Commission has sharply criticised the UK Government in a
test case for freedom of environmental information.
Friends of the Earth complained to the Commission after the Ordnance
Survey (OS), Britain's national mapping agency, tried to charge FOE
more than £365,000 for digital mapping base-data of the country. The
complaint was first made by FOE four years ago.
FOE argues that the OS attempt to charge for mapping data breaches
the European Directive on freedom of access to information on the
environment (Directive 90/313/EEC). £365,000 is way beyond the
"reasonable costs" established under the Directive. This view has
been supported by the European Commission which has put the UK
Government on notice to answer FOE's concerns, or face potential
legal challenge in the European Court of Justice.
The OS pricing policy has been set by the Treasury under a policy
called the "Government- held Tradeable Information Initiative". This
policy demands that Departments and agencies sell information
collected at taxpayers expense, if they think that the data has
commercial value. The Government's recent White Paper on the "Right
to Know" suggested that such tradeable information should be excluded
from the promised Freedom of Information legislation. FOE strongly
opposed this exemption in its comments on the White Paper "Your Right
to Know".
Commenting, FOE's Environment Data Manager Susan Pipes said:
"The Government cannot get away with charging such extortionate costs
for access to basic environment information. We face a scheme to turn
our national mapping agency into a profit centre. New Labour took
office promising to place the environment at the centre of its
policies and to establish real freedom of information - not to charge
the earth for it."
Notes to Editors
Notice of the Commission's criticism of the UK Government came in a
letter to FOE lawyer Peter Roderick from Mr George Kremlis, head of
the unit in the Commission's Environment Directorate which deals with
the enforcement of Community Law (copy available).
Copyright © Friends of the Earth
From:
http://www.foe.co.uk/pubsinfo/infoteam/pressrel/1998/19980801000120.html
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Antonio da Cruz (Tinho) [log in to unmask] Map Curator,
Department of Geography, Roxby Building,
University of Liverpool, LIVERPOOL L69 3BX
Telephone: 0151 794 2844 Fax: 0151 794 2866
See the British Archaeological Association web page on:
http://www.britarch.ac.uk/baa
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