September 26, 2017

The Commission is launching a public consultation in the light of its review of the PSI Directive, as foreseen in the May 2017 mid-term Review of the Digital Single Market strategy. In order to fulfil the goals of the strategy in the field of the data economy, the Commission is preparing an initiative on accessibility and re-use of public and publicly funded data, and is at the same time further exploring the issue of privately held data that are of public interest.

The Commission says that the PSI Directive is a core element of the European strategy to open up government data for use in the economy and for reaching societal goals. The PSI Directive encourages Member States to make as much material held by public sector bodies available for re-use as possible to foster transparency, data-based innovation and fair competition.

The European Commission is reviewing the PSI Directive in order to further the goals of the DSM Strategy in the field of data economy, but also to fulfil the periodic review obligation contained in its Article 13.

The consultation questions cover both the evaluation of the current PSI Directive implementation and the problem, objectives and possible options for the future. The deadline for submitting replies is 12 December 2017. To access the consultation, click here.