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Around a year and a half ago, the Netherlands implemented the Directive on the Reuse of Public Sector Information (2003/98/EC) into the Dutch Freedom of Information Act. The Directive aims to create fair, transparent, and non-discriminatory conditions for the reuse of public sector information.
The impact in the market has been noticeable: in various sectors, we see that reusers are leveraging the new rules in negotiations with the government. Additionally, we also observe numerous new services emerging, both within the government and the private sector. Examples include the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management providing the National Roadmap for free, and the website Meteox, where free dynamic rainfall forecasts can be accessed.
However, this does not happen without challenges: behind the scenes – and sometimes in front – intense skirmishes take place. This involves questions such as:
• what are fair conditions for making government information available and mainly: what should it cost?
• can the government freely provide information that used to be a market task?
• can market parties provide information for free while previously the government and businesses made money from it?
• who ultimately determines the standards?
In other words, the focus now is on determining whether the rules are being correctly applied in practice and, if not, devising measures to ensure that they will be.
This is the central theme of the event 'Reuse in Action, a First Evaluation' organised within the scope of the European EPSIPlus project. The event will take place on 27th September 2007 in Utrecht from 11:30 to 17:00, followed by a drinks reception. More information can be found in the official invitation.
You can register with Robbin te Velde. Please note: the number of participants in the event is limited.