Re Use of Public Service Information Directive

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Re Use of Public Service Information Directive

This page provides links (see below) to legislation regarding the EU Directive 2003/98/EC on the re-use of public sector information, its amendment EU Directive 2013/37/EC, its transposed Irish Statutory Instruments S.I. No. 279/2005, S.I No. 103/2008, and S.I. No. 525/2015, and related Circulars issued by the Department of Finance (Circular 32/05), and Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (Circular 16/15 and Circular 12/16). A guide for public service organisations on their obligations under the PSI Directive is also included in the links below.

Request for Reuse of Public Service Information

Did you know that you have the right to re-use information which public bodies hold, under the European Communities (Re-use of Public Sector Information) Regulations 2005?

An individual or a legal entity may make a request to a public sector body to release documents for re-use. The request should clearly indicate that it is being made for the purpose of the re-use of public sector information. The PSI Regulations provide that a public sector body should generally respond to a PSI request within 20 working days from receipt of the request. Where, due to the extent or complexity of the request, processing will take longer than 20 working days from receipt of the request, the public sector body concerned shall advise the requester accordingly within three weeks after the initial request was received. In such circumstances the public sector body should respond in full to the request within 40 working days from receipt of the request. If you are not happy with the public body’s decision on your request, you can appeal to the Office of the Information Commissioner which are an independent appeals body and have the power to affirm, annul or vary the public body’s decision.

Open Data Licence

Note. Circular 12/2016: Licence for Re-Use of Public Sector Information adopts CC-BY as the standard PSI licence, and notes that the open standard licence identified in this Circular supersedes PSI General Licence No: 2005/08/01.

See here for more information on the Open Data Licence.

Review of the PSI Directive 2017

In preparation of the review of the Re-Use of Public Service Information (PSI) Directive, the European Commission launched a public online consultation to seek views on how to improve accessibility and re-use of public and publicly funded data, and also considers access to and use of privately held data of public interest. Closing date expired on 12 December, 2017. Full details are available here.

Proposal for a revised PSI Directive

Following the consultation process and the review, the European Commission adopted a proposal on 25 April 2018 for a revision of the Directive on the re-use of Public Sector Information . The proposal aims to overcome the barriers, identified in an impact assessment, that are seen as preventing the full re-use of public sector information. Amongst other things, the proposals include the inclusion of public utilities and research data under the remit of the Directive.

The text of the recast of the Open Data and Re Use of Public Service Information (PSI) Directive was formally adopted by the European Council in early June 2019 and has now been published in the Official Journal at this link http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2019.172.01.0056.01.ENG. The Directive is due to be transposed in Irish law via Statutory Instrument by 17, July, 2021.

Documentation

Guides and circulars

Directives

Statutory Instruments