[wos] EU Commission takes 5 countries to Court of Justice for failure on EU rules to re-use public information [signed]

[Matthias Spielkamp [c]]

Commission takes 5 countries to Court of Justice for failure on EU rules
to re-use public information – a resource worth up to €48 billion

The European Commission is taking five Member States to the European
Court of Justice for a failing to put into practice the Directive on the
re-use of public sector information (PSI). The re-use of PSI has
enormous economic potential as it represents a raw material for new
added value services and products worth from €10-48 billion in the EU alone.

"Public sector information is a tremendous resource for Europe's
emerging digital content industry," said Information Society and Media
Commissioner Viviane Reding. "Failure to act now will stifle growth,
will stifle jobs and will ultimately hurt this all too important sector
for Europe. This is why we will not let proactive Member States and
Europe suffer because of inaction by others."

Member States should have notified the Commission of measures to put
into practice the PSI Directive by 1 July 2005. Up to now, Austria,
Belgium, Portugal, Spain and Luxembourg have failed to do so. The
Commission is taking action against these countries by referring them
now to the European Court of Justice.

Public organisations produce, collect and store vast amounts of public
sector information, ranging from financial and weather data to tourist
and traffic information. The Directive on the re-use of PSI aims to make
it simpler to create EU-wide information products and services that are
based on public sector information, and to limit distortions of
competition in the EU's information market (see IP/02/814).

New technologies are allowing new PSI-based services to emerge delivered
in new ways such as to mobile platforms. A recent study by the UK's
Office of Fair Trading found that more competition and openness in
public sector information re-use could benefit the UK economy by around
£1 billion (€1.5 billion) a year, while a recent benchmarking study
estimated that the overall market size to be worth between €10-48
billion in the EU alone.

This last study concluded that the Directive is already levelling the
playing field. Many public sector bodies and industry re-users see it as
a good first step toward a more open environment. However, it also
recognised that much needs to be done to fully realise this openness in
practice.

With the court actions launched today, the Commission confirms its
determination to ensure that the legal provisions for the re-use of
public sector information are duly implemented across the EU.

Further information:

http://europa.eu.int/information_society/policy/psi/

source:
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/06/1891&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

Best regards,
Matthias

-- 

*iRights.info* - Urheberrecht in der digitalen Welt -
ausgezeichnet mit dem *Grimme-Online-Award* 2006!

--

Matthias Spielkamp | Berlin | Germany

Phone +49.30.42800307 | Fax +49.721.151513691 | Mobile +49.177.7602000
spielkamp at autorenwerk.de | www.autorenwerk.de | www.immateriblog.de



--
--------------------- [ SECURITY NOTICE ] ---------------------
To: wos at post.openoffice.de.
For your security, spielkamp at autorenwerk.de
digitally signed this message on 26 December 2006 at 20:00:37 UTC.
Verify this digital signature at http://www.ciphire.com/verify.
---------------- [ CIPHIRE DIGITAL SIGNATURE ] ----------------
Q2lwaGlyZSBTaWcuAjh3b3NAcG9zdC5vcGVub2ZmaWNlLmRlAHNwaWVsa2FtcEBh
dXRvcmVud2Vyay5kZQBlbWFpbCBib2R5ABgKAAB8AHwAAAABAAAAZX+RRRgKAABZ
AgACAAIAAgAgQkWanTAr30PVLM8i4tiuIeiwUgAFQmE6gvUYQWnCUh4BALHblyRT
yrczn5jYUoXQvGk+T6rlSOnXSVjEVFQzBSSQu9s2t3/6kWHr600Oe41kIkGPL/pD
DLI2+/WPWrpFdIPzU2lnRW5k
------------------ [ END DIGITAL SIGNATURE ] ------------------