Made under Art. 95 Came into force 2003-12-31 | Date made 2003-11-17 | |
Title Directive on the re-use of public sector information Made by European Parliament & Council Journal reference L345, 2003-12-31, pp. 90 – 96 | ||
Directive 2003/98/EC on the re-use of public sector information, otherwise known as the PSI Directive is an EU directive that encourages EU member states to make as much public sector information available for re-use as possible. Previous to the creation of this directive this area was left to member states to regulate. This directive now provides a common legislative framework for this area.
The Directive is an attempt to remove barriers that hinder the re-use of public sector information throughout the Union.
The ePSIplus web portal (which has since been renamed "ePSIplatform") was set up as a result of this directive.
In 2013 it was amended to make it more aligned with open government data concepts and also to contemplate cultural heritage information, among other modifications.
Definition
"Public sector information" includes « any content whatever its medium (written on paper or stored in electronic form or as a sound, visual or audiovisual recording)» when produced by a public sector body within its mandate, excluded a number of cases:
(d) documents held by public service broadcasters and their subsidiaries, and by other bodies or their subsidiaries for the fulfilment of a public service broadcasting remit; (e) documents held by educational and research establishments, such as schools, universities, archives, libraries and research facilities including, where relevant, organisations established for the transfer of research results; (f) documents held by cultural establishments, such as museums, libraries, archives, orchestras, operas, ballets and theatres.