On 12 December, the European Commission will adopt an Open Data Strategy: a set of measures targeting an increase in government transparency. It will consist of:

• Regulatory measures, including a modification of the existing directive on the reuse of public sector information; and
• Deployment measures such as the creation of open data portals at a European level.

The 2003 Directive (2003/98/EC) on the re-use of public sector information, has led to a minimum harmonisation and progress across the EU, but significant differences in national rules, for example on licensing and pricing, as well as different practices still exist. This results in a fragmentation in the Single Market for data based products and services. Moreover, the lack of interoperability between the information resources, and insufficient availability of the information in a machine readable format make it impossible to achieve the full benefits from the new opportunities of government data in the digital age.

The European Commission is now set to revise and strengthen its public data strategy even further. It estimates that the information published by government organisations across Europe has a significant, but currently untapped, potential for reuse in new products and services. A recent study also indicated that further opening up of public sector information by allowing easier access would generate overall economic gains of around 40 billion a year for the EU.

The European Commission will present the Open Data Strategy at a press conference, accompanied by a proposal for modifying the directive on the reuse of public sector information (the main element of the regulatory framework for reuse) and a revised decision on the reuse of the EC's information.

To know more:

• Original article: The European Commission proposes an open data strategy
• Governments in Europe are increasingly moving towards Open Data
• Opening up Europe: from Common Standards to Open Data