Negotiators from the European Parliament, the Council of the EU and the Commission have reached an agreement on the revision of the PSI (Public Sector Information) Directive that will facilitate the availability and re-use of public sector data. SPARC Europe, together with DCC, EBLIDA, LIBER, and IFLA, have been successful in promoting Open Science throughout the negotiation.
How is the PSI Directive relevant to Open Science?
Generally, the directive updates a 2013 text and aims to enhance the way that publicly funded research is made available, accessed and shared. The Commission had presented its proposal in April 2018 as part of its digital single market (DSM) project to encourage Europe’s digital economy. In practice, it intends to improve digital public services in the age of new technologies, such as AI, and help local tech startups, for example app builders, grow their businesses across Europe. The new text also states that “high-value datasets” would need to be made freely available across the EU. It also specifically addresses improving access to research data, as stated in Article 10 on Research Data, which reads: “Member States shall support the availability of research data by adopting national policies and relevant actions aiming at making publicly funded research data openly available (‘open access policies’) following the principle of open by default and compatible with FAIR principles.”
Thanks to influencing efforts, the application of the FAIR principles (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) and making data “as open as possible, as closed as necessary” feature in the text of Article 10 on Research Data.
Source: Sparc Europe
More information: Press release of the European Commission
