The reason for open data

Open data are those sets of data produced or compiled by public bodies that are made available to citizens, -normally from public portals-, so that they can be used simply, freely and conveniently.

Open data has great potential value and is essential for the transparency of public administrations, efficiency and equal opportunities when creating wealth. Making them available to society is an exercise in transparency that allows citizens to have information about the actions and services of the Administration and about the management of public resources.

The reuse of data also allows different actors in society (citizens in general, entities, associations, companies, etc.) to develop new products and services that provide value, innovation and knowledge, and in fact even become potential business opportunities.

Open data principles

Open data must be:

  • Public: must not be subject to any type of privacy, security or any other type of restriction, except those that, by law, are subject to restrictions.
  • Detailed: it must be the same primary and original data, unprocessed (what is known as raw data). It must be reported how the information was obtained and where the primary documents are located; in this way the user can verify that it is a transparent process and that the data has not been manipulated.
  • Updated : they must be available to citizens with the necessary frequency so that they do not lose their value and are always accurate and current. Priority must be given to data whose usefulness depends on the time factor.
  • Accessible : They must be accessible to the largest possible number of users, so that there are no restrictions on the purpose of use or barriers, such as the need to formally request information or carry out any other procedure.
  • Automated : they must be available in widely used electronic formats and structured so that they can be processed automatically on any computer.
  • Without registration : they must be open to everyone, without the need to register beforehand to be able to consult them.
  • Open format : They cannot be owned or depend on a specific company and must be free from legal and economic restrictions on use.
  • Free : The use of the data must not be subject to any type of regulation that restricts its reuse. Therefore, the data must be free of rights, patents, copyrights and not be subject to privacy or security rights or regulations.

Regulatory framework

Beyond the ethical or economic values that the promotion of open data may imply, it is important to mention that the reuse of public sector data is regulated by Law 37/2007, of November 16, on the reuse of public sector information, which was modified by Law 18/2015, of July 9, to adapt it to European Directive 2013/37/EU .

On the other hand, the National Interoperability Scheme (ENI), regulated by Royal Decree 4/2010, of January 8, establishes the set of criteria and recommendations that must be taken into account by the AA.PP. for making technological decisions that guarantee interoperability, and specifically in the Technical Interoperability Standard for the Reuse of Information Resources , the set of basic guidelines for the reuse of documents and information resources produced or kept by the public sector are established.

It is also key to highlight the drive for data reuse associated with laws linked to the promotion of Transparency, specifically the State-wide Law 19/2013, of December 9, on transparency, access to public information and good governance , and the Catalan Law 19/2014, of December 29, on transparency, access to public information and good governance .

In this sense, both in the case of the state and Catalan transparency law, the regulation addresses three main elements: the obligations of active advertising for all administrations and public entities, preferably in reusable formats; the right of access to public information and, finally, the obligations relating to good governance that public officials must comply with.

Going into detail of Law 19/2014, if we look at article 5.1, it is specified that "mechanisms will be established to facilitate transparency information in a clear, structured manner and in a reusable format through a comprehensive system of information and knowledge in electronic format."

On the other hand, article 17 states that “the reuse of public information is free and is not subject to restrictions, except in cases where, by regulation, it is subject to obtaining a Creative Commons attribution license”. That is, in the absence of a regulation that establishes a Creative Commons attribution license, the reuse of the information provided on the portal is free and can be reused by any means and lawful use.

In accordance with article 17 of Law 19/2014, data reuse can be done in two ways: one, in principle free, and another subject to obtaining a Creative Commons Attribution license. The Transparency Portal must specify the type of reuse applicable to the information it contains and must also include a legal notice on the conditions of reuse.

-. First modality: the reuse of data is free and is not subject to limitations, except for the basic conditions of art. 8 of Law 37/2007: citation of the source, no alteration or distortion of the information, specification of the date of the last update, indication of the purpose of the reuse of personal data and impossibility of identifying the interested parties by adding new data.

-. Second modality: the reuse of data, if applicable, is subject to obtaining a Creative Commons attribution license. In accordance with the provisions of art. 17 of Law 19/2014, the conditions and procedure for this type of reuse of public information must be developed by regulation.

Attribution licenses (Creative Commons)

Through a Creative Commons license, the author exercises the right that the law grants him exclusively to decide certain conditions of use and distribution of his work. The author can give freedom for his work to be reproduced as long as the authorship is recognized and establishing, or not, restrictions on commercial use and the possibility of making derivative works.

Creative Commons licenses, therefore, are not alternatives to copyright, quite the opposite: they are based on intellectual property and copyright legislation and all they do is release certain rights held by the author of a work so that other people can make certain uses of it without having to request explicit permission.

There are six main Creative Commons licenses. All of them imply attribution (by) and, the more symbols, the fewer uses are permitted:

  1. Attribution (by) or CC by : Any exploitation of the work is permitted, including for commercial purposes, as well as the creation of derivative works, the distribution of which is also permitted without any restrictions.
  2. Attribution – ShareAlike (by-sa) or CC by-sa : Commercial use of the work and possible derivative works is permitted, the distribution of which must be done with a license equal to that governing the original work.
  3. Attribution – NonCommercial (by-nc) or CC by-nc : The creation of derivative works is permitted as long as they are not used commercially. This does not mean that the person who owns the rights can use it for commercial purposes, it only applies the restriction to other people.
  4. Attribution – NoDerivative Works (by-nd) or CC by-nd : Commercial use of the work is permitted but the creation of derivative works is not. This does not mean that the person who owns the rights can modify it, it only applies the restriction to other people.
  5. Attribution – NonCommercial – ShareAlike (by-nc-sa) or CC by-nc-sa : Commercial use of the original work or any derivative works is not permitted, and their distribution must be under the same license as the original work. This does not mean that the person who owns the rights can use it for commercial purposes, the restriction only applies to other people.
  6. Attribution – NonCommercial – NoDerivative Works (by-nc-nd) or CC by-nc-nd : Commercial use of the original work or the creation of derivative works by others who are not the copyright holders is not permitted. This is the most restrictive license, as it only allows others to download the work and share it with others as long as they acknowledge the authorship, but without making any modifications or commercial use.

As provided for in art. 17 of Law 19/2014, the future regulation must develop the obtaining of creative commons attribution licenses regarding the reuse of public information.

Finally, it is also worth noting that State Law 19/2013 protects local entities that want to promote reuse projects, where information is offered in an exercise in pure transparency.

Complementary documentation

The following publications are of interest for these purposes: