Can Public Sector Information Distort Markets?

Abstract

In the last decades, the nature and scope of services offered by public sector entities has changed considerably. More recently, one can also distinguish a rising awareness of the economic potential of public sector information, in turn raising demand for the availability of such information for re-use for both commercial and non-commercial purposes. The expansion of the public sector information available for re-use, however, can lead to collisions with the services offered by private commercial entities. Therefore, the question is raised as to what rules apply to these governmental entities. As governmental entities have access to means and resources often unavailable to private commercial entities, one could find that such governmental entities hold an unfair competitive advantage over their private commercial peers. Therefore, this article will analyze whether or not such governmental entities fairly compete with private commercial entities offering similar services and what rules can apply to such situation.