Reconsidering the Exemption for Educational and Research Establishments Under the Directive on Re-Use of Public Sector Information (2003/98/EC; 2013/37/EU) Possible Ways and Legal Consequences

Abstract

The article discusses the possibilities of including public research and educational establishments within the scope of the Directive regulating the re-use of public sector information (‘PSI Directive’). It subsequently evaluates the legal consequences of such an inclusion. Focusing on scientific information, the analysis connects the long-standing debates about open access and open education to open government data. Their common driving force is the call for a widespread dissemination of publicly funded information. However, the regulatory standard set out by the PSI Directive is characterized by considerable legal uncertainty. Therefore, it is difficult to derive robust assumptions that can form the basis for predicting the effects of extending the PSI Directive’s scope to research information. A potential revision of the PSI Directive should reduce this uncertainty. Moreover, PSI regulation must account for the specific incentives linked to the creation and dissemination of research results. This seems of primary importance for public-private research collaborations because there is a potential risk that a full application of the PSI Directive might unduly change incentives for such collaborations.