The Transposition of European Union Open Data/Public Sector Information Policies in Greece: A Critical Analysis

Abstract

The successful implementation of the European Union (EU) public sector information (PSI) Directive and the relevant open data (OD) policies promises financial growth, social benefits, and the creation of jobs. While Greece has transposed all relevant EU Directives and has frequently made reference to the Digital Agenda for Europe: A Europe 2020 Initiative Agenda in its own policy documents, it has failed to implement effectively OD regulation and open up PSI. This failure may to a great extent be attributed to the absence of a middle layer of regulation between the law and standard public licenses; a regulatory vacuum that hinders both the operationalization of the law and the development of technological infrastructures, while managing to avoid being classified as a violation of the PSI Directive transposition. Using Lessig's four modalities of regulation, we conclude that the promised benefits of OD will only be achieved when all the necessary legal, technical, cultural, and economic regulatory elements are fully operational. Focusing merely on the opening up of data in the absence of the right financial and institutional conditions will not produce the desired results.