Communication of exploitation of public sector information available
The European Commission communication on the exploitation of public sector information, adopted by the commission on 23 October, is now available online. The communication focuses on the economic and internal market aspects of public sector information and proposes a set of actions to overcome the market barriers that exist at European level. No new proposals are made in relation to access to public sector information, instead proposed actions centre around experimentation and dialogue and legislation to establish minimum harmonisation at European level. In order to overcome current barriers limiting access to public information, the Commission proposes supporting technological projects related to public sector information in the Fifth Framework programme's Information society technologies (IST) programme, supporting market orientated projects in the eContent programme, supporting projects related to the provision of public sector information through the Interchange of data between administrations (IDA) programme and the exchange of best practices and comparative case studies. Information society tools have led to new possibilities for combining data from different sources to create value added services and products. One area of particular interest is geographic information, which could be used for wireless applications such as car navigation systems. 'It is important to realise that not acting in this area has a cost. A cost for the information sector, but also for the European market and society as a whole,' states the communication.