Information market: re-use and commercial exploitation of public sector documents. 'PSI Directive'

The Council held a policy debate on the draft Directive of the European Parliament on the re-use and commercial exploitation of public sector documents. The debate focused in particular on the principle whereby there is no obligation to make documents available for re-use, as well as on charging principles for the re-use of documents and issues related to intellectual property rights. The President concluded that: - considerable progress has been made and a general approach on many of the technical aspects has been identified, including on the definitions, the time, transparency and format requirements for dealing with requests for re-use, and provisions on the use of licences and on non-discrimination; - the impact of the draft Directive on documents over which public sector bodies hold intellectual property rights will require further analysis so as to ensure that the provisions, in particular on charging, find the right balance. This analysis is still ongoing in some Member States; - the Council awaits with interest the opinion of the Parliament on the central issues related to this balance so that it may agree on a common position as early as possible in 2003.�