Brussels, 15 February 2023
Today, the European Commission decided to refer Belgium, Bulgaria, Latvia and the Netherlands to the Court of Justice of the European Union for failing to transpose EU rules on open data and the re-use of public sector data (Directive EU 2019/1024, referred to as the Open Data Directive) into national law.
While the deadline to transpose the Directive expired on 17 July 2021, the four Member States listed above still have not communicated all their national measures, despite the letters of formal notice sent to them by the Commission in September 2021, and the reasoned opinions sent to these Member States between April and June 2022. As guardian of the Treaties, the Commission has to watch over the full and correct transposition of EU law into national legislation, hence the decision today to refer them to the Court of Justice of the EU.
Background
The Directive on open data and the re-use of public sector data (Directive EU 2019/1024), of 20 June 2019, aims to unlock the benefits of data and helps to make more of the vast and valuable pool of data resources produced by the public sector available for re-use. By providing common rules for a European market for government-held data, it will reduce barriers to market entry for SMEs through reduced costs for data re-use, make more data available and increase business opportunities through data sharing via application programming interfaces (APIs). The Directive stimulates the development of innovative solutions such as mobility apps, increases transparency by opening the access to publicly funded research data, and thereby supports new technologies, including artificial intelligence. The Directive is the result of the revision of the earlier Public Sector Information Directive, which had been in force since 2003.
Under Article 258 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU), if the Member State concerned does not comply with the reasoned opinion within the period laid down by the Commission, the latter may bring the matter before the Court of Justice of the European Union. Additionally, under Article 260(3) TFEU, the Commission can call on the Court of Justice of the EU to impose financial sanctions on the Member States that failed to fulfil their obligation to notify measures transposing a legislative directive.
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