Open Government Licence
Guidance for Information Providers
This guidance outlines the purpose of the Open Government Licence and explains public sector
bodies need to do to offer their information and data under it. The guidance applies to all versions of
the Open Government Licence.
What is the Open Government Licence?
The Open Government Licence (OGL) is an open licensing model and tool for public sector bodies to
license the re-use of their information and data easily. It consists of a simple set of terms and
conditions to which public sector bodies simply point as the relevant licence. Use of information under
the OGL is free and allows information to be re-used for commercial and/or non-commercial
purposes.
Any public sector body can make their information available for use and re-use under the OGL. The
National Archives has developed the OGL to enable the free use and re-use of public sector
information, including information covered by Crown copyright and database right, under a common
open licence. This ensures harmonised terms across the public sector, compliance with the Re-use
of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005 and reduces any administrative burden from public
sector bodies in permitting the use and re-use of the information they hold and produce.
Information owned by the Crown is offered for use and re-use under the OGL by authority of The
Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, an official in The National Archives. The Controller
manages Crown copyright and Crown database rights on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen. Further
information about the meaning of Crown copyright and Crown database right, including a list of
Crown bodies, can be found at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/information-management/ourservices/uk-crown-bodies.htm.
For more detail about what the OGL covers, including the scope of Crown copyright and database
right information offered, see the What the Open Government Licence covers section at
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/information-management/government-licensing/what-oglcovers.htm .
Frequently asked questions can be found at: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/informationmanagement/government-licensing/faqs.htm
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How to make information available for use and re-use under the OGL
The
OGL
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To license information under the OGL, public bodies need to insert, in a prominent and noticeable
location in or in the context of the information:
•
•
•
a clear statement indicating that the information is licensed under the Open Government
Licence v3.0;
the appropriate hyperlink to the Open Government Licence; and
the attribution statement you require users to include when they use your information in their
products and applications.
The Open Government Licence Symbol
The National Archives has also developed, with help from the Government Digital Service, the OGL
symbol as a simple way of identifying when information can be used and re-used. The OGL symbol
shows users, at a glance, that information is covered by the OGL. Public sector bodies are therefore
encouraged to use the OGL symbol on their websites and in publications wherever possible. Further
guidance on use of the symbol is available at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/informationmanagement/government-licensing/ogl-symbol.htm
Copyright notices and statements for public sector bodies
The following statements offer examples how to apply the Open Government Licence to your
information to:
Online information resources (including website statements)
© [Insert name of copyright and/or database right owner]
All content is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated
Print publications
© [Insert name of copyright and/or database right owner]
This publication is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise
stated. To view this licence, visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-governmentlicence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London
TW9 4DU.
Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to: [information provider details].
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Copyright notices and statements for Crown bodies
The following statements offer examples how to apply the Open Government Licence to your
information to:
Online information resources (including website notices)
© Crown copyright [and/or database right, where applicable], [insert year in which the website was
established or last amended].
All content is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where
otherwise stated.
We encourage users to establish hypertext links to this website.
Any enquiries regarding the use and re-use of this information resource should be sent to
e-mail: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk
Print publications
© Crown copyright [insert year of publication]
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where
otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/opengovernment-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives,
Kew, London TW9 4DU, or e-mail: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk.
This publication is also available on our website at [insert address]
Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to us at [insert contact details]
Hyperlinks to the Open Government Licence
It is helpful to tell search engines, like Google, that the link to the OGL is to a licence, and not a
general link. There is a special way to do this in HTML, by using the rel="license" attribute. This will
flag up with web crawlers and other internet users using automated systems that the information is
subject to a licence with particular terms and conditions which can be found by following the link.1
Where, possible, information providers should point to the permanent identifier for the OGL by
embedding the following link:
<a href="http://reference.data.gov.uk/id/open-government-licence"
rel="license">Open Government Licence</a>
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For further information on this method, please see: http://microformats.org/wiki/rel-license.
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Alternatively, where information providers do not use the rel="license" attribute, they can put in a
simple hyperlink:
<a href="http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-governmentlicence/version/3">Open Government Licence</a>
Specifying attribution statements
The OGL requires that users acknowledge the information provider and source of the information
they use by including or linking to any attribution statement you, as information provider, may specify.
Where you require a specific form of attribution, you should include a statement with the above
copyright notices, such as the following example:
When you use this information under the Open Government Licence v3.0, you should include the
following attribution: [insert name of information resource, information provider and/or rights owner,
date of publication], licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Where information from a number of sources is being used it may not always be practical for users to
list all sources and attributions prominently within the product or application. If that is the case the
OGL permits users to provide a URI or hyperlink to that list of attributions instead. This flexibility
helps ensure that all sources and rights owners are acknowledged properly and there is a clear trail
of provenance should anyone ask.
Last updated: October 2014
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