Open Data Licences
Government Reform Unit, Department of Public Expenditure and Reform
Consideration of Options for
Open Data Licences
Contents
1.
Defining Open Data ..........................................................................................................................3
2.
Purpose Statement ..........................................................................................................................3
Considering options for an Open Data licence for the Irish Government’s Open Data Initiative. ..3
3.
Background to Open Data ................................................................................................................4
4.
Benefits of Open Data ......................................................................................................................4
5.
Ireland’s Open Data Initiative ..........................................................................................................5
6.
Need for an Open Data Licence .......................................................................................................6
7.
Current PSI Licence (2003 Directive) ................................................................................................6
8.
2013 PSI Licence ...............................................................................................................................6
9.
Options for Open Data Licences.......................................................................................................7
CC0 7
Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and Licence (PDDL) .....................................................7
Creative Commons Licences .....................................................................................................................7
Open Commons Attribution Licence (ODC-BY) .........................................................................................8
Licences in Other Countries.......................................................................................................................8
Customised Licences (UK and Canada) ............................................................................................8
EU Commission Open Data Portal....................................................................................................9
Other Member States ......................................................................................................................9
10. Proposals for Consultation ............................................................................................................ 10
1. Defining Open Data
Definition of Open Data
“A piece of data or content is open if anyone is free to use, reuse, and redistribute it — subject
only, at most, to the requirement to attribute and/or share-alike”.
Open Knowledge Foundation Definition of Open Data
Definition of Open
A useful and widely accepted definition of “open” has been prepared by the Open Knowledge
Foundation (http://opendefinition.org). Their definition is that “open means anyone can freely
access, use, modify, and share for any purpose (subject, at most, to requirements that preserve
provenance and openness)”.
Definition of a Dataset
Definition of dataset by DCAT: A collection of data, published or curated by a single agent, and
available for access or download in one or more formats. A source of a dataset may be a database,
an information system, a spreadsheet, etc. A dataset could refer to both operational and
administrative data. In terms of this survey, datasets could include registers, ongoing data collections
and surveys, geospatial datasets, tabular, administrative, performance related, data collected in
relation to organisation functions, etc.
2. Purpose Statement
Considering options for an Open Data licence for the Irish Government’s Open Data Initiative.
Public Bodies produce large numbers of documents and datasets which may be subject to copyright.
To permit use and re-use of copyright items, the copyright owner may issue a licence.
Depending on the terms of the licence, commercial or non-commercial re-use might be specified;
geographic restrictions to re-use might be in place; and the right to use or re-use might be subject to
time restrictions.
Public Bodies in Ireland currently use a range of licences, including the Public Sector Information (PSI)
licence1. The current PSI licence is not considered to be truly open as it imposes some restrictions on
how data or information can be used.
Accordingly, this paper considers a number of options for an Open Data licence for use in Ireland, to
help ensure interoperability with other datasets internationally and to help facilitate use and re-use by
ensuring continuity of Open Data availability.
Finally, the paper outlines a number of issues requiring further consultation and analysis.
1
http://psi.gov.ie/files/2010/03/PSI-Licence.pdf
3. Background to Open Data
The world is an increasingly digital place. Citizens and businesses use their smartphones, tablets and
laptops to interact with each other, to transact business, and to deal with Government.
The concept of Open Data is about making data held by public bodies available and easily accessible online
for reuse or redistribution at no or marginal cost. This includes for example data on environment,
transport, education and crime but it does not include personal data unless it is sufficiently anonymised
and/or aggregated.
According to the EU eGovernment Action Plan, open data allows citizens and businesses “to find new
ways to use it and to create new innovative products and services”. Directive 2013/37/EU (amending
Directive 2003/98/EC) on the re-use of public sector information places an obligation on public sector
bodies to provide information about material that they are prepared to release, with the intention of
stimulating economic activity, innovation and competition. Accordingly, work on transposing the PSI
Directive will both inform and be informed by national activities in Open Data. In Ireland, Public Bodies
are changing to reflect the need to be more digital. This has resulted in the production of huge volumes
of data.
This data is valuable; and technology and data are being used to transform the way services are planned,
delivered and managed. As public bodies have progressed in areas like eGovernment and data analytics,
the potential of data and, in particular, open data to help deliver economic, social and democratic benefits
has become clearer.
4. Benefits of Open Data
In terms of social and democratic benefits, we should expect, inter alia:


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More transparency and accountability of public bodies.
Greater efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery.
More citizen participation and inclusion.
In terms of economic gains, these are expected to be generated in three main areas:



Business innovation: Broader and more rapid access to scientific papers and data will make it easier
for researchers and businesses to build on the findings of public-funded Government research. This
will help boost a country or region’s innovation capacity in fields like pharmaceutics and renewables.
Business Creation: A new market for public service information will thrive if data is available and
products/services are developed by businesses by adding value to the original public service data
provided by a government.
Business efficiency: Businesses and public bodies could benefit from more open data by gaining more
precise and complete insight into customers’ preferences and needs, thus becoming more efficient
in tackling those needs and at the same time contributing to a smart growth.
Significantly greater availability of Open Data can play an important role in strengthening openness,
transparency and accountability and is an important element of Ireland’s Open Government Partnership
National Action Plan.
5. Ireland’s Open Data Initiative
Open Data has been recognised by the Government and, in particular, the Minister for Public Expenditure
and Reform, Brendan Howlin T.D., as having a powerful role to play in the Public Service Reform agenda.
Accordingly, Open Data is an important element of a wide variety of key policy documents and action
plans (Diagram 1). The Public Service ICT Strategy, in particular, identifies data as a critical enabler of
Public Service Reform, facilitating “increased data sharing and innovative use of data across all Public
Bodies to enable the delivery of integrated services, improve decision making and improve openness and
transparency between Government and the public”. The ICT Strategy recognises Open Data as a priority
and will support the development and adoption of an evidence-based Open Data policy for the Irish Public
Service.
Ireland’s Open Data Initiative intends to encourage public bodies to release data in open formats and to
create an environment in which the use and re-use of open data to help realise social, democratic and
economic benefits is encouraged and facilitated.
Progress in Open Data will also help public bodies to comply with legislative requirements under Public
Sector Information (PSI) legislation, Freedom of Information and the forthcoming Data Sharing legislation.
Diagram1
ICT Strategy
and
eGovernment
Strategy
Public Bodies
Business Plans
& Strategies
Action Plan
for Jobs &
“Big Data”
Open
Data
Public Service
Reform Plan
Civil Service
Renewal Plan
EU &
International
Initiatives
Open
Government
Partnership
Action Plan
One of the main priorities under the Minister’s Open Data Initiative is the development and expansion
of the national Open Data portal, http://data.gov.ie. The Open Data portal publishes official data that is
available for re-use by all. Currently, data is available through the portal with a range of licences,
including open licences and the PSI licence. The decision on which licence to use has been a matter for
the relevant authority. Work is ongoing in extending the portal and publishing more high value datasets
to meet demand and contribute to the achievement of real economic, social and democratic benefits
for citizens, business and the Public Sector.
6. Need for an Open Data Licence
Associating an Open Licence with Open Data is necessary to ensure the legal grounding for its potential
reuse. For a data user (individual/ organisation/company/etc.) wishing to use and build on top of public
data, they require assurance of what they legally can and can’t do with the data. If no licence is
specified, each data-user must contact the data publisher on a case-by-case basis. For a data publisher
an Open Licence allows them to define the terms under which the data can be used.
The European Commission, as part of its ongoing work in relation to the PSI Directive, has issued
guidelines on recommended licences and datasets.2
These guidelines encourage “the use of open licences, which should eventually become common
practice across the Union”. They note that “open standard licences, for example the most recent
Creative Commons (CC) licences (version 4.0), could allow the re-use of PSI without the need to develop
and update custom-made licences at national or sub-national level. Of these, the CC0 public domain
dedication is of particular interest”.
7. Current PSI Licence (2003 Directive)
Under the 2003 PSI Directive, as transposed into national law, a PSI licence is available. Under the PSI
licence, a document may be re-used by a Licensee in a work (subject to certain conditions of re-use) for
both commercial and non-commercial purposes. The PSI licence provides for attribution statements,
and other elements common to customised Open Government Licences, but also contains conditions
preventing re-use for the “principal purpose of advertising or promoting a particular product or service;
or for an illegal, immoral, fraudulent or dishonest purpose or in support of the aforementioned
purposes”.
Accordingly, the current PSI licence is not considered to be an “Open” licence.
8. 2013 PSI Licence
The European Commission’s work in relation to Open Data is closely linked with the revised Public
Sector Information (PSI) Directive (2013). The Commission's work on open data focuses on generating
value through re-use of a specific type of data – public sector information, sometimes also referred to as
government data. That is all the information that public bodies produce, collect or pay for. Examples
are: geographical information, statistics, weather data, data from publicly funded research projects, and
digitised books from libraries. Accordingly, the EU Commission recommendations regarding suitable
licences deal with PSI in the first instance and, by extension, Open Data.
2
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/dae/document.cfm?action=display&doc_id=6421
In theory, the decision on an Open Data licence should inform decisions on a new PSI licence. However,
any decision will need to take account of the costs that may attach3 to content under the PSI Directive
and any associated national transposition and which cannot attach to Open Data. For example, Cultural
institutions can charge reusers based on the principle of full costs recovery, including a reasonable
return on investment. This will need to be taken into account in the PSI licence.
9. Options for Open Data Licences
CC0
CC0 is not really a licence in that it simply waives any rights. The idea is that, rather than licensing work
with certain terms and restrictions, a public body waives as many of its rights as possible, including all
related rights (such as moral rights). Though it isn’t the same as placing a work in the public domain, it
would, theoretically, have much the same effect.
It is noted that, while not required, Attribution can be requested; as done by the US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) on their OpenFDA portal4.
This development of the Creative Commons public domain dedication system makes it both more
international-focused and rectifies many of the challenges and problems that come up when trying to
simply place a work on the public domain.
Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and Licence (PDDL)
Like CC0, PDDL is a waiver of any rights associated with copyright or database rights. Under PDDL data
users are free to copy, distribute and use a database; produce works from a database; and modify,
transform and build upon a database. The PDDL imposes no restrictions on the use of a database.
CC0 or PDDL is potentially the ideal “licensing” arrangement for Open Data, but there are issues
surrounding third party copyright and EU Database protection that need to be considered.
Creative Commons Licences
Creative Commons is a licensing system which allows content creators to assign a licence to their work
rather than reserve their full rights under Copyright law.
According to Creative Commons, their “licences have enabled content creators to share their creations
with others legally and flexibly for over a decade. Now, more than ever, the new CC version 4 licences
are easier to understand, allow even more flexible attribution, and cover database rights where
applicable.”5
3
http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/news/what-changes-does-revised-psi-directive-bring
https://open.fda.gov/terms/
5
http://dri.ie/new-creative-commons-40-licence-%E2%80%93-what%E2%80%99s-new-and-why-it%E2%80%99simportant
4
There are six Creative Licence categories. These have been set out in a DRI Factsheet on “Copyright,
Licensing and Open Access”6. Two of these Creative Commons licences can be considered as Open Data
licences:
CC BY (Attribution Only)
CC BY-SA (Attribution-ShareAlike)
This licence lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and
build upon your work, even commercially, as long as
they credit you for the original creation.
Recommended for maximum dissemination and use
of licensed materials.
This licence lets others remix, tweak, and build
upon your work even for commercial purposes, as
long as they credit you and license their new
creations under the identical terms. All new works
based on yours will carry the same licence, so any
derivatives will also allow commercial use.
Open Commons Attribution Licence (ODC-BY)
The Open Commons ODC-BY licence provides almost the same rights at the PDDL waiver, except that
the data user is required to “attribute any public use of the database, or works produced from the
database, in the manner specified in the license. For any use or redistribution of the database, or works
produced from it, you must make clear to others the license of the database and keep intact any notices
on the original database7”. This licence is a suitable licence for Open Data.
Licences in Other Countries
Customised Licences (UK and Canada)
Some countries have opted to introduce customised Open Data licences, including Canada and the
United Kingdom8. These licences are compatible with the latest versions of the Creative Commons
Attribution Licence and the Open Data Commons Attribution Licence. This means that when the
information is adapted and licensed under either of those licences, you automatically meet the
conditions of the OGL as long as you comply with the terms of the other licence.
These licences set out the terms and conditions of using information, including:



Attribution statements
Conditions about status, misrepresentation and data protection
Revocation
6
http://www.dri.ie/sites/default/files/files/Fact%20Sheet%20No%202%20Copyright%20and%20Licensing%20ver%
203.pdf
7
http://opendatacommons.org/licenses/by/summary/
8
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/information-management/re-using-public-sector-information/re-use-andlicensing/ukglf/

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Exemptions – including personal data, emblems, information that is not published (such as
information that is not releasable under FOI legislation.
No warranty – the data is published “as is”
Governing law
Definitions
EU Commission Open Data Portal
The EU Open Data portal does not currently use CC0. The Commission’s legal notice allows re-use
subject to acknowledgement of the source. The Commission also notes that specific conditions on
reuse, related mostly to the protection of third-party intellectual property rights, apply to a small
number of data.
Other Member States
As yet, there is no significant move in EU Member States towards the CC0 option, although the Estonian
portal states that their Data is not subject to any copyright, patent, trademark or trade secret
regulation. Reasonable privacy, security and privilege restrictions may be allowed. Research of the sites
linked through the EU Open Data portal indicate that Attribution remains a key element of licences,
instead of copyright and database rights waivers.
Research shows that some EU countries publish datasets under a range of different licences. These
include Open Licences with a requirement for Attribution, including variations on a Standard licence. For
example, under Germany’s Data Attribution licence any use of data is allowed subject to Attribution.
However, any changes need to be identified in the source note, or the source note must be deleted if
the entity keeping the data requires that. Germany also uses CC-BY and limited use licences on their
portal.
Research also indicates that Attribution (e.g. CC-BY) is the most common Open Data licence currently in
use in EU Member States.
Country
Belgium
Germany
Greece
Spain
Portal
http://data.belgium.be/terms-use
https://www.govdata.de/dokumente
http://data.gov.gr/faq
http://datos.gob.es/?q=aviso-legal
Attribution (y/n)
Y
Y
Y
Y
10. Proposals for Consultation
Analysis shows that while EU Member States have adopted PSI licences, they use a number of different
licences for different kinds of datasets. Generally, the most common Open licence used involves
Attribution (e.g. CC-BY).
The challenges faced in introducing a specific standard licence for Ireland’s Open Data Initiative include
identifying any legal factors that need to be addressed, ensuring that Ireland’s licence is interoperable
with other countries and allows for continuity of availability.
It is intended to hold a consultation event focusing on the following questions, with particular emphasis
on securing the views of public bodies and legal experts.
Issues for Consideration
1. What licences are public bodies currently using? (e.g. PSI, Open, etc.). Any views on the
general applicability of a preferred Open Data licence to PSI?
2. CC0 requires waiving of certain rights (including Attribution, although it can be specifically
requested, eg, https://open.fda.gov/terms/). Is this acceptable to public bodies?
3. If public bodies need to retain copyright of datasets, can this be done through the CC-BY
licence?
4. Are we clear on the copyright owner of data generated by Public Bodies in all cases? Does it
always belong to the body/department which created the data? Are there always stringent
contracts in place to ensure that copyright cannot rest with an external creator such as a
contractor?
5. What process/governance will be in place to ensure that data being published on data.gov.ie
can actually be published under an Open Data licence? e.g. to ensure the data is appropriately
anonymised if necessary (and complies with data protection) or is not breaking previous
copyright rules?
6. Can multiple licence formats be used, depending on the complexities of each dataset? For
example, if a Third Party has contributed copyright material. Can an institution release some
data under an Open Data licence, with non-Open Data linked via the Open Data portal, but
under another appropriate licence? Or, should only datasets associated with the
recommended Open Licence be included on data.gov.ie?
7. Can CC0 be used for all the metadata published on data.gov.ie, with a different licence being
used, if necessary, for the actual dataset on the public body’s website?
8. What arrangements should be made in respect of data that a public body sells as a means of
self-funding (OSi, CRO, PRA)?
9. Are the open licences (Creative Commons, Open Data Commons) compatible with EU and
national copyright and database-related legislation? For example, under Directive 96/9/EC,
provision has been made for a set of sui generis arrangements whereby the creator of a
database, whether a natural or legal person, can prohibit the unauthorised retrieval and/or
re-use of its contents.
10. What are the implications for data generated for cross-border projects (eg, Ireland-Britain, if
different licensing arrangements are in place?
11. Are you aware of any legal impediments to using an Open Licence for specific datasets?
Finally, please provide your views on two proposed licensing statements:
12. Content published through the national open data portal, data.gov.ie, is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence unless otherwise stated.
Content on or linked through the portal which is not covered by the CC-BY licence is clearly
marked with the appropriate licence or copyright statement. Such an approach allows for a
tiered approach to the openness of the data. If CC-BY is not used, the public body should
explain why.
13. Unless otherwise noted, the content, data, documentation, code, and related materials on
data.gov.ie is available with a Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal dedication. This dedication
waives all rights to the work worldwide under copyright law, including all related and
neighbouring rights, to the extent allowed by law. You can copy, modify, distribute, and
perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. This
dedication implies no warranties about the work. There is no liability for any uses of the work,
to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law.
Some data on data.gov.ie may not be covered by the CC0 dedication, such as copies of
copyrightable works made available to the public bodies by private entities. Such works may
made available under the provisions of extant Copyright legislation and any relevant EU
Directives. Therefore, your rights to use those works may be similarly limited. Works where
CC0 do not apply will be clearly marked by a warning in the relevant documentation (for
example: “This data is not in the public domain. Third party copy rights may apply.”).