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Governance: Data sharing frameworks

To what extent do relevant laws, regulations, policies, and guidance provide a comprehensive framework for data sharing?

Definitions and Identification

Data-sharing frameworks may take the form of law, regulation, policy, or guidance. Such frameworks govern and support the wider use of sensitive, proprietary, or otherwise non-open data.

Data sharing involves making data accessible to a defined group of other stakeholders with certain controls and restrictions on use. It is distinct from open data, which involves making data available without restrictions.

Government agencies, civil society, and private sector actors may all hold datasets containing sensitive, proprietary, or personal information that, if made available to other stakeholders with appropriate constraints, could potentially be used for the public good in various ways. For example, data on mobility patterns from private taxi apps might be used to support transport planning; sharing mapping data or logistics datasets following an earthquake might help first responders; farm production data might be used to develop improved insurance products.

Frameworks that promote data sharing for public good should combine incentives or rules to support appropriate data sharing with clear mechanisms to make sure sharing is well regulated and, safe and that possible harms are well managed.

A legal or policy framework to facilitate data sharing within or across sector may cover*:

  • Government to government sharing—establishing the basis on which different parts of government may exchange data;
  • Government to third-party sharing—establishing when and how government can share sensitive data with third parties (e.g., private sector, research, or others);
  • Business to government sharing—establishing when and how government can access and use data generated by the private sector;
  • Business to business sharing—establishing rules and incentives for public benefit pooling or exchange of data.

*This list is not exhaustive.

Some regions and countries are developing comprehensive frameworks to govern data sharing. Other countries have ad-hoc frameworks for particular sectors, or covering particular concerns, such as the use of data for artificial intelligence applications.

Note: Data-sharing frameworks are distinct from data protection frameworks, which primarily set out restrictions on use of personal data. Data-sharing frameworks are also distinct from open data and RTI or FOI frameworks, which primarily set out requirements for publishing or otherwise providing government data to the public.

Starting points

  • Sources:

  • Search:

    • "National data sharing framework";
    • Recent academic papers on data sharing in the country;
    • Articles or papers about data sharing in particular sectors such as transport, health, or education.

  • Consult:

    • National experts on data sharing.

What to look for?

Look for evidence that can answer the following questions:

  • Are there policies, laws, or provisions in place designed to govern and support the wider use of sensitive, proprietary, or otherwise non-open data?
  • What kinds of data flows and users do these policies or laws cover?
    • Government to government sharing—establishing the basis on which different parts of government may exchange data;
    • Government to third-party sharing—establishing when and how government can share sensitive data with third parties (e.g., private sector, research, or others);
    • Business to government sharing—establishing when and how government can access and use data generated by the private sector;
    • Business to business sharing—establishing rules and incentives for public benefit pooling or exchange of data.
  • Is there special guidance for making use of this data through artificial intelligence techniques?

National and sub-national considerations

Research for this indicator should focus on national policy frameworks. If there has been little or no work on national frameworks, but a sub-national government has a more advanced policy or law, you may carry out the assessment with respect to this example, recording this in your answer to the question regarding the scope and coverage of the framework and explaining further in the indicator's justification box.

Show/hide supporting questions

Existence

  • What is the nature of the framework?
    • No framework exists.
      Supporting questions: In the absence of a strong legal framework, are there alternative norms or customs that play this role in the country? If so, please explain how. If there are draft laws or regulations not yet in force, but that would provide a more robust framework in future, please provide brief details here.
    • A framework exists but lacks full force of law.
      Supporting questions: In the absence of a strong legal framework, are there alternative norms or customs that play this role in the country? If so, please explain how. If there are draft laws or regulations not yet in force, but that would provide a more robust framework in future, please provide brief details here.
    • A framework exists and has the force of law.
      Supporting questions: Please identify the framework(s) you have assessed (e.g. name of law(s) or regulations)

Elements

  • Rights and responsibilities:

  • The framework covers data sharing within government. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: Please indicate which section of the framework refers to this issue and explain your 'Partially' response.

    If Yes: Please indicate which section of the framework refers to this issue.

  • The framework covers how government should share data with other sectors. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: Please indicate which section of the framework refers to this issue and explain your 'Partially' response.

    If Yes: Please indicate which section of the framework refers to this issue.

  • The framework covers data sharing from other sectors to government. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: Please indicate which section of the framework refers to this issue and explain your 'Partially' response.

    If Yes: Please indicate which section of the framework refers to this issue.

  • The framework covers data sharing within the private sector. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: Please indicate which section of the framework refers to this issue and explain your 'Partially' response.

    If Yes: Please indicate which section of the framework refers to this issue.

  • Specific considerations:

  • The framework explicitly focuses on artificial intelligence uses of data. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: Please indicate which section of the framework refers to this issue and explain your 'Partially' response.

    If Yes: Please indicate which section of the framework refers to this issue.

Extent

  • How broad is the coverage of legal or policy frameworks for data sharing for the public good?

    • The framework assessed covers a very limited number of government agencies or themes, and no other relevant frameworks could be located.
      Supporting questions: Please explain your answer and provide supporting urls if necessary.
    • The framework assessed covers a limited number of government agencies or themes, but there are other similar examples covering different agencies and themes.
      Supporting questions: Please explain your answer and provide supporting urls if necessary.
    • The framework assessed covers a substantial number of government agencies or themes.
      Supporting questions: Please explain your answer and provide supporting urls if necessary.
    • The framework assessed covers all government agencies, and many themes.
      Supporting questions: Please explain your answer and provide supporting urls if necessary.

  • How comprehensive, in terms of jurisdiction, is the coverage of the laws, regulations, policies, or guidance assessed for this question?

    • They cover one or more localities, but there are many other localities without such rules/guidance, or with rules or guidance of a lesser quality.
      Supporting questions: Which locality does this framework cover?
    • They cover one or more localities and are a representative example of the kind of rules/guidance that can be found for all, or most, localities.
      Supporting questions: Please explain your answer and provide supporting urls if necessary.
    • They provide national coverage.
      Supporting questions: Please explain your answer and provide supporting urls if necessary.

A considerable amount of data that might be used for the public good is not suitable for sharing as open data, either due to proprietary interests in the data or risks of harm if the data were to be misused. However, such data can still be used for public benefit through data-sharing arrangements.

International normative standards for good data-sharing practice are currently being developed. The OECD's Enhancing Access to and Sharing of Data (2019) describes a range of initiatives for data sharing, tracking different governance approaches to supporting data reuse across organizations and sectors. These include European Union measures to create "common data spaces," efforts to create increased interoperability and exchange of data within the public sector, and the creation of sectoral requirements for public and private sector data-sharing. The 2021 World Development Report calls for the integration of civil society, academia, and the private sector into national data systems, both as users of public data and as suppliers of data that can be reused for public benefit.

For the pilot edition of the Barometer, this indicator aims to identify the extent of national data-sharing frameworks and whether they provide incentives, restrictions, and transparency mechanisms. This indicator is exploratory; we anticipate future editions of the Barometer may include a substantially revised indicator based on the findings from the pilot year.