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Governance: Open data policy

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

Definitions and Identification

A framework for open (government) data may take the form of law, regulation, policy, or guidance. It will commit the government to making non-sensitive, government-held data available for reuse both legally (e.g., through licenses and terms of use) and technically (e.g., through providing data in machine-readable formats).

Open data frameworks may exist on their own or as part of broader data strategies or policies.

For more about open data, consult the Open Data Handbook.

Check the currency of any open data frameworks to confirm they remain active and are being implemented.

Starting points

  • Sources:
    • The EU Data Maturity Report provides data on the state of open data strategies and policies in European countries.
    • The OECD OUR Data Index provides country fact sheets covering open data policies.
    • The OGP Explorer contains details of commitments to open data made through the Open Government Partnership.
    • The qualitative data from the Open Data Barometer provides details of policies and strategies identified prior to 2017 generally, prior to 2019 for Latin America and the Caribbean; look for sheets with primary data on ODB context and impact and filter by question ID "ODB.2015.C2."
  • Search:
    • General searches for: "Open data policy," "data strategy," "open data strategy."
    • Search academic search engines (e.g., Google Scholar, arXiv, ResearchGate, etc.) for recent papers on "open data" + [country].
  • Consult:
    • Open data advocates and experts.

What to look for?

Look for evidence that can answer the following questions:

  • Are there laws, regulations, policies, and guidance that provide a comprehensive framework for generating and publishing open data?
    • What is their nature?
    • Do they include a common definition of "open data"?
    • Do they promote open licenses?
    • Do they require machine readability as part of open data?
    • Do they require the use of data standards?
    • Do they promote data training and capacity-building among public officials?

National and sub-national considerations

You should focus your assessment on national policies, or policies set at the federal level in federal systems. In cases where no national frameworks exist, but strong frameworks have been developed sub-nationally or in a particular significant agency, you may carry out the assessment for another strong framework. Record this limitation in your answer to the question on geographical and institutional coverage and explain 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 establishes a common definition of open data. (No, Partially, Yes) If there is a definition, but it appears to omit key aspects of open data (such as permissions for re-use, or machine readability), you may answer 'Partially'.

    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 promotes open licensing without any restrictions beyond attribution and share-alike. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: Please indicate which section of the framework refers to this issue and explain your 'Partially' response describing the main limitations of the approach to data re-use.

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

    If Partially or Yes: If the framework requires a specific license, please provide the URL or name of the license here

  • The framework requires to publish data in machine readable formats. (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 rules/guidance requires the use of specific data standards. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially or Yes: Are they international standards?

    If Partially or Yes: Please list significant data standards mentioned in the rules/guidance.

  • Specific considerations:

  • The framework promotes training and capacity building among government officials. (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 widely do these laws, regulations, policies or guidance apply?
    • The laws, policies and guidance assessed cover a limited number of localities or government agencies.
      Supporting questions: Please explain your answer and provide supporting urls if necessary.
    • The relevant laws, policies and guidance assessed cover, or are representative of those covering, many localities or government agencies.
      Supporting questions: Please explain your answer and provide supporting urls if necessary.
    • The relevant laws, policies and guidance assessed cover the majority of localities and government agencies.
      Supporting questions: Please explain your answer and provide supporting urls if necessary.

Promoting the reuse of public data is central to realizing the potential of data for the public good. Open data laws, policies, or strategies provide the framework within which government data can be made available as a resource for third parties to work with.

The Open Data Barometer's 2017 Leaders Edition included an indicator (ODB.2015.C.POLI) which asked the question "To what extent is there a well-defined open data policy and/or strategy?" This indicator is designed to provide comparable data to the ODB indicator. It converts the guidance from the ODB's 0–10 scoring system to element checklist items that should yield similar scoring for similar situations. It reflects the GDB's assumption that governance frameworks based in law are preferable to frameworks based in policy alone.