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Governance: Data sharing frameworks

The following indicator is under consideration for this pilot edition of the Barometer: 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 policies, laws or provisions designed to govern and support the wider use of sensitive, proprietary or otherwise non-open data. These are distinct from data protection frameworks which primarily set out restrictions on use of personal data.

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

This indicator asks you to identify relevant frameworks that are in force during the study period.

More on data sharing

Government agencies, civil society and private sector actors may all have access to datasets containing sensitive, proprietary, or personal information that, if made available to other stakeholders, could potentially be used for the public good, including, for example:

  • Improving planning and policy making - for example, the use of data on mobility patterns from private taxi apps to support transport planning.
  • Supporting crisis response - for example, sharing of mapping data or logistics datasets following an Earthquake to help first responders, or sharing of health data to support COVID-19 pandemic response.
  • Developing new products and services - for example, by training a machine-learning model to monitor crop diseases and pests, or using farm production data to develop improved insurance products.

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.

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.

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

(* This list of types of data sharing is not exhaustive)

Starting points

  • Sources:

  • Search:

    • "National Data Sharing Frameworks"
    • 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

National and sub-national considerations

Research for this indicator should focus on national policy frameworks. If there has been no work on national frameworks, but there is a sub-national government that has more advanced policy or legislation, you may carry out the assessment with respect to this, noting this in the justification and sources and on the question of the scope and coverage of the framework.

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 cover 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.

Much data that might be used for the public good is not suitable for sharing as open data, either because of proprietary interests held in the data, or because of the risk of harm if the data was misused. However, such data can still be used for public benefit through data sharing arrangements.

The OECD describe a range of initiatives to enhance data access and sharing, addressing the different governance approaches being taken to support data re-use across organisations and sectors, including 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 suppliers of data that can be re-used for public benefit.

Although international normative standards for good data-sharing practice are still to be fully developed, this indicator aims to identify the extent of national data-sharing frameworks, and to identify whether they provide incentives, restrictions, and transparency mechanisms.

This indicator is exploratory, and we anticipate future editions of the Barometer may include a substantially revised indicator based on the findings from the pilot year.