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@@ -162,6 +162,8 @@ The following Recitals in the Preamble to Regulation No 1049/2001 are relevant i (2) Openness enables citizens to participate more closely in the decision-making process and guarantees that the administration enjoys greater legitimacy and is more effective and more accountable to the citizen in a democratic system. Openness contributes to strengthening the principles of democracy and respect for fundamental rights as laid down in Article 6 of the EU Treaty and in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. +[...] + (6) Wider access should be granted to documents in cases where the institutions are acting in their legislative capacity, including under delegated powers, while at the same time preserving the effectiveness of the institutions' decision-making process. Such documents should be made directly accessible to the greatest possible extent.</blockquote> The Court has confirmed that the considerations of legislative openness are clearly of particular relevance where the Council is acting in its legislative capacity: "Openness in that respect contributes to strengthening democracy by enabling citizens to scrutinise all the information which has formed the basis for a legislative act. The possibility for citizens to find out the considerations underpinning legislative action is a precondition for the effective exercise of their democratic rights".<ref>Sweden and Turco v Council, paragraph 46 and Council of the European Union v Access Info Europe, paragraph 00</ref> @@ -184,13 +186,14 @@ Aiming thereby to further the accountability of and transparency in decision-mak Recognising the desirability of transparency in all branches of government and inviting legislative bodies to implement the principles of this Convention in their proceedings,</blockquote> -Mirroring Article 2 of the Aarhus Convention, the second sentence of Article 2(2) in Directive 2003/4/EC on public access to environmental information<ref>Directive 2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2003 on public access to environmental information and repealing Council Directive 90/313/EEC (OJ 2003 L 41, p. 26) ('the Directive').</ref>allows Member States to exclude from the scope of the Directive bodies otherwise falling within the definition of "public authority", "when acting in a judicial or legislative capacity". +Mirroring Article 2 of the Aarhus Convention, the second sentence of Article 2(2) in Directive 2003/4/EC on public access to environmental information<ref>Directive 2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2003 on public access to environmental information and repealing Council Directive 90/313/EEC (OJ 2003 L 41, p. 26)</ref>allows Member States to exclude from the scope of the Directive bodies otherwise falling within the definition of "public authority", "when acting in a judicial or legislative capacity". The Aarhus Convention was approved on behalf of the European Community by Council Decision 2005/370/EC<ref>Council Decision 2005/370/EC of 17 February 2005 on the conclusion, on behalf of the European Community, of the Convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters (OJ 2005 L 124, p. 1)</ref>, the annex to which contains a declaration by the European Community which reads, in so far as relevant, as follows: -<blockquote>In relation to Article 9 of the Aarhus Convention the European Community invites Parties to the Convention to take note of Article 2(2) and Article 6 of [the Directive]. These provisions give Member States of the European Community the possibility, in exceptional cases and under strictly specified conditions, to exclude certain institutions and bodies from the rules on review procedures in relation to decisions on requests for information. +<blockquote> +In relation to Article 9 of the Aarhus Convention, the European Community invites Parties to the Convention to take note of Article 2(2) and Article 6 of Directive 2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2003 on Public Access to Environmental Information. These provisions give Member States of the European Community the possibility, in exceptional cases and under strictly specified conditions, to exclude certain institutions and bodies from the rules on review procedures in relation to decisions on requests for information. -Therefore the ratification by the European Community of the Aarhus Convention encompasses any reservation by a Member State of the European Community to the extent that such a reservation is compatible with Article 2(2) and Article 6 of [the Directive].</blockquote> +Therefore the ratification by the European Community of the Aarhus Convention encompasses any reservation by a Member State of the European Community to the extent that such a reservation is compatible with Article 2 (2) and Article 6 of Directive 2003/4/EC.<ref>Declaration by the European Community concerning certain specific provisions under directive 2003/4/EC, available at https://treaties.un.org/pages/viewdetails.aspx?src=treaty&mtdsg_no=xxvii-13&chapter=27&lang=en</ref></blockquote> In ratifying the Aarhus Convention on 20 May 2005, Sweden lodged a reservation which, in so far as is relevant, reads as follows: @@ -618,14 +621,13 @@ The European Commission, not bound to the PSI Directive, recognising the importa Article 8 Formats for documents available for reuse - -1. Documents shall be made available in any existing format or language version, in machine-readable format where possible and appropriate. - -2. This shall not imply an obligation to create, adapt or update documents in order to comply with the application, nor to provide extracts from documents where it would involve disproportionate effort, going beyond a simple operation. - -3. This Decision does not create any obligation for the Commission to translate the requested documents into any other official language versions than those already available at the moment of the application. - -4. The Commission or the Publications Office may not be required to continue the production of certain types of documents or to preserve them in a given format with a view to the reuse of such documents by a natural or legal person.<ref>Commission Decision of 12 December 2011 on the reuse of Commission documents (2011/833/EU), OJ L 330, 14.12.2011, p. 39-42</ref></blockquote> +<ol> +<li>Documents shall be made available in any existing format or language version, in machine-readable format where possible and appropriate.</li> +<li>This shall not imply an obligation to create, adapt or update documents in order to comply with the application, nor to provide extracts from documents where it would involve disproportionate effort, going beyond a simple operation.</li> +<li>This Decision does not create any obligation for the Commission to translate the requested documents into any other official language versions than those already available at the moment of the application.</li> +<li>The Commission or the Publications Office may not be required to continue the production of certain types of documents or to preserve them in a given format with a view to the reuse of such documents by a natural or legal person.<ref>Commission Decision of 12 December 2011 on the reuse of Commission documents (2011/833/EU), OJ L 330, 14.12.2011, p. 39-42</ref></li> +</ol> +</blockquote> While fully analysing the licensing of data goes beyond the scope of this study, and while the discussion on open standards also covers the ''way'' (or format) in which data are made available for non-intermediated consumption, we suggest that not only for transparency purpose, but in order to generally remove unnecessary confusion, that instead of '''licensing''' data, a '''waiver''' on database right is adopted as default legal release tool.<ref>One of the authors has explained this finding in {{cite web|title=FreeGIS.net Data Licence 1.0|url=https://freegis.net/documents/10157/14646/FreeGIS+data+licence+1?version=1.0}} [ITA], but see also {{cite web|last1=Morando|first1=Federico|title=http://leo.cineca.it/index.php/jlis/article/view/5461|url=http://leo.cineca.it/index.php/jlis/article/view/5461|accessdate=8 August 2014}}</ref> |