In its Opinion on the Internet of Things and reuse of Public Sector Information (2010/C 175/09) published in the Official Journal on July 1st 2010, the Committee of the Regions highlights the potential that commercial and non-commercial uses of PSI can have as an asset for citizens in future applications to enhance the value of the IoT domain.

The Committee of the Regions issued back in February its Opinion about the main aspects covered by Communication from the Commission on the Internet of Things — An action plan for Europe (COM(2009) 278final), and Communication on Re-use of Public Sector Information – Review of Directive 2003/98/EC (COM(2009) 212final), Opinion which has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union on July 1st 2010.

The Committee welcomes the Commission’s initiative to review the application of the Re-use of Public Sector Information (PSI) Directive and promote the action plan for the Internet of Things (IoT), as they have the potential to become valuable assets for citizens, businesses and administrations and could help to create jobs and improve the quality of public services.

It also stresses the importance of re-using public sector information for both commercial and non-commercial purposes, and investing in research to support specific activities and the development of future applications to enhance the value of the IoT domain.

Common rules, a level playing field and transparency on PSI re-use

The Opinion emphasises the significance of and the need for common rules and practices governing the re-use and exploitation of public sector information to ensure that the same basic conditions are applied to all players in the European information market, conditions for re-using such information are more transparent, and distortions of the internal market are eliminated.

Access and re-use of public sector information have the potential to boost the applications of the Internet of Things. As the main repositories and content holders of PSI, the cities and regions play a key role in facilitating the creation of IoT.

Committee also reminds that, at local and regional level, the Internet of Things can boost the quality of life and social and economic activity of citizens, stimulate regional development and local businesses and provide more efficient, tailor-made public services to citizens. There are several ways in which regions and cities can help to ensure this potential is fully reached, LRAs are amongst the main beneficiaries of the IoT governance principles, and are key drivers of development and implementation.

Re-use of PSI Directive

The CoR points out in its Opinion that, in order to develop a market for the re-use of PSI, it is necessary to do away with exclusive agreements by public sector bodies and private firms and to implement policies that apply licensing and charging models to facilitate and maximise the re-use of PSI (notably through the application of marginal costs), also, it is important to consider and clarify the type of mechanisms used for the production and management of public data.

The Committee proposes that a distinction be made between access and re-use of public information, in full compliance with data protection rules, in order to improve the benefits for the producer of the information, who might not entirely cover his expenses when generating this information, and to minimise the number of cases when limited access is granted to public information.

The importance of PSI re-use and its potential to create innovative products and solutions is being the object for in-depth study by several initiatives such as it is the case for Spanish project Proyecto Aporta and ePSIplatform who last June gathered in Madrid an important number of experts on PSI re-use at the PSI Meeting 2010.

Finally, the Committee proposes that special attention be given to the Future of the Internet, which might evolve into a combination of the Internet of Things and high-quality content and services using Web 2.0 technology as an enabling platform. Its new pattern will redefine the place and role of pervasive networks in people’s lives and economic growth which may lead to major social changes.