The responsible of the drafting the opinion for the Committee of the Regions on the Commission proposals for the "Re-use of public sector information" and "Open data – an engine for innovation, growth and transparent governance", Ms. Anne Karjalainen, will meet all the stakeholders in 26 of March with the aim to gather views on such proposals.

The Committee of the Regions is currently drafting the opinion on the European Commission proposals on the "Review of the directive on re-use of public sector information 2003/98/EC and the Communication on "Open data – an engine for innovation, growth and transparent governance". In December 2011, the European Commission presented its Open Data Strategy for Europe. The CoR opinion will focus on the main challenges of the new directive which are adapting the market to an optimal legal framework to facilitate and stimulate the commercial and non commercial re-use of public open data by the end of 2012, and raising awareness of public organisations and businesses.

In this context, the responsible or rapporteur of the opinion, Anne Karjalainen is collecting views from all the stakeholders. She will therefore meet for a consultation and an exchange of views on her opinion with representatives of local and regional associations and other stakeholders on the 26 of March in the Committee of the Regions in Brussels. The rapporteur will also welcome all the contributions sent by email.

In the framework of the Europe 2020 strategy, the data produced, collected or held by public bodies such as statistics or information from publicly funded research projects, can contribute to economic growth and job creation. Indeed, this data has a significant potential for re-use in new products and services. So by unlocking this economic potential, the public sector can participate at the digital revolution and bring a real change of culture by improving the transparency, efficiency and accountability of governments. Thus, according to the European Commission, the public sector information (PSI) can bring an added value of the public activities and be used in favour of democracy and growth.