With the Legislative Decree of 8th November 2021, no. 200, Italy has followed other European Union Member states in transposing a minimum set of rules intended to facilitate the use of Open Data, enabling its use by private economic operators in compliance with the principles of transparency and cooperation between Member States.
Some months after our most recent in-depth exploration of the topic of Open Data and the reuse of information by economic operators (link to preceding article: https://www.studiolegalestefanelli.it/it/approfondimenti/gli-open-data-e-il-riutilizzo-dellinformazione-da-parte-degli-operatori-economici/), in the end the Directive (EU) 2019/1024 was transposed.
What is Open Data?
The EU directive governs the use of so-called Open Data, defined as “(raw) data which is accessible, reusable, readable with electronic devices and freely licensed”.
The primary objective pursued by the EU is, indeed, that of enacting the so-called Digital Single Market, defined as an “area where people and businesses can freely access and exercise online activities under conditions of fair competition, regardless of their nationality or where they live”.
Open Data in Italy
Open Data can come from diverse sectors and environments. For example, data can be related to meteorology, genetics, tourism, the environment, finance or agriculture. On the web page of the Agency for Digital Italy, one can consult the most up-to-date catalogue of open data of public service, divided into themed areas, ranging from the environment to science and technology, from the economy and finance to health.
There also exist various databases of Open Data at a regional level. They are supplied by a harvesting system, and subsequently placed at the disposal of interested parties for both commercial and non-commercial purposes. The Emilia-Romagna region, for example, was the first Italian region to share the datasets of its official website for tourists in the National Catalogue of the Public APIs of the Department for Digital Transformation, through free and open license, without limits of use.
To that, one can add a multitude of catalogues of the Emilia-Romagna Region that collect data originating from a very wide range of economic categories, dealing with various topics. Examples include: collections of data on pharmacies within the region registered with the Italian Sistema Sanitario Nazionale (SSN) or National Health Service; data pertaining to the number of admissions and operations undertaken in the region’s emergency rooms; a list of the region’s veteran trees; a list of applications submitted to carry out construction activity, divided by municipality; and so on.
What are the main changes resulting from the transposition in Italy of the directive regarding Open Data?
In formal terms, the Legislative Decree no. 200 of 2021 will modify and update the Legislative Decree of 24th January 2006, no. 36, which transposed the Directive 2003/98/ec.
The implementing decree, in Art. 1, paragraph 3, letter g), transposed and introduced three important definitions:
The identification and introduction into Italy of these definitions will make a clear framework of rules possible regarding the data currently diffused in our information society and a full involvement of and consequent responsiveness to the interests of the various categories of businesses present in the digital market.
In transposing the EU directive, it was deposed in Art. 1, paragraph 6 that requests for the reuse and utilization of Open Data will have to be examined and processed by Public Administrations and public law bodies within the term of 30 days, extendable for a further 20 days in the case that the requests are numerous or complex.
Furthermore, once requests for utilization of data are forwarded, the Public Administration in question will be able to express a measure:
The reuse of data shall be considered free in accordance with Art. 1, paragraph 8, letter n) of the implementing decree, including in relation to high-value data and to those related to research. Nevertheless, in cases in which it is necessary to recuperate any costs, the Public Administrations will define in advance and make available on their official websites the reference rates.
Insofar as regards the specifics of high-value data, in accordance with Art. 1, paragraph 15, they are always free unless they are:
The Legislative Decree no. 200 of 2021, in Art. 1, paragraph 9, in transposing the EU Directive, confirms the European tendency to not subject the reuse of data to conditions, unless such conditions are not objective, proportionate, non-discriminatory or justified by public interest.
If they are necessary, the law encourages the adoption of standard licenses for the reuse of Open Data, made available in digital format.
We invite our readers to explore this subject further in an article recently published on this website (link to article by Eleonora Lenzi https://www.studiolegalestefanelli.it/it/approfondimenti/le-licenze-per-il-riuso-degli-open-data/)
For the purposes of the research of Open Data, public services use the national catalogue of open data managed by the Agency for Digital Italy, publishing and updating on their institutional websites lists of the categories of data held for the purposes of reuse and identifying the related methods to facilitate research into them (Art. 1, paragraph 10).
The implementing decree in Art. 1, paragraph 13, deposes that the data can be reused by all interested economic operators, even if other subjects are simultaneously utilizing added-value products based on such documents. If instead, for the delivery of a service of public interest an exclusive right to the data is necessary, this will be able to be attributed only following an examination regarding its validity. The attribution of such exclusive right is, moreover, subject to periodic evaluation by the PA at least every three years.
Where next?
The transposition of the Directive (EU) 2019/1024 in Italy constitutes an important opportunity for businesses and, more generally, for the economic operators present within the nation. In particular, the governance and the utilization of Open Data will facilitate significant growth in various economic sectors, and above all will enable the development and harmonization of the European Digital Single Market.
The Agency for Digital Italy has updated for the 2021-2023 period its “Three-year plan for public administration information technology”, setting itself the goal of increasing the number of open datasets of a dynamic variety with reference to their publication in interoperable format through APIs.