Data is the fuel that drives the growth of many digital products and services. Making sure that high-quality, high-value data from publicly funded services is widely and freely available is a key factor in accelerating European innovation in highly competitive fields such as artificial intelligence requiring access to vast amounts of high-quality data.

In full compliance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation, the new Directive on Open Data and Public Sector Information (PSI) – which can be for example anything from anonymised personal data on household energy use to general information about national education or literacy levels – updates the framework setting out the conditions under which public sector data should be made available for re-use, with a particular focus on the increasing amounts of high-value data that is now available.

Vice-President for the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip said: “Data is increasingly the lifeblood of today’s economy and unlocking the potential of public open data can bring significant economic benefits. The total direct economic value of public sector information and data from public undertakings is expected to increase from €52 billion in 2018 to €194 billion by 2030. With these new rules in place, we will ensure that we can make the most of this growth” 

Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Mariya Gabriel said: “Public sector information has already been paid for by the taxpayer. Making it more open for re-use benefits the European data economy by enabling new innovative products and services, for example based on artificial intelligence technologies. But beyond the economy, open data from the public sector is also important for our democracy and society because it increases transparency and supports a facts-based public debate.”

As part of the EU Open Data policy, rules are in place to encourage Member States to facilitate the re-use of data from the public sector with minimal or no legal, technical and financial constraints. But the digital world has changed dramatically since they were first introduced in 2003.

What do the new rules cover?

• All public sector content that can be accessed under national access to documents rules is in principle freely available for re-use. Public sector bodies will not be able to charge more than the marginal cost for the re-use of their data, except in very limited cases. This will allow more SMEs and start-ups to enter new markets in providing data-based products and services.
• A particular focus will be placed on high-value datasets such as statistics or geospatial data. These datasets have a high commercial potential, and can speed up the emergence of a wide variety of value-added information products and services.
• Public service companies in the transport and utilities sector generate valuable data. The decision on whether or not their data has to be made available is covered by different national or European rules, but when their data is available for re-use, they will now be covered by the Open Data and Public Sector Information Directive. This means they will have to comply with the principles of the Directive and ensure the use of appropriate data formats and dissemination methods, while still being able to set reasonable charges to recover related costs.
• Some public bodies strike complex data deals with private companies, which can potentially lead to public sector information being ‘locked in’. Safeguards will therefore be put in place to reinforce transparency and to limit the conclusion of agreements which could lead to exclusive re-use of public sector data by private partners.
• More real-time data, available via Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), will allow companies, especially start-ups, to develop innovative products and services, e.g. mobility apps. Publicly-funded research data is also being brought into the scope of the directive: Member States will be required to develop policies for open access to publicly funded research data while harmonised rules on re-use will be applied to all publicly-funded research data which is made accessible via repositories.

Next Steps

The European Parliament and the Council of the EU will now need to formally adopt the revised rules.  Member States will then have to implement them within two years before they become effective. The Commission will start working with the Member States on the identification of the high-value datasets which will be set out in an implementing act.  

Background

The re-use of data generated by public sector bodies (e.g. legal, traffic, meteorological and financial etc.) for commercial and non-commercial purposes is currently governed by Directive 2003/98/EC on the re-use of public sector information, which was reviewed in 2013.

On 25 April 2018, the Commission adopted the 2018 Data Package, addressing for the first time different types of data (public, private, scientific) within a coherent policy framework, making use of different policy instruments. As part of this package, the review of the PSI Directive was the object of an extensive public consultation process. Any re-use of personal data under the Directive on Open Data and Public Sector Information (PSI) must be in full respect of the rights and obligations contained in the EU General Data Protection Regulation.

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Good afternoon. Let me start by welcoming you, President Zourabichvili, in Brussels, on your first foreign visit as President. I congratulate you on your victory in Georgia’s elections. And I value your efforts to bridge social and political divisions in your country.

The EU-Georgia partnership is outstanding and far-reaching. The EU is Georgia’s largest trading partner and since the introduction of the visa-free regime in March 2017, over 300,000 Georgians have enjoyed visa-free travel.

In our meeting today, I reconfirmed the EU’s commitment to intensifying our cooperation in the framework of the Association Agreement. The agreement has brought significant benefits to our citizens and has potential to strengthen further Georgia’s social, economic, political and institutional resilience.

Today, I also welcomed Georgia’s dedication to reform. The President and I agreed on the importance of progress in the rule of law and judicial areas.

More than 10 years have passed since the August 2008 war between Russia and Georgia. I re-state the EU’s unchanging support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia and to conflict resolution efforts.

Last year Tbilisi launched important trade, education and health initiatives towards people living in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. We stand ready to provide further assistance to all those, whose lives have been affected by conflict, and to facilitate dialogue.

Regionally, Georgia’s continued, strong support to the Eastern Partnership is important. Later this year, we will celebrate its 10th anniversary. This will be an opportunity to reflect on the progress we have made together. I thank Georgia for the proposal to dedicate the 2019 Batumi Conference to this anniversary. I will be very glad to visit Georgia again, to attend this conference in July.

Madam President, let me conclude by once again wishing you every success in your office, and I look forward to working with you. Thank you.

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The update relates to the transitional transparency calculations for commodity derivatives (TTC) and only affects electricity derivatives.

Further information can be found in section E.10 of the FAQ document.

Application date:

• For sub-classes that used to be liquid and are now illiquid: the updated results can be applied immediately; and
• For sub-classes that used to be illiquid and are now liquid: trading venues are invited to contact their national competent authority to agree on a reasonable application date as the change in liquidity status may require adjusting their trading systems.

Speech by Vice-President Šefčovič, in charge of Energy Union, at the 11th Annual Conference on European Space Policy, in Brussels.

Ministers, Members of Parliament, colleagues from the EU institutions, and most importantly, dear members of Europe’s space community,

I am delighted to join you once again at this annual conference, which has become the most important gathering on Europe’s Space Policy.

In previous years when we met, we discussed the future plans. This time, as we are meeting shortly before the next EU elections, I would like to underline what we have accomplished and what remains to be done before we transition from this Commission to the next one.

As you may know, following the Commission’s proposal on a new Space Programme from last year, the EU institutions are now in the midst of trilogue negotiations. I would like to congratulate the team of Commissioner Bienkowska who are doing an excellent job in these negotiations.

This new Regulation is quite critical as it sets the level of ambition for space for at least the next seven years’ budget. I am personally convinced we need to aim as high as possible for 3 main reasons:

–         First, ensuring the continuity of our existing Flagship Programmes : Galileo, Copernicus, and Egnos;

–         Second, for safeguarding the competitiveness of our industry against the changing ecosystem of space;

–         And third, because the European space industry is instrumental for our economy in general and the Energy Union in particular.

Copernicus and Galileo

Let me start by the strong impact of Galileo and Copernicus on our society and economy.

I am proud to see that the benefits of both these programmes are reaching more and more people.

Copernicus, which celebrated last year its 20 years since creation, consists now of 7 operational satellites, serving almost 200,000 registered users. They have already downloaded 52 Petabyte of data! [1 petabyte=1K terabytes=1m gigabytes]

But the potential is still far greater! For example, we are now involving millions of farmers to start using Copernicus, Galileo and EGNOS applications for precise agriculture.

Galileo is also operational, with 26 satellites, serving users in Europe and all over the globe. Here we estimate the potential user base at 400 million. By 2020 it will reach its full potential and new services of extremely high accuracy of up to just a few centimetres (compared to today’s GPS of 10m accuracy). Just imagine the range of new services and opportunities this technology will create! And these services will be provided free of charge!

Last but not least, EGNOS has been operational for a couple of years and is serving hundreds of airports all across Europe.

Changing of the space eco-system

I am proud of these accomplishments but the last thing I wish us is to rest on our laurels. The industry of tomorrow is going to be very different and will require us to act more decisively to preserve our leadership in the global markets.

For example, our access to space is of strategic importance that we must guarantee for years to come.

I am also convinced that we need to promote a European approach to the “New Space”. I am not suggesting to copy-paste the American approach but rather create our own way to support space entrepreneurship and start-ups.

At the moment, we have a scattered and inefficient approach in Europe. This increases the risk of brain drain of talent, which could create successful start-ups, here in Europe. Instead, our start-ups often leave for the US or other third countries to expand and scale up. In order to retain the talent and offer entrepreneurs new opportunities, we must create a European ecosystem encompassing all the way from research to markets.

This requires above all a change of mindset to the way we tackle investment. Financial instruments and venture capital are likely to become more and more important. That means we need to make better use of it.

There is clear evidence that European space entrepreneurs suffer from insufficient financing sources. Both at up- and downstream sectors. There is a lack of access to finances, volume, lack of public anchor, and possibilities for scale-up.

The Commission has stepped up its efforts on that front:

Space is now explicitly included in InvestEU programme, which is the proposed successor of the current EU Investment Plan.

We are working on a pilot programme for Space equity, addressing the early stage and growth needs of start-ups.

On Research and Development funding, Europe is already rather strong but as today’s study shows, the financing problem in the space sector comes after the research phase. High risk coupled with high need of capex means the valley of death is even more difficult to cross in the space industry. We have to find smart financial vehicles to address this problem, blending various instruments, and adding advisory support from the EIB, as well as innovative procurement (EU as customer to  provide first contract).  

Let’s use these useful recommendations of today’s study in order to build an even stronger and more competitive European space industry.

This would allow further room to expand the downstream market for space-enabled services.

Energy sector use of space

The third reason for which I am a strong proponent of supporting our space industry is the Energy Union. Over the last 5 years I have witnessed time and again the necessity of space technology for practically every aspect of the energy union; for example:

Introducing Galileo time synchronization in power systems would increase resilience of the energy networks all across Europe. Galileo is able to provide microseconds accuracy for protection, metering and control of smart energy systems. We are therefore looking into concrete ways to facilitate this.

The Copernicus Climate Change Service provides information related to weather (wind, solar and hydro) and energy forecasts (capacity factors, demand, volatility) at a regional and national level across Europe.

Copernicus data even help plan and safeguard wind farms, masts and turbines by providing information on climate variability at prospective or existing sites.

While we are eager to reduce our Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, Copernicus also helps us measure accurately its existing impacts on sea levels, temperatures, etc. Soon it will be able to help monitor the implementation of the Paris Agreement.

Unfortunately, despite our ongoing efforts to fight climate change, we are all witnessing its devastating effects in the form of natural disasters. Here as well, we see the tremendous contributions of both Copernicus in monitoring and managing catastrophes and Galileo in providing emergency aid.

And here I only touched the surface on energy and climate. I could go on and on about the necessity of space tech in other sectors of the Energy Union like geolocalisation in smart mobility, satellite-enabled technology for smart city services, smart agriculture, etc. etc. I’m sure my colleagues from the various DGs will tell you more about it.

Conclusions and next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF)

Let me conclude by reiterating that the EU Space Programme will ensure that our space industry continues to benefit a wide range of other sectors, services, and societal needs.

I also believe strongly that we need not only make people dream about space again, to ignite the spark that drives innovation in this sector, but we also need to ensure our strategic independent, and competitive.

As you might have heard, I will have to step aside from the Commission in the coming weeks but I’d like to encourage the negotiators of the three institutions to accelerate the pace and reach an agreement on the next EU budget, the EU Space Programme and Horizon Europe. These programmes are the EU at its best, showing citizens concrete and inspiring examples of our integration project. These are programmes that no single EU country could do on its own; they depend on our ability to work efficiently and effectively together. That is why I believe these are exactly the kind of examples we must showcase ahead of the next EU elections.

Thank you very much!

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