Article 32q – Principles governing charging for public sector open data

The re-use of data or documents within the scope of this Section shall be free of charge. However, the recovery by the public sector body holding the data or documents of the marginal costs incurred for the reproduction, provision, extensive searches and dissemination of such data or documents as well as for anonymisation of personal data and measures taken to protect commercially confidential information and other information protected by law may be allowed.

Paragraph 1 shall not apply to the following entities: (a) public sector bodies that are required to generate revenue to cover a substantial part of their costs relating to the performance of their public tasks; (b) libraries, including university libraries, museums and archives; (c) public undertakings.

Member States shall publish online a list of the public sector bodies referred to in paragraph 2, point (a).

In the cases referred to in paragraph 2, points (a) and (c), the total charges shall be calculated in accordance with objective, transparent and verifiable criteria. Such criteria shall be laid down by Member States. The total income from supplying and allowing the re-use of data or documents over the appropriate accounting period shall not exceed the cost of their collection, production, reproduction, dissemination and data storage, together with a reasonable return on investment, and where applicable, the anonymisation of personal data and measures taken to protect commercially confidential information. Charges shall be calculated in accordance with the applicable accounting principles.

Where charges are made by the public sector bodies referred to in paragraph 2, point (b), the total income from supplying and allowing the re-use of data or documents over the appropriate accounting period shall not exceed the cost of collection, production, reproduction, dissemination, data storage, preservation and rights clearance and, where applicable, the anonymisation of personal data and measures taken to protect commercially confidential information, together with a reasonable return on investment. Charges shall be calculated in accordance with the accounting principles applicable to the public sector bodies involved.

Charges higher than the charges provided for in paragraphs 1, 4 and 5 may be set out for the re-use of data and documents by very large enterprises. Any such charges shall be proportionate and based on objective criteria, taking into account the economic power, or the ability of the entity to acquire data, including in particular a designation as a gatekeeper under Regulation (EU) 2022/1925. In addition to the elements listed in paragraph 1 of this Article, such charges may cover the cost of collection, production, reproduction dissemination and data storage and where applicable the cost of anonymisation or measures to protect the confidentiality of the data or documents, together with a reasonable return on investment.

The re-use of the following shall be free of charge for the re-user: (a) subject to Article 32v paragraph (3), (4) and (5), the high-value datasets, as listed in accordance with paragraph 1 of that Article; (b) research data referred to in point (c) of paragraph 1 of Article 32i.

Cross-referenceThe reference to ‘Article 32v paragraph (3), (4) and (5)’ includes a paragraph 5 that Article 32v does not have in this text. The printed reference is retained.