On Thursday, the Government of Romania approved the draft Law on open data and the reuse of information from the public sector, a normative act initiated by the Authority for the Digitization of Romania (ADR) and the Ministry of Research, Innovation, and Digitalization (MCID).

According to a press release from ADR, the main objectives of this legislative act are aimed at:

• the use of data available from the public sector for the creation of innovative IT products, solutions, and services by private companies
• we are consolidating the free flow of information, facilitating communication with public institutions, and making the administration’s activity transparent for citizens.

The legal approach coordinated by ADR and MCID had in mind the complete transposition into national legislation of Directive (EU) 2019/1024 of the European Parliament and the Council regarding open data and the reuse of information from the public sector.

The directive updated the European legislative framework to reflect advances in digital technologies, while stimulating digital innovation, especially in artificial intelligence.

“Public sector information represents a great source of data that can contribute to improving the life of every citizen, through the development of new IT applications, but also the improvement of services and products. The intelligent use of data, including their processing through artificial intelligence applications, will contribute to digital transformation and the evolution of Romania’s digital economy. Thanks to the free, direct, and complete access to public activity through open data (Open Data), citizens and companies will benefit from transparency in the activity of public institutions and direct monitoring of the performance of the administration’s activity”, said Dragoş Vlad, the president of ADR.

By adopting the new legislation, ADR, as an impartial control body in the field of open data, becomes the guarantor of free access to open data published by government institutions and stands by the citizen by applying Open Data standards to all central administration institutions.

Open Data are those data that must be freely available to the general public to be used and republished as needed, without restrictions regarding copyright, patents, or other control mechanisms.

Open Data is based on 3 principles: transparency, participation, and collaboration. For the extended application of this law, the databases of public institutions must be interconnected, the most effective solution being that of the Government Cloud. The realization of the cloud is politically agreed upon, but is still in the project stage, to be completed by 2024, with funding from the PNRR.

Source: cursdeguvernare.ro