[open-government] France proposes police controls on who uses public information

Tue Nov 23 13:11:34 UTC 2010

regards-citoyens//

//

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  *Press Release*

/For immediate publication/

*France proposes police controls on who uses public information*

/Madrid/Paris, 23 November 2010/-- A law to be discussed in the French 
parliament before the end of 2010 will result in the police carrying out 
"behaviour" checks on members of the public and organisations wanting to 
reuse information obtained from public bodies. The likely effect is to 
severely limit access to information and freedom of expression.

The draft law currently before the French National Assembly amends the 
1995 Police Security Act and will extend the scope of police "behaviour" 
checks from legitimate purposes such as checking on those to have access 
to dangerous substances and high security zones to those who want to 
reuse information obtained from public bodies. The criteria for the 
background checks are not specified in the law.

The information affected could include, for example, databases on public 
spending, copies of laws, or electoral results. Much data held by local 
authorities which is of great interest to the public such as schedules 
and real-time locations of trains and buses, information about recycling 
schemes, and construction works permits would also fall under these new 
controls.

The associations Access Info Europe and Regards Citoyens today expressed 
concerns that the law, if adopted, will significantly complicate and 
slow access to information in France.

"This is an extremely dangerous law which would seriously limit freedom 
of expression in France," said Helen Darbishire, Executive Director of 
Access Info Europe.

"Subjecting those who wish to access and reuse public datasets to 
vaguely-defined morality controls runs counter to the basic principles 
of the freedom of expression and information enshrined in the French 
Constitution, and is a violation of European Court of Human Rights 
jurisprudence and EU law," added Darbishire.

Access Info Europe notes that in 2010 many leading democracies such as 
the US and the UK, Norway and Spain, Australia and New Zealand, are 
posting on line large volumes of public data making them free for anyone 
in the world to use. They do this out of recognition of the societal and 
economic benefits that flow from the reuse of public sector information.

"If this provision were to be adopted, France would be closing down 
public access to information rather than opening it up," concluded 
Benjamin Ooghe-Tabanou, co-founder of Regards Citoyens.

Notes for Editors:

1. Access Info Europe <http://www.access-info.org/> is a human rights 
organisation head-quartered in Madrid which promote the right of access 
to information and open government data in Europe. Access Info Europe 
believes that more public information means better participation in and 
greater accountability of public bodies.

2. Regards Citoyens <http://www.regardscitoyens.org/qui-sommes-nous/> is 
a civic association which promotes the opening of public data to secure 
greater transparency of democratic institutions in France.

3. The proposed reform is to 1995 Security Law (/Loi n°95-73 du 21 
janvier 1995 d'orientation et de programmation relative à la sécurité 
<http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=LEGITEXT000005617582&dateTexte=20101122>/).//

4.//The amendment would impact on the right of access to public 
information granted under the 1978 Access to Administrative Documents 
Law 
<http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=LEGITEXT000006068643&dateTexte=20101122>//as 
modified by European Union Directive 2003/98/EC of the European 
Parliament and of the Council of 17 November 2003 on the re-use of 
public sector information 
<http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2003:345:0090:0096:EN:PDF>. 
The EU Directive requires that governments to create "fair, 
proportionate and non-discriminatory conditions for the re-use of 
[public sector] information."The European Commission is currently 
reviewing this Directive. This case and the broader impact of this 
Directive on the fundamental right of access to information should be 
carefully reviewed by the Commission.

5. The Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents 
<http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/QueVoulezVous.asp?NT=205&CM=8&DF=22/11/2010&CL=ENG> 
from 2009, not yet signed by France, requires that all requesters be 
treated equally and without discrimination. It is illegitimate under 
this and other international standards to ask why someone wants 
information or what they will do with it.

6. The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that access to 
information held by public bodies when these are monopolies is an 
inherent part of the right to freedom of expression: information is 
needed to participate in democratic public debate. See, /inter alia/ 
/Társaság a Szabadságjogokért v. Hungary(App no 37374/05), ECHR, 14 
April 2009. 
<http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/view.asp?action=html&documentId=849278&portal=hbkm&source=externalbydocnumber&table=F69A27FD8FB86142BF01C1166DEA398649.>/

7.Examples of online portals for accessing public data include 
www.data.gov <http://www.data.gov>, www.data.gov.uk 
<http://www.data.gov.uk>, www.data.gov.au <http://www.data.gov.au>, 
www.data.gov.nz <http://www.data.gov.nz>.

For more information -- in English or French - please contact:

*Victoria Anderica*, Access Info Europe, victoria at access-info.org 
<mailto:victoria at access-info.org>

Office phone: +34 91 366 5344

Mobile: +34 606 592 976

*Helen Darbishire*, Access Info Europe (www.access-info.org 
<ACCESS%20INFO%20MATERIALS/Press%20Releases/AppData/AppData/Local/Temp/www.access-info.org>)

helen at access-info.org <mailto:helen at access-info.org>, mobile: +34 667 
685 319

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