Judy Nokes

This Practice Note looks at charging for re-use of Crown copyright information, which is governed by the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015. It examines the definition of Crown copyright information, use of published material under the Open Government Licence and the extent to which public bodies may charge for re-use of public sector information.

Crown copyright is defined by statute as works made by officers or servants of the Crown in the course of their duties, indicating the quality, status, integrity and authority of the material produced by government. This Practice Note traces the background transparency agenda, defines Crown copyright information and provides guidance on the management of Crown copyright.

This Practice Note considers the development of open licensing, in particular the UK Government Licensing Framework and the Open Government Licence. The public sector is one of the largest and most significant sources of information in the UK. The re-use of public sector information is closely aligned to the government's transparency agenda and support for open data. In order to facilitate such re-use, data must be released in an open format which allows people to share it and combine it with other data. Aligned to ease of access to information and open format is the concept of open licensing.