Open data, also known as “open data“, I am data made available to the public in an accessible, machine-readable format and without significant restrictions on use or redistribution. This data is published online and is free from copyright or other legal restrictions that may prevent sharing and reuse.
The public administrations must publish data in open and interoperable formats, preferably following the standards established by AgID.
This helps facilitate access, use and reuse of the data.
AgID has also established a national portal for open data where public administrations are required to publish their data in an open format. The portal serves as a centralized access point for anyone interested.
Administrations must specify licenses that regulate the reuse of open data. Such licenses should be open and non-discriminatory, allowing for free and broad use of data.
AgID monitors and evaluates the implementation of data openness policies, collects feedback from the public and provides guidance to public administrations.
The legislation provides for exceptions for sensitive data, such as those relating to privacy, national security and other legitimate interests. This data may not be open or may only be made available in anonymized form.
Open Government 2050 The online society: what risks and what opportunities? by Flavia Marzano 18 October 2023
What should and can Italian municipalities do in this regard?
I asked to Valentina Baralegroup leader in the municipal council of the Municipality of Livorno of Buongiorno Livorno and others Louis Sofiagroup leader in the municipal council of the Municipality of Pisa of Sinistra Unita per Pisa to answer this question: Why is open data important in public administration?
These are their answers:
Transparency: The publication of open data allows the PA to be more transparent and accountable towards citizens. Open data allows you to monitor and better understand how public funds are spent and how important decisions are made.
Participation: Open data can encourage the participation of citizens and civil society organizations in decision-making. This data can be used to create applications, services or analytics that improve people’s lives or address common problems.
Innovation: The availability of open data can stimulate economic and technological innovation. Private businesses, software developers and researchers can use this data to create new products, services and solutions.
Efficiency: PA can benefit from the use of open data to improve internal efficiency and simplify decision-making processes. Sharing data between different government agencies can reduce duplication and operational costs.
Responsibility: The publication of open data promotes accountability and evaluation of PA performance. The data can be used to measure the effectiveness of government policies and programs.
Accessibility: guarantee to provide services and provide usable information, without discrimination, also towards those who, due to disabilities, require assistive technologies or particular configurations (referred to in article 2, paragraph 1, letter a), of the law of 9 January 2004 , n. 4 Provisions to promote access of disabled people to IT tools);
Improvement of services: Open data can be used to improve public services. For example, sharing data on public transport can help develop applications that provide real-time information on transport schedules.
Citizen involvement: Open data publishing can engage citizens in solving community problems. For example, collaborative mapping based on open data can help identify areas in need of maintenance.
It therefore seems clear that the PA must respect open data policies (European, national and regional) and establish online portals for data sharing. This allows us to exploit the potential of open data to improve governance, innovation and public participation.
We add that the Agency for Digital Italy (AgID) has adopted and published the “Guidelines containing technical rules for the opening of data and the reuse of public sector information” (Determination n.183/2023) pursuant to of article 12 of Legislative Decree no. 36/2006, provision introduced following the amendments to Legislative Decree no. 200/2021, Italian transposition of Directive 2019/1024, so-called Open Data Directive.
Before talking about the open data of the two Municipalities and the related open data portal of Livorno and Pisa, we would like to point out that in the AGID Guidelines mentioned above there is obviously all the national and European legislation to which we add that relating to the legislation of the Tuscany Region.
In the Official Bulletin of the Tuscany Region (27 February 2015), in addition to repeating the definitions and obligations of European and national regulations, we read that not only the Region but also the bodies and organizations dependent on the Region (and therefore also the Municipality of Pisa ) guarantee the dissemination of public data and documents containing public data of which they are the owners, structured in open formats, freely accessible to all and reusable (open data) through the management of technological platforms made available by the Region itself and the related publication on the dedicated institutional website, which constitutes the catalog of data and services, metadata and related databases in possession of the administration, or making them available through interoperable data access services.
Unfortunately, the open data portal of the Municipality of Livorno has the data updated (so to speak) to 2016 and the open data portal of the Municipality of Pisa to 2017!
Also on the portal relating to the Livorno open data of the Tuscany Region and that relating to the Pisa open data of the Tuscany Region as well as on the national open data portal of the Public Administration where the Municipalities must publish their open data… unfortunately we are in the same conditions.
We therefore ask all the councilors of Italian municipalities who care about these issues: please check that your Municipality is not in the same conditions, these are not only regulatory obligations but also good policy.
And for those who find obsolete data and out-of-date open data portals, we suggest present an interpellation in the respective Municipal Councils requiring rapid action not only to comply with the law but also and above all to guarantee transparency and provide a better service to its citizens and local businesses.
Small appendix to support entities that want (MUST) adapt to the reference legislation for Open Data
Digital Administration Code – CAD – Legislative Decree 7 March 2005, n. 82 and smi Legislative Decree, 22 June 2012 n.83 converted by law, 7 August 2012 n.134 Legislative Decree, 18 October 2012, n.179, coordinated with the conversion law 17 December 2012, n. 22 Law, 6 November 2012 n.190. Legislative Decree 24 January 2006, n. 36 – Implementation of Directive 2003/98/EC relating to the reuse of documents in the public sector. Legislative Decree 18 May 2015, n. 102 – Implementation of Directive 2013/37/EU which modifies Directive 2003/98/EC, relating to the reuse of public sector information National Guidelines for the Enhancement of Public Information Assets AGID Guidelines for AGID data catalogs The strategies regarding open data of the Tuscany Region: regulations and reference documents.