Data Sovereignty in North Rhine-Westphalia (DE0027)
Overview
At-a-Glance
Action Plan: Germany Action Plan 2019-2021
Action Plan Cycle: 2019
Status: Active
Institutions
Lead Institution: North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry of Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitization and Energy and Open Government Working Group
Support Institution(s): Municipality of Bonn, Rhineland Open Data Region, Association of German Cities, German Association of Towns and Municipalities, Consulting agency PD – Berater der öffentlichen Hand GmbH
Policy Areas
Access to Information, E-Government, Open Data, SubnationalIRM Review
IRM Report: Germany Design Report 2019-2021
Starred: Pending IRM Review
Early Results: Pending IRM Review
Design i
Verifiable: Yes
Relevant to OGP Values: Access to Information
Implementation i
Completion: Pending IRM Review
Description
What is the public problem that the
commitment will address?
Legislation for open data is slated to
commence before the end of 2019 with an
amendment to the North Rhine-Westphalia
E-Government Act (EGovG NRW). The goal
is for the administration’s data to be made
available, comprehensively and free of
charge, for unlimited subsequent use. This
is to enable businesses and civil society
as well as the administrative authorities to
take advantage of the data.
Administrative bodies collate and process
data in the course of their duties. In some
cases, others collaborate in the collation of
that data. If data are to be made available
in their entirety, it is crucial for the administrative authorities themselves to have
ownership and sovereign rights over the
data. If those rights are held by a third
party, it can prove difficult or impossible to
make them public.
Not all administrative bodies have the
requisite knowledge and information at
their disposal to ensure they have data
sovereignty and ownership. However, such
knowledge is essential for conducting
procurement procedures and making
contracts with third parties, for instance,
as such activities frequently influence how
data can be used in future.
What is the commitment?
This commitment is meant to promote the
comprehensive provision of open data by
the administrative authorities. Obstacles
to publication – such as copyrights,
protections favouring third parties and
usage agreements – are to be reduced
as much as possible so that data may be
comprehensively used inside and outside
the administration. This has the potential to assist and facilitate data-based
decision-making at the administrative
and political levels. It will give the public
improved means of acquiring information
on the basis of open data. What is more,
it may give rise to new business models
and an expansion in the use of artificial
intelligence.
How will the commitment contribute to solving the public problem?
Ensuring data sovereignty will eliminate
key obstacles to the comprehensive reuse of data by administrative authorities
so that open data can be made available
on a larger scale. The aim is to enable
administrations to comprehensively use
and release data. Recommendations and
guidelines are to be drawn up and made
available.
Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values?
Administrative authorities’ data ownership
and sovereignty is the basis on which open
data can be made public on an extensive
scale; it is therefore pivotal to generating
greater transparency and innovation.
IRM Midterm Status Summary
12. Strengthening data sovereignty in North Rhine Westphalia
Main Objective
“This commitment is meant to promote the comprehensive provision of open data by the administrative authorities. Obstacles to publication – such as copyrights, protections favoring third parties and usage agreements – are to be reduced as much as possible so that data may be comprehensively used inside and outside the administration. This has the potential to assist and facilitate data-based decision-making at the administrative and political levels. It will give the public improved means of acquiring information on the basis of open data. What is more, it may give rise to new business models and an expansion in the use of artificial intelligence.”
Milestones
12.1. Taking stock of data sovereignty in municipalities
12.2. Writing guidelines on ensuring administrative authorities’ data ownership and data sovereignty
12.3. Publishing and recommending guidelines
Editorial Note: For the complete text of this commitment, please see Germany’s action plan at: https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Germany_Action-Plan_2019-2021_EN.pdf.
Commitment Analysis
The commitment aims to identify and address challenges for public administrations regarding data sovereignty in North Rhine-Westphalia. Data sovereignty pertains to access to and control by public administrations over the data that it generates during governmental functions. It also refers to data that third parties generate when working on behalf of public authorities. [110] Once governments achieve data sovereignty, they are free to publish and open data to the public. Therefore, it is relevant to the OGP value for access to information.
Data sovereignty is a relatively new policy area with considerable potential for mutual learning and capacity building at local and state levels. [111] Capitalizing on big data and open data often involves mixing data held by private and public actors. Similarly, transparent and accountable public service performance often requires data generated by private businesses as many government services are outsourced to private companies. [112] Furthermore, the rise of the “gig” and “platform” economies [113] has created regulatory challenges, which in Germany must often be addressed by state or local governments. Therefore, access to privately-held information is needed for meaningful regulatory oversight and essential service optimization.
Legal frameworks, procurement rules, and licensing practices also need to be adapted to facilitate data sovereignty and accommodate information sharing between governments and businesses, data collaboratives, and mandatory reporting regimes. Because of limited awareness, subnational governments often must fend for themselves when negotiating data sharing with companies or designing procurement and public-private partnership agreements that protect public access to important data. This threatens public access to data.
This commitment could directly address deficiencies around awareness and capacity regarding data sovereignty. [114] Examining data sovereignty in municipalities in North Rhine-Westphalia (Milestone 12.1) can determine where awareness and capacity challenges exist. This analysis could go beyond third-party service providers to broader data sovereignty issues like how communities structure private business licensing; this information can assist data-sharing for regulatory and governance purposes. Globally, high-profile examples include Barcelona’s integration of data-sharing clauses into its contracts with suppliers and service providers; [115] Los Angeles’ negotiation with a micro-mobility provider over access to real-time trip data; [116] and London’s, Munich’s, and Copenhagen’s efforts to obtain data from an apartment-sharing platform. [117] Compiling and promoting guidance materials (Milestones 12.2 and 12.3) can benefit subnational governments in North Rhine-Westphalia, as well as across Germany and beyond.
By taking stock and reflecting on data sovereignty, this commitment invites a timely discussion on how privacy concerns can be addressed alongside publishing data that has value for transparency or economic-reuse. [118] Given this, and the potential to build governments’ capacity, the commitment’s impact on data sovereignty could be significant. It may not directly generate better access to information, but it could enable governments to secure public access to privately held data that has substantial public value.
To maximize the impact of this commitment, the North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry of Economic Affairs could ensure that the scoping exercise and guidance materials are relevant to and generated in cooperation with other German municipalities. It could also consider expanding the current focus on data from public-private partnerships to data-sharing possibilities with private entities who intersect with local regulations and public service issues (such as new platform businesses in the area of mobility or housing).
Commitments
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Participatory Development of Research and Innovation Policy
DE0022, 2019, Public Participation
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Participatory Creation of Regulatory Policy
DE0023, 2019, Public Participation
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Digital Strategy Pilot for Rural Regions
DE0024, 2019, Public Participation
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Open Government in North Rhine-Westphalia
DE0025, 2019, Access to Information
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Policy Co-Creation in North Rhine-Westphalia
DE0026, 2019, Land Rights & Spatial Planning
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Data Sovereignty in North Rhine-Westphalia
DE0027, 2019, Access to Information
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Open Government Portal in Saxony
DE0028, 2019, E-Government
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Open-Source Software in Public Administrations in Schleswig-Holstein
DE0029, 2019, Public Participation
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Regional Open Government Labs
DE0016, 2019, Public Participation
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Civil Society Consulation on Foreign Policy
DE0017, 2019, Public Participation
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Create Youth Strategy
DE0018, 2019, Marginalized Communities
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Create Federal Agency for Digital Innovation
DE0019, 2019, Public Participation
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Transparency and Participation in International Aid
DE0020, 2019, Access to Information
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Strengthen and Socialize Open Data Policy
DE0021, 2019, Access to Information
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Conditions for OGP Participation
DE0001, 2017, Public Participation
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Open Data in Administrative Practice
DE0002, 2017, Access to Information
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Open Data Environment
DE0003, 2017, Access to Information
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Access to Spatial Data
DE0004, 2017, Access to Information
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Financial Transparency - EITI Standard
DE0005, 2017, Access to Information
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Transparency in Development Policy
DE0006, 2017, Access to Information
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Open Data for Intelligent Mobility
DE0007, 2017, Access to Information
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Citizen Participation in Environmental Policy and Urban Development
DE0008, 2017, Capacity Building
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Electronic Procedures for Family Benefits
DE0009, 2017, E-Government
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Knowledge Network for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex People
DE0010, 2017, E-Government
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Local Alliances for Family Initiative
DE0011, 2017, Public Participation
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Share of Women and Men in Leadership Positions, Private and Private Sectors
DE0012, 2017, E-Government
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Open Access to Academic Literature
DE0013, 2017, E-Government
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Science Year 2018
DE0014, 2017, Public Participation
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Federal Competition “Living Together Hand in Hand”
DE0015, 2017, Citizenship & Immigration