Hristo Konstantinov on PSI re-use and open data in Bulgaria at ePSIplatform 2013 Conference, 22 February in Warsaw.

1. From Public Access to Public Service
Hristo Konstantinov
Apis Bulgaria Ltd., Legal and Business Information Provider in Bulgaria

2. Public Sector Information Open Data

3.  Positive Developments
◦ PSI re-use legal framework
◦ Overall understanding for PSI re-use
◦ Extensive experience in provision of PSI (list of Good practices)
◦ Bulgaria has joined the Open Government Partnership initiative
◦ Open data debate has been “opened”
 Small Country – Big Problems
The Core Problem:
Lack of consistent pro-active government policy on PSI re-use
and Open Data

4.  Major PSI / Open Data Problems
◦ Lack of an authority responsible for PSI re-use
◦ PSI is not provided in machine-readable format
◦ PSI provision is hampered by prohibitive fees
◦ Exclusive agreements with private or public companies
◦ Public bodies are exclusive suppliers of the data and are not
willing to make them publicly available for re-use („Lord of the
data‟ syndrome)
◦ Selective trading with public data („PSI brokerage‟)
◦ Lack of information about the public data available for re-use
◦ Lack of clarity about the legal terms for re-use of public data
◦ Lack of a governmental open data portal

5. Public Data Service Since Format Price
Delivery of an electronic copy of the State
7,000 Lv.
Gazette on the date of printing 2000 INDD
(€ 3,500)
(annual subscription, 2 issues weekly)
Provision of a single copy (as bulk data) and 5,000 Lv. (€
weekly updates of the BULSTAT Register 3,500) + 0,10 Lv.
2000 DBF
database (annual subscription for the weekly (€ 0,05) for each
updates) updated record
Provision of a single copy (as bulk data) and 30,000 Lv.
2008 XML
daily updates of the Trade Register database (€ 15,000)
Free access to the case law of the Supreme
2000 HTML free
Administrative Court
Free access to the case law of the lower courts 2009 HTML free
Free access to the legal information system of
2009 DOC free
the Council of Ministers

6.  The exclusive agreement between „Information Services“ SA and the
Supreme Judicial Council for the maintenance of the national
information database „Delphi“
 The prohibition of re-use of the case law summaries published in
the official bulletin of the Supreme Court of Cassation without the
prior written permission of the publisher
 The exclusion of the Patent and Trademark Database of the
Bulgarian Patent Office from the re-usable public data resources
 The limited volumes of free re-usable statistical data published on
the website of the National Statistical Institute
 The ambiguous copyright notices on the websites of some public
bodies (e.g. National Revenue Agency)
 The lack of a governmental legal portal providing access to the
consolidated versions of the Bulgarian legal instruments

7.  Copyright notice on the web site of the Bulgarian
National Revenue Agency:
“The software ensures ensuring the functioning of
this website, its design, including all information
located on the page, where they do not constitute
public information are subject to copyright. No part
of objects of protection may not be reproduced, to
translated, edited or used in any way without the
prior written consent of the NRA.”

8.  European Impulse for Bulgarian PSI and Open data policy in 2013
◦ the new EU PSI legal framework
◦ the new pan-European Open data portal
◦ the new e-Justice portal for national case law of the Member States
◦ the introduction of the ELI and ECLI identifiers and metadata framework
 Open Data Initiatives of Bulgarian Non-Governmental
Organisations, Media and Private Companies
◦ awareness campaign on the benefits of PSI re-use for the society and
businesses
◦ continuous pressure of the commercial and non-commercial re-users for
further opening of the information resources in the public sector
◦ elaboration of an Open (Data) Government License