MEPs support making research data as open as possible

Research data is a public utility and should be included in a public-sector data-sharing drive—with some exceptions—the European Parliament’s research committee has said.

“All publicly funded data should be made open by default”, said an amendment to the EU’s planned Public Sector Information Directive adopted by the committee on 3 December. The original proposal for the directive said only that EU member states should adopt “national policies and relevant actions aiming at making publicly funded research data openly available”.

However, the amendment went on to provide exceptions that might soothe the fears of research organisations that have expressed fears about including research data in the directive.