The Regulations state that, when allowing re-use, public sector bodies can usually only charge marginal costs incurred in respect of “reproduction, provision, and dissemination of documents”. For example, if we provide a copy of a dataset on disk for re-use, we can charge for the cost of the disk and postage.
The exceptions to the default position of marginal cost charges are:
- Where we are required to generate revenue to cover a substantial part of the costs relating to our public task.
- Where we are required to generate revenue from documents to cover a substantial part of our costs.
- Where the information is held for the purposes of our libraries, museums or archives.
For (1) and (2), the total income for the accounting period must not exceed the cost of collection, production, reproduction and dissemination of the information, together with a reasonable return on investment.
In the case of (3), the total income for the accounting period must not exceed the cost of collection, production, reproduction, dissemination, preservation and rights clearance of the information, together with a reasonable return on investment.
The Regulations do not define a reasonable return on investment. The rate of return to be applied on capital employed in a public sector body’s service provision will depend on whether that service provision competes with private sector provision of similar services.
Normally the standard cost of capital will apply. However, in cases where provision competes with private sector provision of similar services, the rate would be in line with the rates achieved by comparable businesses facing a similar level of risk.
The Regulations require conditions on re-use to be as open and non-restrictive as possible. The easiest way for public bodies to do this is to use what is called the Open Government Licence. This allows re-use of public sector information without charge for any purpose, commercial or otherwise, with minimal conditions. However, other licences may be appropriate in particular situations, including where a charge for re-use is permitted beyond the marginal cost of reproduction, provision, and dissemination of documents.
The CoL has not yet produced an information asset list. However, you may like to visit the City of London’s Publication Scheme Guidance Document, which includes information relating to the CoL as a local authority and police authority.
If you wish to make a complaint about the way we have managed your request under the Regulations, you can use our Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations Complaints Procedure, which is available on our feedback page.