-President exempted
The government on August 9th tabled in parliament an Open Data bill which seeks to make information from public agencies widely available.
The Explanatory Memorandum said that the purpose of bill “is to provide for the use and administration of public data in order to facilitate transparency, effective governance and innovation in the use and administration of public data”.
Clause 3 provides for the application of the Act to all public authorities except those expressly identified under this clause. The Minister also has the power to exempt a public authority from the application of the Act by Order.
The exceptions already identified in the bill are the President and commissions of inquiry issued by the President or information obtained in the course of a probe, examination or audit conducted by or under the authority of the Auditor General until they are finally concluded.
Also exempted are the disciplined forces in relation to their strategic or operational activities.
Clause 6 imposes an obligation on public autho-rities to maintain a data register in electronic form of all data assets created, collected, under the control or direction of, or maintained by that public authority. Clause 7 imposes an obligation on public authorities to provide the Commissioner of Information with access to the public authority’s data register and information relating to its public data assets, at the Commission-er of Information’s request.
Clause 8 imposes an obligation on public authorities to develop an Open Data Plan in consultation with the Minister.
According to the Expla-natory Memorandum, Clause 9 imposes an obligation on public authorities to publish the public data assets maintained in their data register in an open format.
Clause 10 obliges public authorities to publish the public data assets maintained in their data register under an open licence while Clause 11 prohibits public authorities from publishing their non-public data assets.
Clause 12 imposes an obligation on public autho-rities to engage the public in the use of public data assets and to encourage collaboration between the public authorities and the public.
Clause 13 empowers the Commissioner of Informa-tion to collaborate with private sector entities with the approval of the Minister and conclude agreements and memoranda of understanding for the purpose of collecting private sector data assets and making them available to the public in an open format.
Clause 14 empowers the Commissioner of Informa-tion to maintain a single public interface online as a point of entry for the purpose of making public data assets available to the public.
Clause 15 prohibits officers, employees or agents of a public authority from disclosing or using confidential information or non-public data assets.
The bill was issued under the signature of Prime Minister Mark Phillips.
