Rules for reusing public sector information in Spain

Automatic summary, not yet reviewed

1. The law regulates the reuse of public documents, meaning their use by individuals or companies for commercial or non-commercial purposes, as long as it is not a public administrative activity.
2. Public authorities may allow reuse without conditions, through standard licenses, or upon request. Licenses must be clear, non-discriminatory and must not restrict competition.
3. The law does not apply to documents subject to secrecy or confidentiality rules, to documents where third parties hold intellectual or industrial property rights, or to documents held by schools, research centers and cultural institutions such as museums and libraries.
4. Exclusive reuse rights for third parties are banned, unless they are necessary for a service of general public interest. In that case they are reviewed every three years.
5. If documents are provided for a fee, the charge must cover the costs of collecting, producing, reproducing and distributing them, without generating profit. Reuse may require not altering the content, citing the source and stating the date of the last update.
6. Requests must be answered within 20 days, extendable by another 20. If there is no answer in time, the request is deemed denied. Misusing authorized information can bring fines from €1,000 to €100,000 and even revocation of the license.

Who it affects

• Public sector administrations and bodies: They must authorize reuse, publish lists of available documents and apply the set conditions and fees.
• Companies and individuals: They can request to reuse public documents, must follow license conditions and face sanctions if they misuse the information.
• Educational, research and cultural institutions: Their documents are outside the scope of this law.

Words worth knowing

Reutilización (reuse)

Using public documents for your own purposes, commercial or not, without that counting as a public function.

Licencia tipo (standard license)

A model permit with fixed conditions that a public authority offers so its documents can be reused.

Tasa o precio público (public fee or charge)

Money paid to a public authority for a service, here for providing the documents.

Desestimada por silencio (denied by silence)

If the authority does not reply in time, the request is considered denied.

It summarizes the law as published in the BOE. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries