RE-USE OF PUBLIC SECTOR INFORMATION ACT

CHAPTER 546

RE-USE OF PUBLIC SECTOR INFORMATION ACT

To provide for the re-use of public sector information and for matters

ancillary or consequential thereto.

13th October, 2015

ACT XXIX of 2015, as amended by Act XI of 2020, XXXV of 2021 and VI

of 2025.

(1) The short title of this Act is the Re-Use of Public

Sector Information Act.

(2) The purpose of this Act is to implement the provisions of

Directive (EU) 2019/1024 of the European Parliament and of the

Council of 20 June 2019 on open data and the re-use of public sector

information (recast) and its subsequent implementing acts as well as

any other related Directives and Regulations.

(3) This Act shall also apply to facilitate information sharing for

public administration purposes in line with any law.

1. The provisions of this Act shall apply to the following

thematic categories of high-value datasets

(a)

geospatial;

(b)

earth observation and environment;

(c)

meteorological;

(d)

statistics;

(e)

companies and company ownership;

(f)

mobility.

2. The specific high-value datasets belonging to the categories

in item 1, as may be adopted in terms of Directive (EU) 2019/1024

EU, shall be

(a)

available free of charge, subject to the provisions

of item 3;

(b)

machine readable;

(c)

provided via APIs; and

(d)

provided as a bulk download, where relevant.

3. The requirement for high-value datasets to be available free

of charge shall not apply to

(a)

libraries, including university libraries, museums

and archives;

(b)

public sector bodies that are required to generate

revenue to cover a substantial part of their costs relating to the

performance of their public tasks and complying with the

requirement to make datasets free of charge would lead to a

substantial impact on the budget of the bodies involved. Provided

that this exemption shall be limited to a period of not more than

two (2) years following the entry into force of the relevant

implementing act adopted in terms of Directive (EU) 2019/

1024 EU.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires

"anonymisation" means the process of changing documents into

anonymous documents which do not relate to an identified or

identifiable natural person, or the process of rendering personal

data anonymous in such a manner that the data subject is not or no

longer identifiable;

"application program interface" or "API" means a set of automated

functions and protocols that enable machine-to-machine

communications for the exchange and consumption of data in a dynamic

environment. Such APIs shall follow a registration process prior to be

authorised and included in the national data portal;

"Directive (EU) 2019/1024" means Directive (EU) 2019/1024 of the

European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on open data

and the re-use of public sector information (recast);

"document" covers any content whatever its medium (written on

p a p e r o r s t o r e d i n el e c t r o n i c f o r m o r a s a so un d , vi s u a l or

audiovisual recording), including any part of such content;

"dynamic data" means documents in a digital form, subject to

frequent or real-time updates, in particular because of their

volatility or rapid obsolescence; data generated by sensors are

typically considered to be dynamic data;

"high-value datasets" means documents the re-use of which is

associated with important benefits for society, the environment and the

economy, in particular because of their suitability for the creation of

value-added services, applications and new, high-quality and decent

jobs, and of the number of potential beneficiaries of the value-added

services and applications based on those datasets;

"formal open standard" means a standard which has been laid

down in written form, detailing specifications for the requirements

on how to ensure software interoperability;

"machine-readable format" means a file format structured so that

software applications can easily identify, recognize and extract

specific data, including individual statements of fact, and their

internal structure;

"Minister" means the Minister responsible for public sector

information;

"open format" means a file format that is platform-independent

and made available to the public without any restriction that

impedes the re-use of documents;

"personal data" shall have the same meaning assigned to it by the

provisions of the Data Protection Act;

"public administration" shall have the same meaning assigned to

it by article 2(1) of the Public Administration Act;

"public sector body" means the public administration, Local

Councils, and public sector entities;

"public sector entity" means a body

(a) established for the specific purpose of meeting needs

in the general interest not having an industrial or

commercial character; and

(b) having legal personality; and

(c) financed for the most part by the public administration

or by Local Councils or by other public sector entities

or subject to the management supervision by the public

administration, by Local Councils or by other public

sector entities, or having an administrative, managerial

or supervisory board, more than half of whose

members are appointed by the public administration,

by Local Councils or by other public sector entities;

"public undertaking" means any undertaking

(a)

active in the areas defined in Directive 2014/25/

EU;

(b)

acting as public service operator pursuant to

Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No. 1370/2007;

(c)

acting as air carriers fulfilling public service

obligations pursuant to Article 16 of Regulation (EC) No. 1008/

2008; or

(d)

acting as Community shipowners fulfilling public

service obligations pursuant to Article 4 of Regulation (EEC) No.

3577/92 over which the public sector bodies may exercise

directly or indirectly a dominant influence by virtue of their

ownership of it, their financial participation therein, or the rules

which govern it. A dominant influence on the part of the public

sector bodies shall be presumed in any of the following cases in

which those bodies, directly or indirectly

(i)

hold the majority of the undertaking's subscribed

capital;

(ii) control the majority of the votes attaching to

shares issued by the undertaking;

(iii) can appoint more than half of the undertaking's

administrative, management or supervisory

body;

"reasonable return on investment" means a percentage of the

overall charge, in addition to that needed to recover the eligible

costs, not exceeding five percentage (5%) points above the fixed

interest rate of the European Central Bank (ECB);

"research data" means documents in a digital form, other than

scientific publications, which are collected or produced in the

course of scientific research activities and are used as evidence in

the research process, or are commonly accepted in the research

community as necessary to validate research findings and results;

"re-use of documents" means the use by a person, public sector

body, or legal entity of a document held by

(a)

the public sector body or another public sector

body, as the case may be, for commercial or non-commercial

purposes, other than the initial purpose within that public sector

body’s public task for which the document was produced,

except for the exchange of documents between public sector

bodies purely in pursuit of their public tasks; or

(b)

public undertakings, for commercial or non-

commercial purposes, other than for the initial purpose of

providing services in the general interest for which the

documents were produced, except for the exchange of

documents between public undertakings and public sector

bodies purely in pursuit of the public tasks of public sector

bodies;

"standard licence" means a set of predefined re-use conditions in

a digital format, preferably compatible with standardised public

licenses available online.

"third party" means any natural or legal person other than a public

sector body or a public undertaking that holds the data;

"tribunal" means the Information and Data Protection Appeals

Tribunal established under article 24 of the Data Protection Act;

"university" means any publicly funded entity that provides post-

secondary-school higher education leading to academic degrees.

The following documents are specifically excluded from

the provisions of this Act

(a) documents the supply of which is an activity falling

outside the scope of the public task of the public sector

bodies concerned, provided that the scope of the public

RE-USE OF PUBLIC SECTOR INFORMATION

tasks is transparent and subject to review;

(b) documents for which third parties hold intellectual

property rights;

(c) documents which are excluded from access by virtue

of the rules of access of the public administration,

including on the grounds of

(i)

the protection of national security, defence or

public security, and

(ii) statistical confidentiality, or

(iii) commercial confidentiality such as business,

professional or company secrets;

(d) documents access to which is restricted by virtue of

the rules of access of the public administration,

including cases whereby citizens or companies have to

prove a particular interest to obtain access to

documents;

(e) parts of documents containing only logos, crests and

insignia;

(f)

documents access to which is excluded or restricted by

virtue of the rules of access on the grounds of

protection of personal data, and parts of documents

accessible by virtue of those rules of access which

contain personal data the re-use of which has been

defined by law as being incompatible with the Data

Protection Act with regard to the processing of

personal data;

(g) documents held by public service broadcasters and

their subsidiaries, and by other bodies or their

subsidiaries for the fulfilment of a public service

broadcasting remit;

(h) documents held by educational establishments of

secondary level and below, research establishments,

research performing organisations and research funding

organisations, including organisations established for the

transfer of research results, as well as research units within

public sector bodies, schools and universities, except

university libraries, and, in the case of all other educational

establishments, documents other than those referred to in

paragraph (b); and

(i)

documents held by cultural establishments, other than

libraries, museums and archives;

(j)

documents held by public undertakings

(i) produced outside the scope of the provision of

services in the general interest as defined by law

or other binding rules;

(ii) related to activities directly exposed to

competition, under regulation 24 of the Public

Procurement of Entities operating in the Water,

Energy, Transport and Postal Services Sector

Regulations, and therefore not subject to

procurement rules

(k) documents access to which is excluded or restricted on

grounds of sensitive critical infrastructure protection

related information as defined in article 2 of the

Critical Infrastructures and European Critical

Infrastructures (Identification, Designation and

Protection) Order;

Provided that the provisions of this article shall not apply

to the re-use of documents, by a public sector body, of a

document held by another public sector body.

This Act builds on and is without prejudice to rules for

access to documents held by the public administration in

accordance with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.

A public sector body shall allow the re-use of public sector

information in full compliance with the principles relating to the

protection of personal data in accordance with the provisions of the

Data Protection Act.

The obligations imposed by this Act shall apply only

insofar as they are compatible with the provisions of international

agreements on the protection of intellectual property rights, in

particular the Berne Convention and the Trade-Related Aspects of

Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement. In case of

conflict, the provisions of the Trademarks Act, Patents and Designs

Act, Copyright Act, Intellectual Property Rights (Cross-Border

Measures) Act and the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights

(Regulation) Act shall prevail

Provided that the right for the maker of a database provided

for in article 25 of the Copyright Act shall not be exercised by public

sector bodies in order to prevent the re-use of documents or to restrict

re-use beyond the limits set by this Act.

Subject to article 8, public sector bodies shall ensure that

documents to which this Act applies in accordance with article 3

shall be re-usable for commercial or non-commercial purposes in

accordance with the conditions set out in this Act.

In the case of documents held by public undertakings, such

public undertakings shall ensure that where the re-use of such

documents is allowed, the said documents shall be re-usable for

commercial or non-commercial purposes in accordance with the

conditions established in this Act.

For documents in which libraries, including university

libraries, museums and archives hold intellectual property rights,

public sector bodies shall ensure that, where the re-use of such

documents is allowed, these documents shall be re-usable for

commercial or non-commercial purposes in accordance with the

conditions set out in this Act.

(1)

Without prejudice to paragraph (b) of article 3,

research data shall be re-usable for commercial or non-commercial

purposes in accordance with articles 13 to 23 (both articles included),

insofar as they are publicly funded and researchers, research

performing organisations or research funding organisations have

already made them publicly available through an institutional or

subject-based repository. In that context, legitimate commercial

interests, knowledge transfer activities and pre-existing intellectual

property rights shall be taken into account.

(2)

Publicly funded research data shall be made openly

available, following the principle of open by default and the FAIR

principles.

(3)

Concerns relating to intellectual property rights, personal

data protection and confidentiality, security and legitimate commercial

interests, shall be taken into account in accordance with the principle

of "as open as possible, as closed as necessary". Open access policies

shall be addressed to research performing organisations and research

funding organisations.

(1) Public sector bodies shall, through electronic means

where possible and appropriate, process requests for re-use and shall

make the document available for re-use to the applicant or, if a licence is

needed, finalise the licence offer to the applicant within the time-frames

laid down for the processing of requests for access to documents.

(2)

Where no time limits or other rules regulating the timely

provision of documents have been established, public sector bodies

shall process the request and shall deliver the documents for re-use

to the applicant or, if a licence is needed, finalise the licence offer

to the applicant as soon as possible, and in any event within twenty

(20) working days of receipt. That time frame may be extended by

a further twenty (20) working days in the case of extensive or

complex requests. In such cases, the applicant shall be notified as

soon as possible, and in any event within three weeks of the initial

request, that more time is needed to process the request and the

reasons why

Provided that any licence involved shall be in accordance

with the provisions of article 17.

(1) An applicant’s request to a public sector body shall -

(a) be delivered in writing, including by post or

electronically to an office of the public sector body;

(b) provide such information concerning the document as

is reasonably necessary to enable a responsible officer

of the public sector body to identify it; and

(c) specify a postal address at which notices under this

Act may, if necessary, be sent to the applicant.

(2) No applicant shall be required to justify or give any reasons

for a request under this Act, and any beliefs of the public sector

body as to what are the applicant’s reasons for seeking access and

re-use of a document shall not affect that request.

(3)

Where a person -

(a) wishes to make a request to a public sector body; or

(b) has made to a public sector body a request that does

not comply with sub-article (1),

it is the duty of the public sector body to take reasonable steps to

assist the person to make the request in a manner that complies with

sub-article (1), and it shall do so at no charge.

(4)

The following entities shall not be required to comply with

the requirements of this article

(a) public undertakings;

(b) educational establishments, research performing

organisations and research funding organisations.

Article 8, article 10 and article 11 of the Freedom of

Information Act shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to the requests for

re-use made in accordance with article 10(1) of this Act.

(1) When a request for re-use is not accepted, the

applicant is to be informed in writing of the reason for such refusal.

The notification of refusal is to contain a reference to the means of

redress available to the applicant.

(2) When a request for re-use is refused because a third party

owns relevant intellectual property rights in the document, the

notification of refusal shall indicate, where known, a reference to

the natural or legal person who is the right holder, or alternatively

to the licensor from which the public sector body has obtained the

document. Libraries, including university libraries, museums and

archives shall not be required to include such a reference.

(1) Without prejudice to the Schedule, public sector bodies

and public undertakings shall make their documents available in any

pre-existing format or language and, where possible and appropriate, by

electronic means, in formats that are open, machine-readable,

accessible, findable and re-usable, together with their metadata. Both the

format and the metadata shall, where possible, comply with formal open

standards.

(1a) Public sector bodies and public undertakings are encouraged

to, where possible, produce and make available documents openly as

established in this Act in accordance with the principle of open by

design and by default as referred to in Directive (EU) 2019/1024.

(2)

Public sector bodies shall not be obliged to

(a) create or adapt a document; or

(b) provide an extract from a document in order to comply

with sub-article (1) where this would involve

disproportionate effort, going beyond a simple

operation.

(3) Sub-article (1) shall apply to existing documents held by

public undertakings which are available for re-use.

(4) The high-value datasets, as listed in accordance with the

Schedule, shall be made available for re-use in machine-readable

format, via suitable APIs and, where relevant, as a bulk download.

(1)

Public sector bodies shall make dynamic data

available for re-use immediately after collection, via suitable APIs

and, where relevant, as a bulk download.

(2)

Where making dynamic data available for re-use

immediately after collection, as referred to in sub-article (1), would

exceed the financial and technical capacities of the public sector body,

thereby imposing a disproportionate effort, those dynamic data shall

be made available for re-use within a time frame or with temporary

technical restrictions that do not unduly impair the exploitation of their

economic and social potential.

(3)

The provisions of this article shall apply to existing

documents held by public undertakings which are available for re-use.

Public sector bodies shall not be required to continue to

produce or store a certain type of document for the purposes of re-

use by a private or public sector organisation.

(1) The re-use of documents shall be free of charge

Provided that the recovery of marginal costs incurred for the

reproduction, provision and dissemination of documents as well as for

anonymisation of personal data and measures taken to protect

commercially confidential information may be allowed.

(2) The proviso to sub-article (1) shall not apply to the

following

(a) public sector bodies that are required to generate revenue

to cover a substantial part of their costs relating to the

performance of their public tasks and a list of such bodies

shall be published online;

(b) public undertakings;

(c) libraries, including university libraries, museums and

archives.

(3) In the cases referred to in sub-article (2)(a) and (b), the

public sector bodies concerned shall calculate the total charges

according to objective, transparent and verifiable criteria as set out

in the rules issued under this Act.

The total income of those bodies from supplying and

allowing re-use of documents over the appropriate accounting

p e r i o d s h a l l n o t e x c e e d t h e c os t o f c o l le c t i o n, p r o du c ti o n ,

reproduction and dissemination and data storage, together with a

reasonable return on investment, and, where applicable, the

anonymisation of personal data and measures taken to protect

commercially confidential information.

Charges shall be calculated in line with the accounting principles

applicable.

(4) Where charges are made by the public sector bodies referred to

in sub-article (2)(c), the total income from supplying and allowing re-

use of documents over the appropriate accounting period shall not

exceed the cost of collection, production, reproduction, dissemination,

data storage, preservation and rights clearance, and where applicable the

anonymisation of personal data and measures taken to protect

commercially confidential information, together with a reasonable

return on investment. Charges shall be calculated in line with the

accounting principles applicable.

(5) Where a public sector body decides to charge an applicant a

fee, it shall advise him accordingly and inform him that he has the

right to appeal to the Administrative Review Tribunal as provided

under article 24(3) if he feels that the fee is excessive

Provided that if the fee is a standard fee established by rules

under this Act, the Tribunal may only inquire into whether the rules

have been correctly applied.

(6) A public sector body may waive any fees payable in respect

of a particular application if, in the opinion of the authority -

(a) the fee payable is so small as to be not worth

collecting; or

(b) payment of the fee would cause financial hardship to

the applicant, bearing in mind the applicant’s means

and circumstances.

(7) Where a public sector body fails to meet the time limit set

by article 11, it shall not charge any fee for the re-use of a

document.

(8)

The re-use of the following shall be free of charge for the

user

(a) subject to the Schedule, the high-value datasets, as

listed in accordance with item 1 of that Schedule;

(b) research data referred to in article 8A.

(1) A public sector body shall ensure that the following

information is made available to the public, where possible and

appropriate by electronic means

(a) where standard charges are applied, any applicable

conditions for re-use and the actual amount of those

charges, including the calculation basis for such

charges;

(b) in case of any charges for re-use other than standard

charges, the factors that are taken into account in the

calculation of those charges;

(c) a list of main documents available for re-use,

including any licence terms involved; and

(d) details of the means of redress available to the

applicants for re-use of documents relating to any

decision or practice affecting them.

(2) In case of any charges for re-use other than standard

charges referred to in sub-article (1)(b), the public sector body

shall, upon request, indicate the way in which such charges have

been calculated in relation to the specific re-use request.

(1) The re-use of documents shall not be subject to

conditions, unless such conditions are objective, proportionate, non-

discriminatory and justified on grounds of a public interest objective.

When re-use is subject to conditions, those conditions shall not

unnecessarily restrict possibilities for re-use and shall not be used to

restrict competition.

Where it is deemed appropriate by the public sector body that

conditions on re-use are imposed, such conditions shall be imposed

through a licence. These conditions shall not be discriminatory for

comparable categories of re-use, nor shall they be such as to

unnecessarily restrict the way in which a document can be re-used

including restrictions in competition and such conditions shall be

objective, proportionate and justified on grounds of a public interest

objective.

(2) Any licence imposing conditions shall be fair and

transparent.

(3) If a public sector body which holds a document wishes to

re-use the document for its commercial activities which fall outside

the scope of its public task, the same conditions shall apply to that

re-use as would apply to re-use by any other applicant.

(4) Public sector bodies shall use such standard licences as the

Minister responsible for public sector information may direct. Such

standard licences may be adapted to meet particular licence

applications and shall be made available in digital format and can

be processed electronically.

(1)

The Minister shall

(a)

make practical arrangements facilitating the

search for documents available for re-use, such as asset lists of

main documents with relevant metadata, accessible online

where possible and appropriate and in machine-readable

format, and portal sites that are linked to the asset lists;

(b)

where possible, facilitate the cross-linguistic

search for documents; and

(c)

continue efforts to simplify access to datasets, by

providing a single point of access and making available suitable

datasets held by public sector bodies with regard to documents

to which this Act applies, in formats that are accessible, readily

findable and re-usable by electronic means.

(2) Public sector bodies are encouraged to make practical

arrangements to facilitate the preservation of documents available for

re-use.

(1) The re-use of documents shall be open to all potential

actors in the market, even if one or more market players already

exploit added-value products based on these documents. Subject to

sub-article (2), contracts or other arrangements between the public

sector bodies or public undertakings holding the documents and

third parties shall not grant exclusive rights.

(2) However, where an exclusive right is necessary for the

provision of a service in the public interest, the validity of the

reason for granting such an exclusive right shall be subject to

regular review, and shall, in any event, be reviewed every three

years. The exclusive arrangements established after the 16 July

2019 shall be transparent and made publicly available online. This

sub-article shall not apply to digitisation of cultural resources.

(3) Notwithstanding the provisions of sub-article (1), where an

exclusive right relates to digitisation of cultural resources, the

period of exclusivity shall in general not exceed ten years. In case

where that period exceeds ten years, its duration shall be subject to

review during the eleventh year and, if applicable, every seven

years thereafter.

(4) Legal or practical arrangements that, without expressly

granting an exclusive right, aim at, or could reasonably be expected

to lead to, a restricted availability for the re-use of documents by

entities other than the third party participating in the arrangement,

shall be made publicly available online at least two (2) months

before their coming into effect.

(5) The effect of such legal or practical arrangements on the

availability of data for re-use shall be subject to regular reviews and

shall, in any event, be reviewed every three (3) years. The final terms of

such arrangements shall be transparent and made publicly available

online.

The arrangements granting exclusive rights referred to in

article 19(3) shall be transparent and made public.

In the case of an exclusive right referred to in article 19(3),

the public sector body concerned shall be provided free of charge

with a copy of the digitised cultural resources as part of those

arrangements. That copy shall be available for re-use at the end of

the period of exclusivity.

Any exclusive arrangement existing on the 1 July 2005 that

does not qualify for the exception under article 19(2) shall be

terminated at the date on which it comes to an end in accordance

with its terms, or on the 31 December 2008, whichever is the

earlier.

(a)

Without prejudice to article 22, exclusive

arrangements existing on 17 July 2013 that do not qualify for the

exceptions under sub-articles (2) and (3) of article 19 and that were

2013. entered into by public sector bodies, shall be terminated at the end of the

contract and in any event not later than 18 July 2043.

(b) Exclusive arrangements existing on 16 July 2019 that do

not qualify for the exceptions under sub-articles (2) and (3)

of article 19, and that were entered into by public

undertakings, shall be terminated at the end of the contract

and in any event not later than on 17 July 2049.

(1) Any applicant may apply to the regulatory authority

for a decision where it is claimed that

(a) a request for re-use of public sector information made

by the applicant to a public sector body has been

refused or has not been dealt with in accordance with

the requirements of this Act; or

(b) a public sector body is not in compliance with the

requirements set out in this Act.

(2) (a) The application shall be in writing and the applicant

shall provide all necessary documentation and evidence in support

of his claims.

(b) Complaints or requests for investigation and review

addressed to the regulatory authority in terms of this Act shall be

lodged by the applicant within a maximum of sixty (60) days from

the date of receipt of the final communication from the public sector

body concerned.

(3) On receiving an application for a decision under this article,

the regulatory authority shall take a decision unless it appears that -

(a) there has been undue delay in making the application;

or

(b) the application is frivolous or vexatious; or

(c) the application has been withdrawn or abandoned.

(4) Where the regulatory authority has received an application

under this article, it shall serve notice of its decision to the

applicant and the public sector body.

(5) The decision shall contain particulars of the right of appeal

as provided in article 24B.

(6) Where a decision requires steps to be taken by the public

sector body within a specified period, the time specified in the

decision shall not expire before the end of the period within which

an appeal can be brought against the decision and, if such an appeal

is brought, no step which is affected by the appeal need be taken

pending the determination or withdrawal of the appeal.

(1) If the regulatory authority is satisfied that a public

sector body has failed to comply with any of its obligations under

this Act, the regulatory authority may serve the public sector body

with an enforcement notice requiring it to take, within such a time

as may be specified in the notice, such steps as may be so specified

for complying with those obligations.

(2) An enforcement notice shall contain a statement of the

requirement or requirements of this Act with which the public

sector body has, in the regulatory authority’s opinion, failed to

comply, and its reasons for reaching that conclusion.

(3) The regulatory authority may cancel an enforcement notice

by written notice to the public sector body on which it was served.

(1) Where a decision or enforcement notice has been

served, the applicant or the public sector body may appeal to the

tribunal against the decision or the notice, as the case may be,

within twenty (20) working days.

(2)

In determining an appeal the tribunal may

(a) dismiss the appeal and confirm the decision or the

enforcement notice, as the case may be, in their

entirety;

(b) substitute the decision or the enforcement notice, as

the case may be;

(c) modify or vary the decision or the enforcement notice,

as the case may be; or

(d) annul the decision or the enforcement notice, as the

case may be.

(3) Where the tribunal substitutes a decision or enforcement

notice as aforesaid, the regulatory authority shall take action to

secure compliance as if that decision or enforcement notice had

been issued by the regulatory authority.

(4) In hearing appeals under this article the tribunal shall remain

subject to the provisions of article 27(2), (4) and (5) and article

28(2) of the Data Protection Act.

(1) Decisions of the tribunal under this Act shall be

subject to appeal to the Court of Appeal as provided for by article

29 of the Data Protection Act.

(2) In the application of this article, references, in the said article

29 of the Data Protection Act, to "the Commissioner" shall be

construed and read as references to "the regulatory authority" referred

to in article 24 of this Act.

The Minister may make regulations for any or all of the

following purposes

(a) to prescribe application forms, manual or electronic

and other documents required for the purposes of this

Act, or authorising any person to prescribe or approve

such forms or documents

Provided that forms cannot place requirements on

applicants additional to those set out by this Act, and

that an application meeting all such requirements shall

still be considered if it is made otherwise than using

the prescribed form;

(b) to establish a regulatory authority responsible for the

monitoring of the implementation of the provisions of

this Act;

(c) to establish an entity responsible for

the

implementation of the provisions of this Act;

(d) to prescribe reasonable charges or scales of reasonable

charges for the purposes of this Act;

(e) to facilitate the sharing and re-use of information

between public sector bodies, through new organisational

structures and registers, in order to enable the

implementation of the ‘Once-Only Principle’;

(f)

to provide for such matters as are contemplated by or

necessary for giving full effect to this Act and for its

due administration.

The Minister shall have the power to issue directives or

rules in order to adopt national policies and, or relevant actions with

the scope of

(a)

encouraging public sector bodies to facilitate the

preservation of documents available for re-use;

(b)

encouraging where possible, public sector bodies

and public undertakings to produce and make available

documents openly established in this Act in accordance with the

principle of open by design and by default as referred to in

Directive (EU) 2019/1024;

(c)

making publicly funded research data openly

available, following the principle of open by default and the

FAIR principles.