NZ Government Open Access and Licensing

The State Services Commission has released draft guidance on providing open access to non-copyright information and  open licensing of copyright works,  in both cases with a view to allowing their re-use by others. (It does not apply to information or works containing personal or other sensitive information.)

So far as copyright works are concerned, the draft New Zealand Government Open Access and Licensing framework (NZGOAL) proposes that agencies apply the most liberal of the New Zealand Creative Commons law licences to those of their copyright works that are appropriate for release, unless there is a restriction which would prevent this. The most liberal Creative Commons licence is the Attribution (BY) licence.

So far as non-copyright information is concerned, NZGOAL recommends the use of clear no-known rights statements, to provide certainty for people wishing to re-use that information.

The draft NZGOAL sets out a series of policy principles which embrace concepts of open access, open licensing, creativity, authenticity, non-discrimination and open format.  It describes the drivers behind this work, the departmental consultation process that has taken place, the New Zealand Creative Commons law licences, and sets out a six-stage review and release process, which includes a decision tree diagram.

Please read the draft framework and see how you can use it in your agency or as a user.  Please join the discussion at http://blog.e.govt.nz/index.php/2009/08/27/draft-open-access-and-licensing-framework-released/ and tell us how it can be improved. This discussion will feed into the final version of the framework. You can also email comment to nzgoal@ssc.govt.nz.  The last day for commenting will be Friday 9 October.

Background Information

During 2008 and early 2009, SSC researched issues relating to the re-use of public sector information and conducted a review of the Creative Commons New Zealand law licences to determine whether they would be appropriate for all-of-government adoption for licensing of public sector copyright works.

In March 2009, SSC provided public service departments with a discussion paper entitled A Suggested All-of-government Approach to Licensing of Public Sector Copyright Works: Discussion Paper for Public Service and Non-Public Service Departments  . The Discussion Paper was also provided to the Parliamentary Counsel Office, the Human Rights Commission, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, the Council for the Humanities Te Whainga Aronui and certain colleagues in Australia involved with Queensland's Government Information Licensing Framework and Creative Commons Australia. The Discussion Paper proposed a potential all-of-government approach to opening up public sector copyright material for re-use.

Overall, the 21 responses revealed strong support for all-of-government adoption of Creative Commons licences in conjunction with one or more restrictive licences, such adoption to be in the form of a framework and guidance material that would be recommendatory in nature and encompass the State Services.  This feedback is written up in a Summary and Analysis of Departmental Feedback document.

The draft framework is drawn from this work. 

With the transfer of Government Technology Services from SSC to the Department of Internal Affairs on 1 July 2009, this work is continuing in collaboration with DIA.

Go to the Creative Commons Aotearoa New Zealand site for further information about Creative Commons internationally and in New Zealand. 

27 August 2009