Toward Public-Private Synergy in the European Information Services Market.

Abstract Following a lengthy period of consultation between representatives of the information industry and the public sector, the European Commission published and promulgated a series of Guidelines for Improving the Synergy Between the Public and Private Sectors in the Information Market in 1989. Three years after their publication, the Commission sponsored a follow-up study (PUBLAW2) to assess the impact of the guidelines on the information market and to identify what actions might be taken to further encourage the commercial exploitation of government-held data. This paper presents some of the main findings and observations of the PUBLAW2 study team.