Whether Disclosure of the Public Sector Data is Ensured

In 2011, Lithuania declared its desire to disclose its public sector data. Since 2010, the Seimas and the Government have been submitting proposals for measures, which should help creating conditions for disclosure of the data. However, over the period of five years the responsible institutions failed to carry out more than half of the tasks planned, and maturity of the public sector data disclosure in Lithuania is still in its infancy, as shown by the audit conducted by the country's supreme audit institution.

Open data is comprehensive data provided free of charge or for a price covering their marginal costs, which can be freely downloaded from the Internet in an open format, and which everyone has the right to reuse and distribute without any restrictions. Such data helps creating added value and has a positive impact on the efficiency and transparency of the public sector, daily lives of the country's citizens, and development of innovations and the country's economy. Studies show that the European Union (EU) Member States' profit from open data was 28 billion euros in 2008, and 32 billion euros in 2010.

In Lithuania, available and actively used open data could help creating the benefit amounting to nearly 2 percent of the country's GDP. If calculated on the basis of the data of 2015, this amount will be approximately 800 million euros. However, according to the current plans of institutions, the results of disclosure of the public sector data shall only be available from 2019 at the earliest.

In 2015, Lithuania was 24th country of the EU according to the open data indicators, and is currently classified as a beginner in this field. The audit results show that Lithuania has no targeted state policy, i.e. the national data disclosure initiative is being developed without a clear vision, principles, priorities, and disclosure implementation plan. For example, the possibility of providing the public sector data free of charge remains unassessed. In addition, the process is being blocked by the currently applied pricing practices, which allow for exceptions and do not encourage the disclosure of the data.

According to the assessment carried out by the auditors, the institutions are not prepared to disclose their data as too little is known about disclosure methods and benefits. In addition, the institutions fear that undisclosed or misleading information may become public. Also, 95 percent of institutions managing the priority data of the public sector data had not conducted their inventory.

The auditors presented recommendations to the Government, the Ministry of Transport and Communications and the Information Society Development Committee.
 
Today, this institution opened its information on the implementation of recommendations to the public. All the information on how the public sector implements the recommendations presented by the auditors can be found on the webpage of the National Audit Office.