(5) Following a wide stakeholder consultation and given the result of the impact assessment for this Implementing Regulation , the Commission identified, within each of the six data categories, several datasets of particularly high value and the arrangements for their publication and re-use. The provisions of Union and Member State legislation that go beyond the minimum requirements set out in this Implementing Regulation, in particular in cases of sectoral law, are to continue to apply.

(6) Pursuant to Directive (EU) 2019/1024, the requirement to make high-value datasets available free of charge shall not apply to libraries, including university libraries, museums and archives. Member States may exempt individual public sector bodies, upon their request and in line with the criteria set out in the Directive from the requirement to make high-value datasets available free of charge for a period not exceeding two years from the date of the entry into force of this Implementing Regulation.

(7) Directive (EU) 2019/1024 stipulates in its Article 14(3) that this Implementing Regulation shall provide that the availability of high-value datasets free of charge is not to apply to specific high-value datasets held by public undertakings where that would lead to a distortion of competition in the relevant markets. However, data held by public undertakings are not included in the scope of this Implementing Regulation.

(8) Where making high-value datasets available for re-use entails the processing of personal data, such processing should be carried out in accordance with Union law on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data, in particular Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council and including any provisions of national law further specifying the application of the GDPR. Member States should make use of appropriate methods and techniques (such as generalisation, aggregation, suppression, anonymisation, differential privacy or randomisation), thus making as much data as possible available for re-use.

(9) In addition to Directive (EU) 2019/1024, other Union legal acts, including Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Directive 2005/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council may be of relevance for the re-use of public sector information falling within the scope of this Implementing Regulation, notably where those Union acts lay down common requirements for data quality and interoperability.

(10) Regarding all thematic categories, especially the category ‘companies and company ownership’, Member States are encouraged to go beyond the minimum requirements with respect to the scope of datasets and arrangements for re-use set out in this Regulation.

(11) Member States should be able to complement the datasets listed in the Annex to this Regulation with public sector information already accessible, whenever such data are thematically related and considered of high value based on the criteria described under Article 14(2) of Directive (EU) 2019/1024. When this includes information that constitutes personal data, adding such information to the datasets must be necessary, proportionate and genuinely meet objectives of general interest.

(12) It is the objective of Directive (EU) 2019/1024 to promote the use of standard public licences available online for re-using public sector information. The Commission’s Guidelines on recommended standard licences, datasets and charging for the re-use of documents identify Creative Commons (‘CC’) licences as an example of recommended standard public licences. CC licences are developed by a non-profit organisation and have become a leading licensing solution for public sector information, research results and cultural domain material across the world. It is therefore necessary to refer in this Implementing Regulation to the most recent version of the CC licence suite, namely CC 4.0. A licence equivalent to the CC licence suite may include additional arrangements, such as the obligation on the re-user to include updates provided by the data holder and to specify when the data were last updated, as long as they do not restrict the possibilities for re-using the data.

(13) The European Data Protection Supervisor was consulted in accordance with Article 42(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council and delivered an opinion on 15 July 2022.

(14) The measures set out in this Implementing Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee on open data and the re-use of public sector information set out in Article 16 of Directive (EU) 2019/1024,