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Free Knowledge Advocacy Group EU

Licenses - Government Press Services & Archives

 


This page hosts the effort to map the licenses used by European government's press services and archives as well as the potential to convince more institutions to use free licenses.

Root Idea

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Public Domain or free licensing for government works is a core goal of Wikimedia's public policy activities. The original idea behind copyright is to provide an economic incentive for creation. This extra motivation is usually not necessary for government works, as content would be created anyway. Still, loss of revenue is one of the more common arguments against freely licensing content. More data on the actual revenue earned by government agencies by licensing copyrighted works would be helpful to carry the conversation forward.

Desired Information

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Ideally, we would ask government agencies that have content relevant to Wikipedia or our other projects. In order to scale the campaign, we're looking for agencies and content that exist in most or at least many European countries. As a result, we have decided to analyse the situation of government press services and national archives in each country.

National Archives

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Country Name & URL Content license? Volunteer Get in touch? FoI? Chance for change Comments
Austria Österreichisches Staatserchiv Possible Possible Check with WMAT first
Belgium State Archives of Belgium
Bulgaria Archives State Agency Ongoing cooperation with Wikimedians of Bulgaria
Croatia Croatian State Archives
Cyprus Cyprus State Archives
Czech Republic National Archives
Denmark The Danish National Archives
European Commission Historical Archives of the European Commission
European Parliament Historical Archives of the European Parliament
Council of the European Union Archives of the Council of the European Union
Estonia National Archives of Estonia
Finland The National Archive Service of Finland
France Archives de France
Germany Bundesarchiv
Greece General State Archives of Greece
Hungary The National Archives of Hungary
Iceland National Archives of Iceland
Ireland National Archives of Ireland
Italy Central Archives of the State
Latvia The National Archives of Latvia
Liechtenstein Staatsarchiv Augsburg & Österreichisches Staatsarchiv
Lithuania Office of the Chief Archivist of Lithuania
Luxembourg Archives Nationales de Luxembourg
Malta National Archives of Malta
Netherlands National Archives of the Netherlands
Norway The National Archives of Norway
Poland The Head Office of the State Archives
Portugal Instituto dos Arquivos Nacionais
Romania The National Archives of Romania
Slovakia Slovak National Archives
Slovenia The Archives of the Republic of Slovenia
Spain National Archives of Spain
Sweden Swedish National Archives
Switzerland Swiss Federal Archives
United Kingdom The National Archives

Government Press Services

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Country Name & URL Free collections? Volunteer Get in touch? FoI? Chance for change Comments
Austria Bundespresseamt (c) incl. watermark Possible Possible Check with WMAT first
Belgium The Directorate-General for External Communication (Excom)
Bulgaria Government Information Service GIS(_AT_)government.bg
Croatia Information Commissioner
Cyprus Press and Information Office
Czech Republic Government of the Czech Republic Media Centre
Denmark Principal Press Secretary Jakob Bøving Arendt
European Commission DG Communications - Spokesperson's Service
European Parliament European Parliament Press Service
Council of the European Union Press Centre
Estonia Kommunikatsiooniburoo
Finland Finland's press conference page
France Prime Minister's Press Office
Germany Bundespresseamt
Greece Secretariat General of Communication & Information
Hungary International Communications Office
Iceland
Ireland Government Department Press Offices
Italy Press and Institutional Communication Service (for Italy's Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Latvia Andrejs Vaivars, Press Secretary of the Prime Minister
Liechtenstein Information and Communications Unit of the Government
Lithuania Communication Department/Press and Communication Unit
Luxembourg Service Information et Presse (SIP)
Malta Department of Information
Netherlands Ministry of General Affairs
Norway Press Contacts for the Office of the Prime Minister
Poland Polish Press Office
Portugal
Romania Liviu Iolu, Spokesperson for the Government
Slovakia Slovak Press Department
Slovenia Republic of Slovenia Government Communication Office
Spain La Moncloa: Press Room
Sweden Government Offices of Sweden Press Room
Switzerland Vice Chancellor André Simonazzi, Spokesman for the Federal Council
United Kingdom Home Office Press Office

National Archives

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Current situation in Europe by country

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UK en:wp:Open Government Licence
NL CC0 is the default license for the national Dutch government website(s)
DE de:wp:Amtliches_Werk
EC Re-use decision compatible with CC-BY

Past FoI Activites

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Potential Partners

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  • Access Info Europe
  • Open Knowledge
  • Communia Association
  • Open Society