Re-use of public sector information

About the regulations

The Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations (PSI) 2005, which were fully implemented on 1 July 2005, facilitate the wider exploitation of information held by public bodies, as required by the European Union.

Re-use means "the use by a person of Information held by a public sector body for a purpose other than the initial purpose within that body’s Public Sector Task for which the information was produced".  Provision of information in response to a request made under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) does not mean that you may re-use that information. 

Information is defined as "any content, including any part of such content whether in writing or stored in electronic form or as sound, visual or audio-visual recording, other than a computer program". 

Ordnance Survey’s policies on PSI

Ordnance Survey is committed to complying with PSI.  We recognise and support the rights of applicants to seek to re-use public sector information for commercial or non-commercial purposes.

As a Public body that exists to provide information for re-use, we will generally support such applications, subject to the provisions of and exemptions in the regulations.  These include provision for us to issue a licence and charge royalties where we grant permission for re-use. 

Our published information is already available for licensed re-use under our Intellectual Property Policy, subject to our published terms, conditions and prices.

We reserve the right to refuse permission for re-use of information, as permitted by exemptions in either FOIA or the PSI regulations. See also the exceptions listed under Information Fair Trader Scheme. 

All applications will be processed in accordance with Freedom of Information guidelines reflecting the policies set out here.  If an applicant is unhappy with our response, an appeal may be made to:

PSI Appeals Officer
Customer Service Centre
Ordnance Survey
Romsey Road
Southampton
SO16 4GU

The Appeals Officer will ensure that our processes have been followed correctly, questioning any decisions taken regarding the original response, and recommending the licensing of additional information if appropriate.

Public Task

For the purposes of the PSI regulations, Ordnance Survey’s Public Task is defined as embracing everything we do from time to time to fulfil our obligations under the Ordnance Survey Trading Fund Order 1999 (SI 99/965) and the Ordnance Survey Framework Document 2004.