Fair trade policy

We're committed to trading fairly and ethically when licensing crown copyright and database right materials

Our fair trading principles

Ordnance Survey (OS) licensing follows our fair trading principles. These were originally established under The National Archives’ Information Fair Trader Scheme.

Maximisation

We will grant permissions for the commercial re-use of OS data under a suitable licence unless there are strong reasons not to allow re-use.

Simplicity

We will ensure our processes enable simple access to OS data, supported by simple policies and licences.

Innovation

We encourage innovation and will continue to remove obstacles to re-use and facilitate the development of new and innovative forms of re-use.

Transparency

We will ensure users can easily obtain:

  • The terms for re-use, including licence terms.
  • The applicable charges.
  • The details of what is available for re-use.

Fairness

We will treat all re-users in a non-discriminatory way for the same type of re-use. In addition, we will not compete unfairly just because we have produced the data.

Challenge

We will operate a robust complaints process to review licensing decisions where required, and with appropriate references to the role of the Information Commissioner’s Office in the process.

 

Please note: ‘OS data’ refers to OS published datasets in which there are Crown copyright and or database rights.

Related information

  • Licence exceptions policy

    Read our licence exceptions policy, listing circumstances where there are licence exceptions.

  • OS policies

    Explore our policies on privacy, data protection, language, and more.