Publishing exemption

You'll need to request a publishing exemption if your Ordnance Survey (OS) derived dataset doesn't meet our publishing criteria

We encourage members of the Public Sector Geospatial Agreement (PSGA) to create datasets using OS data as the source (derived data). However, there may be times when your dataset doesn’t meet our presumption to publish criteria (for example, property extents that are not specifically covered by presumption to publish) but you still believe you can only achieve your objectives by releasing your data.

If this is the case – and your dataset includes OS data available to you under your mapping agreement – you’ll need to complete our exemption form below.

By completing our exemption form you're asking OS to consider your dataset in more detail. We'll carefully review your request and either agree and allow you to publish your dataset, or turn down your request giving a full explanation why. You can find more information in your Member Licence.

What happens when I request an exemption?

If your dataset includes an OS OpenData product, you don’t need to complete our exemption form – just make sure you publish it under the terms of the Open Government Licence.

If your derived dataset includes OS data available to you under your mapping agreement, tell us more about it by completing the form below.

Once you’ve submitted your details via our exemption form, we'll review your request. If we need any further information from you, we'll let you know. Once we're happy we have enough information, we'll assess your request in detail. If an obvious decision can be made, we'll get back to you within 15 working days, letting you know whether we’ve approved or declined your exemption request.

We may need to investigate further and refer your request to our Pricing and Trading Group, OS's governance board. In this situation, we'll let you know the outcome in writing within 20 working days from the date we received a compliant request (i.e. the point at which we’ve received all the information we need to be able to assess your request fully). You can find more information in paragraph 2.6 of your Member Licence.

On rare occasions we may need to delay your request further, in which case we'll let you know and explain the reason(s) for a delay.

Request a derived data exemption from OS

Please tell us about your derived dataset(s) and why you would like an exemption to publish it/them. This form has two sections - the first is about you and your organisation, and the second is about your dataset.