Open Data Framework (TN0037)

Establish and implement the legal and regulatory framework to facilitates the public data opening up
Beginning of October 2018 – End of August 2020
Lead implementing agency/actor
E-Government Unit at the Presidency of the Government
Commitment description
This commitment will enable the establishment of several organizational and practical foundations which provide additional and necessary support for the opening up of public data. This is in view of the importance of this process in entrenching the principles of transparency, reinforcing participatory approach, and promoting integrity in the public sector, in addition to the role of open data in encouraging innovation and technological research. These actions are.
- Issuing a regulatory text that organizes the opening up of public data in Tunisia and clarifies the technical and organizational specifications to be adopted;
- Continuing the implementation of the public data inventory project with the establishment of a preliminary list of public data that will be identified according to a participatory approach, to be published during the first year of implementation of the 3rd OGP action plan for the benefit of several sectors;
- Developing and executing an open data training program for the benefit of various civil servants categories.
Problem/Background
Absence of a legal framework that regulates the opening-up process of public data within public institutions and identifies the shared technical frameworks that can be adopted. In addition, the administration is facing difficulties in the inventory of documents and data that can be published as open data and those that could not be published according the law on access to information.
Identification of commitment objectives/expected results
- Establishing a legal framework which identifies the responsible parties for executing the program within the administration and its relationship with the rest of officials;
- Identifying references and standards to be adopted in this field;
- Capacity building of officials within public institutions to be able to
engage in the open data program;
- Creating synergies and cooperation between administration and civil
society to further open data and promote its re-use.
How will the commitment contribute to solve the public problem?
- Establishing a legal and organizational frameworks enabling officials and others actors involved in this field to prepare and open the publi data;
- Anchoring a new culture within the administration based on the principles of openness, transparency and cooperation;
- Achieving the expected added value of public data opening and presenting cases of data re-use.
Relevance with OGP values
- Transparency and openness: this commitment will allow more information dissemination and improve the quality of access to information process.
- Public participation: publishing data in an open format enables the development of new mechanisms to follow up and control governmental action as it enables information analysis as well as interactive and simplified readings (data visualization) that help citizens to pursue the various issues of public affairs.
- Innovation and public services development: providing opportunity of the open data reuse to create added value and develop new services that facilitate citizens' administrative affairs. Source of funding/
Relation with other programs and policies
Source of funding: the World Bank / the French Development Agency (AFD)
Steps and execution agenda
Beginning of October 2018
End of October 2018
Contact Information
Name of the responsible person from implementing agency
Mr. Khaled Sellami
Title and Department
General Manager of the E-Government Unit
E-mail address
khaled.sellami@pm.gov.tn

Other Actors involved
State actors involved
Access to information Authority
CSOs, private sector, multilaterals, working groups
- Cartographie Citoyenne;
- Tunisian Association of Public
Auditors;
- Tunisian Association of Local
Governance.

2. Completion of the legal and regulatory framework to enhance the public data opening up

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:

“This commitment will enable the establishment of several organizational and practical foundations which provide additional and necessary support for the opening up of public data. This is in view of the importance of this process in entrenching the principles of transparency, reinforcing participatory approach, and promoting integrity in the public sector, in addition to the role of open data in encouraging innovation and technological research.”

Milestones:

• Issuing a regulatory text that organizes the opening up of public data in Tunisia and clarifies the technical and organizational specifications to be adopted;
• Continuing the implementation of the public data inventory project with the establishment of a preliminary list of public data that will be identified according to a participatory approach, to be published during the first year of implementation of the 3rd OGP action plan for the benefit of several sectors,
• Developing and executing an open data training program for the benefit of various civil servants’ categories.

Responsible institution: E-Government Unit at the Presidency of the Government

Supporting institution(s): Cartographie Citoyenne, Tunisian Association of Public Auditors, Tunisian Association of Local Governance.

Start date: October 2018                               End date: August 2020

Editorial Note: This is a partial version of the commitment text. For the full commitment text from the Tunisia national action plan, see here.

Context and Objectives

This commitment aims to establish procedures on government open data resources and to further develop the public data inventory. It builds on Commitment 3 of the previous action plan, carrying forward the milestone on implementation of the public data inventory project (Milestone 2). ^[11] Under the previous action, the government, with the support of the World Bank, selected five ministries and one public agency to participate in the inventory (Agriculture, Local Affairs and Environment, Industry, Culture, Transport, and Social Security Fund). However, the inventory was not completed. ^[12] 

Under the current action plan, this commitment includes three milestones addressing issuance of the regulatory text for public data, continuing implementation of the public data inventory project, and offering training programs for public servants. All milestones are specific enough to be verifiable.

The commitment is relevant to the OGP value of access to information as it aims to open up public data through a regulatory text, inventory, and training for public servants. The commitment is also relevant to the OGP value of civic participation, as it plans to identify a preliminary list of public data through a “participatory approach”—assuming this would include the public and CSOs in the process.

This commitment could offer significant progress on open data. The 2011 presidential decree on open data lacked specific enforcement mechanisms, ^[13] leaving a regulatory gap that presents a major obstacle to opening up public data. Under this commitment, issuance of a regulatory text that could bring necessary technical and organizational specifications to the decree. The commitment could also prepare civil servants for the regulation’s implementation, although it does not discuss the specifics of the training. Additionally, the commitment does not sufficiently clarify public participation in development of the regulation or inventory.

Next steps

The IRM recommends that future commitments on open data are designed with greater specificity, including:

• The quantity of datasets and their sectors (health, education, etc.);
• Information on the public servants to be targeted by trainings and selection criteria;
• Whether the regulatory texts are intended to be a law submitted to parliament or a decree issued by the Prime Minister.

For milestones that require parliamentary approval, including representation from parliamentary officials can support lobbying for regulations’ approval.

2. Completion of the legal and regulatory framework to enhance the public data opening up

Substantial:

For details regarding the implementation and early results of this commitment, see Section 2.3.

Aim of the commitment

This commitment is a continuation of similar reforms in Tunisia's previous two action plans. Tunisia adopted a 2011 law (n° 41-2011) on right to access administrative documents and a 2016 law (n° 2016-22) on the right of access to information. However, Tunisia needed to establish a regulatory framework for the implementation and enforcement of open data. [11] Therefore, this commitment aimed to establish legal procedures for government open data resources and to further develop the public data inventory. [12] Milestones aim to issue regulations for public data, continue the public data inventory project, offer training programs for public servants, and promote the reuse of the open public data. [13]

Did it open government?

Marginal

Implementation of the commitment is substantial. Most milestones were completed after the end of the action plan cycle (in early 2021).

The first milestone is to adopt an open data government decree as a bylaw. The draft government decree on open data was completed in the end of 2018. [14] An online public consultation and was organized for 20 days in March 2019 and a revised decree was discussed with other public institutions in October 2019. [15] The government adopted Decree No. 2021-3 on 6 January 2021 and promulgated it the same month. [16] The decree provides some enforcement mechanisms such as the mandatory adoption of an annual national action plan on open data by the Electronic Administration Unit (“e-government unit”) of the Presidency of Tunisia, as well as the mandatory adoption of annual action plans by individual public structures with assistance and coordination by the e-government unit (Article 4). The Decree also establishes a consultative committee of civil society and private sector members to oversee and consult on implementation of the open data action plans (Article 5). All public bodies must appoint a responsible person for the open data activities, including the establishment and maintenance of a data inventory (Article 6). Hence, all public bodies should establish a data inventory for the data that they produce or collect. [17]

In 2018, the government inventoried data for six ministries and funds (Agriculture, Local Affairs and Environment, Industry, Culture, Transport, and Social Security). [18] Two more ministries (Defense and Equipment, Housing and Infrastructure) partially inventoried data in 2019 and 2020, applying a new online-based inventory system that all government bodies will follow in the future. Under Tunisia’s upcoming fourth action plan, the government will inventory data in the sectors of health, education and justice. [19] The data inventories are not public and are internal to the respective bodies, however some part of these inventories could be published online in the future. [20] Ahmed Ben Taârit, Access to Information Program Director with the CSO I-Watch, [21] considers these data inventory efforts a good first step and useful for public bodies in organizing their archives. The effort is ambitious; delivering the set outcomes could be a challenge. [22]

The government held six training sessions on open data for more than 150 [23] public officials and civil servants in June 2019. [24] In early 2020, the E-government unit, the Ministry of Public Service, Modernization of Administration and Public Policies, and the World Bank held a national hackathon promoting the reuse of open public data. [25] This hackathon brought together 38 teams and more than 150 participants of different ages from different regions. [26] Seven of the projects from the hackathon have been continued and will be fully developed in 2021. [27] Other communication activities also have been launched to facilitate the Open Data Decree, such as an event on Open Data Day on 5 March 2021 to promote the decree and open data projects under development. [28]

Commitment implementation increased access to information and civic participation by establishing legal guarantees for government provision of open data. It also facilitated civil society and private sector oversight and participation through the consultative committee. Additionally, the hackathon and trainings raised awareness and provided tools both for civil servants and citizens to publish and reuse public datasets. Despite this, the impact of the decree and committee on opening data remains unclear. Hence, as of the writing of this report, the efforts towards opening government in the field of open data are positive, but marginal.