Data access / fee regulation

Following a dialogue between representatives of data producers and data users, the working group on data access and fee regulation discussed new financing models and solutions for the research data centres (RDCs) of the German statistical offices and their long-term institutionalisation. This included identifying a variety of financing models in close cooperation with research funding agencies. Moreover, data provision is now fully recognised as a task of the statistical offices of the Länder thanks to the German Data Forum’s (RatSWD) efforts in cooperation with the Innenministerkonferenz (IMK), the standing conference of interior ministers.

The IMK has acknowledged and now explicitly supports the large benefits of RDCs for science and research regardless of the total costs covered by data use fees.

This is an important first step. Moreover, the RatSWD is committed to enshrining into law the provision of microdata for science and research. Corresponding regulation currently only exists for access to data from the Federal Statistical Office (§3, section 1, no. 1d, BStatG)

RatSWD activities on long-term funding of the research data infrastructure in the 5th appointment period:

Ongoing

• Promoting efforts towards enshrining into law the provision of microdata as a task of the statistical offices in state-level statistical regulation
• Finding solutions for sustainable funding of data centres
• Dialogue with research funders about funding models