On 21 October, the EU Anti-Corruption Initiative (EUACI) supported the sixth Closed Data Conference in Kyiv. The event brought together more than 60 participants, including representatives of state authorities, city councils, civil society and the open data community. It marked the 11th anniversary of Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 835, which defines Ukraine’s open data policy and sets the formats, requirements and list of datasets to be published.
Opening the Conference, Oleh Chernenko, Senior Project Manager of the EUACI Integrity Cities, explained why open data matters for cities:
“Open data is like philosophy in science. It is a foundation, a construction set that can and should be put to use. It allows active residents to develop new, interesting and useful products for their cities and to enhance transparency and counter corrupt behavior. I am especially glad that part of the Conference is dedicated to cities, because open data means more access to information”, noted Oleh Chernenko.
Participants discussed:
- the state of open data in Ukraine and its harmonisation with the EU Open Data Directive;
- the balance between access to information and national security;
- open data at the local level;
- the protection of the right to access public information.
Open data expert Nadiia Babynska presented the results of monitoring dataset publication by ministries and the State Tax Service. More than half of the datasets they must publish are missing from the national Open Data Portal. Some of the published datasets have not been updated for over two years.
At the panel on open data in cities, Andrii Protashchuk, Head of the IT Department of Chernivtsi City Council, shared how Chernivtsi, one of the Integrity Cities, works with open data.
Participants stressed that open data needs legal changes, but it also needs resources, skilled people and systematic work with information.
The EUACI will continue supporting the Integrity Cities and other partner cities in making their data open, up to date and useful for residents.
