Most EU spatial data to be OA

European Parliament and Council reach agreement on spatial information directive, a press release issued today by the office of Finland's EU Presidency.  Excerpt:

The European Parliament and Council reached agreement last night on the contents of the proposed INSPIRE Directive, which aims to harmonise spatial information across Europe....

Data search services designed for the public will generally be free of charge, although the directive allows fees to be charged for access to data that has to be updated frequently, such as weather reports....

The INSPIRE Directive is now likely to be enforced from summer 2007. The directive has been designed to control various aspects of the spatial data in the possession of authorities around Europe, including:...principles on access to data and the related charges....