ON THE FULL AND OPEN EXCHANGE OF SCIENTIFIC
Attachment 1: Reproduced from OECD (1994)
Appendix II: Scientific Data Management Policy Statements (page 139-144)
World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) Executive Council Resolution,
adopted June 1990:
- Requests members to reaffirm their commitment to the "free and unrestricted
international exchange of basic meteorological data and products" among
national meteorological services.
Houston Economic Summit of the Group of Seven Most Industrialised Nations,
July 1990:
- "We recognise the importance of coordinating and sharing the collection of
satellite data on earth and its atmosphere. We welcome and encourage the
ongoing discussions for the establishment of an International Network."
International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) Report No. 12 of the
International Council of Scientific Unions, November 1990:
-
"Consequently, IGBP-DIS should have the following characteristics:
- suitable preservation of all data needed for long-term, global change
research must be ensured;
- data archives must include readily accessible and comprehensive information
describing data sets (metadata about the data holdings, including quality
assessments, supporting ancillary information, and guidance and aids for
locating and obtaining the data);
- national and international agencies with responsibilities for archiving and
distributing global change data should, to the greatest extent possible, use
media and processing and communications systems which are consistent with
internationally accepted standards and protocols;
- in those cases in which individual scientists have initial periods of
exclusive data use, data should be made openly available as soon as they become
widely useful;
- data should be provided at the lowest possible cost which, as a first
principle, should be no more than the cost of reproduction and distribution."
Committee on Earth Observations Satellites (CEOS), Terms of Reference
Amendment, adopted November 1990:
-
"Members must have a continuing activity in space-borne Earth observations
(...) and provide non-discriminatory and full access to data which will be made
available to the international community."
Scientific and Technical Statement of the Second World Climate Conference
(SWCC), adopted November 1990:
-
"High priority must be placed on the provision and international exchange of
high-quality, long-term data for climate-related studies. Data should be
available at no more than the cost of reproduction and distribution. A full
and open exchange of global and other data sets needed for climate-related
studies is required."
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Ministerial
Communiqué, adopted January 1991:
-
"OECD governments should strengthen their efforts to support and encourage the
international science community to assess environmental risks to human health
and natural ecosystems, and to promote a full and open exchange of
environmental data and information."
Data Management for Global Change Research Policy Statements, U.S. Global
Change Research Programme, July 1991:
-
"The overall purpose of these policy statements is to facilitate full and open
access to quality data for global change research. They were prepared in
consonance with the goal of the U.S. Global Change Research Program and
represent the U.S. Government's position on the access to global change
research data.
- The Global Change Research Program requires an early and continuing
commitment to the establishment, maintenance, validation, description,
accessibility, and distribution of high-quality, long-term data sets.
- Full and open sharing of the full suite of global data sets for all global
change researchers is a fundamental objective.
- Preservation of all data needed for long-term global change research is
required. For each and every global change data parameter, there should be at
least one explicitly designated archive. Procedures and criteria for setting
priorities for data acquisition, retention, and purging should be developed by
participating agencies, both nationally and internationally. A clearinghouse
process should be established to prevent the purging and loss of important data
sets.
- Data archives must include easily accessible information about the data
holdings, including quality assessments, supporting ancillary information, and
guidance and aids for locating and obtaining the data.
- National and international standards should be used to the greatest extent
possible for media and for processing and communication of global data sets.
- Data should be provided at the lowest possible cost to global change
researchers in the interest of full and open access to data. This cost should,
as a first principle, be no more than the marginal cost of filling a specific
user request. Agencies should act to streamline administrative arrangements
for exchanging data among researchers.
- For those programmes in which selected principal investigators have initial
periods of exclusive data use, data should be made openly available as soon as
they become widely useful. In each case, the funding agency should explicitly
define the duration of any exclusive use period."
Agreement Establishing the Inter-American Institute for Global Change
Research, May 1992:
-
"Article II, Objectives:
The Institute shall pursue the principles of scientific excellence,
international co-operation, and of full and open exchange of scientific
information, relevant to global change. In order to do so, the objectives of
the Institute are to:
(...)
c) foster standardization, collection, analysis and exchange of data relative
to global change" (...).
Article IX, Institute Research Centers:
3. The Institute Research Centers shall, inter alia :
(...)
b) collect data and promote the full, open, and efficient exchange of data and
information between the Institute and the Parties" (...)."
Agenda 21, UN Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED), June
1992:
- "Chapter 31: The Scientific and Technological Community
A. Improving communication and cooperation among the scientific and
technological community and decision makers and the public
Basis for action:
31.2 The scientific and technological community and policy makers should
increase their interaction in order to implement strategies for sustainable
development on the basis of the best available knowledge. This implies that
decision makers should provide the necessary framework for rigorous research
and for full and open communication of the findings of the scientific and
technological community, and develop with it ways in which research results and
the concerns stemming from the findings can be communicated to decision-making
bodies so as to better link scientific and technical knowledge with strategic
policy and programme formulation (...)
Activities:
31.4 Governments should undertake the following activities:
(...)
e) To improve and strengthen programmes for disseminating research results of
universities and research institutions (...). This requires full and open
sharing of data and information among scientists and decision makers.
Chapter 35: Science for Sustainable Development
D. Building up scientific capacity and capability
Activities:
35.22 The following activities should be undertaken:
(...)
c) Develop and expand national scientific and technological databases,
processing data in unified formats and systems, and allowing full and open
access to the depository libraries of regional scientific and technological
information networks. Promote submission of scientific and technological
information and databases to global or regional data centres and network
systems;
(...)
e) Develop, strengthen and forge new partnerships among national, regional and
global capacities to promote the full and open exchange of scientific and
technological data and information and to facilitate technical assistance
related to environmentally sound and sustainable development. This should be
done through the development of mechanisms for the sharing of basic research,
data and information, and the improvement and development of international
networks and centres, including regional linking with national scientific
databases, for research, training and monitoring. Such mechanisms should be
designed so as to enhance professional cooperation among scientists in all
countries and to establish strong national and regional alliances between
industry and research institutions (...)."
Framework Convention on Climate Change, June 1992
-
"Article 4: Commitments
1. All Parties, taking into account their common but differentiated
responsibilities and their specific national and regional development
priorities, objectives and circumstances, shall:
(...)
g) Promote and cooperate in scientific, technological, technical,
socio-economic and other research, systematic observation and development of
data archives related to the climate system and intended to further the
understanding and to reduce or eliminate the remaining uncertainties regarding
the causes, effects, magnitude and timing of climate change and regarding the
economic and social consequences of various response strategies;
h) Promote and cooperate in the full, open and prompt exchange of relevant
scientific, technological, technical, socio-economic and legal information
related to the climate change, and to the economic and social consequences of
various response strategies (...)."
Committee on Earth Observations Satellites (CEOS) Resolution, adopted
December 1992:
-
"...RECOGNIZING the common goal of providing data to global change researchers
from all missions on a consistent basis reflecting primarily the cost of
fulfilling the user request; recognizing also that the constraints of the
mission operations and of available resources may require different mechanisms
for data exchange/sharing to be found for different programmes:
CEOS members endorse the following principles relating to data exchange in
support of global change/climate and environmental research and agree to work
toward implementing them to the fullest extent possible (...).
- preservation of all data needed for long-term global change/climate and
environmental research and monitoring is required;
- data archives should contain easily accessible information about the data
holdings, including quality assessments, supporting ancillary information, and
guidance and aids for locating and obtaining the data;
- international standards, including those generated by the CEOS Working Group
on Data, should be used to the greatest extent possible for recording/storage
media and for processing and communication of data sets;
- maximising the use of satellite data is a fundamental objective. An
exchange/sharing mechanism among CEOS members is an essential first step;
- non-discriminatory access to satellite data by all users for global
change/climate and environmental research and monitoring is essential. This
should be achieved within the framework of the exchange and sharing mechanisms
set up by CEOS members;
- programmes should have no exclusive period of data use. Where the need to
provide validated data is recognised, any initial period of exclusive data use
should be limited and explicitly defined. The goal should be release of data
in some preliminary form within three months after the start of routine data
acquisition;
- criteria and priorities for data acquisition, archiving, and purging should
be harmonised."
UN Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) Data Management Policy
for Global Ocean Programmes, adopted by the IOC Assembly, March 1993:
-
"The overall purpose of this policy statement is to facilitate full and open
access to quality ocean data for global ocean research programmes. The Global
Ocean Programme to be carried out under GOOS (Global Ocean Observing System)
requires an early and continuing commitment to the establishment, maintenance,
validation, description, accessibility and distribution of high-quality,
long-term data sets.
i) Full and open sharing of a wide spectrum of global international data sets
for all ocean programmes is a fundamental objective.
ii) Data submitted for international exchange should be provided at the lowest
possible cost to global ocean researchers in the interest of full and open
access to data. This cost should, as a first principle, be no more than the
marginal cost of processing, copying and shipping to fill a specific user
request.
iii) Preferably, all data should be made available in the public domain of
IODE [International Organisation for Data Exchange] data centers within one
year of collection (chemical, biological and geological data may require longer
intervals). For those global ocean programmes in which selected principal
investigators have initial periods of exclusive data use, data should be made
available as soon as they become widely useful or at the maximum two years
after data collection.
iv) Preservation of data needed for long-term global ocean programmes is
required. For each and every global ocean data parameter, there should be at
least one explicitly designated archive.
v) International data archives must include easily accessible information
about the data holdings, including quality assessments, supporting ancillary
information, and guidance and aids for locating and obtaining the data.
vi) National and international standards should be used to the greatest extent
possible for media and for processing and communication of global oceanographic
data sets."
Intergovernmental Meeting of the World Climate Programme, Statement on the
Climate Agenda, adopted April 1993:
-
"...the WCP (World Climate Programme) and the associated activities
have:
--established concerted efforts to obtain and preserve data from the
atmosphere, ocean and land surface, together with a co-ordinated international
framework for the standardization and full and open exchange of such data"
(...).
Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) policy on data access, January
1993:
-
"The Joint Scientific and Technical Committee of GCOS has begun to discuss and
formulate its data policy. The following points will be important
considerations in such a policy:
- Global environmental concerns, as reflected in the recommendations agreed at
the UNCED, are an overriding justification for ensuring the unrestricted
international exchange of GCOS data for non-commercial scientific and
applications purposes.
- The GCOS requires an early and continuing commitment by participating
national governments and international bodies to the establishment,
maintenance, validation, description, accessibility, and distribution of
high-quality, long-term data.
- The sharing and exchange of GCOS data is a fundamental objective. Data
should be provided at the lowest possible cost to users.
- Preservation of all data needed for GCOS is required; suitable archive
facilities should be ensured for all GCOS data; procedures and criteria for
setting priorities for data acquisition, retention, and purging should be
developed and implemented by participating nations and international bodies; an
international clearinghouse process should be established to prevent the
purging and loss of important data.
- To the maximum extent possible, data archives must include easily accessible
information about the data holdings, including long-term quality assessments,
supporting ancillary information, and guidance and aids for locating and
obtaining the data.
- International standards should be used as far as possible to acquire,
process, and distribute global data.
- For those data relevant to GCOS in which selected investigators or
organisations have initial periods of exclusive data use, data should be made
available as soon as possible."
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