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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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