In most instances the Council has determined that it will not charge for the re-use of ‘general’ information.
However, the Council reserves the right to decide on a case by case basis how it may charge for allowing re-use and in such cases is allowed, under the regulations, to make a ‘reasonable return on investment’.
When the Council decides to levy a charge for re-use it will adhere to the following guidelines which state that the total income from any charge shall not exceed:
- the cost of collection, production, reproduction and dissemination of documents; and
- a reasonable return on investment.
The Council must establish standard charges and specify in writing the basis on which a standard charge has been calculated if requested to do so by an applicant. A license fee could include the following:
- The Council’s intellectual property
(i.e. information that has a commercial value).
(i.e. hourly charges incurred in making the requested information available to the applicant).
- Charges for disbursements
(i.e. photocopying etc.)
