L 107/38 Official Journal of the European Union 20.4.2006 (Acts whose publication is not obligatory) COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 7 April 2006 on the re-use of Commission information (2006/291/EC, Euratom) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 218(2) thereof, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community, and in particular Article 131 thereof, Having regard to the Treaty on European Union, and in particular Article 28(1) and Article 41(1) thereof, Whereas: The new information and communication technologies have created unprecedented possibilities to aggregate and combine content from different sources. Public sector information is an untapped resource that could be the basis of new, added-value, information society products and services. The Commission underlined the economic potential of public sector infor- mation in its Communication of 23.10.2001 (') ‘eEurope 2002: Creating an EU framework for the exploitation of public sector information’. The Commission and the other Institutions are them- selves holders of many documents of all kinds which could be re-used in added-value information products () COM(2001) 607 final. and services and which could provide a useful content resource for companies and citizens alike. The right to access Commission documents is regulated through Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (2). Directive 2003/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (}) sets minimum rules for the re-use of public sector information throughout the European Union. In its recitals it encourages Member States to go beyond these minimum rules and to adopt open data policies, allowing a broad use of documents held by public sector bodies. In its Communication ‘eEurope 2002: Creating an EU framework for the exploitation of public sector infor- mation’, the Commission announced an update of the policies on the re-use of information of the EU insti- tutions. Several positive steps have been made in this respect, such as the new Eurostat policy on dissemination of information and the move towards a freely accessible Eurlex portal. The new Commission initiative 12010 — a European Information Society for growth and employment’, aims among other things at facilitating the creation and circu- lation of European content. As part of 12010, this Decision determines the conditions for the re-use of Commission documents, with a view to achieving a broad re-use. () O] L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43. () O] L 345, 31.12.2003, p. 90.