27.6.2013 Official Journal of the European Union L 1751 (Legislative acts) | DIRECTIVES DIRECTIVE 2013/37/EU OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 26 June 2013 amending Directive 2003/98/EC on the re-use of public sector information (Text with EEA relevance) THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 114 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission, After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments, Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1), Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure (2), Whereas: (1)  Documents produced by public sector bodies of the Member States constitute a vast, diverse and valuable pool of resources that can benefit the knowledge economy. (2)  Directive 2003/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 November 2003 on the re-use of public sector information (3) establishes a minimum set of rules governing the re-use and the practical means of facilitating re-use of existing documents held by public sector bodies of the Member States. (3)  Open data policies which encourage the wide availability and re-use of public sector information for private or commercial purposes, with minimal or no legal, () OJ C 191, 29.6.2012, p. 129. (3 Position of the European Parliament of 13 June 2013 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and decision of the Council of 20 June 2013. () OJ L 345, 31.12.2003, p. 90. technical or financial constraints, and which promote the circulation of information not only for economic operators but also for the public, can play an important role in kick-starting the development of new services based on novel ways to combine and make use of such information, stimulate economic growth and promote social engagement. However, this requires a level playing field at Union level in terms of whether or not the re-use of documents is authorised, which cannot be achieved by leaving it subject to the different rules and practices of the Member States or the public sector bodies concerned. Allowing re-use of documents held by a public sector body adds value for the re-users, for the end users and for society in general and in many cases for the public body itself, by promoting transparency and account- ability and providing feedback from re-users and end users which allows the public sector body concerned to improve the quality of the information collected. Since the first set of rules on re-use of public sector information was adopted in 2003, the amount of data in the world, including public data, has increased exponentially and new types of data are being generated and collected. In parallel, we are witnessing a continuous evolution in technologies for analysis, exploi- tation and processing of data. This rapid technological evolution makes it possible to create new services and new applications, which are built upon the use, aggre- gation or combination of data. The rules adopted in 2003 no longer keep pace with these rapid changes and as a result the economic and social opportunities offered by re-use of public data risk being missed. At the same time, Member States have now established re-use policies under Directive 2003/98/EC and some of them have been adopting ambitious open data approaches to make re-use of accessible public data easier for citizens and companies beyond the minimum level set by that Directive. To prevent different rules in