rec_22

(22) Where charges are made by public sector bodies for the re-use of documents, those charges should in principle be limited to the marginal costs. However the necessity of not hindering the normal running of public sector bodies that are required to generate revenue to cover a substantial part of their costs relating to the performance of their public tasks or of the costs relating to the collection, production, reproduction and dissemination of certain documents made available for re-use should be taken into consideration. In such cases, public sector bodies should be able to charge above marginal costs. Those charges should be set according to objective, transparent and verifiable criteria and the total income from supplying and allowing re-use of documents should not exceed the cost of collection, production, reproduction and dissemination, together with a reasonable return on investment. The requirement to generate revenue to cover a substantial part of the public sector bodies’ costs relating to the performance of their public tasks or of the costs relating to the collection, production, reproduction and dissemination of certain documents, does not have to be a legal requirement and may stem, for example, from administrative practices in Member States. Such a requirement should be regularly reviewed by the Member States.

← rec_21 · All articles · rec_23 →

Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-10-12 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.