Britain’s divergence from EU open data rules raises concerns about transparency, regulation, and the future of public information. If Britain were to rejoin the European Union, public debate might focus on borders, courts, and fish, but the rules governing open data and environmental information are more revealing about what rejoining would mean in practice.

The UK is close to the European model on access to environmental information, but on the re-use of public data, it is a generation behind and drifting further away. The Environmental Information Regulations and the Re-use of Public Sector Information (RPSI) rules serve different purposes: access is a democratic right, while re-use is an economic one.

The 2004 Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) still follow the EU’s 2003 access directive, and Britain is also bound by the Aarhus Convention. The courts have confirmed that water companies can fall within the scope of the EIR, and the Information Commissioner oversees and enforces the regime.

However, Brexit removed the obligation to follow the evolving EU legal framework, and any future re-accession would likely require the UK to align with relevant EU rules, including environmental-information measures. In contrast, the position on open data is very different, with Britain’s legal floor remaining the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015.

Brussels recast the regime in 2019, requiring member states to transpose it by July 2021, after the UK had left. As a result, Britain never adopted the duties that now shape the European data market, including access to geospatial and earth-observation data, weather, official statistics, company and company-ownership data, and mobility data.