OECD Recommendations

The OECD recommends that Member States and non-Member countries follow the open Government Recommendation, i.e. develop, adopt and implement open Government strategies and related measures.

Open government work is carried out in all administrative sectors and at all levels. The objectives and measures of open government will be developed in cooperation with stakeholders. This will support the commitment of politicians, senior civil servants and public officials to open government. It also ensures successful implementation of the objectives and avoids resistance to change.

Open government needs to be supported by relevant legislation, guidelines and guidance. It is important that compliance with these acts and guidelines is also adequately supervised.

It is important to ensure the successful implementation of the objectives of open government. This requires sufficient human, financial and technical resources. It is also important to strengthen the organisational culture that supports the activities of open government and to promote the literacy of open government throughout and outside the government.

The objectives and measures of open government must be coordinated across administrative boundaries and across organisational boundaries. This will ensure that the objectives are compatible and contribute to the achievement of other key societal objectives.

The objectives of open government must have monitoring, evaluation and learning mechanisms and they must be used. The actors responsible for collecting and disseminating up-to-date and reliable information and open data must be identified.

The development of benchmarking indicators is needed to measure the outputs, results and effectiveness of open government  in cooperation with stakeholders.

Public officials maintain a culture of monitoring, evaluation and learning. The opportunities and ability of public officials to promote the monitoring, evaluation and learning of open government in cooperation with stakeholders will be strengthened and  supported.

The objectives and measures of open government are communicated actively, as well as what outputs, results and impacts have been achieved. In this way, the objectives of open government are well known and understood within and outside the administration, and stakeholders can also embrace them.

Clear, comprehensive, up-to-date, reliable and relevant public sector data and information are available free of charge. It is available in an open and machine-readable format and no one has exclusive rights to it. Information is shared through many different channels. It is easy to understand, find, use and reuse. It is prioritised in consultation with stakeholders.

All stakeholders and stakeholders will be guaranteed equal opportunities to receive information and be heard. Active participation is possible in all preparation of policy measures, planning and provision of services at different stages of the process. There must be enough time for participation and it must be possible at the lowest possible cost. In addition, particular efforts must be made to reach the most important, vulnerable, under-represented and marginal groups in society. At the same time, it must be avoided that no one has undue influence over others.

Innovative ways of enabling the participation of stakeholders in an effective and efficient manner will be tested. This way, ideas can be found together, solutions can be created and the opportunities offered by digital administration can be utilised. An example is the use of open data in public administration, which can be used to support the objectives and measures of open government.

A gradual change from the concept of open government towards the concept of open government will be promoted. At the same time, it is important to recognise that actors joining the concept of “open State” have their own, independent roles, power rights and independent status.

The aim is to promote transparency, integrity, accountability and inclusion. These will be promoted both in the preparation of decision-making and in the planning and implementation of services. This will be done in an open and participatory manner.

On the OECD website on open government