DATA POLICY

Quality and professionally processed data enable the state to make more informed and effective decisions, evaluate its activities, respond more quickly and specifically to the needs of its inhabitants, which in turn can save public money while improving the quality of life. The data are a source of information for the citizens of the state about the performance of the economy, thanks to which they can derive the necessary responsibility towards their elected representatives. For the business and non-governmental sectors, the data can be a means of improving the services provided. And last but not least, the data make public governance more transparent and efficient.

Important links:

• OpenData Financial Administration of the Slovak Republic
  https://github.com/financnasprava/opendata

Directive of the Financial administration of the Slovak Republic on data policy

Art. I

Introductory provisions

1. This directive regulates the rules of collection, creation, monitoring, sharing, manipulation of data files and the method of publishing data on the open data portal of the Financial Administration of the Slovak Republic.
2. The coordinator in the field of data policy is the Section of Informatics of the Financial Administration of the Slovak Republic.
3. The Financial Administration of the Slovak Republic implements policies and measures enabling the implementation of data policy at all levels, ensures technical and content interoperability of data, uniformity of formats and licenses, etc. ("interoperability" principle).
4. In implementing the data policy, the Financial Administration of the Slovak Republic respects the privacy of the population and respects the rules of the European Union on the protection of personal data, as well as national legislation.

Art. II

Basic terms

1. A data file is a set of data or information that is used by a computer application or system. The data or information may be in a structured or unstructured form within the data file and are stored in a machine-readable format.
2. Granularity (also the level of detail) represents the level of depth representation of a data file. High granularity represents a high level of detail (individual data), low granularity means that the data in the data file has been adjusted to a low level of detail (aggregated data).
3. An item (also a variable or column) represents the vertical structure of a data file. It carries data or information often categorized according to a valid code list.
4. Open data - the standard for marking data as open data is to provide data in the dataset in the quality of the provided dataset at least level 3 and to provide data in an open-use way that is fulfilled:
• if the legal aspects of data access and use are explicitly settled
• if it is possible to establish legal relationships for the use of the data also through anonymous remote automated access
• if the access to the data is granted to all persons under the same conditions, these conditions are explicitly stated
• if the data can be used for both non-commercial and commercial purposes
• if the data can be combined with supplement, correct, modify or use from the dataset without the obligation to use other dataset data and
• if the activities under point 4 are free of charge.
5. The open data portal is a web portal managed by the Section of Informatics and is intended for publishing and disseminating open data to the general public.
6. Keywords (also tags) are labels or tags that will be assigned to individual data files on a dedicated portal designed to simplify the search for data files. Keywords will be assigned to the data set to describe their content or category to which they belong primarily or secondarily.
7. Metadata is structured data that provides information about a data file. They describe in more detail the data file, its features, characteristics, data types and scope, the date of the last update or the contact to the responsible person (manager) (e. g. Decree No. 55/2014 Coll.).
8. Individual data is data that describes entities individually and in an addressed manner. Based on them, it is possible to identify the entity or subject.
9. The information minimum for the purposes of this Directive is a set of basic information about a data set. The difference between the metadata and the information minimum lies in the scope of the data. The information minimum is a subset of metadata of the data file.
10. The data file format is a predetermined layout of the data in a document or file. The format also means the method by which the stored data is organized. The individual file formats differ in their internal structure, data layout logic and size.
11. Aggregated data are cumulated primary data into groups according to selected indicators. Aggregation means grouping or merging multiple values into one. It is not possible to identify a specific subject or individual from the aggregated data.
12. The protection of personal data is a set of rules for the handling of personal data, which falls within the area of fundamental human rights. In the conditions of the Slovak Republic, the protection of personal data is regulated by Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, repealing Directive 95/46/EC (GDPR) and by the Personal Data Protection Act and on the Amendment of Certain Acts no. 18/2018 Coll. as amended.
13. The data file license represents the right to use the protected work (data file) in the agreed manner. A more detailed modification of the terms of use is usually contained in the license agreement or in the license agreement contained in another type of agreement.

Art. III

Scope of the Section of Informatics (SI)

1. The section is responsible for:
• creation, development and implementation of the data policy of the Financial Administration of the Slovak Republic in cooperation with key units, departments or sections, including the determination of data standards on the basis of European and national data standards,
• monitoring and audit of data files of the Financial Administration of the Slovak Republic,
• coordination of organizational units in the field of data policy,
• collection and acquisition of new data sources for the purposes of OpenData of the Financial Administration of the Slovak Republic,
• administration of accesses to the OpenData of the Financial Administration of the Slovak Republic,
• cooperation in publishing open data on a dedicated portal,
• coordination in the field of data collection, data processing and data systematization within the Financial Administration of the Slovak Republic with the aim of a uniform approach to data collection and evaluation.

Art. IV

Data file standards for the OpenData portal

1. The data files to be published on the OpenData portal must be in machine-readable, processable and standardly used formats, especially open formats such as CSV, TXT, XLSX, JSON, XML or in GeoJSON and SHP geoformats (e.g. Decree No. 55/2014 Coll.).
2. If the data files to be published by OpenData are not stored in the standard formats, manager or the responsible organizational unit consults in advance on its sharing with the SI. In exceptional cases, SI may allow the sharing of data files in formats and geoformats other than those used by default.
3. If the data files to be shared on the shared storage are not stored in standard formats and geoformats and after the expiry of a period of 5 years since their creation, such data files shall be published without changing their format.
4. If the size of a separate data file exceeds 500 MB, then such data file can be published in the compressed format ZIP, TAR, TAR, GZ (GZIP) without a password.

Art. V

Basic principles of data disclosure

1. The data files are published on the open data portal in open formats, in accordance with the ISVS Standards Decree no. 55/2014 Coll. as amended.
2. Data that is subject to personal data protection, contains confidential information or trade secrets, data files using copyright protection, data files whose disclosure is in conflict with valid legal regulations, data files whose disclosure is in conflict with the data file license and data files, on which the Financial Administration of the Slovak Republic has committed confidentiality are not published.
3. Data files that come from publicly available sources may be published on the open data portal without the approval of the head of the relevant organizational unit to which these data files objectively belong.

Art. VI

Standards for published data files on the open data portal

1. SI is responsible for the completeness and quality of the published data files to such an extent as content is sufficiently representative.
2. For the purpose of publishing data files, the data files are transmitted to SI in predetermined formats that are machine-readable, processable and standardly used.
3. The department that is in charge of the data file and / or ensures its creation and administration, is responsible for the correct publication of the data files. The responsible department may contact the SI for cooperation where anonymisation of data files is necessary before publication.

Art. VII

Procedure for publishing open data

1. The responsible organizational unit reports the request to publish open data on the portal. The request shall specify the category of data within which the data file is to be published, the size of the data file, the granularity, the period for which the data file is published, the source, the license and the type of format in which the data file is stored.
2. Depending on the complexity of the requirement, SI can:
1. publish the data file on the open data portal,
2. request the responsible department to supplement the information and modify the dataset in a form suitable for publication on the portal in cooperation with the responsible parties,
3. refuse to publish a data file if such publication would infringe the provisions of this Directive.
3. SI as a responsible organizational unit will notify the publication of the data file.

Art. VIII

Special provisions for the publication of data from internal applications and information systems

1. Data files that are internal in nature, are not freely distributable and do not meet the characteristics of open data are not subject to publication on the open data portal of the Financial Administration of the Slovak Republic.
2. Data files of the Financial Administration of the Slovak Republic may be published on the open data portal in an aggregated form for statistical and analytical purposes. After prior discussion with the relevant department, data files may be also published in the form of individual data, if the content and nature of the data file allows it.