Background

For the purpose of convenient, open, and transparent governance, Taiwan has been promoting government open data since 2012. In order to satisfy citizens' right to "know" and "use", Taiwan government has set up action plans such as establishing a mechanism for government open data consulting, creating a comprehensive and trusted open data environment, and promoting the cross-border collaboration between public and private sectors, to gradually lead each agency to foster Open Data as well as to provide high quality desirable data which could be easily used by the public. All government open data is listed on the Open Data platform at https://data.gov.tw/ where can present the demonstration and service promotion. Since 2019, the government has promoted the maximization of open government data and improved the quality and quantity of open data. The Ministry will continue to strengthen the access for government data and prioritize high value data to facilitate citizen participation, value-added data application, and thereby to maximize the benefits of the data.

Proactively lead the improvement of data quality

Study and analyze domestic and international development strategies, formulate Taiwan open data specifications and related guidance, and lead government agencies to release data. Through training and coaching each agency with practical use cases to enrich their concept of high-quality open data and strengthen their professional skills. Establish a cross-border platform for cooperation and communication by the Government Open Data Consulting Team, and continuously review and improve the effectiveness of the promotion.

Improve the quality of government open data, promote the data quality testing mark system, assist each agency to build up data quality concepts, so as to achieve the accuracy, ease of use, timeliness and appropriate formats of open data content, and introduce government data standards to strengthen cross-border data access and integration.

Focus on high value data

Strengthen the expansion of practical applications based on the government open data. The Ministry have facilitated each agency to promote "high value data" since 2023. Based on social value and data content, the Ministry have widely collected the opinions from various ministries and the public, as well as to refer from the international development trends. The Ministry prioritizes sustainable agriculture, spatial information, climate environment, disaster prevention, traffic, health care, energy management, and social assistance, and will continue to add more high value data theme in the future to build a thematic data application ecosystem and make data more valuable as it is shared.

Definitions

1. Open – according to the "Open Definition", the publication of open works shall meet three criteria: open license, open access, and open format. That is to say, it's open to everyone for free access, use, modify and share as long as proper citation is made.
2. Government open data – government agencies release government data based on the "Open Definition" with open formats on internet to the public users such as individuals, schools, communities, enterprises, or government agencies to download and use the data per their needs.
3. Scope – all forms of electronic data, including text, data, photo, image, sound, and metadata acquired or composed by agencies under their functions in compliance with the law.
4. Open license – irrevocably permit or allow works to be used, re-distributed, modified, divided, edited, non-discriminatorily treated, and delivered freely without restrictions on the purpose of use so long as such works indicate proper citation, original integrity, relevant claims, open-source code, and be shared in the same manner without technical restrictions and mutual infringement.
5. Open access – works shall be provided with complete statement and only charge one-time reasonable reproduction cost. If it's provided on the Internet, then free download is preferred. Any extra information required for license compliance (e.g. list of contributors' names required for citation) shall be provided together with the work.
6. Open format – it should be machine readable, in unbroken batches, with publicly disclosed format, and free of charges or no use restriction.
7. Data set – it's a group collection of electronic data, and also the basic unit of government open data.

• Working Principles and Forms on Relevant Regulations
  • Operational Principle of Government Open Data for Executive Yuan's Agencies 
  • Dataset Metadata Standard Guidelines
  • Establishment Directions for the Consultative Committee for Government Open Data
  • Open Data License 
  • The Advanced Action Plan for Open Government Data
  • Guidelines on Government Open Data Quality Enhancing Mechanism Operation
  • Operational Guidelines for the Establishment of Open Data Consulting Committees at the Second-Level Agencies of Executive Yuan
  • Awarding Program of Quality Certification and Deepen Application of Government Open Data

• Important Regulations
  • The Freedom of Government Information Law 
  • Personal Data Protection Act
  • Copyright Act