European official publishers discuss their strategies for the years to come

The 14th meeting of the European Forum of Official Gazettes took place in Malta on 1 and 2 June, in the context of the 2017 Maltese Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

The Forum includes official publishers not only from EU member states, but also from EU candidate, potential candidate, and EFTA countries.

The Department of Information is part of the editorial board of the European Forum of Official Gazettes.

The Forum affirmed the commitment of official publishers to develop and deliver citizen-oriented services, by providing relevant, reliable, transparent and easy-to-access information of a legal and non-legal nature.

The discussion also highlighted the need for official publishers to be more closely associated to law making, in order to technically support the process, thus making it more transparent and faster, and providing a better service to citizens and political institutions.

The topic of personal data protection was debated. Publishers wish to raise awareness of the increasing complexity and costs incurred to ensure a high level of personal data protection, including both the resources needed to implement the necessary technical solutions and possible costs in relation to liability. The right to personal data protection should be proportionately balanced with the principles of transparency, integrity, authenticity, and longterm preservation of official publications.

The discussion on these topics will continue at a technical level in ad hoc working groups, in view of the 2018 plenary meeting which will take place in Oslo, Norway.