Consultation on draft guidance for data custodians: recovering the cost of data sharing
Under the DATA Scheme, data custodians may charge data users fees for services performed in dealing with a data sharing request (under Section 140 of the Data Availability and Transparency Act 2022). Any fees charged must be in accordance with applicable policies of the Australian Government, including the Australian Government Charging Framework and the Australian Government Cost Recovery Guidelines.
The Office of the National Data Commissioner has developed draft guidance for Australian Government agencies on recovering the costs of data sharing under the DATA Scheme.
A draft of the proposed guidance was open for public consultation from 8 November 2022 until 6 December 2022.
What we heard
We received six submissions.
Key themes and actions that we received from this consultation process included the following points:
- When developing their charging framework, data custodians should consider relevant Whole of Commonwealth charging and cost recovery policies such as:
- Australian Government Charging Framework (Resource Management Guide No. 302)
- Australian Government Cost Recovery Guidelines (Resource Management Guide No. 304)
- Charging for Data Services: Australian Government Charging Framework Information Sheet
- Data custodians should be encouraged to publish their schedule of fees.
- Further clarity was needed on ONDC’s role in charging fees.
A summary of what we heard and our response to the submissions on the draft data code is available below: