Interpretation2
1
In these Regulations—
“the Act” means the Freedom of Information Act 20006;
“the Directive” means Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE);
“discovery service” means a service described in regulation 7(2)(a);
F1“interoperability” means the possibility for spatial data sets to be combined, and for services to interact, without repetitive manual intervention, in such a way that the result is coherent and the added value of the data sets and services is enhanced;
“metadata” means information describing spatial data sets and spatial data services and making it possible to discover, inventory and use them;
“Metadata Regulation” means Commission Regulation (EC) No 1205/2008 regarding metadata;
“public authority” has the meaning given by regulation 3;
“Scottish public authority” means—
- a
a body referred to in section 80(2) of the Act, or
- b
in so far as not such a body, a Scottish public authority as defined in section 3 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 20027;
- a
“Scottish third party” means—
- a
an individual whose address is in Scotland, or
- b
a body corporate, partnership or unincorporated association whose principal office is in Scotland,
but does not include a Scottish public authority;
- a
“spatial data” means any data with a direct or indirect reference to a specific location or geographical area;
“spatial data service” means a service which consists of operations which may be performed, by invoking a computer application—
- a
on the spatial data contained in a spatial data set, or
- b
on the metadata related to a spatial data set;
- a
“spatial data set” means an identifiable collection of spatial data which—
- a
are in electronic format,
- b
relate to one or more of the themes listed in Annex I, II or III to the Directive, and
- c
relate to—
- i
the United Kingdom,
- ii
Gibraltar,
- iii
the territorial sea of the United Kingdom8,
- iv
an area of the continental shelf for the time being designated by an Order in Council under section 1(7) of the Continental Shelf Act 19649, or
- v
an area, outside the territorial sea of the United Kingdom, for the time being designated by an Order in Council under section 84(4) of the Energy Act 200410;
- i
- a
“third party” means (except as otherwise provided by regulation 9(7)) a person other than—
- a
a public authority or a Scottish public authority,
- b
a person holding a spatial data set or operating a spatial data service on behalf of a public authority or a Scottish public authority,
- c
a Scottish third party, or
- d
a person holding a spatial data set or operating a spatial data service on behalf of a Scottish third party.
- a
2
Other terms used in these Regulations that are also used in the Directive have the meaning they bear in the Directive.
3
For the purposes of these Regulations—
a
a public authority is responsible for a spatial data set if—
i
that authority holds that data set (other than on behalf of another person), or
ii
another person holds that data set on behalf of that authority;
b
a public authority is responsible for a spatial data service if—
i
that authority operates that data service (other than on behalf of another person), or
ii
another person operates that data service on behalf of that authority;
c
a third party is responsible for a spatial data set if—
i
that third party holds that data set (other than on behalf of another person), or
ii
another person holds that data set on behalf of that third party; and
d
a third party is responsible for a spatial data service if—
i
that third party operates that data service (other than on behalf of another person), or
ii
another person operates that data service on behalf of that third party.
4
In these Regulations—
a
any reference to the Metadata Regulation is a reference to the Metadata Regulation as amended from time to time; and
b
any reference to Annex I, II or III to the Directive is a reference to that Annex to the Directive as amended from time to time.