The re-use regime provided for in this Regulation should apply to data the supply of which forms part of the public tasks of the public sector bodies concerned under law or other binding rules in the Member States. In the absence of such rules, the public tasks should be defined in accordance with common administrative practice in the Member States, provided that the scope of the public tasks is transparent and subject to review. The public tasks could be defined generally or on a case-by-case basis for individual public sector bodies. As public undertakings are not covered by the definition of public sector body, the data held by public undertakings should not be covered by this Regulation. Data held by cultural establishments, such as libraries, archives and museums as well as orchestras, operas, ballets and theatres, and by educational establishments should not be covered by this Regulation since the works and other documents they hold are predominantly covered by third party intellectual property rights. Research-performing organisations and research-funding organisations could also be organised as public sector bodies or bodies governed by public law.
This Regulation should apply to such hybrid organisations only in their capacity as research-performing organisations. If a research-performing organisation holds data as a part of a specific public-private association with private sector organisations or other public sector bodies, bodies governed by public law or hybrid research-performing organisations, i.e. organised as either public sector bodies or public undertakings, with the main purpose of pursuing research, those data should also not be covered by this Regulation. Where relevant, Member States should be able to apply this Regulation to public undertakings or private undertakings that exercise public sector duties or provide services of general interest. The exchange of data, purely in pursuit of their public tasks, among public sector bodies in the Union or between public sector bodies in the Union and public sector bodies in third countries or international organisations, as well as the exchange of data between researchers for non-commercial scientific research purposes, should not be subject to the provisions of this Regulation concerning the re-use of certain categories of protected data held by public sector bodies.