About Data Sharing

Open Data initiative of Government of Sri Lanka is making a number of datasets freely available to the public through this web page. The open data page focuses on machine-readable (ie, well-structured and open) datasets, few data services and working with agencies to improve data formatting.

Data and information are national assets of Government of Sri Lanka, and this page is about sharing it. The goal of open data is to make core government development, demographic, statistical and expenditure data available in a useful digital format for researchers, policymakers, software solution developers and the general public.

This page provides an easy way to find, access and reuse public datasets from the Government of Sri Lanka. We encourage all users to improve government information by using it to develop tools and applications which benefit all Sri Lankans. Submitting links to these new applications will enable their promotion through this web page in future enhancements to it.

Terms of Use

Welcome to Open Data web page of Government Web Portal of Sri Lanka which is hosted and operated by the ICT Agency (ICTA) of Sri Lanka. These terms apply to the entire contents of the page and to any web feeds produced by the page. By viewing and using the page, you will be deemed to agree to these terms.

Copyright

This web page is established by the ICTA in collaboration with other government agencies as a collaborative platform for providing free and open access to public information produced by various government sources. The ICTA does not necessarily generate, manage, control or edit all of the information provided on this web page. The information is provided by the various government agencies and by the ICTA on the understanding that:

  • Public information from governments and international institutions is part of the common heritage of humanity. Maximizing access to this information promotes human knowledge, welfare and progress;

  • Public information is digital common property and should be accessible to all free of charge;

  • Organizations that publish, manage and disseminate public information and the government bodies that create or control that information should provide access to it so that it can be used by other parties without restrictions.

  • As such, and subject to any minor restrictions that may be imposed by the law of copyright regarding the use of public information, the ICTA and the government agencies whose information is provided on this web page impose no restrictions to the commercial and non-commercial reproduction, re-publication and re-distribution of any information published on this web page.

However, third parties who use the information should represent it accurately and duly acknowledge its source. Where any information is presented in a structure and format that is copyrighted by a third party providing a service to the ICTA, users are to respect the intellectual property rights of any third party who expressly reserves its copyright in any information, data element, data structure, software program or other property.

Description of Data

All datasets accessed through this web page are confined to public information and must not contain National Security Information defined by the Government and information prohibited by the Constitution or the laws of Sri Lanka. The supplying Ministry/Department is required to maintain currency with public disclosure requirements.

Privacy

All information accessed through this web page must be in compliance with current privacy requirements provided for by the Constitution and other relevant statutes. This indicates that no information that is relevant to privacy of an individual or organization should not be published through open data and the services provided by utilizing open data.

Data Quality and Retention

All information accessed through this web page should have undergone internal quality control by the submitting/source agency. As the authoritative source of the information, submitting Departments/Agencies retain version control of datasets accessed through this web page.

Secondary Use

You are free to:

  • copy, publish, distribute and transmit the Information;

  • adapt the Information;

  • exploit the Information commercially for example, by combining it with other Information, or by including it in your own product or application.

Data accessed through this page does not, and should not, include controls over its end use. However, as the data owner or authoritative source for the data, the submitting Department or Agency must retain version control of datasets accessed. Once the data have been downloaded from the government web portal, the government cannot vouch for their quality and timeliness. Furthermore, ICTA or data publishing organization cannot vouch for any analyses conducted with data retrieved from this web page.

Citing Data

The citation preferred by publishing organization for each dataset is to be included in its metadata. Users should also cite the date that data were accessed or retrieved from this web page. Finally, users must clearly state that this web page and the Sri Lankan Government cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from this web page. However ensure that you do not use the Information in a way that suggests any official status or that the Information Provider endorses you or your use of the Information. Furthermore you should ensure that you do not mislead others or misrepresent the Information or its source.

Public Participation

In support of the Transparency and Government Open Data Initiative, recommendations from individuals, groups and organizations regarding the presentation of data, data types, and meta data will contribute to the evolution of open data presented by the Government of Sri Lana. You are kindly requested to suggest a data set through this page or comment on the available data sets in the Open Data discussion board of the citizens discussion forum (https://www.engage.icta.lk/forum/index.php?topic=56.0).

Applicability of this Data Policy

No section in this Data Policy changes, or impedes the ability to carry out, the authorities of the Ministries, Departments and Government organizations to perform their responsibilities under law and consistent with applicable legal authorities, appropriations, and presidential guidance, nor does this Data Policy limit the protection afforded any information by other provisions of law. This Data Policy is intended only to improve the internal management of information controlled by the Government and it is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity, by a party against the Government of Sri Lanka, its Departments, Agencies, or other entities, its officers, employees, or agents.

Unacceptable use

You are prohibited from posting or transmitting to or from the page any material that is illegal, obscene, defamatory, threatening, infringing of intellectual property rights, invasive of privacy or otherwise injurious or objectionable.

This Terms of Use does not cover the use of: - Personal data in the Information;

  • Departmental or public sector organization logos and crests except where they form an integral part of a document or dataset;

  • Military insignia;

  • Third party rights the Information Provider is not authorized to license;

  • Information subject to other intellectual property rights, including patents, trademarks, and design rights; and

  • Identity documents such as the National Identity Card or Passport.

Disclaimer

This web page provides data sets which have been provided by other government orgnaizations. While we will use our reasonable endeavours to maintain this web page as current as possible, ICTA is not responsible for the currency or accuracy of content on or from such other websites. ICTA disclaims and excludes all liability for any claim, loss, demand or damages of any kind (including for negligence) arising out of or in connection with the use of either this web page or the information, content or materials included on this page or on any website to which it is linked.

The inclusion of a link to a third party sites does not imply any endorsement of the linked website or its content or provider.

Revisions

We may revise these Terms of use at any time. Any such revisions will take effect once notified through a notice at the end of these Terms of use detailing the respect(s) in which the Terms have changed. We may also elect to place such notice on this page.

Tracking of web page usage

If you visit this web page to read or access information or perform tasks, we collect and store statistical information about the visit.

This information includes the server address, top-level domain name, date and time of the visit, pages accessed and documents downloaded, previous site visited, and type of browser used.

Site statistics allow us to assess the number of visitors to the different sections of our website, identify what information is of interest, monitor system performance, and help us make our site more useful to visitors.