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At the workshop on herbarium digitisation held in Chania, Greece, in January of 2005, the participants agreed to issue a statement about the importance of free and open data access.

This statement calls on scientists, politicians and funding agencies to be proactive in the recognition of the importance of access to data for both science and decision-making.

Further, the statement calls on employers of scientists and editors of scientific journals to promote the on-line availability of data by rewarding on-line publication and encouraging public domain data sharing.

The statement is based on the Ocean Biodiversity Informatics Conference Statement that was developed in Hamburg, Germany, at the International Conference on Marine Biodiversity Data Management (29 November to 1 December 2004).

The advantages of free and open data sharing have been documented during the development of many data exchange policies because access to data is essential for the conduct and advancement of science. The members of an OECD Follow-up Group recently published findings that demonstrate that the data resulting from publicly funded research should be required to be accessible to the public.

Both the Ocean Biodiversity Informatics Conference Statement and the ENBI - GBIF Workshop Statement emphasise the importance of free and open access to data.

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