Pursuant to the Public Sector Information (PSI) Directive, the Geoportal evolved into the official geographic data platform of the Luxembourg State.
With the entry into force of the Grand-Ducal Regulation of 10 August 2018 concerning the publication of cadastral and topo / cartographic data, all digital information has become free. The design of the Geoportal platform was such that all requests from citizens and other users for geographic data could be made; also land tenure information can be requested via the Geoportal, even if they are not accessible and publicly available.
Before this regulation, every land owner, involved in an administrative procedure ( e.g. authorizations for constructing, heritage, subsidies) had to proof the evidence of his ownership by an official land registry document (Òextrait cadastralÓ) which was produced on demand. The Òextrait cadastralÓ was printed on paper, stamped and cost 3 Û per DINA4 sheet.
This type of document was available on demand, at the main office in Luxemburg-City during the opening hours. The alternative was a web based command tool with payment by credit card and shipment by mail. The advantage of this procedure was that the client could post his request 24/7, but the shipment was only proceeded when the payment was booked.
In nearly every case, this official document was needed for a specific administrative procedure, charging the land owner to provide and pay for an official document, although the administrative entity for which this document was produced could have a direct access to the information via the official land registry database.
In order to promote the principles of digital-first and once only, the idea was born to incite a maximum of administrative entities to control the land ownership directly via the central land registry database (publicitŽ foncire), or, if the entity is not qualified to have such an access due to data-protection obstacles, to introduce a free pdf-based digital land registry document that has the same proof of evidence than a paper document.
Thus the land owner no longer needs to visit the administrationÕs office, a simple web-based tool allows him to get a PDF document by email for free, thus reducing significantly the administrative barriers.