Reference: compliance-grade attribution checklist by open-data source
Created 2026-05-22
The attribution matrix — required strings + limits + gotchas per source.
| Source | Required attribution | Limits / gotchas |
|---|---|---|
| OGL-Canada v2.0 | "Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada." Link the licence URL. | Cannot use government crests/logos; cannot imply endorsement; personal info + trademarks excluded. |
| Statistics Canada Open Licence | "Source: Statistics Canada, [name of product], [reference date]." Truncated form acceptable with linked reference list. | Cannot suggest StatCan endorsement or that you have private info about identifiable persons/businesses. Postal products are NOT under this licence. |
| ECCC Data Server End-use Licence v2.1 | "Contains information licenced under the Data Server End-use Licence of Environment and Climate Change Canada." | Third-party data inside MSC products may carry separate terms — check per-dataset metadata. |
| OGL-Ontario v1.0 | "Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario." | Same exclusions as federal. |
| U.S. federal works (17 USC §105) | No legal requirement; best practice: agency + dataset + retrieval date. | Applies to FEDERAL works only — state/local government has separate terms. |
| NOAA / NWS | Acknowledge NOAA; repeat "as is" disclaimer in derivatives. | NOAA name + visual identifier trademarked; cannot imply endorsement. |
| EIA | Cite EIA + dataset + retrieval date. | Free API requires registered key; throttling enforced. |
| UK OGL v3.0 | "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0." | Excludes trademarks, third-party rights, personal data. |
| OECD | Source: OECD + dataset + retrieval date. CC BY 4.0 default since July 1, 2024. | Some legacy/non-OECD-authored content remains under different terms. |
| Eurostat | "Source: Eurostat." | Some maps/images carry separate terms per Commission Decision 2011/833/EU. |
| World Bank Open Data | "The World Bank: [Dataset name]: [Data source if known]." CC BY 4.0 default. | Microdata + third-party-sourced indicators often have stricter terms. |
Common compliance failures to avoid:
- Using government logos/wordmarks on dashboards (uniformly prohibited)
- Implying endorsement by visual proximity ("Our partners: StatCan, EIA")
- Republishing data under your own copyright notice without acknowledging the public source
- Linking individual people to aggregate data ("This neighborhood's average household income" + a named address)
Depends on
- reference OGL-Canada v2.0: worldwide royalty-free perpetual licence for commercial use
- reference Statistics Canada Open Licence: explicitly permits "use, reproduce, publish, freely distribute, or sell value-added products"
- reference ECCC/MSC Open Data: free anonymous access to weather/climate/water via OGC-compliant GeoMet APIs
- reference NOAA/NWS: information on NWS web servers is in the public domain — no attribution required, provided "as is"
- reference U.S. EIA APIv2: free registered-key access to petroleum/electricity/gas/coal/STEO/AEO data; WPSR releases 10:30 AM ET Wednesdays
- reference International open-data licences (2026): UK OGL v3, OECD CC BY 4.0, Eurostat, World Bank
Referenced by (3)
- rule RULE: Build Candid client data products on official open-data feeds — never on scraped sources depends-on
- rule RULE: Every Candid data product carries source attribution per the [[attribution-checklist-by-source]]. Mis-attribution terminates the licence. depends-on
- reference Research brief: Public data as a private moat — building proprietary intelligence from government open data (piece 11 of 15) relates-to