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Advice for commercial users

The Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS) and the UK Data Archive (UKDA) are funded primarily for the UK academic sector but are also committed to making data available as widely as possible, and facilitate access to data to users from all sectors. Because the ESDS and the UKDA receive no funding to service the commercial sector, any associated costs must be recovered. See Charges.

Users from outside the UK academic sector are not permitted access to ESDS International macro data (such as International Monetary Fund (IMF), Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and World Bank databanks) and most of the UK census data (from 1971 onwards). This is due to the data redistribution licence agreements with the relevant dataset providers/service funders.

However, commercial users can register and access a substantial proportion of other data in the Data Catalogue. To register, a UKDA username and password are required. See Login and registration help. Once a username and password have been obtained, users can use the Login link (at the top of every web page) to register.

As stated in the End User Licence, which users must agree to in order to register, data can only be used for commercial purposes with permission from the data owner(s) and an appropriate licence. Research is defined as commercial where it is undertaken for the private purposes of an organisation and/or where the primary objective is to generate income, as distinct from non-commercial research where the primary objective is to put material in the public domain for the public benefit.

The Help Desk aims to process orders within 15 working days and orders which involve deadlines can be prioritised. Because of the additional requirements associated with commercial use of data, users should try to order the data as soon as they know they are required as there may be some unavoidable delays.

A commercial user should use the Download/order links in the relevant Data Catalogue record(s) to place an order. A 'usage' should then be registered to provide details of the intended use of the data, including a description of at least 30 words. Once the order is received, the Help Desk will contact the data owner(s) to request permission for the data to be used for the stated purpose. If insufficient information has been provided it may be necessary for the Help Desk to request more details. In some cases data owners have their own form to request additional information about the commercial use of their data. Once permission has been received, the Help Desk will send the user a commercial licence agreement which should be signed and returned. Once this has been received the data can usually be made available for download through the web site or supplied on CD if requested.

UKDA can also supply tailor-made statistics on a cost recovery basis. See UKDA StatServe.