Dr. Smith highlighted the significance of spatial information in the decision making process and hence stressed the importance of access to such information and the compatibility of information storage systems. This importance is further highlighted by the 2007 directive of the European Parliament and the Council establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE). This Directive is geared towards merging and stream lining policy – relevant spatial data and information. The paper analyzes the various provisions and regulatory regime of the Directive. The main focus is on interoperability as seen in Article 11, 13, 14, 15 and 17. Dr. Smith opined that the directive in no way aims to regulate the intellectual property rights regime applicable to data sets, information and services that will become available once the infrastructure is established; this is because the Directive has no influence on the existence or ownership of public authorities’ intellectual property rights. The speaker concluded saying that at this point in time nothing about the interpretation of the Directive is set in stone, because the framework will come into effect only in the year 2009 and the first implementation reports are due only in 2010. It is these implementation reports that will tell the world and the European Community whether IPR and charges for the services provided in the framework of INSPIRE can be solved in practice.