Commercial weather apps lose summary proceedings: Difference between revisions

In November 2024, KNMI revised their weather app, with the main focus on providing extreme weather warnings for public safety.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=KNMI-app |url=https://www.knmi.nl/kennis-en-datacentrum/uitleg/knmi-app |website=KNMI |language=nl}}</ref> The app comes without advertisements, has accessibility features and the source code is made open-source since January 2025.<ref name=":0" /> The app uses the open data provided by their own weather institute. The commercial companies that provide the weather apps in the Netherlands also use the data from KNMI. It is still an ongoing legal debate if the institute would be allowed to use their own data to provide weather predictions, as that role has been filled in by commercial market parties up to 2025. The KNMI seeks to revise the policy for public safety.<ref>{{Cite web |date=7 Jan 2025 |title=Wijziging in wettelijke taken van het KNMI |url=https://www.knmi.nl/over-het-knmi/nieuws/rtms |url-status= |website=KNMI |language=nl}}</ref> The commercial parties filed for an injunction of this change with the court.

The plaintiffs claimed that the revised app caused unfair competition with their commercial apps for weather forecasts, as it is offered as a free app without advertisements, and is publicly funded. That undermines their business model, as their weather apps use personalized advertisements to make a profit on their free versions. The court was not keen on the additional claims the NVWB made, the ruling states the claims would give the NVWB a co-legislative role on state policy, which is unfounded (article 5.17 of the ruling).<ref>{{Cite web |date=20 Feb 2025 |title=ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2025:2342 |url=https://uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl/details?id=ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2025:2342 |website=De Rechtspraak |language=nl}}</ref> The court leaves the revision of the policy up to public debate as a political decision. The ruling also states that this change in policy is not sudden, that the resolution to do so goes all the way back to 2022, and that the KNMI had been given the public approval to come up with a new policy proposal since June 2024.

=== NVWB's response ===

The plaintiffs were disappointed in the ruling, and a spokesperson gave a short interview on the matter to the press. A transcript with is [[NVWB response to the ruling in favor of KNMI|provided along with a side-by-side translation]].