Axis 2 of the National Plan for Open Science, “Structure Research Data and Make it Available through Open Access”, states that the plan is to “implement a certification process for data infrastructures.”

Certification is a tool that attests that a repository is “trusted” by the people who use the data it makes available and by those whose data it manages. Some data repositories or services may not actually have formal certification but taking the certification criteria into account helps improve practices and the quality of work.

The working group will liaise as appropriate with the CoreTrustSeal organisation’s Standards and Certification Board and with the European FAIRsFAIR project which works on the alignment of certification criteria with the FAIR principles in the context of the European Open Science Cloud.

This working group is rolling out a first series of initiatives to encourage French data centres to go through this certification process and to support them in doing so. The 3 initiatives identified for 2021 are:

• Organising awareness and training workshops for CTS certification,
• Financing the registration fees for CTS certification,
• Developing a tool to steer the process and monitor the level of certification.

These initiatives are financed by the National Open Science Fund and their aim is to support the working group’s activities by accompanying the whole certification process of national data and research infrastructures.

These are tangible initiatives which can be implemented in 2021 and are based on the needs of the communities. An annual assessment will be carried out to evaluate the scheme and, if necessary, to add other support initiatives and a new dedicated budget for 2022-2023.