Tech News European commission makes software available to all to benefit businesses, innovators and areas of public interest

Today, the Commission has adopted new rules on Open Source Software that will enable its software solutions to be publicly accessible whenever there are potential benefits for citizens, companies or other public services.

The recent Commission study

https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/study-about-impact-open-source-software-and-hardware-technological-independence-competitiveness-and

on the impact of Open Source Software and Hardware on technological independence, competitiveness and innovation in the EU economy showed that investment in open source leads on average to four times higher returns. The Commission services will be able to publish the software source code they own in much shorter time and with less paperwork.

Commissioner for Budget and Administration, Johannes Hahn, said: “Open source offers great advantages in a domain where the EU can have a leading role. The new rules will increase transparency and help the Commission, as well as citizens, companies and public services across Europe, benefit from open source software development. Pooling of efforts to improve the software and the co-creation of new features lowers costs for the society, as we also benefit from the improvements made by other developers. This can also enhance security as external and independent specialists check software for bugs and security flaws.”

Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel, said: “The Commission aims to lead Europe's digital transition by example. With the new rules, the Commission will bring significant value to companies, start-ups, innovators, citizens and public administrations by open sourcing its software solutions. This decision will also spur innovation, building thanks to publicly available Commission code.”

An example of the benefits of open sourcing is e-signature, a set of free standards, tools and services that help public administrations and businesses accelerate the creation and verification of electronic signatures that are legally valid in all EU Member States.

A second example is LEOS, (Legislation Editing Open Software), the software used across the Commission to draft legal texts. Originally written for the Commission, LEOS is now being developed in close collaboration with Germany, Spain and Greece.

All Commission open source software available in one place​

The Commission will make its software available as open source in one single repository to facilitate access and reuse. Before its release, each software will be checked to avoid security or confidentiality-related risks, data protection issues or infringement to intellectual property rights of third parties.
With this decision, many actions will be facilitated and improved:

• The dissemination of software under an open source licence will no longer require a Commission Decision.
• Where possible, Commission services will progressively review all software developed prior to the adoption of these new rules and identify the ones that have the potential to bring value outside the Commission.
• The Commission now allows its software developers to contribute to open source projects with improvements that they developed as part of their work.

The Commission already shares hundreds of software projects as open source, including software developed for the Connecting Europe

https://ec.europa.eu/inea/en/connecting-europe-facility

Facility, Eurostat

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat

, the Interoperable Europe

https://ec.europa.eu/isa2/news/new-level-cooperation-isa%C2%B2-building-interoperable-europe_en

Programme (Interoperability solutions for public administrations, businesses and citizens programme, the former ISA

https://ec.europa.eu/isa2/home_en

² programme), and for the Joint Research Centre

https://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/joint-research-centre_en

.

Background​

The EU's digital strategy

https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/europe-fit-digital-age_en

aims to make digital transformation work for people and businesses, while helping to achieve its target of a climate-neutral Europe by 2050. President Ursula von der Leyen has made the digitalisation of the Commission a priority, to help stimulate the digital transition and to ensure that the Commission leads by example.

These rules follow the Commission's Open Source Software Strategy

https://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/informatics/open-source-software-strategy_en

2020-2023, which under the theme ‘Think Open', has set out a vision for encouraging and leveraging the transformative, innovative and collaborative power of open source, its principles and development practices. The Strategy contributes to the goals of the overarching Digital Strategy of the Commission

https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en

and the Digital Europe programme

https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/activities/digital-programme

.

For More Information​

New rules on Open Source Software

https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/documents-register/detail?ref=C(2021)8759

The Commission's Open Source Software Strategy 2020-2023

https://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/informatics/open-source-software-strategy_en

Commission study on ‘The impact of Open Source Software and Hardware on technological independence, competitiveness and innovation in the EU economy'

https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/study-about-impact-open-source-software-and-hardware-technological-independence-competitiveness-and

Press contact​

• Johannes BAHRKE​

  Phone
  +32 2 295 86 15
  Mail
  [email protected]

• Célia DEJOND​

  Phone
  +32 2 298 81 99
  Mail
  [email protected]

• Marietta GRAMMENOU​

  Phone
  +32 2 298 35 83
  Mail
  [email protected]

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[mobi0001]

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[Feiyan]

I personally am not a fan of this sort of public hand coming in to have a role when end consumers can just decide on their own which business they support. The Commission clearly wants to be involved so their study would support that conclusion.. they are conflicted by interest, same as open source movements which are funded usually by the No. 2+ that wants to become the No. 1.

I know lots of people support Open Source - there should be enough space for both types. Apple's software was always tied to their hardware with zero flexibility for end-user tweaking and also a lot more expensive but no one had any real problems with that - if you like it, you buy it. So I don't see why Microsoft should get dinged for that - plus they never used to really care that much like an annoying nag, not until these allegations of anti-trust which are not anti-trust in my opinion.

Google shouldn't have to answer for the next search engine hopeful not getting visibility cuz everyone is used to using Google - it has first mover advantage and that's not anti-competitive in my opinion. You wanna overtake or get a seat - your product just has to be that good enough cuz you came after - this works in every other form of business. I don't hear MIcrosoft whining about it and they clearly have the most at stake vs. a new hopeful. Likewise, why shouldn't Microsoft be able to just set its Bing as the default when its part of Windows? You want some other engine, just download it yourself.

Why should be tech be any different from other businesses.