The Commission adopts new rules for open source software distribution

Read the full press release here.

On 8 December the European Commission adopted a decision on new rules for Open Source Software distribution that will enable the Commission services to publish the software source code they own in much shorter time and with less paperwork.

This change will enable public services, companies, start-ups as well as citizens to use and further develop Commission software, facilitating also the sharing of knowledge and expertise.

With new rules in place, some actions will be facilitated an improved such as:

• 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 decision follows the Commission’s Open Source Software Strategy 2020-2023. It is driven by DG Informatics (DIGIT) Under the theme ‘’Think Open’’ and sets 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 and the Digital Europe programme.

In a near future the Commission will also make its software available as open source in one single repository to facilitate access and reuse as another step forward towards thinking open.