The European Commission has approved new rules regarding open source software, according to which software solutions developed for the European Commission that have potential benefits for residents, companies and government agencies will be available to everyone under open licenses. The rules also make it easier to open-source existing software products owned by the European Commission and reduce the paperwork associated with the process.
Examples of open solutions developed for the European Commission include eSignature, a set of royalty-free standards, utilities and services for creating and verifying electronic signatures accepted in all EU countries. Another example is the LEOS (Legislation Editing Open Software) package, designed to prepare templates for legal documents and legislative acts that can be edited in a structured format suitable for automatic processing in various information systems.
All open products of the European Commission are planned to be placed in one repository to simplify access and code borrowing. Before publishing the source code, a security audit will be conducted, potential leaks of confidential data in the code will be checked, and possible intersections with other people's intellectual property will be analyzed.
Unlike previously existing open source processes of the European Commission, the new rules eliminate the need for open source approval at a meeting of the European Commission, and also allow programmers working for the European Commission and involved in the development of any open source projects to transfer improvements created during their work to open source projects without additional approvals. main job. In addition, a gradual audit of software developed before the adoption of the new rules will be carried out in order to assess the feasibility of its opening, if the programs may be useful not only to the European Commission.
The announcement also mentions the results of a study conducted by the European Commission on the impact of open source software and hardware on technological independence, competitiveness and innovation in the EU economy. The study found that investing in open source software on average results in four times higher returns. The report provided states that open source software contributes between 65 and 95 billion euros to the European Union's GDP. At the same time, it is predicted that an increase in the EU's participation in open source development by 10% will lead to an increase in GDP by 0.4-0.6%, which in absolute figures is approximately 100 billion euros.
Among the benefits of developing European Commission products in the form of open source software is the reduction of costs for society by joining forces with other developers and jointly developing new functionality. In addition, there is an increase in program security, since third-party and independent experts have the opportunity to take part in checking the code for errors and vulnerabilities. Making the code of the European Commission's programs available will also bring significant added value to companies, start-ups, citizens and government agencies, and will stimulate innovation.
Source: opennet.ru