EU Commission makes software publicly available through open source

This week, the European Commission (EC) has adopted new rules on Open Source software. According to the EC, the new rules will enable its software solutions to be publicly accessible whenever there are potential benefits for citizens, companies or other public services. A recent EC study had shown that investment in open source software has an average of four times higher returns.

The Commission will make its software available as open source in one single repository to facilitate access and reuse. Before its release, each piece of source code will be checked to avoid security or confidentiality-related risks, data protection issues or the infringement of intellectual property rights of third parties.

This decision is part of the EC's Open Source Software Strategy 2020-2023, which has set out a vision for encouraging and leveraging the transformative, innovative and collaborative potential of open source.