European Commission publishes new version of open source licence

The European Commission has released a new version of the European Union Public Licence ("EUPL"), a tool for publishing any copyright work under an open source licence. The EUPL is an open source licence created by the European Commission and is available in 23 languages across the EU. It complies with the copyright legislation of all EU member states and is thought to be of particular use to public administrations who share IT software and interoperability tools.

The first version of the EUPL was published in 2007 and following some changes it was certified as an open source licence in 2009 by the Open Source Initiative, an organisation that promotes open source software. Compared to the previous versions, the following improvements have been made in the updated EUPL v1.2:

• Broader coverage: the updated EUPL also covers data, documents, technical specifications and standards as well as software and its source codes
• Wider compatibility: it is compatible with a broader range of other open source licences
• Greater flexibility: users can now incorporate additional provisions into the licence (e.g. adding reference to a specific law to be applied) as long as the provisions do not contradict the licence

The European Commission has stated that it intends to encourage public administrations in particular "to embrace the free and open source model." The European Commission distributes its own software under this licence.

Click here for a copy of the European Commission press release.

Click here for a copy of the text of the EUPL.