4th
open standards coalition
Just finished the open standards coalition sessiona at the IGF. this is the input that was presented at the workshop.
The following is a draft of a possible agreement on interoperability and open standards.
Agreement on Procurement and Support for Interoperability and Open Standards
3 December 2008
Version 1.1
Preamble
The Contracting Parties,
Recalling the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Declaration of Principles which states that “[i]nternational standards aim to create an environment where consumers can access services worldwide regardless of underlying technology,”
Recognizing that standards are increasingly global concerns, involving goods and services that move in international trade across borders,
Aware that current competition and legal remedies may not be enough to solve the inherent tensions that routinely arise in the realm of patents and standards,
Desirous of encouraging procurement policies that require evaluation of multiple, competing products based on open ICT standards in order to ensure a level playing field for vendors,governments and consumers,
Cognizant of the need for procurement policies for software programs that are predicated upon open standards,
Open Standards
Given the multiplicity of interpretations of the term open standards, for the purpose of this document we endorse the position taken by the European Union:
1) The open standard is adopted and will be maintained by a not-for-profit organisation, and its ongoing development occurs on the basis of an open decision-making procedure available to all interested parties (consensus or majority decision etc.).
2) The open standard has been published and the standard specification document is available either freely or at a nominal charge. It must be permissible to all to copy, distribute and use it for no fee or at a nominal fee.
3) The intellectual property - i.e. patents possibly present - of (parts of) the open standard is made irrevocably available on a royalty free basis.
4) There are no constraints on the re-use of the standard.
(IDABC draft EIF v2 (http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/7728))
(To this definition we would like to add that it would be beneficial if there were multiple implementations of the standard.)
Governments, Businesses and Non-Profit Institutions agree to implement the following policies.
Governments. public funded and non-profit institutions
Hereby agree to the following measures in order to promote interoperability and accessibilty through the use of open standards.
1. To create a policy statement on interoperability and open standards, to be available to employees and the public.
2. By 2010, procurement of all software should be vendor neutral and implement open standards
3. By 2010, tender specifications for hardware (including peripherals and mobile devices) should require that manufacturers provide the driver and interface information necessary to work with a reasonable range of proprietary and free operating system platforms.
4. By 2010, all public facing web pages should conform to W3C standards for structure, presentation and accessibility
5. By 2010, tenders for the supply of web based services (for example, online reservations) must specify the requirements of point 4.
5. By 2011, agencies should implement policies regarding the storage and archiving of government data and records to ensure that data is stored in open data and document formats.
