Italy Is Latest To Promote Open Source Software In Public Procurements

Paul Brownell | OpenSource.com | January 22, 2014

In December, the Italian government issued final rules implementing a change to procurement law that now requires all public administrations in the country to first consider re-used or free software before committing to proprietary licenses. Importantly, the new rules include an enforcement mechanism, which can, at least in theory, annul decisions that do not follow these procedures.

Free Software Foundation Europe offers a succinct explanation of the changes in this press release: Italy puts Free Software first in public sector. Further details on the process and specifics of the changes leading up to their final approval can be found in an article on Opensource.com by Guglielmo Troiano, a commercial lawyer in Italy: Free software and comparative evaluation in the Italian Public Administration.