Last Wednesday (9 September 2026), the European Commission published its proposal for the _Public Procurement Act_ , alongside a new _European Innovation Act_. APELL welcomes the proposals as signs in the right direction: public procurement is a lever for more autonomy in particular in the ICT sector, and **with Open Source, allows Europe to grow its digital sovereignty by leaps and bounds**. While the proposed procurement framework is broader than only ICT procurement, it has improved the possibility for the public sector to shift investments to Open Source, which contributes to public policy targets, in particular: * making public investment **more economically sustainable** , * giving public sector **more agency in choosing service providers** , including local ones, * making **solutions available for sharing and re-use** by other public sector bodies, * **contributing to European digital sovereignty**. ### Priority 1: Open Source over price The freedom to choose a service provider is implicit with the Open Source license freedoms. However, _with this great power comes the great responsibility_ to make sure that investments also contribute to the _sustainability and maintenance of the supply chain_. Therefore, procurement needs to **move beyond price as the main priority** and design award criteria so that a vendor's expertise, reliability, past and present contribution to the health of underlying Open Source projects are taken into account. ### Priority 2: Legal certainty and practical guidance for buyers Procurement officials _want_ to purchase Open Source. Many succeed, but some struggle. While it has been demonstrated repeatedly (see exemplary court cases on the right) that requiring or prioritising Open Source solutions in tenders is legal and possible in different European jurisdictions, procurers may **lack legal certainty and experience** in designing tenders to give preference specifically where this is justified by a product or service provided under Open Source licence, and where it contributes to broader policy goals, in particular digital sovereignty. We therefore recommend that the Commission further **encourage cross-border collaboration** , and to further **facilitate joint bids**. The **Public Procurement Act should be annexed with award and selection criteria** favouring _open_ digital sovereignty with Open Source. Such Annexes should lay down **award and selection criteria** following our suggestions made in the public consultation to the Cloud and AI Development Act and in the referenced OSBA selection criteria paper. ### Court rulings in EU Member States have confirmed the legality of mandating Open Source in public tenders * Contracting authorities can use **technical specifications** to require software/services be based on Open Source technology, licensed under an Open Source license, or be compliant with open standards and enabling access to and re-use of source code. * They can score offers higher from vendors that contribute to the maintenance and sustainability of the ecosystem and that provide such source code access, avoid vendor lock-in and enable re-use across authorities, or demonstrate participation in the ecosystem in **award criteria**. * Authorities can use **performance or service requirements** to require source code be modifiable by third parties or supported by a diverse ecosystem of integrators and maintainers. MAO 516/20 (Finland): City of Vantaa: Service procurement for vantaa.fi website, https://finlex.fi/fi/oikeus/mao/2020/20200516 MAO 559/18 (Finland): Cities of Mikkeli, Turku, Kouvola, etc.: Establishing a company (Koha-Suomi Oy) for the purpose of procurement, https://finlex.fi/fi/oikeus/mao/2018/20180559 MAO 580/16 (Finland): Kuntien Tiera Oy: Requirement in the procurement for using the open-source software oskari.org as a technical component, https://finlex.fi/fi/oikeus/mao/2016/20160580 Conseil d'État, 30.9.2011, 350431 (France): Regional administration of Picardy, https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/ceta/id/CETATEXT000025822155/ Case NO 122, 22.3.2010, Corte costituzionale (Italy): Government of Italy, https://www.cortecostituzionale.it/actionSchedaPronuncia.do?anno=2010&numero=122 ### Putting Open Source front and centre APELL welcomes the approach the Commission has proposed last week, **putting Open Source front and centre** in the Public Procurement Act on the one hand, and increasing the capability for Europe to **invest in the research and development of innovative technology** with the European Innovation Act, on the other. Open Source businesses deliver solutions that **build the solid foundation for innovation** in our digital public infrastructure, and that next-generation ICT professionals and entrepreneurs can build upon. By way of an Open Source licence, buyers receive the freedoms to _use, study, share, and improve_ a procured solution. _(Title photo credit: Colorful paper clips: Dietmar Rabich,CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)_

Attached: 1 image Only one month left until the Capital Series Cyprus arrives at @THE Cyprus Institute on 16 June 2026 in Nicosia. We’re delighted to announce that @Thibaut Kleiner, Director at the Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG Connect) of the European Commission will deliver a keynote address at the event. Register now and explore the agenda: https://lnkd.in/eVeNqFEh

_The EU’s Digital Omnibus proposal promises simplification. Conversely, it could lower data protection standards, and risks to undermine European digital sovereignty goals._ When the current EU legislative term started in 2024, the terms “simplification” and “competitiveness” were dominating the debate. In 2025, the Commission published several legislative proposals with the declared aim of increasing European competitiveness, by simplifying legislation. The so-called “omnibus” proposals combine changes to multiple laws. In the case of the “digital omnibus”, laws like the Data Governance Act, the Data Act, and the Artificial Intelligence Act (separately) are to be changed – even though some of them have been passed as recently as 2024 and to some extent have not yet entered into force. The most notable change however, concerns the European data protection regime: in particular changes to the definition of “personal data” in the GDPR and the possibility to re-use personal data on the basis of “legitimate interest” for AI are cause for controversy. In its digital omnibus, the Commission is proposing changes to the definition of personal data, with the stated intention to take into account a developing understanding of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for how personal information could be restored from pseudonymised datasets. However, civil society organisations like Wikimedia Europe, European Digital Rights (EDRi), and D64 are pointing out that the proposed changes go beyond the recent ECJ rulings, and would weaken the protection of personal data. The European Consumer Organisation BEUC considers the changes “extremely dangerous for consumers”, and the joint declaration of the European Data Protection Supervisor and the Board of European Data Protection authorities goes so far as to **“strongly urge the co-legislators” in Parliament and Council “to not adopt the proposed changes”**. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has become a landmark legislation, and has even lead to the term “Brussels effect” being coined to describe the extraordinary impact it had on privacy discussions around the world. The lower data protection level in particular in the US has led to several high-profile decisions of the ECJ with regard to data transfers. While the GDPR arguably created additional duties for businesses (or in some cases made existing rules more apparent), the **processing and storage of data in Europe have become prominent sales arguments** and contribute to the value proposition of products and services from the EU. The **GDPR’s high level of privacy and data security are an advantage and have become a trade mark for European offers**. Changes to the data protection regime as the digital omnibus proposes would **lead to a lowering of data protection levels** that could prove to be **detrimental to businesses that have invested in compliance**. In turn, the multi-national operators backed by the Trump administration, that have tried to circumvent data protection rules for years, and that occupy the top spots of the GDPR infringement and fines charts, would be rewarded. **The digital omnibus proposal risks to haphazardly undermine the EU’s digital sovereignty goals** when the control over data processing, and the protection and security of data lose relevance. The Commission is still collecting feedback to both the Digital Omnibus and AI Omnibus until 15 and 13 March respectively, so there is just over a week to send in your reply and point out that **the omnibus proposals must not undermine the goals of increasing digital sovereignty and making Europe more competitive in the digital field**.

Online discussion of the APELL NGI0 Commons Business Circle on how Open Source projects can balance community, commerce, and commons.

In its submission to the Commission’s public consultation on public procurement, APELL welcomes the Commission’s efforts and recommends a **shift in public investments towards Open Source** , and with it a **priority for the broader policy goal of increasing digital sovereignty** in the European Union. The Commission’s public consultation that closes today is the next step of the Commission’s effort to revise the public procurement framework. The set of laws has last been updated in 2014, and while ICT procurement is not its main or only target, the revision provides the European legislator with the opportunity of improving digital sovereignty along the way. Public procurement of ICT makes up more than half of global IT budgets. By shifting investments towards Open Source, the EU has the option of leveraging its strategic advantages for more digital sovereignty. APELL further recommends exploring buyer networks, joint procurement, and sharing of procured solutions, as well as public sector open source projects to make spending more sustainable in the long-term. Furthermore, the public sector as well as the private sector should establish Open Source Programme Offices (OSPOs) to institutionalise Open Source skill and knowledge. OSPOs establish a single contact point that can support Open Source procurement in less experienced authorities or companies. Read APELL’s full feedback in this PDF Download. _(Title photo credit: Münzeinsatz in Geldkassette 2011: 4028mdk09,CC-BY-SA/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)_