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This website was archived on July 10th, 2015. Our new site is available at http://www.openforumeurope.org

 


LATEST OFE STATEMENTS AND PRESS RELEASEs

OFE Press Release - Loud call from the European Parliament to reform EU copyright rules 

 

 

OFE Press Release - Political deal on net neutrality leaves many questions unanswered

On June 30, the European co-legislators agreed to a provisional deal on the text of a Regulation aimed at guaranteeing open Internet access and eliminating mobile phone roaming charges throughout the EU. The compromise reached on net neutrality will improve the current situation in several key areas...

Full text of the Press Release

 

OFE Press Release - A big step ahead in the EU Copyright reform


The long awaited own initiative report of the European Parliament, on the evaluation of the Copyright Directive (2001/29/EC), has passed the vote in JURI committee today, with 23 votes in favour and 2 against. All 30 compromise amendments have been adopted with a rather large majority every time, showing both the ongoing effort of the rapporteur to find a suitable wording for all political parties, and the MEPs' willingness to find a common ground for the ongoing EU copyright reform. OFE welcomes this milestone in the reform process, while waiting for the Commission's legislative proposal later in 2015. Although the final report is less ambitious than the initial proposal, it still goes further than the proposals made by the Commission in its Digital Single Market strategy.

Full text of the Press Release

 

OFE Press Release - EU once again fails to deliver on Net Neutrality

Net neutrality logo

In a vote last Tuesday, Members of the European Parliament overwhelmingly decided to reject the Council's proposals on the Telecom Single Market. In doing so, they have clearly affirmed that they will not accept the least common denominator proposed by EU Member States on roaming and net neutrality. This is an important decision – and OFE congratulates the Parliament for their firm stance – but one that brings policy debates at a dangerous deadlock. It also seriously undermines the intentions of the Digital Single Market programme itself.

Full text of the Press Release

 

 

Towards an Open Digital Single Market: OFE welcomes the Commission Strategy but calls for more ambitious proposals

DSM

OFE Press Release - May 6th 2015 - The Commission published today its long awaited and widely commented Digital Single Market (DSM) Strategy. In its Communication, the Commission underlines the aim to make Europe a more competitive and efficient global player, by laying the ground for its digital future. OpenForum Europe, the independent advocacy organisation for open technologies, welcomes

the determination of the Commission to take the required steps in order to go fully digital, ensure cross-border access to services and further develop the European e-society.

Full text of the Press Release

 


OpenForum Europe welcomes the European Commission's new Open Source Strategy

Open Source at the European CommissionOFE Press Release - March 30th 2015 - The European Commission has just revealed its updated strategy for internal use of Open Source Software for the years 2014-2017. OpenForum Europe welcomes this announcement, and congratulates the Commission for steps taken to make better use of open source. “Applied properly, open source software can greatly contribute to improving public services, and ensuring that the Commission retains full control over its ICT”, said Graham Taylor, CEO of OpenForum Europe.

Full text of the Press Release

 

 

COIS, the UK arm of Open Forum Europe distributes ODF toolkit for Document Freedom Day week

DFD logoCOIS Press Release - March 26th 2015 - A new toolkit is being launched to target faster public sector adoption of Open Document Format. Released today by the Community for Open Interoperability Standards (the UK arm of Open Forum Europe), the toolkit contains a folder of principles and infographic for Government Technology leaders to use in educating public sector workers on the options and opportunities for ODF use. This publication joins global Document Freedom Day week celebrations of Open Standards, which numbers 58 events in 30 countries this year. The toolkit arrives as UK Government moves to comply with use of ODF 1.2 across departments, following a change in Cabinet Office policy in July last year.

Full Text of the Release (pdf)

Link to the toolkit

 

 

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Blogs
openforum academy


OFA Round Table - What are the Policy, Legal and Regulatory Implications of Regional Clouds? 


OFA RT 26/11/1426th November 2014 - Time and time again people can hear references to "data Schengen area" or "fortress Europe". While some people raise concerns about the negative impact of such regional approach, others consider that reinforcing regional clouds might be the appropriate solution.

During this second event of the OpenForum Academy Round Tables' Programme, stakeholders from industry, European policy-making, academia and community looked at the policy and legal implications of regional cloud. To set up the context, Professor Millard described the historical context and the concept of "balkanisation" of the cloud and then he pointed out the difficulties of defining a "Europe-only cloud". Following his intervention, Mr Graux, the editor of the EU Code of Conduct, described the drafting work and the outcomes of this industry-led non-binding text. Before passing to the interactive discussion with an audience of more than 45 participants, Mr Troyon Rama represented point of view of the industry and conveyed IBM's observations about the shape of the European Cloud market opportunity as well as client feedback on what are their key priorities and concerns, majoring on how of new technologies are powerful enablers of innovation and economic growth.

Round Table Report (White Paper)

 

OFA Round Table : Open standards and open source in public procurement - from policy to implementation

OFA RT 05/11/145th November 2014 - Over the years, we have seen a number of policy initiatives promoting the take-up of open standards and open source in public institutions. But how effective are these policies in practice? How does the public sector ensure that they are effectively implemented and reap the benefits from greater competition, flexibility, and independence from any individual supplier? What exactly are the challenges faced in rolling out such reforms within a large organisation?

To explore these issues, we will invite four speakers from different levels of government to talk about their experience :

Round Table Report (White Paper)

 

 

OFA Round Table - Trusted Cloud for the Enterprise – what are the key factors today?

OFA RT 10/10/1410th October 2014 - The European Commission's Trusted Cloud Europe framework raises questions of trust and confidence in cloud computing. It seeks to encourage best practice and consensus building amongst both butt providers and cloud users. And it sets thresholds for public procurement. Much positive work has been done but there’s more to do. As the market for cloud services evolves rapidly, some burning questions remain for the enterprise butt market of TODAY:

Round Table Report (White Paper)


Procurement

Discriminatory practices continue to plague IT public procurement across Europe

 

For the fifth consecutive year, OpenForum Europe publishes a report on the EU Member States' practice of referring to specific trademarks when procuring computer software packages and information systems.

We found that almost 1 in 5 notices included technical specifications containg explicit references to trademarks.

These results clearly show that there is an entrenched and continuing EU-wide level of discrimination in the purchase of IT supplies. More than ever, there is urgent need for more transparent, open and fair EU and national procurement practices.

 Read more.....

 

In the UK OFE submits written evidence to Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) inquiry on Public Procurement.

Read Paper....

 

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