[smc-discuss] Fwd: [Openstds] DCOS Agreement on Procurement in Support of Interoperability and Open Standards emerges at 3rd IGF, Hyderabad

[Anivar Aravind]

Dear Friends,

Today, the Final Day in 3rd Internet Governance forum, Hyderabad we
decided to become an initial signatory of the "agreement on
Procurement in Support of Interoperability and Open Standards" joining
with its spirit. Also I like to share that now SMC  is a member of IGF
Dynamic Coalition of Open Standards. The quoted EU Interoperable
Framework definition  in the statement below is a bit different from
SMC's position we discussed earlier in this list. But since it is a
widely accepted one (Considered as Golden 4 point definition of Open
standards) and Indian policy is still on draft stage We decided to
sign on it joining with the major point "Procurement Policy in Support
of Interoperability and Open Standards"  after a quick discussion with
some SMC members over phone . See the statement below

Anivar

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Malini Aisola
Date: Sat, Dec 6, 2008 at 5:35 PM
Subject: [Openstds] DCOS Agreement on Procurement in Support of
Interoperability and Open Standards emerges at 3rd IGF, Hyderabad

http://www.keionline.org/blogs/2008/12/06/dcos-agreement-on-procurement-in-support-of-interoperability-and-open-standards-emerges-at-3rd-igf-hyderabad/


6 December 2008

At the close of the final day of the 3rd Internet Governance Forum in
Hyderabad, India, the Dynamic Coalition on Open Standards (DCOS)
released an agreement entitled the "Dynamic Coalition on Open
Standards (DCOS) Agreement on Procurement in Support of
Interoperability and Open Standards."

Under the procurement agreement, governments, publicly funded and
non-profit institutions agree to promote interoperability and
accessibility through the use of open standards.

>From Hyderabad: Malini Aisola and Thiru Balasubramaniam

---------
Dynamic Coalition on Open Standards (DCOS) Agreement on Procurement in
Support of Interoperability and Open Standards

3rd Internet Governance Forum (IGF)
Hyderabad, India
6 December 2008

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 an open standard,

Open Standards
=============

Given the multiplicity of interpretations of the term open standards,
for the purpose of this document we endorse as an acceptable
definition the position contained in the European Union's draft
European
Interoperability Framework:

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 EIF v2 draft (http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/7728))

As noted in the European Interoperability Framework cited above, open
standards or technical specifications must allow all interested
parties
to implement the standards and to compete on quality and price. The
goal is to have a competitive and innovative industry, not to protect
market
shares by raising obstacles to newcomers. Thus, open standards or
technical specifications must be possible to implement in software
distributed under the most commonly used open source licences, with no
limitations arising from patents associated with the standard in
question.

In addition to the above requirements, it is recommended that there
should be multiple independent implementations of the standard.

*Governments, publicly funded and non-profit institutions* agree to
implement the following policies.

Governments, publicly funded and non-profit institutions Hereby agree
to the following measures in order to promote interoperability and
accessibility 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.

6. By 2010, 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.

Signed by the following parties:
--------------------------------------------

Aslam Raffee, Government IT Officers' Council, OSS Working
Group,Republic of South Africa

Association for Progressive Communications (APC)

Bob Jolliffe, Freedom To Innovate, South Africa

Centre for Internet and Society, India

Eddan Katz, Electronic Frontier Foundation

Hamid Rabiee, Sharif University of Technology, Iran

Knowledge Ecology International

Moving Republic, India

Shuttleworth Foundation, South Africa

Swathanthra Malayalam Computing, India


Endorsed by the following parties:
-------------------------------------------------
Bangladesh Friendship Education Society, Bangladesh

Indian Social Action Forum (INSAF), India

Foundation for Media Alternatives, Philippines

OpenForum Europe


--
Malini Aisola
Knowledge Ecology International
1621 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 500, Washington DC 20009
Tel: +1.202.332.2670 Fax: +1.202.332.2673


--
Anivar Aravind
http://anivar.movingrepublic.org

Any responsible politician should be encouraging a home grown Free
Software industry because it creates the basis for future jobs.
Learning Windows is like learning to eat every meal at McDonalds.

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