[Qgis-psc] Call for evidence - impact of open source

Mon Jan 26 05:19:15 PST 2026

Hi Regis,

Thanks for those examples. They are very concise and nicely worded.

I think QGIS is not a generic tool and can be linked with some of the EU
specific policies (e.g. EUDR, Data Spaces, Inspire) and highlight the
importance of it from those aspects.

The format of response can change, but first we need to gather all the
ideas/comments in one place.

Kind regards
Saber

On Mon, 26 Jan 2026 at 14:10, Régis Haubourg <regis at qgis.org> wrote:

> Hi there,
> I am following the freedesktop foundations mailing list [0],  which is
> dedicated to collaboration between open source projects.
>
> They pushed a response to europe with many interesting points. The form of
> the document is really nice to read and summarized with a short operational
> recommandations.
>
> A copy of the response here :
> https://nx57269.your-storageshare.de/s/XmF44Cqx96GKibf
>
>
> [0] see https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/foundations
>
> Cheers
> Régis
>
> https://nx57269.your-storageshare.de/s/XmF44Cqx96GKibf
>
>
>
> Le 21 janvier 2026 13:31:48 GMT+01:00, Saber Razmjooei
> <saber.razmjooei at lutraconsulting.co.uk>
> <saber.razmjooei at lutraconsulting.co.uk> a écrit :
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Thanks for your interest. I have shared with the interested parties a
>> document for the draft response. Feel free to share further and add your
>> comments/ideas.
>>
>> Kind regards
>> Saber
>>
>>
>> On Wed, 21 Jan 2026 at 13:19, Marco Bernasocchi via QGIS-PSC <
>> qgis-psc at lists.osgeo.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi All,
>>> I've also started reading this in detail an preparing some notes.
>>> @Régis Haubourg <regis at qgis.org> you had a collaborative MD hedgehog
>>> somewhere?
>>>
>>> I could dump my toughts there.
>>>
>>> Cheers
>>>
>>> Marco Bernasocchi
>>>
>>> QGIS.org Chair
>>> OSGEO.org VP Europe
>>> OPENGIS.ch CEO
>>> http://berna.io
>>>
>>> On Wed, 21 Jan 2026, 12:10 Régis Haubourg via QGIS-PSC, <
>>> qgis-psc at lists.osgeo.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi,
>>>> I agree too that we need to raise our voices. I had a deep look, and
>>>> fitting into European formalism is not that easy, but worth the try.
>>>> I also think that we should debate what could be pragmatically improved
>>>> with european public policies regarding our project.
>>>>
>>>> From my corner, having been on the side of public funder, contributor
>>>> in a company, and now benevolent in a research institute that uses QGIS, I
>>>> see these bottlenecks :
>>>>
>>>> - The IT culture around open source is very low, and many IT
>>>> departement, or even public market try to fit open source business into the
>>>> mold of closed source habits. Europe could improve things by a directive
>>>> that forces countries to change their public market rules to allow open
>>>> source service buying for any contract. This would secure a lot of
>>>> contracts. And allow those contracts to be more agile, because open source
>>>> moves fast.
>>>>
>>>> - The cyber stuff pushes us back into a vendor pattern, where we are a
>>>> lot more responsible of our distribution packages than the GPL licence for
>>>> our own code says.  This increases infra and administrative tasks a lot,
>>>> and only big projects can follow the flow and our obligation.   The CRA
>>>> open source stewardship stuff releases the legal pressure, but customers
>>>> will still treat open source as vendors and will expect the same level of
>>>> reactivity over disclosures. That means we need to secure our package
>>>> process, anticipate scanner issues, have a proactive security strategy.
>>>> That means more QGIS.org funded work in the long run. What can Europe do?
>>>> Find ways to secure the funding of open source stewards, but how?
>>>> Communication and budget helpers can help, but it is already done
>>>> currently. If we are in a new IT cold war, I would be in favor of a tax on
>>>> numeric giants that would be funding open source foundations.  The real
>>>> political question would then be the way this money can be redistributed (
>>>> I'd rather let the economy find its way and not depend too much on polical
>>>> choices, but I'm afraid that doesn't work fast enough) .
>>>>
>>>> - Github centralization fears me too. Funding codeberg sufficiently so
>>>> that they are strong enough to allow project have decent CI minutes, on par
>>>> features, so that open source project can grow without paying the AI/closed
>>>> system toll in Europe would also be necessary. An open source tool, with
>>>> one majors strong public funded instance.
>>>>
>>>> -  Renewing the motivation to contribute to open source in schools. I
>>>> think modern centralized IT platform, and AI move contributors away from
>>>> the project. I can only see a public educational program to mitigate this.
>>>> Open source basics, contribution basics should be pushed in educational
>>>> programs (in France, a team is doing a great job currently with a long term
>>>> strategy based on open source and commons :
>>>> https://www.education.gouv.fr/feuilles-de-route-450426 ) . To me
>>>> Europe should also launch a funded program alike the Google Summer of Code,
>>>> publicly funded.
>>>>
>>>> - Finally, Europe should push rules to forbid IT tools that block real
>>>> interoperability and lock users in companies in closed ecosystem. We have
>>>> shy initiatives around RGPD data portability. Europe should go further and
>>>> set up a "vendor locking" score, added to all the IT audits I see.
>>>>
>>>> @Saber if you take the lead to write something, maybe we could share a
>>>> collaborative pad to gather our notes and ideas?
>>>>
>>>> Best regards
>>>> Régis
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 1/21/26 08:49, Andreas Neumann via QGIS-PSC wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Yes - I agree it is important.
>>>>
>>>> It is pretty obvious for us (and the European governments), that the US
>>>> government (with a lot of influence on the US economy) is not anymore a
>>>> reliable partner. So I believe Open Source and other European software
>>>> alternatives to US commercial software where Europe is dependent on is
>>>> probably of quite some importance.
>>>>
>>>> PSC will try to submit something before the deadline.
>>>>
>>>> Andreas
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, 21 Jan 2026 at 05:20, Valentin Buira via QGIS-PSC <
>>>> qgis-psc at lists.osgeo.org> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hi Saber
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks a lot for bringing the topic, I submitted my feedback as an
>>>>> individual.
>>>>>
>>>>> Now I strongly suggest the PSC to do so as well for QGIS. Because from
>>>>> the way the call for evidence is worded, it is very obvious (and explicit
>>>>> even) that it's preliminary work for a new a new law on open source.
>>>>>
>>>>> QGIS has this unique ability to trickle down on so many disciplines,
>>>>> and in the end on the life of people
>>>>>
>>>>> *If the EU is putting open source software on its strategic road map*,
>>>>> this could mean securing new funding for QGIS. And it would benefit to the
>>>>> QGIS project worldwide.
>>>>>
>>>>> And it could also help to deter side effects of this future
>>>>> regulation. What I mean by that, it would be cool to avoid the same burden
>>>>> as the Cyber Resilience Act(CRA)
>>>>>
>>>>> P.S: The deadline for submitting a feedback is on 3 February, so it's
>>>>> getting closer. [1]
>>>>>
>>>>> P.P.S: I also recently suggested the creation of a Europe QGIS user
>>>>> group with potential perks for the EU [2]
>>>>>
>>>>> Cheers,
>>>>> Valentin
>>>>>
>>>>> [1]
>>>>> https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/16213-European-Open-Digital-Ecosystems_en
>>>>> [2]
>>>>> https://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/qgis-user/2026-January/055990.html
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> QGIS-PSC mailing list
>>>>> QGIS-PSC at lists.osgeo.org
>>>>> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-psc
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Andreas Neumann
>>>> QGIS.ORG board member (treasurer)
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> QGIS-PSC mailing listQGIS-PSC at lists.osgeo.orghttps://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-psc
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> QGIS-PSC mailing list
>>>> QGIS-PSC at lists.osgeo.org
>>>> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-psc
>>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>> QGIS-PSC at lists.osgeo.org
>>> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-psc
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>

-- 

Saber Razmjooei

CO-Founder

lutraconsulting.co.uk

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