Hi,
The Portuguese parliament (Assembleia da Republica) recently passed an advisory motion on free software (proposed by the Communist Party, but with cross party support). You can find the original at http://www.pcp.pt/ar/legis-9/projres/pjr255.htm. There is some (portuguese language) discussion of the resolution, together with the text of supporting speeches by other deputies in the ANSOL free software list http://listas.ansol.org/pipermai/ansol-geral/2004-September/
I haven't seen anything about this in any language other than Portuguese, so I thought I would translate it. The translation below is completely unofficial; I hope it's of some interest for the list, but you might want to get it verified by a native Portuguese speaker before using it for anything..
Best Graham ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Draft resolution no. 255/1X Recommends that the government take measures to develop Free Software in Portugal
1. Software plays an ever more pivotal role in administrative, political, and economic activities. As such it is essential to guarantee that these activities - which are fundamental for the development and sovereignty of the country - should not be subject to a monopoly of private bodies, and that it should be possible to guarantee the independence of the state in relation to proprietary formats and software suppliers who may close or discontinue their software at any moment. 2. The concept of Free Software is based on four fundamental principles of freedom for the user, defined by the 'Free Software Foundation' in the following way: * The freedom to run the program, for any purpose. * The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs. * The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor. * The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits. Access to the source code is essential to make these four freedoms possible. 3. Free Software, insofar as it guarantees access to the original source code, not only allows this independence but also brings significant savings when used in public administration, since it does not require the payment of licences for its use. It also allows it to be verified without question that the software fulfills only the tasks for which it was designed, with no hidden functions which might place at risk either sovereignty or the national economy. 4. Adaptation of the various resource centres for information technology, in the framework of the public educational network, to permit the mandatory availability of Free Software solutions for students and teaching staff. 5. Inclusion of material relating to Free Software in the definition of the various curricula and programmes for teaching of information technology in primary and secondary education, identifying in the curricula and programmes any currently existing references to products or trade names of commercial software, with the aim of their compulsory substitution by corresponding generic descriptions. 6. Establishment of research grants and support programmes for research and development projects; translation into Portuguese (converting into Portuguese the technical and scientific terminology involved); and application of Free Software solutions, in the area of higher education and research or scientific institutions. 7. Integration of the Free Software field in programmes for encouragement and support for technological change, especially for SMEs, as well as in initiatives for publicizing information technology to the associational movement (youth, culture, sport, recreation etc). 8. Interoperability between different computing applications is essential for the proper functioning of the state, and it is essential that these are not dependent on the proprietary formats of private companies. The initiative of the European Commission for the electronic exchange of information between administrations (IDA) gives especial relevance to the use of Free Software in this activity, having even created a Free Software Observatory. 9. The 'eEurope 2005' programme of the European Union recommends the use of open source software in various sectors, in particular e-government. 10. As well as take-up by public administration, it is also desireable to motivate private companies to use this software model, as a way of energizing the national economy and making it independent of private monopolies. 11. Free Software is a source of work for Portuguese programmers as it is for the micro, small, and medium portuguese computing enterprises; not only at the level of software development but also in providing technical support for these and other applications which have the same philosophy of implementation and distribution. 12. The use of Free Software in teaching not only allows a reduction of costs in the use of information technology, but also allows access to detailed information on the inner workings of the software used by computing students, guaranteeing an quality of opportunity in access since the student is not compelled to pay a licence for its use outside the school environment. It also ensures that the student does not become a mere operator of applications from any multinational company, but becomes a skilled technician, an essential factor in the development of the country. 13. Free Software allows the easy translation into Portuguese of existing programmes, since the translation is not dependent on the good will of the supplying companies, or limited by any kind of licensing.
Therefore, taking into account the reasons laid out above, Parliament resolves, under the terms of clause 5 article 166 of the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, to recommend that the Government carry out the following measures:
1. Assembly of a 'White Book of Free Software in Portugal', which (among other aims) evaluates the current personnel, surveys trials in progress, and defines scenarios and lines of intervention. 2. Development of a programme of definition and staffing of pilot projects for reference use of Free Software in public administratrion, in particular within the scope of the Unit for Information and Knowledge (UMIC), and of the Ministries of Culture, Education and Science, and Higher Education. 3. Creation of a support service, staffed by UMIC, for technical support to the implementation of Free Software solutions in public administration. 4. Integration of the field of Free Software in the area of incentives and programmes of support for administrative modernization of local councils, including in particular technical support, logistics, and training. 5. Establishment of mandatory access to source code and data formats in the acquisition of computing solutions destined for use by public administration and other government bodies, for the exercise of sovereign functions and other areas of strategic importance. 6. Development of an 'online library' which systematizes and brings up to date information on the range of Free Software solutions and applications, with particular attention to those in the Portuguese language. 7. Adaptation of the various information technology resource centres in the public schools network with the aim of compulsorily making available Free Software solutions to students and teaching staff. 8. Inclusion of material relating to Free Software in the definition of the various curricula and programmes for teaching of information technology in primary and secondary education, while identifying currently existing references in these curricula and programmes to trade names and products of commercial software, with the aim of their mandatory replacement by corresponding generic descriptions. 9. Establishment of research grants and support programmes for research and development projects; translation into Portuguese (converting the technical and scientific terms involved to Portuguese); and application of Free Software solutions, in the area of higher education and research and scientific institutes. 10. Integration of the Free Software field in programmes encouraging and supporting technological change in companies, especially SMEs; as also in initiatives to encourage information technology in the associationist movement (youth, culture, sports, recreation, etc).
Assembly of the Republic, May 26 2004