Denmark is making the use of open standards mandatory in state, region and municipal governments starting next year. This was announced on February 23rd by Helge Sander, minister of Sciences, Technology and Innovation. His plan comes eight months after a resolution in the Danish parliament.
In the report "Use of open standards for software used by public authorities", Sander outlines his objectives for demanding the use of open standards. The main goal is to promote competition in the Danish software market.
The ministry also aims to increase coherence between IT systems in the public sector. It should as well give citizens and businesses a wider choice of software. "In contrast to closed, supplier-dependent standards, open standards are essential in ensuring that everyone will have the right and ability to use the standards, and that they are defined in a process where all relevant views are considered."
Open standards will be implemented gradually. The ministry however identifies an initial set of standards that are mandatory from January 1st, unless this would involve additional costs. These will have an influence on governmental IT systems used to exchange data between public authorities, on systems for storage, procurement and public websites, among others.
For exchanging documents between public authorities, the ministry proposes the use of either ISO standard Open Document Format (ODF) or Microsoft's standard, Office OpenXML.
Adhere or explain
Danish members of parliament reacted positively on Sander's plan. "It is a beautiful piece of work," says Morten Helveg Petersen, of the Danish Social Liberals. Speaking to Computerworld in Denmark he expects that public authorities will not find it easy to change their IT systems in time. "Time is scarce."
Social Democrats' Magnus Heunicke also expects difficulties in realising the plan. "It is essential not to have short term view. If administrations only look one or two years ahead, they will not see significant cost savings."
The ministry wants all public authorities to adhere to the plan. If open standards are not used for certain IT systems, the ministry wants an explanation. "It will be difficult for a public authority not to select open standards", says Petersen.
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Further information:
- Press release (in Danish)
- Use of Open Standards for Software in the Public Sector (PDF)
- Danish Government defines open standards (previous article)