Portugal has launched a public consultation to gather feedback on the revision of the country’s digital interoperability regulation. This is the first revision of the 2012 regulation, itself one of the outcomes of a 2011 law on the adoption of open standards in government IT systems.
The deadline for participation in the public consultation is 7 December.
Portugal’s interoperability regulation aims to define the technical specifications and digital formats to be used and supported by the country’s public administrations. “The use of non-proprietary open formats is essential to ensure technical and semantic interoperability, for interaction with citizens and companies and to gain the necessary independence from ICT suppliers”, writes Portugal’s Agency for Administrative Modernisation (AMA) in a discussion paper introducing the survey. “In line with European guidelines on interoperability, the regulation aims to contribute to the universality of access and use of information, and the preservation of electronic documents while simultaneously reducing software licensing costs”, AMA writes.
The discussion paper and the public consultation website list the proposed open standards. Examples include SQL for database queries, PNG and SVG for graphics, and PDF and ODF for electronic documents. There are also tables listing standards for electronic mail, for geographic information systems, computer networking and for IT security.
The consultation is hosted on Portugal’s Public Participation Portal. The website is one way that Portugal wants to involve its citizens in decision making, aiming to make its government more open.
More information:
Public consultation on the Digital Interoperability National Regulation (in Portuguese)
Discussion paper (in Portuguese, PDF)
Announcement by AMA (in Portuguese)