[FACIL] Canada signs MOU with UK on Digital Government, incl. Open Source and Open Standards commitments

[Gabriel Cossette]

Canada has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the United Kingdom 
concerning digital government:

"Our 2 governments have agreed to work together towards 4 shared goals: 
to provide better digital public services; to ensure that we support our 
citizens in using digital public services; to promote economic growth; 
and to use open standards for government information, data and software. 
By signing this MOU our 2 governments commit to working together to 
deliver improved government services to those we serve, and to do so in 
an open, transparent manner. I’m excited about the potential of what we 
can do.”

With specific commitments related to Open Source and Open Standards:

"1. The Participants have come to the following understanding. They will 
mutually support each other's goals to:
[...]
iv. commit to open standards for government information, data and 
software, promoting interoperability and the development of Open Source 
solutions that can be shared."

"3. They commit where possible to working towards and conducting their 
activities based upon the following principles of digital development, 
acknowledging that they will not be able to meet all of the criteria 
upon signing:
[...]
ii. open standards – technology requires interoperability and so a clear 
commitment to a credible royalty free open standards policy is needed;
iii. open source – future Government systems, tradecraft, manuals and 
standards are created as open source where appropriate and are shareable 
between members;"

https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/services/innovation/memorandum-understanding-concerning-digital-government.html


Gabriel