A new law in Switzerland requires the use of open source software in the public sector. “Public money, public law,” says the Swiss government.

Switzerland has passed a new law that makes open source software mandatory. All public bodies must share the source code of their software. This is not only necessary for security reasons or when external rights apply independently of the project.

Under the title ‘public funds, public law The Swiss government wants to increase transparency, efficiency and security in its own operations.

EMBAG

The first step towards this change was taken in 2011, when the Swiss Federal Court made its own application Open Justitia available as open source. Developer Weblaw was not satisfied with this and took the government to court. After more than a decade, a proposal for a new law followed in 2023: EMBAG, short for Electronic Means for the Fulfillment of Government Tasks.

EMBAG not only requires government agencies to make their software open source. All new software must de facto be open source. In this way, the government hopes to increase the reuse of software and data.

The rest of the world?

It remains to be seen how the rest of the European countries will view EMBAG. Switzerland promotes digital sovereignty and pushes for more cooperation within government agencies. EMBAG must ensure more innovation through mandatory code openness.

The Federal Statistical Office (FSO) is monitoring the implementation of the new law. How organizations can comply with EMBAG and what financial consequences this will have remains to be seen. Switzerland is already making its intentions clear. It remains to be seen whether the rest of the world will follow suit. They will be watching with suspicion how the situation in Switzerland develops over the next few years.