FSFE
/
fsfe-website


			
							<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<html newsdate="2015-11-04">
  <version>1</version>


	<head>
    <title>FSFE submits comments on the European Commission's Digital Single 
      Market strategy</title>
	</head>

    <body>
      <h1>FSFE submits comments on the European Commission's Digital Single 
      Market strategy</h1>
		
		<p>The European Commission has set a goal to 
		make the EU's single market fit for the digital age by adopting 
		<a href="http://ec.europa.eu/priorities/digital-single-market/docs/dsm-communication_en.pdf">“A Digital Single Market Strategy”</a> which is aimed at bringing down 
		regulatory barriers between 28 different national markets.
		According to the Commission, a true Digital Single Market (DSM) 
		can be achieved by taking the following actions:</p> 
 
		<p>
		<ul>
			<li>Digitalising industry to a smart industrial system so 
			that all industrial sectors should be able to integrate new 
			technologies.</li>
			<li>Developing standards and interoperability in areas such 
			as the "Internet of Things", cybersecurity, big data, and "cloud".</li>
			<li>Launching initiatives on the "free flow of data" and a 
			European Open Science Cloud as a catalyst for growth, 
			innovation and digitisation.</li>	
			<li>Unlocking the benefits of high-quality e-services and 
			advancing digital skills.</li>	
		</ul>
		</p>

		<p>FSFE believes that Free Software is an essential prerequisite 
		for the DSM and can provide the desired innovative potential that 
		Europe needs in order to be successfully competitive in the global 
		ICT market. Free Software will help to achieve the majority of 
		goals set by the Commission in order to achieve a truly digital 
		single market. In particular:</p>
		<p>
		<ol>
			<li>By providing means to use, share, study and improve 
        software <strong>Free Software is essential to the digitisation of 
          all industry sectors</strong>, because it is easily accessible and 
			enables shaping technology and digital services according 
			to the specific needs of all actors across different 
			industries.</li>
			<li>To achieve the widest interoperability between services 
        that businesses can use and rely on, <strong>Europe needs standards 
			that are open, minimalistic and implementable with Free 
      Software</strong>. In order for emerging areas such as "Internet of 
			Things", "cloud" and big data to be interoperable between 
			industry sectors, Free Software must be implemented as early 
			as possible.</li>
      <li><strong>Free Software encourages digital thinking</strong> and promotes 
			research that will provide high-quality e-services and, most 
			importantly, will enhance advanced digital skills through 
			education.</li>		
		</ol>
		</p>		
	
    <p>FSFE, therefore, ask the Commission to take our recommendations
		into consideration when pursuing the goals highlighted in the 
		Digital Single Market strategy, and remove barriers for the
		widest adoption of Free Software in the EU policy. </p>
		
    <p>Please read FSFE's <strong><a href="/activities/policy/eu/digital-single-market-comments.en.html">full evaluation of the Digital Single Market Strategy</a></strong>.</p>
		
    </body>
    
    
    <tags>
        <tag key="front-page"/>
		<tag key="digitalsinglemarket">Digital Single Market</tag>
		<tag key="policy">Policy</tag>
		<tag key="europeancommission">European Commission</tag>
		<tag key="publicadministration">Public Administration</tag>
    </tags>
</html>