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Eclipse Foundation

The Eclipse Foundation provides our global community of individuals and organisations with a mature, scalable, and industry friendly environment for open source software collaboration and innovation.

Lobbying Activity

Response to Evaluation and Revision of the Chips Act ("Chips Act 2.0")

28 Nov 2025

Open hardware (specifications, designs, and code) is a foundation of semiconductor knowledge that is guaranteed to be available for any purpose. It can be used as-is for fabricating chips in the EU. It can also be modified to match the various semiconductor needs of the EU, or to optimise production based on the raw materials available or other constraints. The EU is already using open hardware in some situations to increase resilience, foster innovation, and provide multiple economic benefits, but there are many more opportunities that are not yet being used. We thank the European Commission for this opportunity to participate in the revision of the Chips Act. Below are our recommendations for how to achieve the Act's goals. (See attached file for full contribution.)
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Response to Omnibus Regulation Aligning product legislation with the digital age

3 Sept 2025

We appreciate the opportunity to provide feedback on the omnibus proposals for a directive and a regulation to align product legislation with the digital age. Free and open source software (FOSS) is, by many measurements, the largest category of software today. Europes IT systems and European innovation are powered largely by FOSS. Eclipse Foundation is the largest FOSS foundation based in Europe. In this submission we wish to highlight that care may be needed to avoid creating barriers to use of FOSS in the single market. We wish to note that we have not reached a position on all aspects of this omnibus. In particular, there are changes to the regime of harmonised standards and about the use of digital product passports. These topics are important to us but we dont have a position at this moment on the proposed changes. Information in electronic form The omnibus increases the importance of information being provided in electronic form. We would recommend adding precision about which electronic forms are useful and sufficient. For example, if information is provided in a non-standard form, or in a form which can only be read by certain software packages, to the exclusion of FOSS, this would create a barrier to the use of FOSS in the EU. One element of the solution could involve reusing wording which is already in the omnibus, that the information should be readable without the need to register or to download an application (or a specific application). The definition of "machine-readable form" may be a useful starting point, but may also need refinements. This term may also be studied in the European Commissions current review of the New Legislative Framework. Clarification of no intent to impede FOSS options It would also be useful to clarify in a recital that there is no intention for the changes to create a barrier to the use and development of FOSS in the single market. Such a recital would provide explanation for the above mentioned issue of electronic forms, but would also clarify the general intention of changes in the omnibus. FOSS gives Europe a lot of additional options for its IT and technology strategies. A clarification can be useful to explicitly preserve this opportunity and help avoid unintended harm. A recital could, for example, acknowledge that whereas the market has evolved and digital elements such as data and software are crucial to capture, create and drive value creation in the EU market, particular care should be given to regulatory impact on the free flow of data and software. It could adapt, for example, the text from the start of Recital 102 of the AI Act: Software and data, including models, released under a free and open-source licence that allows them to be openly shared and where users can freely access, use, modify and redistribute them or modified versions thereof, can contribute to research and innovation in the market and can provide significant growth opportunities for the Union economy. We look forward to discussing these topics with you, Reference contacts: Ciarán ORiordan Senior Policy Advisor Gaël Blondelle Chief Membership Officer
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Response to Omnibus Directive Aligning product legislation with the digital age

3 Sept 2025

We appreciate the opportunity to provide feedback on the omnibus proposals for a directive and a regulation to align product legislation with the digital age. Free and open source software (FOSS) is, by many measurements, the largest category of software today. Europes IT systems and European innovation are powered largely by FOSS. Eclipse Foundation is the largest FOSS foundation based in Europe. In this submission we wish to highlight that care may be needed to avoid creating barriers to use of FOSS in the single market. We wish to note that we have not reached a position on all aspects of this omnibus. In particular, there are changes to the regime of harmonised standards and about the use of digital product passports. These topics are important to us but we dont have a position at this moment on the proposed changes. Information in electronic form The omnibus increases the importance of information being provided in electronic form. We would recommend adding precision about which electronic forms are useful and sufficient. For example, if information is provided in a non-standard form, or in a form which can only be read by certain software packages, to the exclusion of FOSS, this would create a barrier to the use of FOSS in the EU. One element of the solution could involve reusing wording which is already in the omnibus, that the information should be readable without the need to register or to download an application (or a specific application). The definition of "machine-readable form" may be a useful starting point, but may also need refinements. This term may also be studied in the European Commissions current review of the New Legislative Framework. Clarification of no intent to impede FOSS options It would also be useful to clarify in a recital that there is no intention for the changes to create a barrier to the use and development of FOSS in the single market. Such a recital would provide explanation for the above mentioned issue of electronic forms, but would also clarify the general intention of changes in the omnibus. FOSS gives Europe a lot of additional options for its IT and technology strategies. A clarification can be useful to explicitly preserve this opportunity and help avoid unintended harm. A recital could, for example, acknowledge that whereas the market has evolved and digital elements such as data and software are crucial to capture, create and drive value creation in the EU market, particular care should be given to regulatory impact on the free flow of data and software. It could adapt, for example, the text from the start of Recital 102 of the AI Act: Software and data, including models, released under a free and open-source licence that allows them to be openly shared and where users can freely access, use, modify and redistribute them or modified versions thereof, can contribute to research and innovation in the market and can provide significant growth opportunities for the Union economy. We look forward to discussing these topics with you, Reference contacts: Ciarán ORiordan Senior Policy Advisor Gaël Blondelle Chief Membership Officer
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Response to Revision of the 'New Legislative Framework'

2 Sept 2025

Please see attached document
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Response to Revision of the Standardisation Regulation

21 Jul 2025

Free and open source software (FOSS) is, by many measurements,1 the largest category of software today. A lot of software is either FOSS itself, or includes many FOSS components. Eclipse Foundation is the largest FOSS foundation based in Europe. We welcome this opportunity to provide feedback to ensure the EUs standardisation framework provides sufficient access to standards for the FOSS ecosystem of projects and companies. Eclipse Foundation hosts the Open Regulatory Compliance Working Group, which also submitted feedback. We support their comments in addition to the comments which we provide in this letter.
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Meeting with Max Lemke (Head of Unit Communications Networks, Content and Technology), Pierre Chastanet (Head of Unit Communications Networks, Content and Technology)

14 May 2025 · The role of the Eclipse Foundation in open-source hardware and automotive software

Response to Technical description of important and critical products with digital elements

18 Apr 2025

The Open Regulatory Compliance (ORC) Working Group of the Eclipse Foundation thanks the European Commission for the opportunity to provide input to this draft implementing regulation. We take the opportunity to thank the Commission for the clarifications provided by the recitals which shine a light on areas that were a source of concern and confusion for the open source community. Additionally, we believe that the structure chosen for the descriptions in the annexes (which combines a short description with the opportunity to specifically include or exclude certain products from a category) brings substantial clarity while keeping the descriptions succinct. We commend the Commission for choosing it.
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Meeting with Max Lemke (Head of Unit Communications Networks, Content and Technology)

12 Feb 2025 · Exchanging thoughts on Software Defined Vehicle of the Future

Response to Rules specifying the obligations laid down in Articles 21(5) and 23(11) of the NIS 2 Directive

25 Jul 2024

With a desire to contribute to more representation of the European open source ecosystem in European policy making, we are grateful for the opportunity to provide feedback on this implementing regulation related to the NIS2 Directive obligations concerning Cybersecurity risk management & reporting obligations for digital infrastructure, providers and ICT service managers. As such, we want to raise concerns and propose a constructive approach to the challenges that such text - encompassing the software industry in its scope for one of the very first time - might create when it comes to the reality of European and global software supply chain and the development of open source software as an key element for European competitiveness and innovation. The document attached gives a detailed feedback on the draft implementing regulation.
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Meeting with Marcel Kolaja (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur for opinion) and Red Hat Limited and

30 Nov 2023 · discussion about the implications of the Cyber Resilience Act for Free and Open Source Software, its communities, and business models building on Free and Open Source Software

Meeting with Nicola Danti (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur)

9 Nov 2023 · OSS in CRA

Meeting with Nicola Danti (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur)

12 Oct 2023 · OSS in CRA

Meeting with Nicola Danti (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur) and Red Hat Limited and OpenForum Europe AISBL

24 Apr 2023 · Staff-level meeting on open source software in the CRA