Hasty Briefsbeta

European Union Public Licence (EUPL)

3 hours ago
  • #Open Source Licence
  • #European Commission
  • #EUPL
  • The EUPL (European Union Public Licence) was first drafted in June 2005 and underwent public consultation, leading to significant modifications.
  • The final version (v1.0) was approved on 9 January 2007, with subsequent updates in 2008 (v1.1) and 2017 (v1.2) to include all official EU languages and clarify specific points.
  • The EUPL was created to distribute software owned by the European Commission and other EU institutions under a Free/Open Source Licence that complies with European law.
  • The EUPL is a copyleft licence, ensuring that software improvements by third parties cannot be exclusively appropriated.
  • The EUPL includes a compatibility clause, allowing integration with other copyleft licences like the GPL, though relicensing original EUPL-licensed software under the GPL is not permitted.
  • The licence is designed for broader use beyond public administrations, though it is particularly suited for mutualising or sharing software and knowledge among public sector entities.