Shortfacts - April 2019

FOSS compliance

The use of free and open source software (FOSS) in companies is constantly increasing. However, license agreements must also be complied with for FOSS. TÜV Süd has developed a certificate with which companies can check their underlying processes and document compliance with the license agreements. Such a certificate is so important because violating the license agreements can have drastic consequences - from the expiry of user rights and the prohibition of further distribution of modified versions to claims for damages. The expiry of user rights can also have far-reaching consequences for the entire FOSS supply chain and cause lasting damage to the reputation of the software company concerned. TÜV Süd has developed the new FOSS Licence Compliance certification scheme to avoid this, simplify the verification of compliance and enable a standardized procedure. It is based on the OpenChain specification, which has been fully implemented. Based on the requirements of the OpenChain project, the TÜV Süd experts have defined the criteria for the quality, consistency and completeness of the FOSS supply chain. Hitachi is the first company in the world to fulfill these criteria and receive TÜV Süd certification.