The Netherlands Economic Affairs Ministry said Government agencies were still allowed to use proprietary applications and formats, but would need to justify it under the new open source policy regime, the agency reported.
The Dutch policy states government organisations at the national level must be ready to use the Open Document Format to save documents by April, while state and local authorities must be ready by 2009.
The policy includes document formats, applications and platforms. Though cost savings are seen as an important, document formats are critical given archiving issues.
The new policy is seen as a move to relieve Dutch authorities from a reliance on Microsoft products and formats.
Though many cities and municipalities through Europe have implemented open source procurement strategies, this is the first national Government to dictate such a police.
AP quotes Netherlands Economic Affairs Ministry spokesman Edwin van Scherrenburg saying the plan was approved unanimously at a meeting of two parliamentary commissions on Wednesday.
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