Parliamentary questions
2 December 2011 - E-011374/2011 - Question for written answer to the Commission Rule 117
Jan Philipp Albrecht (Verts/ALE) , Françoise Castex (S&D) , Marietje Schaake (ALDE) , Christian Engström (Verts/ALE) and Francisco Sosa Wagner (NI)
Copyright: European Union, 2011 - Source: European Parliament
Numerous EU public websites refer to proprietary software, like Acrobat Reader, as the only possible way of reading PDF files, and provide a download link. This is a case of direct advertising by public institutions, which creates a competitive advantage for one company to sell its products.
- Currently, on how many of the Commission’s own web pages do such advertisements appear?
- Could the Commission provide links to these pages, as well as names of EU institutions that have such advertising on their websites?
- What are the Commission’s reasons (e.g. financial gain, lack of other functional software, etc.) for advertising this particular software as the only possible way of reading PDF files?
- Have the institutions that have such advertising on their website explained whether they have tried other PDF readers before? Which software did they mention?
- What steps is the Commission taking to resolve this problem regarding a) the Commission’s own website, and b) the websites of public institutions in Member States?