When it comes to the use of Open Document formats in the public administration of the Netherlands there is no law. There is the “apply or explain”-rule which among other things means that a public administration has to use Open Standards unless they specifically explain why they can’t. As this rule has no teeth, all you can do is to politely ask a civil servant to use Open Standards.

Which we did. The Antenna Office, part of the Telecom Agency, regularly publishes a document with all legal antenna systems in the country. They did this in a non-free spreadsheet document format. After a tip from Kevin Keijzer, I politely requested them to change this. I got a fast reaction, stating that after receiving several similar requests, they decided now to change to .ods immediately with their next publication.

More information on Open Document formats is on the Document Freedom Day website.