The Ministry of Digital Affairs (moda) has announced its promotion of a public code policy, which involves releasing non-sensitive government information systems or software code to the public. This initiative aims to provide transparency on how these systems operate, encouraging discussion, collaboration, and parlaying. Ultimately, this policy enhances the convenience and security of government digital services. Today, together with representatives from six municipalities, international digital democracy organizations, and private tech communities, the moda jointly announced the launch of the public code platform website (code.gov.tw). This platform makes government-provided code publicly accessible for review and use by the public and other government agencies. In the future, more government agencies will be invited to join the rally of public code, facilitating the advancement of Taiwan's software industry through public-private collaboration.

The moda explains that public code refers to the original source code developed by the government as a public good, open for access by all citizens. This initiative emerged in Europe in the 2010s and has been actively advocated by the free software and open-source communities in Taiwan. The moda's public code platform website went online today, offering 22 public code projects across 15 categories, including the front end of the open data platform. In the future, people can swiftly search for available public code on the website and download it directly, significantly shortening development time.

The moda's public code policy encompasses three main dimensions: regulations and guidelines, talent cultivation, and information systems. The public code platform website launched today is part of the information systems component. Other related support measures include training courses and administrative guidelines for government agencies, which are expected to be released by the end of this year to facilitate the comprehensive promotion of public code and ensure the sustainable operation of the platform.

Minister Audrey Tang stated that from today on, anyone who connects to code.gov.tw can directly utilize or improve code, continuously innovating and refining on the basis of existing code. This not only reduces the burden on government colleagues but also enhances the efficiency of public interactions.  code.gov.tw is like an information library, with its code resembling books that everyone can borrow to read and study. People can then write a thesis and contribute it back to the library, enriching the world. This is another value of public code, achieving digital resilience for all through public-private collaboration.

The moda stated that the public code policy has been echoed by some government agencies. For instance, the six municipalities have signed a memorandum of cooperation with the moda to collaborate on various supporting measures and jointly promote the public code policy in Taiwan. Today, Commissioner Shih-Lung CHAO of the Department of Information Technology of the Taipei City Government, Chairman Feng-yu Lin of the New Taipei City Research and Evaluation Commission, Chairman Zhao-Ming Wu of  Smart City and Community Development Committee of Taoyuan City Government, Deputy Director Hui-min Huang of the Digital Affair Bureau of Taichung City Government, Chairperson Shu-Tzu Chen of the Research, Development, and Evaluation Commission of Tainan City Government, and Deputy Director Chih-Ming Chen of the Information Management Center of  Kaohsiung City Government all attended to express their support.

In addition, representatives from the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom's Global Innovation Hub, the Open Culture Foundation, and the Mozilla Taiwan Community also attended and acknowledged the value of introducing the concept of public code through public-private collaboration. Sandra Lin, who proposed and participated in moda's Civic Tech Sandbox demonstration project last year, shared her experience in citizen participation in government service design. She expressed delight in seeing last year's administrative software code, which she assisted with, being made available for use by more government agencies through public code.