Three smart phone and tablet applications recently developed by Germany's Finance Ministry will not be made available as open source, according to a spokesperson. "We would obviously be willing to supply information about the apps to interested public agencies, such as customs administrations of other EU countries."

This summer the ministry made available three apps that can be used on Android phones and Apple Iphones. The first app, unveiled in May, Zoll und Reise, (customs and travel) helps users determine which goods need to be cleared with German customs, or can be legally imported. The second app, AKfz-Steuer (motor vehicle tax), calculates vehicle taxes. And in August the ministry published BMF-news, a financial news reader.

The Finance Ministry is in the process of making all of the applications also available for tablet computers running Android or Apple iOS.

A spokesperson for the ministry said that the source code of the apps would be of little use, because the applications focus only on Germany.

Asked to comment, Bart Hanssens, an expert on interoperability and open data at Fedict, Belgium's federal IT service, expressed his appreciation for the ministry's willingness to share the solution with interested other public administrations. "I assume that Germany does not have a law or a policy that requires public administrations to publish its software applications as open source. If the data used for these applications is available, maybe a third party can make an open source application."

More information:
Android apps by Bundesministerium der Finanzen
Apple links to the apps by Bundesministerium der Finanzen