Peru has become the latest Latin American country to propose a bill mandating the use of open source software in government organisations. Brazil, Mexico and Argentina already have similar proposals in place.

The Peruvian bill is based on a document submitted to the Argentinean government last year, which was developed in conjunction with the free software community in that country and abroad.

The word 'freedom' figures highly in the text of the bill, with the ability to modify and distribute software being key arguments in favour of open source.

The facility to access and modify source code is another requirement in the proposal.

The open source movement is beginning to gain ground in Europe, with major companies such as BT and Banca Commerciale Italiana now introducing Linux into their organisations.