Industry groups criticized and praised on Monday what they consider is a bias in favor of open-source software in the European Commission's plans to update the rules governing industry standard technologies.

The Commission set out a plan for a complete makeover of the rules last week, a move it said was essential if European information and communication technology (ICT) is to remain relevant and globally competitive.

Currently, government bodies are limited in their choice of ICT suppliers to ones that are registered with a short list of recognized standards organizations, including ISO, the International Standards Organization, its European equivalents the ESOs and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

The private sector has moved beyond this short list.