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ADR 0010 — Distinct licences for software and CE-RISE data models

Status: accepted · Date: 20 September 2026

Context

The software repository uses EUPL-1.2. The CE-RISE data models vendored into it retain their upstream CC-BY-NC-4.0 licence. These are different artefacts with different licence scopes. Their inclusion in one repository does not, by itself, create a conflict or change either licence.

The repository-root LICENSE identifies the software licence. Without a separate notice, readers could incorrectly assume that it also applies to the vendored models. Equally, the models’ NC condition must not be presented as a restriction on all software in the repository.

Decision

  1. Application code remains under EUPL-1.2, as declared by the repository LICENSE and source-file SPDX identifiers.
  2. Vendored CE-RISE data models and their generated schema artefacts retain their upstream CC-BY-NC-4.0 terms. They remain in schemas/ce-rise/, with a separate LICENSE, NOTICE.md, upstream provenance and file-level licence metadata. The application reads the schemas as data at runtime.
  3. Documentation and metadata identify the applicable licence for each part; neither licence is described as covering the entire checkout.
  4. This decision does not propose or require a change to either licence. Any future relicensing proposal belongs with the relevant rights holders and would be recorded separately.

Consequences

  • Users can identify the applicable terms for the software and for the data models without treating the repository as a single-licence work.
  • Keeping vendored models and generated schemas together preserves their attribution and pinned provenance for reproducible validation.
  • The NC condition applies to use of the licensed model material; it does not change the licence of the application code. Users planning uses of the models outside the licence terms may need separate permission.
  • A separate directory and notice clarify scope. They do not resolve a licence conflict, because co-location alone creates none.

Scope of openness

EUPL-1.2 permits commercial use of the software. CC-BY-NC-4.0 limits uses of the model material to those allowed by its NonCommercial condition. This is a distinction between the permissions attached to different artefacts, not a reason to relicense either one. The project therefore retains the existing licences and labels their scope explicitly.

This ADR documents the repository’s licence boundaries, not a legal opinion about a particular downstream use. Questions about uses outside the stated terms should be addressed with the relevant rights holders or legal advisers.