Add funding acknowledgement for EU, Spanish Government, and Generalitat de Catalunya

[SilviaSWR]

Could you please add a clear acknowledgement section in the README stating that the contributions received financial support from:

• Generalitat de Catalunya
• Spanish Government (grant EQC2021-007479-P, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033)
• EU NextGeneration/PRTR (PRTR-C17.I1)

For example:

"This contribution has received funding from the Spanish Government (grant EQC2021-007479-P, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033), the EU NextGeneration/PRTR (PRTR-C17.I1), and the Generalitat de Catalunya."

This acknowledgement is required by the contributing institution PIC for funded work. No code changes are involved; this is a documentation-only enhancement.

For reference, see the contributions I made: #232 and #234.

[andamian]

@SilviaSWR - it's not common to have this in the README file. I see you've added the acknowledgment to the PRs. Isn't that sufficient for your purposes?

[SilviaSWR]

Thanks for the question. Unfortunately, having the acknowledgement only in the PRs is not sufficient for compliance.

As part of the mandatory reporting requirements associated with Spanish and EU public funding (i.e. administrative requirements), funded contributions (PR #232 and #234) must be acknowledged within the project documentation itself, including the official grant identifiers. This is documentation-only and applies only to those contributions, not the entire project.

README was suggested for visibility, but we’re flexible on location (e.g. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, CONTRIBUTING, or CHANGELOG), as long as it’s part of the repository. This is documentation-only and required for reporting purposes.

[andamian]

@SilviaSWR I must admit that this is the first request of this nature. Contributions, especially small bug fixes, are made in exchange for using the open source software for free. Adding your acknowledgment to the repo would not be fair for the other larger past contributors (and their respective agencies).

If you can indicate exactly what the reporting requirements are, maybe we can find a compromise.

[SilviaSWR]

PIC is a public research institute financed by the EU, the Spanish Government, and the Generalitat de Catalunya. We contribute to the scientific and software community to improve collaboration between institutes and researchers.

We are not asking to include the name of our institution in the code, and it is not a goal for PIC to be promoted or sponsored in your repository. As you can see, we only refer to the funding references (we are not the EU, the Spanish, or the Catalan Government).

The fixes — regardless of whether they are small or not — are part of a project that received public funding from European countries. In order to meet transparency and reporting requirements, we are required to report all contributions made with this public funding, explicitly specifying the corresponding reference codes.

This is not about promoting our research institute, but about being transparent regarding public funding provided by European governments. Since we are not naming our institution, which we agree would not be fair to other collaborating agencies, and we are only referring to the funding sources for our specific contributions, we believe there is no sufficiently compelling reason to disregard this transparency requirement.

With this explanation, I believe we can find a compromise. What about adding a FUNDING.yml file for your vos client specifying:

The contributions `vostools PR #232 <https://github.com/opencadc/vostools/pull/232>`__ and
`vostools PR #234 <https://github.com/opencadc/vostools/pull/234>`__ have received funding from the Spanish Government
(grant EQC2021-007479-P, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033), the EU NextGeneration/PRTR (PRTR-C17.I1),
and the Generalitat de Catalunya.

[andamian]

Thank you for the explanation. I understand that acknowledgements are commonly included in papers, presentations, and similar outputs to ensure traceability. I’m trying to better understand why this information needs to be included in the repository itself. Could you clarify where this requirement comes from and what additional benefit it provides?

A simple GitHub search for the grant number (https://github.com/search?q=EQC2021-007479-P&type=repositories
) already surfaces the relevant contributions. Would that not be sufficient for traceability purposes?

I also contribute to several larger open-source projects with many contributors, and none of them appear to follow this practice, which suggests there may be reasons for not doing so and for the funding agencies to not require it.

[SilviaSWR]

The obligation to specify the EU funds is established directly in EU law.
It is regulated by Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, which sets the common rules for EU-funded projects. You can find the official regulation here: EUR-Lex.

In particular, Articles 47 and 50 and Annex IX require beneficiaries and project partners to clearly acknowledge EU funding and specify the fund(s) used (e.g., ERDF, ESF+, Cohesion Fund) in all public communications related to the project.
Any public dissemination of project results must acknowledge the funding. A public GitHub repository counts as a public communication channel under EU rules. Therefore, this repository must include a short statement acknowledging EU funding and identifying the relevant fund.

This requirement applies to all project partners, including those based outside the EU (e.g., Canada).
Some of the EU funds are managed at the national and regional level. As part of EU-funded projects administered in Spain, the contributions of the Government of Spain and the Generalitat de Catalunya must also be acknowledged in any public dissemination of project results, including this GitHub repository.
This ensures full compliance with Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 and the applicable Spanish and Catalan implementation rules.

An example in a GitHub repository is: rexzhang/asgi-webdav#85
An example of a website related to the funds is: COSMOHUB developed by PIC
Both examples include the required acknowledgment of EU funding.

Hope this helps with understanding, despite the technical and legal nature.

[andamian]

Unfortunately, we are unable to accommodate your request. Please advise if the acknowledgement within the PR will suffice or if you would prefer to withdraw your contributions #232 and #234.