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by Sukera 786 days ago
It doesn't only cover pure hobby projects:

> (10c) the mere fact that an open-source software product receives financial support by manufacturers or that manufacturers contribute to the development of such a product should not in itself determine that the activity is of commercial nature.

> (10) Accepting donations without the intention of making a profit should not be considered to be a commercial activity.

> (10c).. for the purpose of this Regulation, the development of products qualifying as free and open-source software by not-for-profit organisations should not be considered a commercial activity as long as the organisation is set up in a way that ensures that all earnings after cost are used to achieve not-for-profit objectives.

See https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/eu-cra-what-does-it-mean-f...
2 comments
graemep 786 days ago
More than hobby, you are correct. I should have said "completely unrelated to commercial activity"

That is still a problem: https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/eu-cra-what-does-it-mean-f...

> the mere fact that an open-source software product receives financial support by manufacturers or that manufacturers contribute to the development of such a product should not in itself determine that the activity is of commercial nature.

That just means that a business can donate to a non-profit project. Such a business would still need to not profit from the project in anyway. Why would a business help develop something it does not profit from?

> for the purpose of this Regulation, the development of products qualifying as free and open-source software by not-for-profit organisations should not be considered a commercial activity as long as the organisation is set up in a way that ensures that all earnings after cost are used to achieve not-for-profit objectives

So again, an organisation can, provided it no profit.

These are very narrow exemptions.

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temac 786 days ago
To be clear "related consultancy or hosting business" is still commercial.

The notion of "accepting donations without the intention of making a profit" seems insane, too.

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graemep 786 days ago
The idea is that you can accept donations to cover the costs, but not beyond that.

So an organisation can pay developers to work on it, cover hosting costs etc. but they have to be careful not to accept donations for more than that. A non-profit can accept more provided it is used for the right objects.

I have no idea (neither does the author of the article) where that leaves an individual developer who accepts donations to cover the value of their time.

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