The Bureau of the Intergovernmental Council for IFAP at its 13th meeting in September 2007 requested the Secretariat to prepare an information document on the terms and issues related to open source and proprietary software in the form of a position paper. This document was presenteds for adoption at the 5th Session of the IFAP Council held at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France, from 2 to 4 April 2008.