Microsoft has opened the doors to a new “Transparency Center” in Brussels, allowing European governments to review the source code of its software to ensure it doesn’t contain any “backdoors” that might allow U.S. intelligence agencies to snoop on their data.

The center, which was opened last week, gives governments the opportunity to review and assess the source code of a range of Microsoft’s enterprise software products. They will also be given the chances to access important security information about the latest threats and vulnerabilities in a secure environment, Matt Thomlinson, Vice President of Microsoft Security, explained in a blog post. The products governments can comb through include Windows 8.1, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Microsoft Office, Windows Server Lync, SharePoint 2010 and versions of Windows Embedded. One would assume this will also extend to Windows 10, once the latest version of Microsoft’s OS has been released.

The main aim for Microsoft in opening the center is to “continue building trust with governments around the world,” Thomlinson added.

“Today’s opening in Brussels will give governments in Europe, the Middle East and Africa a convenient location to experience our commitment to transparency and delivering products and services that are secure by principle and by design,” Thomlinson continued.

This is actually the second Microsoft Transparency Center. The first one was opened at the company’s headquarters in Redmond, WA in June of last year. The centers were opened as part of Microsoft’s long-running Government Security Program (GSP), which was established in 2003 to help the company win over the trust of governments that wish to use its products and services.

That trust has of course, been somewhat undermined in recent years in the wake of Edward Snowden’s revelations about the surveillance activities of the NSA and GCHQ. One of the first documents leaked by Snowden concerned the NSA’s PRISM program, which apparently showed the NSA has direct access to all of Microsoft’s software via a “backdoors”.

At the time the allegations surfaced, Microsoft’s Brad Smith, General Counsel & Executive Vice President of Legal and Corporate Affairs, quickly denied the NSA had “direct and unfettered access to our customer’s data,” saying Microsoft only responds to genuine requests for access by law enforcement agencies when they provide an appropriate warrant.

Despite Microsoft’s assurances, the fact its actually opened the Transparency Center in Brussels would seem to confirm that many of its European customers still have doubts about its software. According to Microsoft’s Thomlinson, the center was opened because there needs to be “a high level of openness and cooperation between public and private sectors.”

Currently, there are 42 law enforcement agencies from 23 countries participating in Microsoft’s GSP. In Europe, participants include the Austrian, Czech Republic, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, Polish, Spanish, Swedish and UK governments, as well as the European Commission.

Microsoft said it will give governments access to more of its products at a later date, and plans to open additional Transparency Center in Asia, the Americas and Europe.

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