diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index be4bb95f83d9e68a61eea9aa38f42e493e9a0437..55429bbed402e6368f39d989dcb8d4e0ed101564 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -136,19 +136,19 @@ Once your changes have been pushed to your fork, you are ready to prepare a merg
 All projects and files for an hosted project **MUST** be [REUSE](https://reuse.software/) compliant. REUSE requires SPDX information for each file, rules for which are as follows:
 
 - for files copyrighted by projects contributors (**"First Party Files"**):
-  - any new file must have a SPDX header (copyright and license);
-  - for files that don't support headers (for example binaries, patches etc.) an associated `.license` file must be included with the relevant SPDX information;
+  - any new file MUST have a SPDX header (copyright and license);
+  - for files that don't support headers (for example binaries, patches etc.) an associated `.license` file MUST be included with the relevant SPDX information;
   - do not add Copyright Year as part of the SPDX header information;
   - the general rule for patch files is to use MIT license and *not* the license of the component for which the patch applies - the latter solution would be error-prone and hard to manage and maintain in the long run, and there may be difficult-to-handle cases (what if the patches modifies multiple files in the same component - eg. gcc - which are subject to different licenses?);
   - when modifying a file through this contribution process, you may (but don't have to) claim copyright by adding a copyright line;
-  - never alter copyright statements made by others, but only add your own;
+  - you MUST NOT alter copyright statements made by others, but only add your own;
 - for files copyrighted by third parties and just added to the project by contributors, eg. files copied from other projects or back-ported patches (**"Third Party Files"**):
-  - if upstream files already have SPDX headers, they must be left unchanged;
+  - if upstream files already have SPDX headers, they MUST be left unchanged;
   - if upstream files do *not* have SPDX headers:
-    - the exact upstream provenance (repo, revision, path) must be identified;
-    - do *not* add SPDX headers to Third Party Files;
-    - copyright and license information, as well as upstream provenance information (in the "Comment" section), must be stored in <span class="title-ref">.reuse/dep5</span> following [Debian dep5 specification](https://dep-team.pages.debian.net/deps/dep5/) (see examples below);
-    - never use wildcards (\*) in dep5 "Files" paragraphs even if Debian specs allow it: it may lead to unnoticed errors or inconsistencies in case of future file additions that may be covered by wildcard expressions even if they have a different license
+    - the exact upstream provenance (repo, revision, path) MUST be identified;
+    - you MUST NOT add SPDX headers to Third Party Files;
+    - copyright and license information, as well as upstream provenance information (in the "Comment" section), MUST be stored in <span class="title-ref">.reuse/dep5</span> following [Debian dep5 specification](https://dep-team.pages.debian.net/deps/dep5/) (see examples below);
+    - you MUST NOT use wildcards (\*) in dep5 "Files" paragraphs even if Debian specs allow it: it may lead to unnoticed errors or inconsistencies in case of future file additions that may be covered by wildcard expressions even if they have a different license
     - in case of doubts or problems in finding the correct license and copyright information for Third Party Files, contributors may ask project's Legal Team in the project mailing list <oniro-dev@eclipse.org>.
 
 ### SPDX Header Example
diff --git a/contributing/reuse.rst b/contributing/reuse.rst
index 5e2b80d1ed4ff87b0e611af4197c68f22ce7a1c9..eed4d63ad8cb07206cdbdae9a80805b3c8e83a2e 100644
--- a/contributing/reuse.rst
+++ b/contributing/reuse.rst
@@ -18,20 +18,20 @@ compliant. REUSE requires SPDX information for each file, rules for which are
 as follows:
 
 * for files copyrighted by projects contributors (**"First Party Files"**):
-  *   any new file must have a SPDX header (copyright and license);
-  *   for files that don't support headers (for example binaries, patches etc.) an associated ``.license`` file must be included with the relevant SPDX information;
+  *   any new file MUST have a SPDX header (copyright and license);
+  *   for files that don't support headers (for example binaries, patches etc.) an associated ``.license`` file MUST be included with the relevant SPDX information;
   *   do not add Copyright Year as part of the SPDX header information;
   *   the general rule for patch files is to use MIT license and *not* the license of the component for which the patch applies - the latter solution would be error-prone and hard to manage and maintain in the long run, and there may be difficult-to-handle cases (what if the patches modifies multiple files in the same component - eg. gcc - which are subject to different licenses?);
   *   when modifying a file through this contribution process, you may (but don't have to) claim copyright by adding a copyright line;
-  *   never alter copyright statements made by others, but only add your own;
+  *   you MUST NOT alter copyright statements made by others, but only add your own;
 
 * for files copyrighted by third parties and just added to the project by contributors, eg. files copied from other projects or back-ported patches (**"Third Party Files"**):
-  * if upstream files already have SPDX headers, they must be left unchanged;
+  * if upstream files already have SPDX headers, they MUST be left unchanged;
   * if upstream files do *not* have SPDX headers:
-    * the exact upstream provenance (repo, revision, path) must be identified;
-    * do *not* add SPDX headers to Third Party Files;
-    * copyright and license information, as well as upstream provenance information (in the "Comment" section), must be stored in `.reuse/dep5` following `Debian dep5 specification <https://dep-team.pages.debian.net/deps/dep5/>`_ (see examples below);
-    * never use wildcards (\*) in dep5 "Files" paragraphs even if Debian specs allow it: it may lead to unnoticed errors or inconsistencies in case of future file additions that may be covered by wildcard expressions even if they have a different license
+    * the exact upstream provenance (repo, revision, path) MUST be identified;
+    * you MUST NOT add SPDX headers to Third Party Files;
+    * copyright and license information, as well as upstream provenance information (in the "Comment" section), MUST be stored in `.reuse/dep5` following `Debian dep5 specification <https://dep-team.pages.debian.net/deps/dep5/>`_ (see examples below);
+    * you MUST NOT use wildcards (\*) in dep5 "Files" paragraphs even if Debian specs allow it: it may lead to unnoticed errors or inconsistencies in case of future file additions that may be covered by wildcard expressions even if they have a different license
     * in case of doubts or problems in finding the correct license and copyright information for Third Party Files, contributors may ask project's Legal Team in the project mailing list oniro-dev@eclipse.org.