diff --git a/.github/scripts/merge-licenses.py b/.github/scripts/merge-licenses.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d56d064
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/scripts/merge-licenses.py
@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""Merge pip-licenses output with a SBOM into one
+THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.json file.
+
+Python libary licences created with pip-licenses (incl. LicenseText, URL etc.),
+all other system licences (apt/dpkg, apk, rpm, npm, gem, cargo,
+go modules, ...) created via Syft SBOM. Python entries from
+SBOM are discarded to avoid duplicates.
+
+Usage:
+    merge-licenses.py <pip-licenses.json> <syft.json> <output.json>
+"""
+import json
+import sys
+
+SOURCE_LABELS = {
+    "deb": "apt/dpkg (OS package)",
+    "apk": "apk (OS package)",
+    "rpm": "rpm (OS package)",
+    "npm": "npm",
+    "gemspec": "gem",
+    "go-module": "go module",
+    "rust-crate": "cargo",
+    "java-archive": "java (jar)",
+}
+
+# Ecosystems that are ignored by the Syft SBOM because they are already
+# covered by pip-licenses.
+EXCLUDE_SYFT_TYPES = {"python"}
+
+
+def load_pip_licenses(path):
+    with open(path) as f:
+        data = json.load(f)
+    entries = []
+    for pkg in data:
+        entries.append({
+            "Name": pkg.get("Name"),
+            "Version": pkg.get("Version"),
+            "License": pkg.get("License", "UNKNOWN"),
+            "Source": "python (pip)",
+            "URL": pkg.get("URL"),
+            "LicenseText": pkg.get("LicenseText"),
+        })
+    return entries
+
+
+def extract_license(licenses):
+    """Depending on the version, Syft’s ‘licence’ field takes different forms:
+    either a list of strings, or a list of objects with a 'value' field.
+    Both are handled here."""
+    if not licenses:
+        return "UNKNOWN"
+    values = []
+    for lic in licenses:
+        if isinstance(lic, dict):
+            values.append(lic.get("value") or lic.get("spdxExpression") or "UNKNOWN")
+        else:
+            values.append(str(lic))
+    return ", ".join(sorted(set(values))) if values else "UNKNOWN"
+
+
+def load_syft(path, exclude_types=EXCLUDE_SYFT_TYPES):
+    with open(path) as f:
+        data = json.load(f)
+    entries = []
+    for artifact in data.get("artifacts", []):
+        pkg_type = artifact.get("type", "unknown")
+        if pkg_type in exclude_types:
+            continue
+        entries.append({
+            "Name": artifact.get("name"),
+            "Version": artifact.get("version"),
+            "License": extract_license(artifact.get("licenses")),
+            "Source": SOURCE_LABELS.get(pkg_type, pkg_type),
+        })
+    return entries
+
+
+def dedupe(entries):
+    seen = set()
+    result = []
+    for entry in entries:
+        key = (entry.get("Name"), entry.get("Version"), entry.get("Source"))
+        if key in seen:
+            continue
+        seen.add(key)
+        result.append(entry)
+    return result
+
+
+def main():
+    if len(sys.argv) != 4:
+        print(
+            "Usage: merge-licenses.py <pip-licenses.json> <syft.json> <output.json>",
+            file=sys.stderr,
+        )
+        sys.exit(1)
+
+    pip_path, syft_path, out_path = sys.argv[1:4]
+
+    entries = []
+    entries += load_pip_licenses(pip_path)
+    entries += load_syft(syft_path)
+    entries = dedupe(entries)
+    entries.sort(key=lambda e: (e.get("Source") or "", (e.get("Name") or "").lower()))
+
+    with open(out_path, "w") as f:
+        json.dump(entries, f, indent=2)
+
+    print(f"Wrote {len(entries)} license entries to {out_path}")
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    main()
diff --git a/.github/workflows/third-party-licenses.yml b/.github/workflows/third-party-licenses.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e3b0c1f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/third-party-licenses.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,223 @@
+name: Generate Third-Party Licenses
+
+on:
+  workflow_call:
+    inputs:
+      dockerfile:
+        description: "Path to the Dockerfile"
+        required: false
+        type: string
+      requirements:
+        description: "Path to the requirements.txt file"
+        required: false
+        type: string
+      pyproject:
+        description: "Path to the pyproject.toml file"
+        required: false
+        type: string
+
+jobs:
+  generate:
+    name: Generate THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.json
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Validate inputs
+        id: validate
+        shell: bash
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+
+          count=0
+          source_type=""
+          source_path=""
+
+          if [ -n "${{ inputs.dockerfile }}" ]; then
+            count=$((count + 1))
+            source_type="dockerfile"
+            source_path="${{ inputs.dockerfile }}"
+          fi
+          if [ -n "${{ inputs.requirements }}" ]; then
+            count=$((count + 1))
+            source_type="requirements"
+            source_path="${{ inputs.requirements }}"
+          fi
+          if [ -n "${{ inputs.pyproject }}" ]; then
+            count=$((count + 1))
+            source_type="pyproject"
+            source_path="${{ inputs.pyproject }}"
+          fi
+
+          if [ "$count" -eq 0 ]; then
+            echo "::error::One of the inputs 'dockerfile', 'requirements' or 'pyproject' has to be set."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          if [ "$count" -gt 1 ]; then
+            echo "::error::Only one of the inputs 'dockerfile', 'requirements' or 'pyproject' may be set."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          if [ ! -f "$source_path" ]; then
+            echo "::error::File '$source_path' not found."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          echo "source-type=$source_type" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          echo "source-path=$source_path" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+
+      # --- Case 1: requirements.txt -------------------------------------
+      - name: Licenses from requirements.txt
+        if: inputs.requirements != ''
+        shell: bash
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+          python -m venv .license-venv
+          source .license-venv/bin/activate
+          pip install --upgrade pip pip-licenses --quiet
+          pip install -r "${{ inputs.requirements }}"
+          pip-licenses --from=mixed --with-authors --with-urls --with-license-file --format=json --output-file=THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.json
+
+      # --- Case 2: pyproject.toml ----------------------------------------
+      - name: Licenses from pyproject.toml
+        if: inputs.pyproject != ''
+        shell: bash
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+          python -m venv .license-venv
+          source .license-venv/bin/activate
+          pip install --upgrade pip pip-licenses --quiet
+          project_dir=$(dirname "${{ inputs.pyproject }}")
+          pip install "$project_dir"
+          pip-licenses --from=mixed --with-authors --with-urls --with-license-file --format=json --output-file=THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.json
+
+      # --- Case 3: Dockerfile ---------------------------------------------
+      # Build the image and executes pip-licenses inside the docker container
+      - name: Licenses from Dockerfile
+        if: inputs.dockerfile != ''
+        shell: bash
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+          docker build \
+            -t license-scan-image \
+            -f "${{ inputs.dockerfile }}" .
+          docker run --entrypoint sh --rm -v "$PWD":/output license-scan-image -c "
+            python -m pip install --upgrade pip pip-licenses &&
+            pip-licenses --from=mixed --with-authors --with-urls --with-license-file --format=json --output-file=/output/pip-licenses.json
+          "
+      - name: Generate SBOM from Docker image
+        if: inputs.dockerfile != ''
+        uses: anchore/sbom-action@e22c389904149dbc22b58101806040fa8d37a610 # v0.24.0
+        with:
+          image: license-scan-image
+          format: syft-json
+          output-file: sbom.json
+          upload-artifact: false
+          # upload-artifact: true
+          # artifact-name: sbom.json
+      - name: Merge licenses
+        if: inputs.dockerfile != ''
+        shell: bash
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+          wget -q https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mundialis/github-workflows/refs/heads/main/.github/scripts/merge-licenses.py
+          python3 merge-licenses.py pip-licenses.json sbom.json THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.json
+
+      - name: Validate Output
+        shell: bash
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+          if [ ! -s THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.json ]; then
+            echo "::error::THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.json not created or is empty."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          python3 -c "import json; json.load(open('THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.json'))"
+
+      - name: Upload THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.json as artifact
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          name: third-party-license
+          path: THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.json
+
+      - name: Upload as release asset
+        uses: actions/upload-release-asset@v1
+        env:
+          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+        with:
+          upload_url: ${{ github.event.release.upload_url }}
+          asset_path: ./THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.json
+          asset_name: THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.json
+          asset_content_type: application/json
+
+  license-scan:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    needs: generate
+    continue-on-error: true
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Download THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.json
+        uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          name: third-party-license
+          path: .
+
+      - name: Scan THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.json for UNKNOWN / GPL/AGPL/LGPL
+        run: |
+          set -e
+
+          FILE="THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.json"
+
+          if [ ! -f "$FILE" ]; then
+            echo "::error file=$FILE::File $FILE not found."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          # Python-Skript: scans JSON, raise warning und creates summary table
+          python3 - << 'PY'
+          import json
+          import sys
+          from pathlib import Path
+
+          file_path = Path("THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.json")
+          data = json.loads(file_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
+
+          # Expected format: List of objects with Name, Author, License, URL
+          entries = data if isinstance(data, list) else []
+
+          problem_entries = []
+
+          for e in entries:
+              category = None
+              if any(["UNKNOWN" in val.upper() for val in e.values()]):
+                  category = "UNKNOWN"
+              license_val = e.get("License", "")
+              if license_val:
+                  lic = str(license_val).strip()
+                  is_gpl_like = any(
+                      x in lic.upper()
+                      for x in ["GPL", "AGPL", "LGPL"]
+                  )
+                  category = "GPL/AGPL/LGPL" if is_gpl_like else category
+              if category is not None:
+                  name = e.get("Name", "")
+                  author = e.get("Author", "")
+                  url = e.get("URL", "")
+                  license_file = e.get("LicenseFile", "")
+                  license_text = e.get("LicenseText", "")
+
+                  problem_entries.append({
+                      "Name": name,
+                      "Author": author,
+                      "License": lic,
+                      "URL": url,
+                      "Category": category,
+                  })
+
+          # Warn-Annotationen for each entry
+          for e in problem_entries:
+              msg = f"{e['Category']}: {e['Name']} {e['Author']} ({e['License']})"
+              print(f"::warning title=License-Scan::{msg}")
+          if problem_entries:
+              sys.exit(1)
+          PY
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index fa893ef..16e1a39 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -221,13 +221,66 @@ The calling job requires the following permissions:
 
 Optional inputs:
 - `fetch_depth`: Number of commits to fetch during checkout. Use `0` to fetch the full history and tags. Default: `1`.
-- `fail-build`: Set to `true` if the workflow should fail when vulnerabilities above the severity 
+- `fail-build`: Set to `true` if the workflow should fail when vulnerabilities above the severity
 cutoff are found.  Default: `false`.
 
 The generated Docker or Python SBOM is uploaded as a workflow artifact.
 
 The vulnerability results are available under **Security and quality** → **Code scanning**.
 
+## Generate Third-Party-License list on release
+
+The workflow generates a json file with third-party-licenses as release asset.
+The workflow can be used with a `Dockerfile`, a `requirements.txt` file, or a `pyproject.toml` file.
+
+You can use it e.g. like this:
+```yaml
+name: Generate Third-Party Licenses
+
+on:
+  release:
+    types: [published]
+
+jobs:
+  generate-third-party-licenses:
+    uses: mundialis/github-workflows/.github/workflows/third-party-licenses.yml@main
+    with:
+      # dockerfile: docker/actinia-core-alpine/Dockerfile
+      requirements: requirements.txt
+      # pyproject: pyproject.toml
+```
+
+Provide exactly one of the following inputs:
+
+- `dockerfile`: Path to the Dockerfile.
+- `requirements`: Path to the requirements.txt file.
+- `pyproject`: Path to the pyproject.toml file.
+
+The workflow contains two jobs:
+1. `generate`: The generation of the THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.json file
+2. `license-scan`: A scan of the file where warnings will be given when a
+license contains:
+  * "unknown": this should be fixed if possible, you can use following commands
+  to update the THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.json
+    ```bash
+    # list all releases
+    gh release list
+    VERSION="0.0.0"
+    # view assets from release
+    gh release view ${VERSION}
+    # download assets
+    gh release download ${VERSION}
+    # TODO adjust THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.json
+    # delete old THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.json from release
+    gh release delete-asset ${VERSION} THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.json
+    # upload adjusted THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.json to release
+    gh release upload ${VERSION} THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.json
+    ```
+  * OR "GLP/AGPL/LPGL": these versions need to be checked for
+  compability with the other licenses, see:
+    * [Wiki licenses overview](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_free_and_open-source_software_licenses#Approvals)
+    * [compatibility-checker](https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/collection/eupl/solution/joinup-licensing-assistant/jla-compatibility-checker)
+
 # pre-commit
 
 ## Python Linting