diff --git a/utils/spdx/src/main/kotlin/SpdxExpression.kt b/utils/spdx/src/main/kotlin/SpdxExpression.kt
index 24069a3c2a8ac..45104948ee27d 100644
--- a/utils/spdx/src/main/kotlin/SpdxExpression.kt
+++ b/utils/spdx/src/main/kotlin/SpdxExpression.kt
@@ -113,6 +113,11 @@ sealed class SpdxExpression {
      */
     abstract fun normalize(mapDeprecated: Boolean = true): SpdxExpression
 
+    /**
+     * Return a simplified expression that has e.g. redundancies removed.
+     */
+    open fun simplify(): SpdxExpression = this
+
     /**
      * Return this expression sorted lexicographically.
      */
@@ -244,6 +249,21 @@ class SpdxCompoundExpression(
     override fun normalize(mapDeprecated: Boolean) =
         SpdxCompoundExpression(operator, children.map { it.normalize(mapDeprecated) })
 
+    override fun simplify(): SpdxExpression {
+        val flattenedChildren = children.flatMapTo(mutableSetOf()) { child ->
+            val simplifiedChild = child.simplify()
+
+            if (simplifiedChild is SpdxCompoundExpression && simplifiedChild.operator == operator) {
+                // Inline nested children of the same operator.
+                simplifiedChild.children.map { it.simplify() }
+            } else {
+                setOf(simplifiedChild)
+            }
+        }
+
+        return flattenedChildren.singleOrNull() ?: SpdxCompoundExpression(operator, flattenedChildren)
+    }
+
     override fun sorted(): SpdxExpression {
         /**
          * Get all transitive children of this expression that are concatenated with the same operator as this compound
diff --git a/utils/spdx/src/test/kotlin/SpdxCompoundExpressionTest.kt b/utils/spdx/src/test/kotlin/SpdxCompoundExpressionTest.kt
index 8de3ba0b320bd..7c3f93479fc41 100644
--- a/utils/spdx/src/test/kotlin/SpdxCompoundExpressionTest.kt
+++ b/utils/spdx/src/test/kotlin/SpdxCompoundExpressionTest.kt
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ package org.ossreviewtoolkit.utils.spdx
 
 import io.kotest.assertions.throwables.shouldThrow
 import io.kotest.core.spec.style.WordSpec
+import io.kotest.matchers.shouldBe
 
 class SpdxCompoundExpressionTest : WordSpec({
     "Creating a compound expression" should {
@@ -34,4 +35,49 @@ class SpdxCompoundExpressionTest : WordSpec({
             }
         }
     }
+
+    "Simplifying a compound expression" should {
+        "inline nested children of the same operator" {
+            val expression = SpdxCompoundExpression(
+                SpdxOperator.AND,
+                listOf(
+                    SpdxCompoundExpression(
+                        SpdxOperator.AND,
+                        listOf(
+                            SpdxLicenseIdExpression("MIT"),
+                            SpdxCompoundExpression(
+                                SpdxOperator.AND,
+                                listOf(
+                                    SpdxLicenseIdExpression("MIT"),
+                                    SpdxLicenseIdExpression("Apache-2.0")
+                                )
+                            )
+                        )
+                    ),
+                    SpdxLicenseIdExpression("Apache-2.0")
+                )
+            )
+
+            // Compare string representations to not rely on semantic equality.
+            expression.simplify().toString() shouldBe SpdxCompoundExpression(
+                SpdxOperator.AND,
+                listOf(
+                    SpdxLicenseIdExpression("MIT"),
+                    SpdxLicenseIdExpression("Apache-2.0")
+                )
+            ).toString()
+        }
+
+        "create a single expression for equal operands" {
+            val expression = SpdxCompoundExpression(
+                SpdxOperator.AND,
+                listOf(
+                    SpdxLicenseIdExpression("MIT"),
+                    SpdxLicenseIdExpression("MIT")
+                )
+            )
+
+            expression.simplify() shouldBe SpdxLicenseIdExpression("MIT")
+        }
+    }
 })