COUNCIL DECISION of 20 May 1996 adopting a multiannual Community programme to stimulate the development of a European multimedia content industry and to encourage the use of multimedia content in the emerging information society (INFO 2000) (96/339/EC)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 130 (3) thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (2),
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (3),
Having regard to the Committee of the Regions (4),
(1) Whereas the European content industry can make a significant contribution to the stimulation of growth, to the strengthening of competitiveness and to the development of employment in the Community, as indicated in the White Paper on 'Growth, competitiveness, employment - the challenges and ways forward into the 21st century`;
(2) Whereas the European Council at Brussels on 10 and 11 December 1993 decided, on the basis of that White Paper, to implement an action plan, consisting of concrete measures at both Community and Member State level, notably with respect to information infrastructures and new applications, for which new content is required;
(3) Whereas the European Council at Corfu on 24 and 25 June 1994 took note of the Recommendations of the High Level Group on the information society as presented in the report 'Europe and the global information society` and underlined the fact that the Community and Member States have an important role to play in bringing about the information society by giving political impetus, by creating a clear and stable regulatory and legal framework and by setting an example in areas which come under their aegis;
(4) Whereas the Commission's action plan 'Europe's Way to the Information Society - an Action Plan` recognizes the importance of content and stipulates that the Commission will propose ways to stimulate the creation of favourable conditions for content providers to adapt their skills and products to the new multimedia environment and to stimulate increased usage of new information services;
(5) Whereas the Council on 28 September 1994 underlined the particular urgency of the need to enhance the global competitiveness of the European content industry, taking account of the cultural diversity and of the impact of these products on society;
(6) Whereas the European Council at Essen on 9 and 10 December 1994 underlined the importance of content in bringing about the information society;
(7) Whereas the Council Resolution of 4 April 1995 on Culture and Multimedia (5) underlined the importance of multimedia for facilitating the development of the content industry and improving access of citizens to cultural heritage, as well as the catalyzing role of Member States and the Community in the creation, production and distribution of high quality cultural multimedia works;
(8) Whereas the three long-term strategic objectives of the Community's content policy shall be to facilitate the development of the European content industry, to optimize the contribution of new information services to growth, competitiveness and employment in Europe, and to maximize the contribution of advanced information services to the provisional, social and cultural development of the citizens of Europe;
(9) Whereas there are numerous barriers to the development of a European multimedia content industry and market, which are hindering the transition towards an information society;
(10) Whereas the Community needs to build on the strong competitive position it has in some content sectors and whereas its competitive position needs to be strengthened in other content sectors;
(11) Whereas the needs of users of information services, particularly in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and in the less-favoured regions of the Community, merit special attention;
(12) Whereas provision should be made for measures to encourage the participation of SMEs in this programme;
(13) Whereas the different rates of development in the provision and use of information services in the Member States deserve of special consideration, having regard to the internal cohesion of the Community and the risks associated with a two-tier information society;
(14) Whereas Community actions undertaken concerning the content of information should respect the Union's multilingual character and encourage initiatives to adapt the content of multimedia information in the languages of the Member States;
(15) Whereas policy actions under this programme aiming at strengthening the position of the European content industry will be complementary to to other content actions, particularly those related to the audiovisual sector (6), including cinema and television;
(16) Whereas any content policy actions must be complementary to other ongoing national and Community initiatives, as outlined notably in the Commission's action plan 'Europe's Way to the Information Society - an Action Plan`, and shall be performed in synergy with Community research programmes (programmes concerned with advanced technology, technology, advanced communications services and telematics) and with Community education training (7), cultural and SME actions and initiatives, and with the Structural Funds;
(17) Whereas complementarity and synergy with related Community initiatives and programmes must be ensured by the Commission through appropriate coordination mechanisms;
(18) Whereas progress of this programme should be continuously and systematically monitored with a view to adapting it, where appropriate, to developments in the multimedia content market; whereas in due course there should be an independent assessment of the progress of the programme so as to provide the background information needed in order to determine the objectives for subsequent content policy actions; whereas at the end of this programme there should be a final assessment of results obtained compared with the objectives set out in this Decision;
(19) Whereas the actions in this programme will not in any way prejudice the competition rules of the Community;
(20) Whereas the actions in this programme relating to the exploitation of Europe's public sector information will be implemented in compliance with the provisions of Article 128 of the Treaty and need to address public sector information collections in domains such as business and legal information collections, copyright and patent deposit systems, educational and training bodies, libraries, museums, historical archives, and architectural and industrial objects; whereas these actions will not in any way prejudice confidential information held by the public sector, for example which concerns matters of national security, defence, public security or the prevention, investigation, detection and prosecution of criminal offences;
(21) Whereas it may be appropriate to engage in international cooperation activities with international organizations and third countries for the purpose of implementing this programme;
(22) Whereas it is necessary to fix the duration of the programme;
(23) Whereas a financial reference amount, within the meaning of point 2 of the Declaration of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission of 6 March 1995, is included in this Decision for the whole duration of the programme, without thereby affecting the powers of the budgetary authority as they are defined in the Treaty,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:
Article 1
A programme (INFO 2 000) is hereby adopted with the following objectives:
- creating favourable conditions for the development of the European multimedia content industry,
- stimulating demand for, and use of, multimedia content,
- contributing to the professional, social and cultural development of the citizens of Europe,
- promoting the exchange of knowledge between users and suppliers of multimedia products and knowledge infrastructure.
For the purposes of this Decision, multimedia content is defined as combinations of data, text, sound, graphics, animation, still and moving images, stored in digital form and interactively accessible.
The programme objectives will focus on the print and electronic publishing segments of the content industry and its contribution of information services to the promotion of growth, competitiveness and employment in Europe, while recognizing also the contribution of the audiovisual segments of the content industry towards the development of the European multimedia content industry.
Article 2
In order to attain the objectives referred to in Article 1, the following actions shall be undertaken under the guidance of the Commission, in accordance with the action lines set out in Annex I and the means for implementing the programme set out in Annex III:
- stimulating demand and raising awareness,
- exploiting Europe's public sector information,
- triggering European multimedia potential,
- support actions.
Article 3
The programme shall cover a period of four years from 1 January 1996 to 31 December 1999.
The financial reference amount for the implementation of the current programme for the period from 1 January 1996 to 31 December 1999 amounts to ECU 65 million.
The annual appropriations shall be authorized by the Budgetary Authority within the limits of the financial perspective.
An indicative breakdown of expenditure is given in Annex II.
Article 4
1. The Commission shall be responsible for the implementation of the programme.
The Commission shall be assisted by a Committee composed of the representatives of the Member States and chaired by the representative of the Commission.
2. The procedure laid down in Article 5 shall apply to:
- the adoption of the work programme,
- breakdown of the budgetary expenditure,
- the criteria and content of calls for proposals,
- the assessment of the projects proposed under calls for proposals for Community funding and the estimated amount of the Community contribution for each project where this is equal to or more than ECU 200 000,
- the measures for programme evaluation,
- any departure from the normally applied rules set out in Annex III,
- participation in any project by legal entities from third countries and international organizations.
3. Where, pursuant to the fourth indent of paragraph 2, the amount of the Community contribution is less than ECU 200 000, the Commission shall inform the Committee of the projects and of the outcome of their assessment.
4. The Commission shall regularly inform the Committee of progress with the implementation of the programme as a whole.
Article 5
The representative of the Commission shall submit to the committee a draft of measures to be taken. The committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft within a time limit which the chairman may lay down according to the urgency of the matter. The opinion shall be delivered by the majority laid down in Article 148 (2) of the Treaty in the case of decisions which the Council is required to adopt on a proposal from the Commission. The votes of the representatives of the Member States within the committee shall be weighted in the manner set out in that Article. The chairman shall not vote.
The Commission shall adopt the measures envisaged if they are in accordance with the opinion of the committee.
If the measures envisaged are not in accordance with the opinion of the committee, or if no opinion is delivered, the Commission shall, without delay, submit to the Council a proposal relating to the measures to be taken. The Council shall act by a qualified majority.
If, on the expiry of a period of three months from the date of referral to the Council, the Council has not acted, the proposed measures shall be adopted by the Commission.
Article 6
1. In order to ensure that Community aid is used efficiently, the Commission shall ensure that actions under this Decision are subject to effective prior appraisal, monitoring and subsequent evaluation.
2. During implementation of projects and after their completion the Commission shall evaluate the manner in which they have been carried out and the impact of their implementation in order to assess whether the original objectives have been achieved.
3. The selected beneficiaries shall submit an annual report to the Commission.
4. At the end of three years and at the end of the programme, the Commission shall submit to the European Parliament, the Council, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, once the committee referred to in Article 5 has examined it, an evaluation report on the results obtained in implementing the action lines referred to in Article 2. The Commission may present, on the basis of those results, proposals for adjusting the orientation of the programme.
Article 7
Participation in this programme may be open, in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 5 without financial support by the Community from this programme, to legal entities established in third countries and to international organizations, where such participation contributes effectively to the implementation of the programme and taking into account the principle of mutual benefit.
Article 8
This Decision is addressed to the Member States.
Done at Brussels, 20 May 1996.