1999D1720 — EN — 20.11.2002 — 001.001 — 1
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►B DECISION No 1720/1999/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
of 12 July 1999
adopting a series of actions and measures in order to ensure interoperability of and access to
trans-European networks for the electronic interchange of data between administrations (IDA)
(OJ L 203, 3.8.1999, p. 9)
Amended by:
Official Journal
No page date
►M1Decision No 2045/2002/EC of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 21 October 2002L 316 1 20.11.2002
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DECISION No 1720/1999/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIA-
MENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
of 12 July 1999
adopting a series of actions and measures in order to ensure inter-
operability of and access to trans-European networks for the
electronic interchange of data between administrations (IDA)
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and
in particular Article 156 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission(1),
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social
Committee(2),
Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions(3),
Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of
the Treaty(4),
(1)Whereas the Council, in its resolution of 20 June 1994(5),
emphasised the need for coordination with regard to informationexchange between administrations;
(2)Whereas the Council, in its resolution of 21 November 1996(6),
established new policy priorities regarding the information
society;
(3)Whereas the Commission, in its communication of 19 July 1994,proposed an action plan for the information society;
(4)Whereas the Commission has proposed an action plan for thesingle market;
(5)Whereas the European Parliament, in its resolution of 12 June1997(
7), invited the European Union and the Member States to
take action with regard to the development and application of
new information and communication technologies (ICT) in thenext decade;
(6)Whereas the European Parliament and the Council, in Decision
No 2717/95/EC(8), adopted a series of guidelines for the devel-
opment of Euro-ISDN as a trans-European network;
(7)Whereas the European Parliament and the Council, in DecisionNo 1336/97/EC(
9), adopted a series of guidelines for trans-
European telecommunication networks;
(8)Whereas the Council, in its recommendation of 7 April 1995 on
common information technology security evaluation criteria(ITSEC)(
10), recommended the use of security evaluation criteria
within evaluation and certification schemes;
(9)Whereas, in order to establish economic and monetary union, to
implement Community policies and activities and to supportcommunication between the Community institutions and bodies,there is a need to establish integrated data communications1999D1720 — EN — 20.11.2002 — 001.001 — 2
(1) OJ C 54, 21.2.1998, p. 12 and OJ C 10, 14.1.1999, p. 8.
(2) OJ C 214, 10.7.1998, p. 33.
(3) OJ C 251, 10.8.1998, p. 1.
(4) Opinion of the European Parliament of 18 November 1998 (OJ C 379,
7.12.1998, p. 74), Council Common Position of 21 December 1998 (OJ C
55, 25.2.1999, p. 15) and Decision of the European Parliament of 13 April
1999 (OJ C 219, 30.7.1999). Council Decision of 21 June 1999.
(5) OJ C 181, 2.7.1994, p. 1.
(6) OJ C 376, 12.12.1996, p. 1.
(7) OJ C 200, 30.6.1997, p. 196.
(8) OJ L 282, 24.11.1995, p. 16.
(9) OJ L 183, 11.7.1997, p. 12.
(10) OJ L 93, 26.4.1995, p. 27.
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systems between administrations, hereinafter referred to as ‘tele-
matic networks’;
(10)Whereas such networks must link the information systems, bothexisting and future, of the Member State administrations and theCommunity across Europe and are, therefore, trans-European
telecommunication networks for administrations;
(11)Whereas the effective linkage of such information systemsrequires a maximum degree of interoperability between the
various systems and their components;
(12)Whereas it is essential to maximise the use of standards, publicly
available specifications and public domain applications to ensure
seamless interoperability in order to achieve economies of scaleand to increase the benefits of such networks;
(13)Whereas an enhanced interface with public administrations willencourage citizens of the European Union to reap the benefitsof the information society;
(14)Whereas the elimination of obstacles to communication betweenpublic administrations and the private sector is an importantfactor for the prosperity and competitiveness of Communityindustry;
(15)Whereas the Community is a user or a beneficiary of those tele-matic networks which support Community policies and
activities, interinstitutional communication and economic and
monetary union;
(16)Whereas the task of establishing such networks is incumbent onboth the Community and the Member States;
(17)Whereas, in order to make efficient use of the Community's
financial resources, it is necessary to avoid needless proliferation
of equipment, repetition of investigations and diversity ofapproach;
(18)Whereas common tools and techniques for sectoral networkapplications can, inter alia , be related to document management
and dissemination, data gathering, multilingual user interfacesand security of electronic communication;
(19)Whereas cost-efficiency, responsiveness, flexibility and adapt-ability to technological change in the establishment andoperation of such networks can best be achieved by embracing
a market-oriented approach and thus selecting suppliers on a
competitive basis in a multi-vendor environment;
(20)Whereas any measures to ensure interoperability between andaccess to such networks must maintain a judicious balancebetween satisfying common requirements and preservingnational specificities;
(21)Whereas there is thus a need to carry out specific horizontalactions and measures in order to ensure interoperability betweensuch networks;
(22)Whereas, in accordance with the principles of subsidiarity andproportionality established by Article 5 of the Treaty the objec-tive of carrying out such horizontal actions and measures cannotbe adequately attained by the Member States and can therefore,
by reason of the scale and effects of the proposed action, be
better attained at Community level; whereas the proposed actiondoes not go beyond what is necessary to achieve the said objec-tive;
(23)Whereas the implementation of the Agreement on the EuropeanEconomic Area and the Association Agreements with theEuropean Community requires a high degree of interoperability
within and across the relevant telematic networks;
(24)Whereas there is an inherent international dimension to telematic
networks and electronic communication;1999D1720 — EN — 20.11.2002 — 001.001 — 3
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(25)Whereas the measures aimed at ensuring the interoperability of
telematic networks between administrations are in accordance
with the priorities adopted in relation to the guidelines fortrans-European telecommunications networks;
(26)Whereas actions have been carried out under Council Decision
95/468/EC of 6 November 1995 on a Community contribution
for telematic interchange of data between administrations in theCommunity (IDA)(
1); whereas the Court of Justice annulled
Decision 95/468/EC on 28 May 1998; whereas the effects ofthe measures taken by the Commission on the basis of this Deci-
sion before annulment by the Court are maintained;
(27)Whereas this Decision establishes a financial framework which
should be the principal point of reference, within the meaningof point 1 of the Declaration by the European Parliament, the
Council and the Commission of 6 March 1995(
2), for the
budgetary authority for the purposes of the annual budgetaryprocedure,
HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:
Article 1
Scope and objectives
1. The Community shall act in the field of trans-European telematic
networks for administrations and shall take the measures set out in thisDecision with the following objectives:
(a) the achievement of a high degree of interoperability, within and
across different administrative sectors and, where appropriate, with
the private sector, between the telematic networks established inthe Member States and between the Community and the MemberStates in order to support the establishment of economic and mone-tary union and to implement the Community policies and activities
referred to in Articles 3 and 4 of the Treaty taking into account
work already under way in the existing Community or MemberState programmes;
(b) the convergence of such networks towards a common telematic
interface between the Community and the Member States;
(c) the achievement of substantial benefits for Member State adminis-
trations and the Community by streamlining operations, reducingmaintenance, speeding up implementation of new networks andenhancements, achieving an overall secure and reliable interchange
of data, as well as the achievement of greater cost-efficiency,
responsiveness, flexibility and adaptability to technological changeand market evolution in the establishment and operation of suchnetworks;
(d) the extension of the benefits of such networks, as mentioned in
point (c), to Community industry and citizens of the EuropeanUnion, notably in those areas where this contributes to the objec-
tives of the eEurope initiative and related action plan, in particular
the chapter on Government online;
(e) the promotion of the spread of best practice and the encouragement
of the development of innovative telematic solutions in administra-
tions;
(f) where appropriate, the identification and deployment of pan-
European electronic government services for citizens and enter-1999D1720 — EN — 20.11.2002 — 001.001 — 4
(1) OJ L 269, 11.11.1995, p. 23.
(2) OJ C 102, 4.4.1996, p. 4.▼M1
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prises and other relevant electronic government services to be used
in line with the priorities laid down in Article 4 of Decision No1719/1999/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of
12 July 1999 on a series of guidelines, including the identification
of projects of common interest, for trans-European networks for theelectronic interchange of data between administrations (IDA)(
1).
2. This Decision forms part of the IDA programme.
Article 2
Definitions
For the purpose of this Decision, the following definitions shall apply:
(a) ‘telematic network’: a comprehensive data-communication system,
comprising not only the physical infrastructure and connections,but also the service and application layers which are built on topof this infrastructure, thus enabling the interchange of informationelectronically between organisations and individuals;
(b) ‘sectoral network’: a trans-European telematic network for adminis-
trations or set of services and applications, devoted to the
implementation or the administrative support of one particular
Community policy, activity or objective which is hereinafterreferred to as an ‘administrative sector’;
(c) ‘generic services’: telematic network functionalities which meet
common user requirements, such as data collection, data dissemina-tion, data exchange, and security. The characteristics of eachservice shall be clearly specified and associated with a guaranteed
level of quality.
Article 3
Horizontal actions and measures
1. In order to achieve the objectives laid down in Article 1, the
Community shall undertake horizontal actions and measures, asprovided for by Articles 4 to 10, in support of sectoral networks andin accordance with the IDA work programme.
1a. Where appropriate, in order to be able to identify the horizontal
actions and measures to be undertaken, the Community shall establisha description of an infrastructure, which shall serve as a platform forthe development of projects of common interest, as well as othersectoral networks, referred to in Decision 1719/1999/EC.
The described infrastructure shall comprise a framework of interoper-
ability for networks, services, security, applications, contents and otherrelevant elements. It may also include aspects such as the requiredmanagement, organisation, responsibilities and cost-sharing. The
description shall also encompass a strategy to be used in the develop-
ment and implementation of the infrastructure. The description shall bereviewed on a yearly basis.
2. For each action or measure envisaged under this Decision, the
IDA work programme shall contain, as appropriate:
— a complete description of the intended actions, including their
objectives, scope, rationale and potential beneficiaries, as well as
the anticipated costs and benefits,
— a complete description of the functionalities and of the technical
approach;
— a detailed plan for its implementation, specifying the individual
tasks and their sequence.1999D1720 — EN — 20.11.2002 — 001.001 — 5
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3. Implementation of the horizontal actions and measures shall
include feasibility studies and demonstrations, the establishment ofworking groups of Member State and Community experts, and the
procurement of goods and services for the Community, as appropriate.
4. The implementation of the horizontal actions and measures shall
build on suitable results achieved by other relevant Community activ-ities, in particular the Community research and technological
development programmes and Community activities in the field of
trans-European telecommunication networks.
5. Horizontal actions and measures shall make reference to
European standards or publicly available specifications, such as openInternet standards, as appropriate, in order to ensure a high degree of
interoperability between national and Community systems within and
across administrative sectors and with the private sector. Account shallbe taken of guidelines and support tools in the area of standardisationin public procurement for information and communication technologies(ICT) systems and services.
Article 4
Generic services
1. The Community shall adopt all necessary measures in order for a
suitable choice of common generic services that meet sectoral user
requirements to be made available to sectoral networks on a competi-
tive basis in a multi-vendor environment. These measures shall includethe continuation of suitable measures undertaken under Decision 95/468/EC as appropriate.
2. With the aim of enabling sectoral network users to identify their
technical requirements and making available the suitable choice of
common generic services that meet sectoral user requirements, theCommunity shall, in particular:
(a) define architecture guidelines for the sectoral networks designed to
ensure interoperability between the various physical infrastructures
and services;
(b) define and publish the specifications of the generic services which
are commonly required by telematic networks between administra-
tions, including the quality of service and the relevantinteroperability requirements imposed by a multi-vendor andcompetitive environment;
(c) identify and/or specify appropriate standard interfaces to encourage
portability and replicability of application developments;
(d) define and implement a mechanism through which the degree of
interoperability between the services offered by the telematicservice providers can be assessed and published;
(e) ensure a sustained evolution of common requirements and a
continued monitoring of the telematics services offered by the saidproviders.
Article 5
Common tools and techniques
The Community shall ensure that common tools and techniques for
sectoral network applications are acquired from the market or aredeveloped if the market cannot appropriately support the requirement
with the aim of reducing the overall costs associated with application
development, rationalising and improving technical solutions,decreasing the time required for the implementation of operationalsystems, and streamlining system maintenance.
For this purpose, the Community shall identify and specify, within
sectoral networks, fundamental and recurring functionalities which canform the basis of common tools and techniques or modules.
It shall also encourage the development and use of such common tools
and techniques and modules by sectoral networks; in particular, the1999D1720 — EN — 20.11.2002 — 001.001 — 6
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spread of suitable solutions which are developed within a sectoral
network shall be ensured.
Article 6
Information content interoperability
1. The Community shall encourage interoperability in terms of the
content of the information which is exchanged within and acrossadministrative sectors and with the private sector. For this purpose,and subject to the legal, security, data protection, and confidentiality
requirements of the sectoral users, the Community shall adopt appro-
priate measures and, in particular, the following:
(a) support for the efforts of the administrations of the Member States
to ensure such interoperability, simplify administrative procedures
and improve information flows;
(b) coordination of the requirements of sectoral networks for formatted
information exchange, and the ensuring of the spread of suitablesolutions;
(c) the monitoring of suitable technological developments in the field
of electronic data communication, including innovative data collec-tion and presentation mechanisms, investigation of their impact and
encouragement of their adoption by sectoral networks.
2. For the purpose of paragraph 1, solutions facilitating interoper-
ability between different message formats shall be preferred to, but
not exclude, the development of harmonised message formats. Due
consideration shall be given to the linguistic diversity in the Commu-nity.
Solutions allowing the private sector to integrate administrative
requirements easily into business processes shall also be favoured.
Article 7
Reference legal and security practices
Without prejudice to the competence and specific obligations of the
Member States in the areas covered by this Article, the Community
shall contribute to the identification of barriers that impede the smooth
exchange of data between network users and shall ensure an appro-priate degree of security within sectoral networks. In particular, theCommunity shall:
(a) identify, in cooperation with the Member States, reference legal
and security practices for the trans-European interchange of databetween administrations and between administrations and theprivate sector, in order to facilitate a common approach;
(b) issue appropriate recommendations to support the efforts of the
Member States to apply these practices referred to in (a) within
their own administrative environments;
(c) ensure, with regard to sectoral networks and in accordance with the
practices referred to in (a): the recognition, within the administra-tive environment of the Community, of the evidential value of thedata exchanged; the establishment of a methodology for the protec-tion of personal data; the definition of the rights and
responsibilities of the users; the confidentiality, integrity, authenti-
cation and non-repudiation of the information exchanged, as wellas measures to control access to networks;
(d) identify and analyse the different levels of security depending on
the nature and purpose of sectoral networks;
(e) formulate guidelines and provide common solutions for the choice
and implementation of tools, components and systems that ensurethe identified levels of security.1999D1720 — EN — 20.11.2002 — 001.001 — 7
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Article 8
Quality assurance and control
The Community, taking into account the results of similar actions, shall
define, implement, and continuously update a specific, consistent, inte-grated quality programme, which shall apply to the horizontal actionsand measures under this Decision and to the projects of commoninterest under Decision No 1719/1999/EC of the European Parliament
and of the Council of 12 July 1999 on a series of guidelines, including
the identification of projects of common interest, for trans-Europeannetworks for the electronic interchange of data between administrations(IDA)(
1). That quality programme shall include the necessary actions
to:
(a) improve the manner in which user requirements and project speci-
fications are established;
(b) improve the quality of project deliverables, both in terms of
compliance with project specifications and in terms of satisfaction
of user expectations;
(c) ensure that the experiences gained are learning experiences and are
disseminated through the spread of best practice described in
Article 10.
Article 9
Interoperability with national and regional initiatives
In implementing the IDA programme, the Community shall endeavour,
where appropriate, to facilitate interoperability and cross-fertilisationwith similar national and regional initiatives relating to the interchangeof data between administrations within the Member States.
Article 10
Spread of best practice
1. The Community shall ensure coordination and the exchange of
views, knowledge, and experiences within and across sectoralnetworks, with a view to encouraging the wider adoption of good andinnovative solutions.
2. Due consideration shall be given to the linguistic diversity in the
Community. The Community shall ensure general awareness of theachievements and benefits of the IDA programme, the disseminationof IDA guidelines and recommendations, and the coordination of userrequirements and experiences with standardisation bodies and Commu-nity standardisation-related initiatives.
3. The Community shall organise conferences, workshops and other
types of events in order to ensure general awareness of the achieve-
ments and benefits of the IDA projects and actions and encourage a
broad discussion on the future direction and priorities of the IDAprogramme.
Article 11
Implementation
1. The Commission shall implement the Community action set out
in Articles 3 to 10.
2. The section of the IDA work programme concerning the imple-
mentation of this Decision, which the Commission shall draw upforits entire duration and which shall be reviewed at least twice a year,shall be approved, on the basis of its compliance with the relevant1999D1720 — EN — 20.11.2002 — 001.001 — 8
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provisions of Articles 3 to 10, in accordance with the procedure
referred to in Article 12(2).
3. The common rules and procedures for bringing about technical
and administrative interoperability shall be adopted in accordance withthe procedure referred to in Article 12(2).
4. The procedure referred to in Article 12(2) shall also apply in
respect of the approval of the breakdown of the yearly budgetaryexpenditure under this Decision. Proposals for any budgetary increase
of more than EUR 250000 per project line within a year shall also be
subject to that procedure.
5. The technical specifications of calls for tender to be issued in the
implementation of the Decision shall, for contract values in excess of
EUR 500000, be defined in coordination with the Member States.
Article 12
Committee
1. The Commission shall be assisted by a committee called the Tele-
matics between Administrations Committee (TAC), composed ofrepresentatives of the Member States and chaired by the representativeof the Commission.
2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 4 and 7 of
Council Decision 1999/468/EC(
1) shall apply, having regard to Article
8 thereof.
The period laid down in Article 4(3) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be
set at three months.
3. The TAC shall adopt its rules of procedure.
4. The Commission shall report annually to the TAC on the imple-
mentation of this Decision.
Article 13
Evaluation
1. The Commission shall, in coordination with the Member States,
carry out an evaluation of the implementation of this Decision at two-yearly intervals.
2. The evaluation shall establish the progress and current status of
the horizontal actions and measures provided for in this Decision.
It shall also examine, in the light of the expenditure incurred by the
Community, the benefits yielded by such horizontal actions andmeasures to the Community, the Member States, Community industryand citizens of the European Union, and identify areas for potentialimprovement and verify synergy with other Community activities inthe field of trans-European telecommunication networks.
3. The Commission shall forward its evaluation to the European
Parliament and the Council, once the TAC has examined it. TheCommission shall also submit any appropriate proposal for the amend-ment of this Decision. The evaluations shall be forwarded no later thanthe draft budget for the years 2001, 2003 and 2005 respectively.1999D1720 — EN — 20.11.2002 — 001.001 — 9
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Article 14
Extension to the EEA and associated countries
1. The IDA programme may be opened, within the framework of
their respective agreements with the European Community, to partici-
pation by the countries of the European Economic Area and the
associated countries of central and eastern Europe, Cyprus, Malta andTurkey in the horizontal actions and measures under this Decision.
2. In the course of implementing this Decision, cooperation with
non-member countries and with international organisations or bodies,as appropriate, shall be encouraged.
3. Before the IDA programme has been opened up for their full
participation, the associated countries of central and eastern Europe,
Cyprus, Malta and Turkey may, at their own cost, use IDA generic
services, in order to implement a Community policy.
4. Other non-member countries may also, at their own cost, use IDA
generic services in order to implement a Community policy.
Article 15
Financial reference amount
1. The financial reference amount for the implementation of the
Community action under this Decision for the period 2002-2004 shallbe EUR 34,2 million.
2. The annual appropriations shall be authorised by the budgetary
authority within the limit of the financial perspective.
Article 16
Entry into force
This Decision shall be published in the Official Journal of the
European Communities . It shall enter into force on the day of its publi-
cation and shall apply until 31 December 2004.1999D1720 — EN — 20.11.2002 — 001.001 — 10
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