I 
COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
COM(89) 603 final - SYN 228 
Brussels, 5 December 1989 
- "ill Proposal for a 
COUNCIL DECISION 
adopting a specific programme concerning the preparation of 
the development of an operational EUROTRA system 
uip 
(presented by the Commission) 
C&nt< > 
Communication fro» the Commission to Counoil 
Subject : Proposal for a Counoil Deoision adopting a specific 
programme concerning the preparation of the development 
of an operational EUROTRA system. 
•JT4 •** v 

- 2 -
I. BACKGROUND 
1. The Framework Programme 1987-1991C1) foresees under action line 
8.4. with regard to linguistic problems the following actions : 
completion by 1990 of a first multilingual prototype machine 
translation system (for nine official Community languages) 
(EUROTRA) 
For this point the Commission has submitted to Council a 
proposal on 1 June 1988^2) and amended it on 7 February 
1989(3) incorporating a number of recommendations of the 
European Parliament, and Council has adopted its Decision on 
20 June 1989(4) 
support to the industrial development of a machine 
translation system, development of methods and tools for the 
reusability of lexical resources in computerized 
applications and creation of standards for lexical and 
terminological data. 
These points are the subject of the present proposal. 
2. Action line 8.4. of the Framework Programme foresees a tota" 
expenditure of 55 million ECU. This amount is subdivided amone 
the various specific programmes as follows : 
VALUBC5) 38 million ECU 
Phase 3 of EUROTRA 7 million ECU 
present speoifio programme proposal 10 million ECU 
TOTAL 55 million ECU 
The present proposal takes into account these factors and the 
duration of the current EUROTRA programme (ending on 30 June 
1990). 
(1) OJ n» L 302 Of 24.10.1987, p. 1 
(2) COM (88) 270 final 
(3) COM (89) 20 final/2 - SYK 137 
(4) OJ n* L 200 Of 13.7.1989, p. 15 
(5) OJ n# L 200 Of 13.7.1989, p. 23 
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II. STARTING CONDITIONS OF THE PROGRAMME 
3. The proposal builds on the achievements of the current EUROTRA 
programme. 
The objective of the programme is the creation of a machine 
translation system of advanced design (EUROTRA) capable of 
dealing with all official languages of the Community. 
On completion of the programme an operational system prototype 
should be available in a limited field and for limited categories 
of text, which would serve as a basis for development of a 
practical system in the period following the current programme. 
The practical results likely to be obtained by the end of the 
third phase include among others : 
for each of the nine languages analysis and synthesis 
modules with a broad coverage of the linguistic phenomena 
which occur in the text types chosen (handbooks, manuals, 
scientific articles in the field of telecommunications); 
for each of the languages the general vocabulary which is 
used in these texts (approx. 8.000 entries); 
the technical terminology of a number of subfields of 
telecomunications (approx. 12.000 entries); 
transfer modules with this coverage for a representative 
number of language pairs (approx. 50); 
a number of linguistio research results achieved during the 
final year of the programme which should be incorporated in 
the future Implementations. 
It is planned to carry out an intermediate evaluation of the 
progress of the EUROTRA programme during the second half of 1989. 
As far as possible the same experts as those who carried out the 
programme assessment in 1987 will be invited to conduct this 
evaluation. The evaluation report should become available before 
the end of 1989. 
p 4 -
Tn the Council Decisions of 25 July 1988(6) on the transition of 
EUROTRA to the third phase and of 20 June 1989(?) on the 
completion of the programme, these initial objectives have been 
maintained. In addition, following the recommendations of tr.e 
panel of independent experts who assessed the programme in 198;' 
and of the Energy, Research and Technology Committee of the 
European Parliament a number of additional actions have bee^ 
included in the programme of work of the third phase of EUROTRA. 
These additional actions aim in particular at the preparation fc 
the implementation of a practical EUROTRA system, thr. 
involvement of enterprises, setting up cooperation schemes 
between research institutions and enterprises and training of 
researchers and engineers. 
6. In the course of 1989 the Commission has launched studies 
covering the following points : 
outline definition of a practical BUROTRA system including 
qualitative and quantitative performance, user and system 
maintenance environments, sub-, by- and spin-off produr-
and systems, development strategies, actors, time scale... 
costs etc. Among other things this study should provide 
enterprises with elements which will allow them to make use 
of the research results of the EUROTRA programme for product 
development; 
system analysis of the general architecture of EUROTRA. This 
study aims at the definition of a basis for further 
technological development both in view of machine 
translation and other applications; 
design studies to define the system development, testing and 
research environment. They should lead to a number of 
recommendations and specifications covering the various 
system components needed for the development of large scalo 
systems, especially in view of the economic feasibility of 
such development ; 
a project definition study for the re-usability of lexical 
resources in computerized applications. 
In addition the Commission supports, and participates actively 
in, an international project, called "Text Encoding Initiative" 
which was launched by professional associations and aims at the 
definition of a proposal for international standards concerning 
textual and lexical data. 
(6) OJ Ne. L £22 Of 12.08.1988, p.l 
(7) OJ Hc. L 200 Of 13.07.1989, p. 15 
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III. OBJECTIVES AND CONTENT OP THE PROGRAMME 
7. Considering the time-scales and the levels of financing foreseen 
for the proposed programme, the objectives are necessarily 
limited. 
The programme is foreseen to last for a period of 2 years from 1 
July 1990 to 30 June 1992 with an average Community funding of 
5 million ECU per annum. 
8. Following the actions foreseen in the Framework Programme • the 
objectives of this proposal are articulated under three main 
headings : 
(i) Preparation for the development of an operational EUROTRA 
system. 
The main objective of the actions under this heading is to 
create, starting from the EUROTRA prototype and building on 
the results of a number of ESPRIT projects, appropriate 
conditions for its further development. This includes 
further research aiming at the improvement of the linguistic 
performance of the system. The main action lines include : 
(a) Implementation of a stable and efficient system 
development and testing environment: it should include : 
- a streamlined rule formalism with special emphasis on 
expressive power, reversibility, declarativity, 
modularity and control mechanisms; 
- an efficient rule interpreter capable of handling 
large dictionaries, grammars and texts at an 
acceptable speed; 
- a data base system for the storage and management of 
large dictionaries, grammars and text corpora; 
- a user environment for the creation and maintenance 
of large dictionaries and grammars; 
- a testing environment with special emphasis on 
interactive testing . 
(b) Language speciflo linguistic research and development 
work aiming at the extension of the prototype system and 
at the improvement of its linguistic performance. This 
action line should include : 
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Review of the existing linguistio implementations 
The existing linguistio implementations will have to be 
adapted to the revised framework and environment, so 
that they can be used as a stable basis for further 
extensions foreseen within the present programme and 
beyond. 
Extension of the linguistio coverage 
The grammatical coverage is to be gradually extended so 
as to deal with phenomena occurring in new text types. 
Special attention should be given to the optimal use of 
the modularity of the system architecture to capture 
text type and subject field specific phenomena. 
Experimentation with relayed transfer 
The basic principle consists in using one interface 
structure as a pivot through which transfer from and 
into all other languages transits. The economio stake 
for a practical multilingual system (awaiting an 
interlingual solution) is the reduction of the geometric 
progression of individual language pairs (72 for nine 
languages) to exactly one transfer from and into each 
language. The success of this experimentation would 
greatly enhance the economic feasibility of a truly 
multilingual system with equal coverage of all 
directions of translation. 
Incorporation and testing of research results 
EUROTRA is designed as an evolutionary system able to 
inoorporate new researoh results. When such results 
become available, they must be integrated in the 
relevant modules and extensively tested with regard to 
their effectiveness for the solution of the problems 
which they are intended to solve, mostly in three 
areas : 
- the resolution of ambiguities; 
- the reduotion of complex transfer; 
- the extension of the interlinguality of the interface 
structure. 
Ultimately, they aim at the improvement of the quality 
of translation. 
(o) Linguistio research QiSkSlQ and applied)—ol—general 
interest 
To ensure the evolution of EUROTRA, a continuing effort 
of linguistio research is necessary. 
- 7 -
An initial sot of priority areas is expected to be 
defined as an outcome of the system review undertaken 
during the third phase and the evaluation at the end of 
the EUROTRA programme. 
Strategically the systematic and exhaustive use of 
general linguistio knowledge is to be given priority. It 
is, however, well-known that certain classes of problems 
cannot be solved on the basis of linguistic knowledge 
alone, and that "extra-linguistic" knowledge is needed 
for their solution (common sense world knowledge, 
domain-specific knowledge, discourse-specific 
knowledge). 
Since considerable research efforts are being made 
outside the present programme in relation to knowledge 
bases, expert systems, inferencing, advanced information 
systems etc., the main thrust will be in the use of the 
research results obtained in such projects and in 
experimentation in cooperation with such projects. 
(d) Research in system architectures 
EUROTRA is designed as an intelligent knowledge based 
system (IKBS) which at present incorporates linguistic 
specialist knowledge and eventually will incorporate, 
or interface with, extra-linguistlo knowledge. 
Considerable effort is being put elsewhere in knowledge 
representation/engineering, expert systems and advanced 
hardware arohiteotures (parallel, associative, 
connectionist machines). In order to give EUROTRA and 
language technology in general a sufficient potential 
for innovation, a permanent effort is necessary to 
explore the possibilities offered by the new 
developments and eventually to experiment their use for 
natural languages. 
(ii) Development of methods and tools for the reusability of 
lexical resources in computarlzed applications. 
The objectives of this action line are twofold: 
Oe) Use of existing lexical and terminological resources for 
building EUROTRA dictionaries 
The availability of large-scale high-quality 
dictionaries and terminological resources is crucial for 
a practical MT system and any other application 
involving natural language. This action line is to 
provide methods and tools for this purpose. The project 
definition study under way will provide the necessary 
details. 
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(f) Re-usabillty of lexical and grammatical resources 
The purpose of this aotion line is to demonstrate that 
modules developed for EUROTRA can actually be used in a 
variety of applications with some natural language 
component. It Involves pilot and demonstrator projects 
in cooperation with those responsible for relevant 
application projects. 
(iii) Creation of standards for lexical and terminological data: 
In every field of technology the availability of 
international standards is a necessity. For linguistic 
technologies the Commission considers the creation of sue:, 
standards as a long-term objective. Within the present 
programme the only realistio actions to be envisaged must 
be of a preparatory nature including prenormative research 
and stimulatory actions, such as : 
(g) Active participation in initiatives aiming at the 
creation of such standards (dictionaries, 
terminologies, corpora). 
(h) Stimulation of activities aiming at provide 
adequate terminological ooverage of the offic 
languages in key areas of soienoe and technology. 
9. The results expected from this programme are : 
a set of stable, efficient and user-friendly software tools 
and a tested methodology for large-scale system development; 
a set of tools and methods for building large-scale 
dictionaries by the extensive use of existing lexical 
resources; 
a set of tools and methods for the incorporation of 
specialized terminological collections; 
for all nine Community languages well-tested implementations 
of analysis and synthesis modules with broad grammatical 
coverage and a representative lexioal coverage (no large-
scale lexicographio work is foreseen in this programme, 
pending the outcome of the work on the reusability of 
lexical and terminological resouroes); 
should the experimentation with relayed transfer be 
successful, the translation from eaoh language into all 
other languages, otherwise the translation between a 
representative number of language pairs; 
- 9 -
experience of cooperation models aiming at the developrent 
of a practical multilingual translation system, and cf a 
number of intermediate sub-, by- and spin-off products; 
IV. ORGANIZATION AND ACTORS 
10. EUROTRA involves the active participation of all twelve Merber 
states. This participation is implemented through contracts of 
association with the Member States which determine also the ratio 
of Community and national contributions to the programme. 
11. In general the responsibility of each national research teaa is 
the analysis and synthesis of its own national language and the 
transfer from the other languages into its own language. The work 
on the Dutch language is done jointly by the Netherlands and 
Belgium and on the French language by France and Belgium. Ireland 
is responsible for the coordination of the terminological wcrk, 
while Luxembourg provides general infrastructural support for 
documentation and testing and distribution of the software and 
Belgium is also responsible for eleotronio lexicographic work of 
general interest. 
12. All national teams participate aotively in basic and applied 
lingulstio research of general interest. This work is coordinated 
by the project team in the Commission with the support of a 
number of researchers from the national teams whose work is 
financed 100 % from Community funds. 
13. The design of the general system framework and of the rule 
formalism and the initial prototype implementation of the 
software were carried out under a similar schema as the general 
lingulstio research. In the course of the third phase, software 
development and maintenance have progressively concentrated in 
the Commission project team with the assistance of experts from 
the European software industry. This work is also fully financed 
from Community funds. 
- 10 -
14. In the course of the third phase, the virtually closed schema of 
the contracts of association has been opened to additional 
research institutes and enterprises, who have been entrusted with 
a number of system analysis, feasibility and design studies. 
15. In the light of the experience gained with the organizational 
structure of EUROTRA, the following schema is proposed for this 
programme : 
(a) The design and specifications of the system development and 
testing environment are expected to be ready for the start 
of this programme. It is estimated that some 20 % of t: 
overall budget is necessary for its implementation, whi 
should be fully financed from Community funds. 
(b) The language-specific R#D work described under point 8 
letter b should continue and be co-finanoed by the 
Community and the Member States based on the same 
arrangements as the current contracts of association. It is 
proposed that about 40 % of the Community funds should be 
destined for this purpose. 
(c) The actions of a more exploratory nature, especially those 
desoribed under point 8, letters o, d, e and f should 
carried out as cooperative ventures between industi. 
research Institutes and existing EUROTRA teams and be co-
financed on a 50-50 basis by the Community and the 
participants. The projeots will be seleoted through calls 
for proposals/tenders. 30 % of the overall budget should be 
used for this purpose. 
(d) The Commission is aware of the soaroity of expertise and 
talent in the field of maohine translation and computational 
linguistics. It is therefore proposed to reserve 10 % of the 
Community budget to award grants to graduate students to 
enable them to participate in the work of the EUROTRA teams 
or of the other participants in the programme. 
(e) The Commission will maintain the programme management and 
coordination function. It is estimated that 8 additional 
temporary staff are required for the implementation of this 
specifio programme. 
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(f) The Commission proposes that in the execution of this 
Programme it should be assisted by an Advisory Committee, 
which should among others, take over the role of the present 
CGC-12. 
V. 7INANCTAL ESTIMATIONS 
16. The overall budget of 10 million ECU should be subdivided as 
follows (in 1,000 ECU) : 
. SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT AND 
TESTING ENVIRONMENT 
. NATIONAL RESEARCH TEAMS 
- Community contribution 
- National contribution 
. COOPERATIVE PROJECTS 
- EC contribution 
- participants 
. TRAINING 
. TOTAL EC 
Contributions 
2.000 
4.000 
3.000 
1.000 
10.000 National 
Contributions 
4.000 
3.000 
7.000 TOTAL 
2.000 
8.000 
6.000 
1.000 
17.000 
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17. The Commission requests the Council to adopt the proposal 
for a decision concerning a speoifio programme for 
development of an operational EUROTRA system 
which is annexed to this communication. 
VII. âXuLEXEû. 
I. Proposal for a Council Decision adopting a specifio programme 
for the preparation of the development of an operational EUflOT^ 
system . 
II. Opinion of CGC-12 of 26 June 1989. 
III. Financial Statement. 
- 13 - ANNEX I 
Proposal for a 
COUNCIL DECISION 
adopting a specific programme concerning the preparation 
of the development of an operational EUROTRA system 
TEE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES. 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic 
Community, and in particular Article 130q, (2) thereof, 
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission^1), 
In cooperation with the European Parliament(2), 
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social 
Committee^3), 
Whereas Article 130k of the Treaty provides that the Framework 
Programme is to be implemented through specific programmes 
developed within each activity; 
Whereas by Decision 87/516/Euratom, EEC^4) the Council adopted a 
Framework programme of Community research and technological 
development (1987 to 1991) providing inter alia for activities on 
linguistic problems (action line 8.4;, Including the preparation of 
the development of an operational machine translation system; 
Whereas by Decision 82/752/EEC^5), the Council adopted a 
Community research and development programme for a machine 
translation system of advanced design (EUROTRA); 
Whereas Decision 86/591/EEC(6) amended Decision 82/752/EEC on 
account of the accession of Spain and Portugal; 
Whereas by Decision 88/445/EEC^7), the Council approved the 
transition of the EUROTRA programme to its third phase; 
Whereas by Decision 89/410/EEC(8), the Council adopted a specific 
programme for the completion of EUROTRA; 
Whereas Decision 82/752/EEC provided that on oompletion of the 
EUROTRA programme an operational system prototype should be 
available in a limited field and for limited categories of text; 
(1) 
(2) 
(3) 
(4) 
(5) 
(6) 
(7) 
(8) OJ NO 
OJ NO 
OJ NO 
OJ NO L 
OJ NO L 
OJ NO L 
OJ NO L 
OJ NO L 302, 
317, 
341, 
222, 
200 24.10. 
13.11. 
04.12. 
12.08. 
13.07. 1987, 
.1982, 
1986, 
1988, 
1989, P-
P-
P. 
P-
P-1. 
19. 
39. 
1. 
15. 
- 14 -
Whereas Decision 82/752/EEC included in the programme of work for 
the third phase of the EUROTRA programme the preparation of a 
proposal for the further development of the system; 
Whereas the objectives of the EUROTRA programme are expected to be 
achieved by 30 June 1990; 
Whereas the results of the programme are expected to constitute a 
solid basis for the preparation of the development of an 
operational multilingual machine translation system for the nine 
official Community languages; 
Whereas the programme is expected to make an important contribution 
to the economic, social and cultural cohesion of the Community, and 
to reconcile the benefits of its linguistic plurality with the 
attainment of the internal market; 
Whereas the programme constitutes the first step towards the 
development of a practical machine translation system; 
Whereas additional efforts will have to be made by the Community, 
the Member States and European Industry in order to reach this 
objective; 
Whereas the Scientific and Technical Research Committee (CREST) has 
been consulted; 
Whereas the Management and Coordination Advisory Committe 
"Linguistic Problems" (CGC-12) has delivered a favorable opinion; 
Whereas an estimate of the amount of the financial contribution of 
the Community deemed necessary for the exeoution of this programme 
should be made; 
Whereas this amount is included in the financial forecast annexed 
to the interinstitutional agreement of 29 June 1988(9); 
Whereas the appropriations effectively available will be determined 
by the budgetary prooedure aooording to the provisions of the 
aforementioned interinstitutional agreement, 
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: 
Artiole 1 
A specifio researoh and technological development programme 
concerning the preparation of the development of an operational 
EUROTRA system as defined in the Annex is hereby adopted for a 
period of two years from 1 July 1990. 
(9) OJ NO L 185, 15.7.1988, p. 33. 
- 15 -
Article 2 
1. The amount of Community funds deemed necessary for the 
execution of the programme adopted by this Decision is 
ECU 10 million, including expenditure on 5 temporary staff. 
2. The appropriations to be made available eaoh year shall be 
determined in the budget. 
Article 5 
Detailed rules for the implementation of the programme and the 
rate of the Community's financial participation are set out in the 
Annex. 
Article * 
The Commission shall conduct an evaluation of the results achieved 
at the beginning of 1992 and shall transmit a report on this 
subject to the Council and the European Parliament. This report 
shall be established having regard to the objectives set out in 
Annex and in accordance with Article 2, (2) of Decision 
87/516/Euratom, EEC. 
Article g 
1. The Commission shall be responsible for the execution of the 
programme. 
2. The contracts concluded by the Commission shall regulate the 
rights and obligations of eaoh party including the methods of 
disseminating, protecting and exploiting the research results. 
Article 6 
1. The Commission shall be assisted by a committee of an advisory 
nature oomposed of the representatives of the Member States 
and chaired by the representative of the Commission. 
2. The representative of the Commission shall submit to the 
committee a draft of the measures to be taken. The committee 
shall deliver its opinion on the draft, within a time limit 
whioh the ohairman may lay down aocording to the urgenoy of 
the matter, if necessary by taking a vote. 
3. The opinion shall be recorded in the minutes; in addition, 
each Member State shall have the right to ask to have its 
position recorded in the minutes. 
4. The Commission shall take the utmost account of the opinion 
delivered by the committee. It shall Inform the committee of 
the manner in which its opinion has been taken into account. 
- 16 -
Article 7 
In accordance with Article 13On of the Treaty, the Commission is 
hereby authorised to negotiate agreements with international 
organisations, third countries participating in European 
cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technological Research 
(COST) and European countries having conoluded framework agreements 
for scientific and technical cooperation with the Community, with a 
view to associating them wholly or partly with the programme. 
Where framework agreements for scientific and teohnioal cooperation 
between European countries and the European Communities have been 
concluded, organisations and entreprises established in those 
countries may participate in a project undertaken within this 
programme. 
Article 8 
This Deoision is addressed to the Member States. 
Done at Brussels, For the Counoil 
The President 
- 17 -
ANN £_X 
1. Objectives 
This programme constitutes the first step towards the 
development of an operational machine translation system of 
advanced design, capable of dealing with all official 
Community languages. The specific objectives of the programme 
are : 
(a) Creation Ql the conditions for the transition to an 
operational system 
implementation of a development, testing and research 
environment capable of supporting large-scale systems; 
extension of the linguistic coverage and large-scale 
testing of the analysis and synthesis modules for all 
languages covered by EUROTRA; 
the definition of common methods for large-scale 
development for machine translation and other 
applications involving natural language; 
experimentation and evaluation of relayed transfer, using 
an interface structure as pivot; 
research, prototype implementation and evaluation of new 
linguistic models aimed at the improvement of the 
interlinguality of the interface structure and control of 
overgeneration; 
research, prototypical implementation and evaluation of 
methods for the use of subjeot-field and text-type 
specific knowledge for translation and other 
applications. 
(b) Advancement of work on lexicography and terminology 
definition of common methods and tools for the 
integration of existing lexical and terminological 
collections; 
' participation in the definition of international 
standards for textual, lexical and terminological data. 
- 16 -
(c) Training and coopérative projects 
training of researohers and engineers through a grant 
scheme; 
setting-up, experimentation and evaluation of cooperation 
schemes between research institutes and industry. 
2. Priority nfitl <™ llnftfl *nrt «nljmfclfln ATMI tff^Tll ftftl flOJltfiPt 
2.1. System development, testing and research environment 
On the basis of the critical review of the prototype 
implementations and the specifications produced by the end of 
June 1990 the implementation of a system development, testing 
and research environment will be commissioned to the European 
software industry on a turn-key basis. 
This environment should have the following characteristics : 
a powerful and user-friendly formalism for desoribing 
linguistic facts (to encode dictionaries and grammars); 
a special-purpose data management system for the creation 
and maintenance of large-scale dictionaries and grammarr 
with special user services for the addition, inspeoti 
and modification of the linguistio data; 
an efficient rule interpreter capable of dealing witix 
large dictionaries, grammars and texts; 
a set of testing tools with special attention to 
interactive run-time testing and oorreotion of 
dictionaries and grammars. 
The system development environment will pay special attention 
to modularity to ensure the re-usability of the linguistic 
resources created through the possibility of oombining the 
various modules in different ways to fulfil speoial tasks and 
of interfacing them with external applications. 
2.2. Language-gpeoiflo Research and Development work 
2.2.1. Review and extension of thS existing 
implementations 
For each of the nine languages oovered, the analysis and 
synthesis modules produced by the EUROTRA programme will 
be thoroughly reviewed to ensure their generality and 
adjusted to the features of the revised formalism. 
On the basis of these revised implementations the 
grammatical coverage will be gradually extended to 
include additional text and discourse types. No large-
scale lexical and terminological development work is 
planned for this phase pending the outcome of the 
research on the re-usability of lexical and 
terminological resources (see 2.3 below). 
- 10 -
2.2.2. Relayed transfer 
The research and experimentation are to determine the 
feasibility of this approach and the optimal strategy for 
its Implementation. 
2.3. Llnguistio research of general Interest 
This action line is intended to gradually improve the 
linguistlo performance of the system and the quality of 
translation. It will be organized along three main directions 
general linguistic research to increase the 
interlinguality of the interface structure and to reduce 
overgeneration; 
use of subject-field specific knowledge (terminologies, 
classification schemes, paradigmatic relations, domain 
models, knowledge bases etc.); 
use of text and discourse type-specifio constraints to 
reduce overgeneration. 
It can be predicted that some progress will be made in the 
course of this programme, but additional efforts must be 
foreseen for the future. 
2.4. Research into advanced system architectures 
To create a potential for innovation and keep pace with the 
fast advancement of hardware and software technologies a 
continuous research into new formalisms, software and hardware 
architectures is to be foreseen, which will lead in selected 
cases to experimentation and prototype Implementations (e.g. 
parallel system architectures). 
2.5. Re-usability of lexical and temlnologloal resources 
The details of this aotion line will be defined through 
project definition studies to be carried out in 1989 and 1990. 
It is expected to have two main components : 
development of methods and tools for the conversion of 
the formalized parts of existing dictionaries which oover 
mostly orthographic phonological, morphological and 
syntactlo information; 
research into the utilization of non-formalized portions 
of dictionaries which ooncern mostly subject 
classification, discourse types, definitions and examples 
or citations. This is an advanced research topic whose 
outcome cannot be predicted now. 
- 20 -
2.6. Standards for textual, lexical and terminologie! data 
This activity is closely related to the re-usability of 
linguistio resources in the future. The Commission will 
support and stimulate international activities in this field 
in close oooperation with professional associations and 
national and international standards organizations. 
2.7. education and training 
A number of research grants will be awarded to post-graduate 
students to participate in the research and development work 
In the projects outlined hereabove. 
2.8. Evaluation 
At the end of the programme the results will be evaluated by 
independent experts. 
5. Modalities of Execution 
The various action lines pursue different objectives which 
demand different forms of organizational, contractual and 
financial schemes. 
3.1. Services Contracts 
The implementation of the system development, testing and 
research environment (action line 2.1) which will provide all 
participating parties with a common set of tools, will be 
entrusted to industrial contractors on the basis of calls for 
tenders. It will be financed fully from the Community budget. 
3.2. National research teams 
The work concerning the different languages (aotion line 2.2) 
will be oarrled out by national research teams in the member 
States, and oo-financed by the Community and the member 
States. 
3.3. Shared cost projects 
The linguistio researoh of general Interest (aotion line 2.3), 
research and development into advanced system architectures 
(aotion line 2.4) and re-usability of lexical and 
terminological resources (action line 2.5 ) will be carried 
out as cooperative ventures between industries, research 
centres and EUROTRA teams. The specif io projects and 
contraotors will be selected on a call for tenders/proposals 
basis. The Community contribution to these projects will be in 
general 50%. 
- 21 -
3.4. Grants 
Grants will be awarded to qualified post-graduate students. 
3.5. Subsidies 
The Commission will award subsidies to professional 
associations and standards organisations for action line 2.6. 
4. Indicative break-down of the expenses 
The indicative break-down of the amount of 10 million ECU 
deemed necessary for the- execution of the programme is as 
follows (in 1000 ECU) : 
(a) System development environment 2,000 
(b) EC contribution to the national research teams 4,000 
(c) Shared-cost research projects 3,000 
(d) Training, subsidies, evaluation 1,000 
Total 10,000 
- 22 -
AHHEL2 
OPINION OP THE MANAGEMENT AND COORDINATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE 
LINGUISTIC PROBLEMS (CGC-12) 
of 26 JUNE 1989 
Subjeot : Draft proposal for a speoific programme for the 
preparation of the industrial development of a 
practical EUROTRA system 
At its meeting of 26 June 1989 the Committee has examined the 
revised draft of the Communication to Council and the proposal for 
a Council Decision annexed to it concerning a specific programme 
for the preparation of the development of a practical EUROTRA 
system (doc CGC-12/193/89 rev.l). 
The Committee notes that the programme proposed covers the aotlons 
foreseen under line 8.4 of the Framework Programme 1987-1991 which 
includes with regard to linguistio problems in addition to the 
completion of the EUROTRA programme decided by Council on 20 June 
1989 : 
support to the industrial development of a machine translation 
system; 
development of methods and tools for the reusability of 
lexical resources in computerized applications and; 
creation of standards for lexical and terminological data. 
The Committee notes that for this speciflo programme 10 million ECU 
are earmarked, of which 5 will become available only on 1992 as the 
contribution to the overhang of the Framework Programme, and that 
therefore the objectives of this programme must be necessarily 
limited. 
The Committee endorses the objectives and priorities set out in the 
proposal and considers them realistio with respect to the 
resources and time scales of this programme. It stresses the 
Importance of a Community policy in the domain of lexicography. 
The Committee welcomes the proposed mode of execution of the 
programme by which in addition to R&D carried out by national 
research teams under contraots of association, cooperative projeots 
are foreseen which are to stimulate the involvement of industry 
through oooperatlon with universities. It considers also that the 
use of 10% of the resources earmarked for training through grants 
and exchange of researchers is an effective measure to improve the 
situation, with regard to the scarcity of qualified researchers and 
engineers in this subjeot field. 
The Committee reiterates the urgent need for a global Community 
polioy and a strateglo R&D programme in the field of linguistio 
technologies, which it expressed in its opinion of 27 February 
1989, and expects that its recommendations will be taken into 
account in the Commission's proposal for the revision of the 
Framework Programme. 
- 23 -
AHMBE III 
SPECIFIC PROGRAMME FOR THE PREPARATION OF THE DEVELOPMENT 
OF AN OPERATIONAL E U R 0 T R A SYSTEM 
FINANCIAL STATEMENT 
1. Budget item concerned : Item B7389 (EUROTRA) 
2. Legal basis 
Article 130 Q, (2) of the EEC Treaty 
Council Decision 87/516/Euratom, CEE of 28 September 1987^) 
Council Decision / /CEE of (2) 
3. Description, aims and justification 
3.1. Description 
The objective of the programme is to support the 
development of a machine translation system by turning 
the achievements of the current EUROTRA programme, 
namely, an operational system prototype in a limited 
field and for limited categories of text, into the 
basis for further development . 
The programme spans nine aotlon lines, from the 
implementation of a system development, testing and 
research environment, through activities leading to 
the reusability of lexical and terminological 
resources, to a final evaluation by independent 
experts. The various lines will have different 
contraotual and financial schemes. 
3.2 Alios 
On oompletion of the programme, the following results 
are expected : 
- a set of software tools and a tested methodology for 
large scale system development; 
- a set of tools and methods for building large-scale 
dictionaries from existing lexical resources; 
- a set of tools and methods for the incorporation of 
terminological oolleotions; 
- well tested Implementations of analysis and 
synthesis modules in all nine Community languages 
with broad grammatical ooverage and a representative 
lexical ooverage; 
(1) OJ NV L 302 Of 24.10.1987, p 
(2) OJ N*. L Of 
- 24 -
- the implementation of relayed transfer if the 
corresponding experimentation is successful; 
- a strategy for the industrial development of a 
practical multilingual translation system and of a 
number of related products; 
- a strategy for the development of a generalized 
linguistio technology reusable in a large variety of 
applications. 
3.3. Justification 
The main objeotive of the programme is to oreate, 
starting from the BUROTRA prototype, the appropriate 
conditions for a large-scale industrial development. 
This includes the development of methods and tools for 
the reusability of lexical resources in computer 
applications as well as the creation of standards for 
lexical and terminological data. 
4. Financial implications. 
The overall costs of the duration of the programme, 1.7.1990 -
30.6.1992, break down as follows ('000 ECU) : 
(a) System development and testing environment 2 000 
(b) Community contribution to the national research 
teams 4 000 
(c) Cooperative projects 3 000 
(d) Training, subsidies, evaluation 1 000 
Total 10 000 
To this must be added 7 million ECU of national contributions 
(4 million to the national researoh teams and 3 million ECU of 
contributions from participants to cooperative projeots) bringing 
the total oost of the programme to 17 million ECU. 
The planned finanolng of the programme, 1990-1992, is the 
following : 
Item B7S89 
Budgeted researoh appropriations : 
Xear commitments Payments 
1990 2 000* 100 
1991 3 000 2 800 
1992 5 000* ' 5 000 
1993 2 100 
* earmarked for the specific programme in the 1990 preliminary 
draft budget 
*• contribution to the overhang of the Framework Programme, 1987-
1991 
- 25 -
Budgeted operating appropriations : 
The preliminary draft budget for 1990 foresees under item B7389 
five temporary posts (2A + IB + 2C) for this speoifio programme. 
The administrative expenditure related to these posts has been 
included in the appropriations requested for chapter A29 of the 
1990 preliminary draft budget. 

ISSN 0254-1475 
DOCUMENT «. 
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