31. 12. 87 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 356/1 
II 
(Preparatory Acts) 
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE 
Opinion on the draft Decision concerning the establishment at Community level of a policy 
and a plan of priority actions for the development of an information services market (!) 
(87/C 356/01) 
On 21 September 1987 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, 
under Article 100 A of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, on the 
abovementioned draft Decision. 
The Section for Industry, Commerce, Crafts and Services, which was responsible for preparing 
the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its Opinion on 4 November 1987. The 
rapporteur was Mr Vassilaras. 
At its 250th plenary session (meeting of 18 November 1987) the Economic and Social 
Committee adopted the following Opinion unanimously: 
1. Introduction 
1.1. The highly industrialized States in all parts of 
the world are now well on the way to creating the 
'information society'. This means that, alongside the 
traditional factors of production — labour and capital 
— information is assuming ever greater significance, 
and plays an increasingly decisive role in the economic 
success or failure of firms. Equally important is timely 
and appropriate access to information for all other 
aspects of life — especially the political, scientific and 
private spheres. 
1.2. The enormous increase in the quantity and var­
iety of information makes the rapid dissemination and 
purposeful selection of required specialized information 
more and more problematic. Whereas, up to now, for 
many branches of science, economics and technology, 
books and specialized periodicals and their use in li­
braries have been the only way of collecting and sel­
ecting specialized information, the rapid development 
of electronic data processing and transmission in recent 
years has brought about a change the effects of which 
in the legal, technical, economic and social fields cannot 
yet be fully assessed. At all events, it is now possible to 
select and transmit electronically — on-line or off-line 
— the specialized data collected in data banks (e.g. for 
(!) OJ No C 249, 17. 9. 1987, p. 5. scientific, economic or medical purposes) in a much 
faster and more efficient way. 
1.3. In keeping with the economic significance of 
information, an independent information market of 
worldwide scope is developing with increasing dyna­
mism. The Community must maintain its position on 
this market, above all in relation to the USA and Japan. 
1.4. Special difficulties and disadvantages for the 
Community — e.g. in comparison with the USA and 
Japan -— result from the existing technical, legal and 
language barriers and prevent real economies of scale 
developing. Consequently the North American market 
has developed considerably faster than that of the Euro­
pean States, as distinct from the Community internal 
market which is still not completed. 
1.5. On the other hand, possibilities exist for the 
development of a specialized information market in 
the Community provided that there is the necessary 
political will in the Member States and the Community 
itself to ensure consistent promotion of this market. 
1.6. The present Communication and draft Decision 
concerning the establishment at Community level of a 
policy and a plan of priority actions for the development 
of an information services market represent a logical 
continuation by the Community of a policy which 
essentially had as its starting-point the Council of Min­
isters' Decision of 24 June 1971 on the promotion of 
information supply and utilization through coordinated 
NoC3eo^ Official]ournal of the European Communities 3LI^.8B 
measuresbv the CommunitvandtheMember States. 
As a follow-up to this Decision the Council adopted 
three consecutive 3-vear Communitv action plans in 
the field of scientific and technical information and 
documentation, the last of which extended to the end 
of 1983 
1.^. Building on these 3-vear action plans, the Com­
mission put forward in Novemberl983aproposal for 
aCouncil Decision adoptingaCommunit^ programme 
for the development of the specialised information mar 
ket in Europe (doc.COAi(83)^l),on which the Econ-
omic and Social Committee deliveredacomprehensive 
Opimon in Aiarch 1984(^. rmiebasicassessmentsto 
he found in that Opinion also applv to the present 
Commission document (doc. COAi(8^) 3^0). 
1.8. Einallv, the Economic and Social Committee 
gaveits Opinion in mid-198^on thesematters(^, in 
connection with the workprogramme for creating a 
common information market which the Commission 
put forward in November 1985 (doc. COM(85) ^58). 
^. Ceneral comments 
^.1. In keeping with its earlier Opinions, the Com 
mittee welcomes the Commissions draft Decision, 
including the aims envisaged and the planned priority 
actions,whichrepresentafurther implementation and 
adaptation of the work programme put forward in 
1985.In particular,itstronglv supports the related aims 
on 
— setting up the internal market for information ser 
vices, 
— stimulating and strengthening the competitive sup 
plv capacity of European information suppliers, 
— promoting the useof new, more advanced infor­
mation services in the Community, 
— strengthening the solidarity and unitv of the Com 
munitv internally and e^ternallv in the field of infor 
mation services. 
Lhe measures would encourage developments which 
also have considerable importance for the labour mar­
ket in the Member States, since jobs which are not 
created on this market are lost to non-Member 
countries. 
^. In particular, it is necessarv to developaEuro 
pean research market, in order to reduce thepresent 
partial but one-sided dependence on data banks in 
non-Member countries, and toensurecomprehensive 
specialised information for all fields in the long term. 
^o^De^u,^^m^t 
^o^De^,^tu.t^ 3. Specific comments 
3.1. particular attention is drawn to the connection 
between the development of the specialised information 
market in the Community and the extension of the 
Communitv-wide Integrated Services Datatransmission 
Network (ISDN). Attractive online services can be 
developed onlv if there is rapid progress in the extension 
andintegrationof thedatanetworksof theMember 
States and the Communitv institutions. Aparticularlv 
important precondition for this is the further develop 
ment of Communitv-wide standards for data trans 
mission; at the same time,we should not lose sight of 
the need to encourage international cooperation on the 
establishment of international standards, in order to 
ensure linkage to the world market for specialised infor-
mation services. 
3.^. Attractive — i.e. inexpensive and easv-to-use— 
terminals contribute to increased use of the information 
in databanks.An encouraging example of inexpensive 
access to data-bank information even for private users 
is that of the Erench postal authorities making the 
Minitelsvstem available free of charge. 
3.^.1. Eor small and mediumsi^ed enterprises (SME) 
and disadvantaged regions, inexpensive access to pack 
et-transmitted data networks — using existing tele 
phone networks as well, for the moment — is of even 
greater importance. The postal authorities will be main 
Iv responsible for such access. 
3.3. Databanks in the Communitv are still used 
mainlv bv public services or non-profit-making organis­
ations, whereasintheUSA it ismainlvprivatefirms 
which use them. In the Member States of the Com­
munitv, moreover, a varietv of structures have 
developed which can be changed onlvgraduallv and 
cautiouslv. It seemsimportantto maintain a sensible 
balance between public and private activities in this 
field. The structures which have grown up must not be 
an obstacle to further development; to this end proper 
coordination of tasks is needed. 
3.4. The Committee would place particular stress 
on the need for development and use of automatic 
translation svstems in order to overcome language bar­
riers as far as possible. 
3.5. In its Opinion of March 1984, the ESC pointed 
out that the framework conditions for the development 
ofaspeciali^ed information market require more tho­
rough studv,particularlvasregards the social effects. 
Phe main questions raised were the following^ 
— Plow should personal data be protected^ 
— L^owhat extent does the concentration of decentra­
lized data-banks influence the labour markets 
31. 12. 87 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 356/3 
— What problems arise from the growing inter-depen­
dency of information services (e.g. in the event of 
breakdown) ? 
— What is the influence of the new information tech­
nology on the aims of education and vocational 
training? 
— What are the social value and effects of the various 
information fields? 
— What is the ratio of publicly accessible data to 
data which are subject to copyright or otherwise 
protected? 
— What effects do new information services have on 
the health of those involved? 
3.6. These problems are as topical as ever, and 
indeed some of the above questions have been taken up 
in the Community's priority actions plan. 
Done at Brussels, 18 November 1987. 3.7. This applies particularly to the question of 
effects on vocational training and to that of the ratio 
of publicly accessible to copyrighted or otherwise pro­
tected data, including protection of personal data. 
Special vocational training and further training must 
be developed to ensure that there are enough qualified 
staff available for a proper approach to data-bank 
information both on the supplier's and on the user's 
side. There is an urgent need for relevant assessments 
of qualitative and quantitative requirements. 
3.8. The effects of new information services on the 
health of those involved should also be included in the 
matters to be studied. 
3.9. The evaluation report on the results obtained 
during the introductory phase, provided for in Arti­
cle 5, should also be submitted to the Economic and 
Social Committee. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Alfons MARGOT