No C 41/12 Official Journal of the European Communities 18. 2. 91 
Opinion on the proposal for a Council Decision concerning a specific programme of research 
and technological development (R&D) in the field of communication technologies 
(1990-1994) (!) 
(91/C 41/06) 
On 6 June 1990 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, 
under Article 130Q of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, on the 
abovementioned proposal. 
The Section for Industry, Commerce, Crafts and Services, which was responsible for preparing 
the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its Opinion on 9 November 1990. The 
Rapporteur was Mr Nierhaus. 
At its 281st plenary session (meeting of 20 November 1990), the Economic and Social 
Committee adopted the following Opinion unanimously. 
1. Preliminary remarks 
The telecommunications industry is vital to the econ­
omic development of the Community for two reasons. 
In the first place, telecommunications are a major 
growth sector in which the Community's principal com­
petitors are the USA and Japan. If Europe can withstand 
this international competition, the expansion of the 
sector will generate substantial employment within the 
Community beyond the year 2000. 
Secondly, the indirect impact on employment will be 
even greater. Rapid access to specific information is 
crucial to the economic success of highly-industrialized 
societies, which are becoming increasingly 'service-
oriented', and the immediate availability of this infor­
mation — in data, text, pictorial, moving-image and 
oral forms — depends on the existence of an efficient 
telecommunications network. In view of the high 
research, development, implementation and operating 
costs associated with such networks, however, a Com­
munity approach would appear to be the only option. 
This would also have the effect of highlighting the 
European dimension as regards both this specific pro­
gramme and the efficient extension of telecommuni­
cations systems in general. 
Accordingly, since mid-1983 the Commission has intro­
duced a number of measures, all of which the Commit­
tee has broadly approved. Following the Council's 
approval on 15 July 1985 of a definition phase, these 
efforts to develop the Community's telecommuni­
cations industry were intensified by the 550 million 
ECU research and development (R&D) programme 
(1987-1991) in the field of communication technologies 
(RACE). 
(J) JO No C 174, 16. 7. 1990, p. 9. The present proposal for a Council decision is designed 
to ensure the continuation and adaptation to technical 
progress of this action. 
A total of 484,11 million ECU will be divided between 
eight areas of activity, in accordance with their relative 
importance. 
2. General comments 
The Committee also endorses this new Commission 
initiative in principle, since it regards the development 
of the telecommunications industry and the resultant 
establishment of an efficient information network as 
vital for the Community's economic success, both at 
present and increasingly over the next decade. 
The rate of development will, however, depend on the 
general context, essentially determined by the overall 
political and social situation, rather than technical con­
siderations alone. In this connection, a crucial factor 
will be the willingness of European telecommunications 
administrations and companies, industry, the universit­
ies and research institutes to cooperate in developing a 
uniform network architecture and to harmonize 
national provisions, standards and economic arrange­
ments. This process can be promoted by privatizing the 
most important services. 
3. Specific comments 
3.1. Central to the development of European tele­
communications will be the introduction of integrated 
broadband communications (IBC) systems through the 
18. 2. 91 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 41/13 
coordination of formerly separate data-, text-, speech-
and image-transmission services. Not all the Member 
States, however, will be able to bear an equal share of 
the substantial investment burden. The Community's 
ambitious aim of coordinating the introduction of IBC 
with the ISDN now being developed and national 
implementing strategies, with the aim of achieving 
Community-wide services by 1995, seems likely to 
increase the technological gap between the highly-
developed and less-advanced regions, particularly if the 
national telecommunications administrations are given 
sole responsibility for network development and main­
tenance. 
3.2. End-user behaviour will also have a decisive 
influence on the successful introduction of telecom­
munications technologies. The essential requirement is 
for a rapid, inexpensive service which will improve 
users' competitiveness. Actual demand for particular 
services and terminals should be studied against the 
background of technological developments, with a view 
to making qualitative and quantitative forecasts. In this 
context, the proposed IBC demonstration equipment 
and telecommunications field tests represent an initiat­
ive which must be taken further. 
3.3. The producers of network services and com­
ponents require a clearly defined framework of stan­
dards and technical specifications in which to plan their 
activities. The speedy establishment of the communi­
cations infrastructure will therefore depend on the defi­
nition of such specifications by the relevant Community 
committees (e.g. CEPT, ECTEL, SOG-T, ETSI), as far 
as possible on the basis of international standards. 
3.4. An increasing interconnection and, in some cas­
es, worldwide availability of data sources raises the 
problem of distinguishing between confidential per­
sonal data and public information. Thus, in addition 
to the important topic of information security covered 
by area 6, consideration must be given to the protection 
of confidential data against misuse. Public mistrust on 
this point, whether justified or merely the result of 
ignorance, could, if neglected, create a serious political 
Done at Brussels, 20 November 1990. obstacle to the introduction of efficient communi­
cations technologies. 
The Committee therefore stresses the importance of 
developing effective coding systems to prevent the mis­
use of private and commercial data — particularly by 
military bodies. 
3.5. Quite apart from their development and intro­
duction, the use of highly integrated services, for exam­
ple for the recovery of specific information from data 
banks, calls for skilled specialists. It is therefore regret­
table that the specific programme does not expressly 
provide for basic and further training. Efforts should be 
made to achieve coordination with the corresponding 
telecommunications-technology training programmes 
of the Community. 
3.6. It is not clear from the Commission document 
how the organizational, technical and financial content 
of the proposed programme relates to that of RACE 
and ESPRIT and its follow-up programme (specific 
programme of research and development in the field of 
information technology), although there is an obvious 
overlap with regard to content and organization. The 
reports prescribed by Article 5, which must be sent to 
the ESC as well as to the Council and the European 
Parliament, should clarify this question. 
3.7. Whilst the inclusion of small and medium-sized 
businesses specified in Annex III is to be welcomed, 
special attention should also be paid to projects involv­
ing at least one partner from a less-developed region. 
This would allow harmonization with the objectives of 
the STAR programme. 
3.8. The reports required by Article 5 should provide 
further information on this point. 
In this connection, the Committee would point out 
that, pursuant to Article 130Q(2) of the EEC Treaty, 
the Commission must consult the ESC if the reports 
contain proposals for necessary amendments. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Francois STAEDELIN