17.9.87 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 249/5 
II 
(Preparatory Acts) 
COMMISSION 
Proposal for a Council Decision concerning the establishment at Community level of a policy 
and a plan of priority actions for the development of an information services market 
COM(87) 360 final 
(Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 4 August 1987) 
(87/C 249/05) 
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community, and in particular Article 100 A 
thereof, 
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, 
In cooperation with the European Parliament, 
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and 
Social Committee, 
Whereas it is essential to adopt measures for the gradual 
establishment of the internal market during the period up 
to 31 December 1992; whereas the internal market 
comprises an area without internal frontiers in which the 
free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is 
ensured; 
Whereas the Heads of State and of Government, 
meeting at the European Council in Brussels on 29 and 
30 March 1985, approved the creation of a Community 
information market as a specific objective; 
Whereas the Council on 18 March 1986 gave a 
favourable reception to the communication from the 
Commission comprising a work programme for creating 
a common information market; 
Whereas the Commission, having consulted represen­
tatives of users and suppliers of information services as 
well as the Senior Officials Advisory Group on the 
Information Market, has been able to draw up an agreed 
definition of the principal objectives and lines of action 
of a Community policy which is designed to tackle on a 
broad front the complex, diverse and overlapping 
questions arising out of the evolution of the information 
market; 
Whereas it is recognized that information plays a role of 
fundamental importance in the development of trade and 
industry, giving strength and coherence to the European economy as a whole, as well as being an essential 
component both of the cultural identity of the 
Community and of the fabric of a modern society; 
Whereas, by virtue of the economic importance of infor­
mation,- the creation of a common information services 
market occupies an essential place in the achievement of 
the internal market by the end of 1992; 
Whereas there exist numerous technical barriers in the 
way of the development of services, as well as barriers to 
access and unacceptable distortions of competition which 
must be eliminated in order to set up a fair and balanced 
framework for the development of the information 
market in the widest sense, and thereby also for the 
whole economy; 
Whereas the development of information resources and 
information-based services requires the application of 
new technologies and the achievement of economies of 
scale, thereby presenting a number of problems, but at 
the same time opens up, directly or indirectly, new 
prospects which have many important repercussions, not 
only for the competitive working environment of the 
internal market but also for the whole Community in the 
face of its main competitors in the world arena; 
Whereas public authorities in the Member States are 
carrying out to a varied extent different activities in the 
domain of the information market; 
Whereas the growing importance of information in inter­
national transactions, and of the related problems 
concerning services, is receiving increasing attention in 
international forums and this fact serves to emphasize 
the necessity for Member States to develop common 
position in those forums; 
Whereas the needs and legitimate demands of users of 
information services and particularly of those in small 
and medium-sized enterprises and in the less-favoured 
regions of the Community merit special attention; 
No C 249/6 Official Journal of the European Communities 17.9.87 
Whereas the Community already possesses potentially 
useful instruments for the implementation of the above 
policy; 
Whereas the Community's financial engineering 
mechanisms may contribute to the implementation of the 
present action plan, in particular with regard to the pilot 
and demonstration projects designed to exert a catalytic 
effect on the development of the information services 
market, 
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: 
Article 1 
Approval is hereby given to the objectives and broad 
lines of the plan of action proposed by the Commission 
with the following aims: 
— to set up an internal information services market by 
the end of 1992, 
— to stimulate and reinforce the competitive capability 
of European suppliers of information services, 
— to promote the use of advanced information services 
in the Community, 
— to reinforce joint efforts to achieve the internal and 
external cohesion of the Community with respect to 
information services. 
Article 2 
In order to attain the objectives referred to in Article 1 
the following actions shall be undertaken under the 
responsibility of the Commission: 
— the establishment of a European information market 
observatory, 
— the presentation to the Council of proposals which 
will aim at eliminating technical barriers to the 
establishment of an information market, 
— the improvement of the conditions for transmitting 
and accessing information services, 
— the preparation of initiatives concerning the role of 
the public sector in the information market, — the launching of pilot and demonstration projects 
which will act as catalysts for the development of a 
European market, 
— the preparation of a specific action in favour of 
libraries, 
— the reinforcement of user support activities and the 
launching, in coordination with the Member States, 
of a campaign to promote the wealth and quality of 
European information services available on the 
market. 
Article 3 
The action plan described in Article 2 shall be 
implemented in two phases, the first of which shall last 
two years, beginning with the date of adoption of this 
Decision, and shall constitute an introductory phase 
designed to intensify cooperation between the different 
parties concerned and to test the feasibility of a number 
of pilot and demonstration projects. 
Article 4 
The amount deemed necessary for the implementation of 
the introductory phase is 15 million ECU for 1989 and 
20 million ECU for 1990. 
Part of the amount deemed necessary, that used to 
finance pilot and demonstration projects, may serve in 
particular to bring to bear, as appropriate, additional 
sources of finance emanating from interested partners, 
thus multiplying its effect on the development of the 
European information services market. 
Article 5 
During the second half of 1989, the Commission shall 
transmit to the Council and to the European Parliament 
an evaluation report on the results obtained during the 
introductory phase and shall present, on the basis of 
those results, guidelines for the continuation of actions 
until 1992. 
Article 6 
This Decision is addressed to the Member States.