No C 140/24 Official Journal of the European Communities 28. 5. 84 
Opinion on the proposal for a Council Decision adopting a Community programme for 
the development of the specialized information market in Europe 
(84/C 140/09) 
The text referred to the Committee has been published in Official Journal of the Euro­
pean Communities No C 328 of 2 December 1983, page 3. 
A. LEGAL BASIS FOR THE OPINION 
In accordance with Article 198 of the Treaty establishing the European Economic 
Community, the Council decided on 2 December 1983 to consult the Economic and 
Social Committee on the abovementioned proposal. 
Procedure: 
On 13 December 1983, the Committee Bureau decided to instruct the Section for 
Industry, Commerce, Crafts and Services to draw up an opinion on the matter. At its 
216th plenary session the Committee decided to appoint Mr Nierhaus as rapporteur-
general. 
B. OPINION OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE 
During the discussions on 29 March at its 216th plenary session, the Committee 
adopted the following opinion unanimously: 
1. The Committee welcomes the Commission pro­
posal, and makes the following comments. 
2. General comments 
2.1. In the proposal for a Council Decision adopt­
ing a Community programme for the development 
of the specialized information market in Europe, the 
Commission tackles a problem which is of increas­
ing importance for the economic, social and cultural 
development of the Community. As the volume of 
information on all areas of economic, social and 
cultural life grows ever larger, it is becoming 
increasingly difficult to obtain the required informa­
tion quickly from the mass of specialized data avail­
able worldwide. The fact that information has devel­
oped into an additional production factor means 
that its speedy availability is often crucial for econo­
mic success or failure. This is equally true for politi­
cal and personal decisions. The production, distri­
bution and use of information have thus inevitably 
developed into an independent market, which 
derives its special dynamism from the increasing 
application of new information technologies. The 
Committee therefore recognizes the importance of 
the information sector, not least for creating new jobs. It accordingly advocates that this sector be 
promoted by Community measures, also with a view 
to obviating the threat of dependence on the non-
Community information market. If specialized 
information is to be made accessible to all users, a 
public data network must at all events be set up in 
all Member States so that all users have equal access 
to the information market. The Commission should 
issue a recommendation to induce those countries 
which do not yet have such a network to develop 
one in the near future. 
The Committee welcomes the fact that informa­
tion-technology user aspects are given prominence 
for the first time in the Commission document. In 
this connection, the Committee stresses that access 
to the 'information market' must be made as user-
friendly as possible. 
2.2. The Committee lays particular stress on the 
need to include national information services and 
structures in the programme. The Community 
should concentrate on tasks which can be tackled 
more efficiently at Community level and which 
involve the use of a large market. The Committee 
feels that the STIDC (Scientific and Technical 
Information and Documentation Committee) has a 
28.5.84 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 140/25 
major role to play in fixing these tasks. The Com­
mittee therefore supports the extension of the duties 
of the STIDC as set out in Annex II to the proposed 
Decision. 
2.3. The specialized information market is 
extremely diverse in both its information content 
and its structure and importance. The Commission 
proposes dividing information services into the fol­
lowing sectors: 
— science and technology, 
— economic and econometric, 
— business and finance, 
— legal, 
— credit reference, 
— special marketing information, and 
— general information. 
Of equally diverse importance are the structures 
already existing at national and international level. 
Some are well-established private-sector services 
(e.g. credit reference), while other services are oper­
ated by public bodies (e.g. science and technology) 
and have an importance extending far beyond the 
economic aspect. 
There should be a sensible ratio between public-sec­
tor and private-sector activities in the development 
of networks and the operation of services. 
The Committee feels it is difficult to make a defini­
tive assessment of the programme, as the present 
draft gives little indication of sectoral priorities, 
decisions on these being dependent on an evalua­
tive market sector analysis (Annex I, Point 2.2.1.7.). 
This is particularly so since the assessment has to 
cover a number of aspects, more especially those 
which are of particular importance to the user, such 
as 
— technical aspects, 
— linguistic aspects, 
— administrative aspects, 
— economic aspects, 
— legal aspects, 
— policy aspects, and 
— educational aspects. 
The focus of each research aspect should vary with 
the information sector involved, as the problems to 
be solved and the priority goals differ. 2.4. The Committee notes that the programme 
concentrates almost exclusively on the extension 
and promotion of the information market, and 
thereby in some cases totally ignores the effects on 
the individual and on society of the growing infor­
mation market, or considers these effects from a 
purely economic angle. Answers to such questions 
as: 
— How are personal data to be protected? 
— To what extent are job losses caused by concen­
tration of decentralized data banks? 
— What are the problems caused by the growing 
dependence on information services (e.g. in the 
case of technical breakdown)? 
— What is the effect of new information technol­
ogy on the aims of education and vocational 
training? 
— What is the social importance and effect of the 
various information areas? 
— What is the ratio of publicly accessible informa­
tion to data protected by copyright or otherwise 
protected data? 
— What is the effect on the health of those 
involved? 
are important when setting priorities for the Com­
munity's promotional policy. The Committee agrees 
with the Commission on the need for individual 
programmes, 'but they cover only limited although 
important aspects of a wide and complex field of 
economic, social and cultural importance'. The 
Committee thus expects the 'much broader and 
more general policy aspects of information flows 
and the information market' (Point 2.3 (b) of the 
document) to be dealt with in the separate commun­
ication to the Council which is to be issued at a later 
stage. This communication should be issued early 
enough to be taken into account in the implementa­
tion of the proposed Community programme for the 
development of the specialized information market. 
2.5. Alongside continued work on the Euronet 
project (although it is already of limited usefulness 
to some Member States) and the Diane project, the 
Committee would give special priority to R & D 
work on potential uses of the new information 
medium interactive videotex for specialized infor­
mation services; this could help provide small firms 
and such people as consultants, doctors and lawyers 
No C 140/26 Official Journal of the European Communities 28. 5. 84 
with reasonably priced data. However, the Com­
mittee does not underestimate the considerable 
problems which still stand in the way of Com­
munity-wide introduction of this service with inter­
connected data banks. 
Done at Brussels, 29 March 1984. 2.6. In conclusions, the Committee feels that a 
final appraisal cannot yet be made of the financing 
of the programme, as this has to be considered in 
close conjunction with the future financing of the 
Community in general. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Francois CEYRAC