Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on:

- the 'Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council and the Economic and Social Committee concerning regulatory transparency in the internal market for information society services`, and - the 'Proposal for a European Parliament and Council Directive amending for the third time Directive 83/189/EEC laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations` () (97/C 158/01)

On 14 February 1997 the Council decided, in accordance with Article 100A of the Treaty establishing the European Community, to consult the Economic and Social Committee on the above-mentioned communication and 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 3 March 1997. The rapporteur was Mr Kommer de Knegt.

At its 344th plenary session (meeting of 19 March 1997), the Economic and Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 41 votes to four.

1. Introduction

1.1. The Commission's policy on the information society was defined in its action plan entitled 'Europe's way to the Information Society: an action plan`. As part of this general policy on the information society, in March 1995 the Commission defined its regulatory policy in relation to information society services, that is to say, the various services that will be carried on the information superhighways.

1.2. The aim of the policy is to offer the consumer a whole range of services which can be provided by electronic means. In order that these services may be provided in the same manner in all Member States, it is necessary to have some sort of co-ordination at EU level.

2. The Commission document

2.1. The purpose of the Commission communication and of the accompanying proposal for a Council directive is to establish at Community level a procedure for the provision of information and the holding of consultations on possible future draft rules and regulations on information society services.

2.2. These services are becoming more and more diverse and include electronic newspapers, education, distance tourism services, the distance selling of goods and services by electronic services, legal and medical advice, interactive games and leisure activities etc.

2.3. As regards preregulatory mobilization, the Commission declares that in a number of Member States preparatory work has already begun on analysing and assessing future regulatory needs in the information society. Mention is made of Belgium, Germany, Denmark, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland and the United Kingdom.

2.4. The procedure laid down in respect of draft rules on goods by Directive 83/189/EEC of 28 March 1983 already pursues precisely the objective of establishing a co-ordination procedure. The fact that more than ten years' experience has been gained in applying this directive demonstrates its effectiveness, since it is the most extensively used regulatory transparency mechanism to date. The administrative co-operation it provides for and the procedures it lays down are perfectly suited to the present needs of the information society.

2.5. The Commission accordingly proposes to widen the directive's scope so as to include draft rules and regulations on information society services.

2.6. The proposal for an extended directive pursues several objectives:

- permitting the smooth functioning of the internal market, particularly by preventing the creation of new obstacles, via the exchange of information between Member States and between Member States and the Commission;

- ensuring more effective safeguarding of general interest objectives by anticipating the need for Community intervention aimed at ensuring an adequate, equivalent level of protection between Member States;

- establishing more clearly the need for new Community rules and regulations by permitting a more effective application of the Treaty, especially Articles 52 and 59, and of Community law, together with closer co-operation between the Member States;

- facilitating administrative co-operation at the drafting stage of rules and regulations;

- contributing to the stability of the regulatory framework; and

- enabling competent national authorities and consumers to have more information about, and contribute to, draft rules and regulations potentially affecting them.

2.7. The proposed transparency mechanism reproduces the procedural measures laid down in Directive 83/189/EEC:

- a procedure for the provision of information on draft rules and regulations on the services defined above;

- a consultation procedure; and

- a committee of Member States' representatives already provided for in Directive 83/189/EEC.

2.8. The proposal for a Council Directive amending for the third time Directive 83/189/EEC is perfectly in keeping with the spirit of subsidiarity.

3. General comments - Communication from the Commission on information society services

3.1. The ESC is pleased that the Commission, as part of its general policy on the information society, is keen to develop a legal framework where the new services which will be provided in the information society can benefit from the opportunities afforded by the area without internal frontiers.

3.2. The ESC would emphasize the Commission's view that the further development of the information society must bear in mind the fundamental objectives to be pursued in the general interest and the social, societal and cultural factors involved.

3.3. It is important that in ten out of the fifteen Member States preparatory work has begun on analysing regulatory needs in the information society. The ESC thinks the Council and the Member States must say that it is important for all the Member States to keep in line on this matter if possible.

3.4. In order to forestall any refragmentation of the internal market, the Commission feels that there must be co-ordination of future activities but considers it premature to submit proposals for extensive harmonization for the purpose of achieving such co-ordination. The ESC endorses this view.

3.5. In general, not enough is known about the form, nature and market developments of these new services for it to be possible to determine the need for, and content of, such harmonization in the light of the internal market. The Commission therefore proposes to co-ordinate these future rules and regulations by means of the previously mentioned information, consultation and administrative co-operation procedure.

3.6. The ESC agrees with the proposed information, consultation and administrative co-operation procedure. The ESC thus supports the Commission's view that at the drafting stage of rules and regulations national legislators must be prepared to ask other national administrations about the situation in other Member States, so as not to legislate in isolation without regard to experience gained elsewhere and the impact on service providers and receivers established in other countries.

3.7. The ESC completely agrees with the Commission that the development of information society services is of great significance for the citizens of the EU and access to them must be equal for all. This also applies to businesses, including small, very small and medium-sized firms.

3.8. The Commission has rightly stated that transparency is of great importance when developing information society services. The ESC considers that there must be transparency from the start.

3.9. The ESC wishes to emphasize that the programmes which are developed in order to allow access to information society services must be user-friendly. Research in a number of Member States has shown that modern equipment, such as televisions, videos, computers, etc. are difficult to use and their instructions are not models of clarity. The ESC urges the Commission to ensure that instructions are published in all official languages.

3.10. Information society services will develop step by step. No-one can say how long it will take to reach the final objective. It may be assumed that technological development will continue and that new ideas will be developed on the application of information society services. In this sense one can speak of a continuous process, and that calls for a process-geared approach.

3.11. The advantage of this is that development can be followed properly, and this allows the possibility, where necessary, of making corrections and asking all concerned to continue supplying constructive contributions. Interim reports are necessary on the development of information society services and rules and regulations. The ESC asks the Commission to take this into account.

4. General comments - Proposal for a third amendment to Directive 83/189/EEC

4.1. The ESC finds it correct that the Commission involves Directive 83/189/EEC in its efforts to develop a legal framework for the information society, because this directive lays down procedures for draft provisions concerning goods and contains a co-ordination procedure, which has provided some fruitful experiences.

4.2. The result of this is that the directive must be extended and a number of articles must be adapted so that they can be applied to draft laws and regulations concerning information society services. The Commission puts forward concrete proposals.

4.3. Directive 83/189/EEC regulates the exchange of information between Member States in the field of technical standards and regulations. The Member States are obliged to keep the Commission and the other Member States informed of any national draft for a technical regulation that they intend to approve.

4.4. The Commission's proposal to extend the scope of Directive 83/189/EEC to cover laws and regulations in the field of information society services makes it possible for those interested to acquaint themselves with developments in this area.

4.5. Although the ESC realises that the proposal for a third amendment of Regulation 83/119/EEC concerns only the technical part of the rules in the directive, it is worth stressing that standards, as well as being of capital importance to the proper operation of the single market, form the basis for the development of high quality goods and processes, varying from products for household use to products for industrial use. It is of great importance for both large and small firms, as well as ordinary citizens, to be able to acquaint themselves with developments in this area.

4.6. Owing to the sheer number of small and medium-sized firms there is no way that they can become actively involved in all aspects of the process of developing information society services. The same applies to employees' and consumers' organizations.

4.7. It is therefore important to pursue a policy aimed at stimulating and maintaining interest in the development of information society services.

4.8. The Commission reports regularly on the effect of Directive 83/189/EEC. The ESC has taken note of the communication from the Commission that the ESC will receive officially a copy of the report on the effect of Directive 83/189/EEC.

4.9. The ESC notes that under Article 9 of Regulation 83/189 a Member State may prepare technical regulations for urgent reasons relating to the protection of public health, safety or the protection of the life and health of animals and plants. The Treaty too provides for the possibility of enacting urgent measures for the protection of public order.

The ESC has also been consulted on the Green Paper on the protection of human dignity in audiovisual and information services and of the Commission communication on illegal and harmful contents on the Internet ().

As problems of this kind will occur more and more often on networks, the ESC urges the Commission to define more closely the machinery and criteria that can be handled under the urgency procedure.

4.10. The third amendment will introduce new elements into the directive which are tuned to the development of information society services. The directive as submitted is rather complicated, but it must still be accessible.

5. Co-ordination at the Commission

5.1. As part of the development of the information society a number of documents have been published by the Commission (). These documents are closely connected. But it is not always clear to the ESC, or to others, who is responsible for co-ordinating all the activities involved in developing information society services and where this co-ordination takes place.

5.2. All documents rightly speak about the 'transparency` of the information society. In the interests of all those who feel concerned, it is important to know who within the Commission is responsible for co-ordinating this key issue, which departments are involved and what developments are going on.

6. Conclusions

6.1. The ESC can agree with:

- the Commission's policy of developing appropriate legislation for information society services;

- the proposed information, consultation and administrative co-operation procedure; and

- the proposed third amendment to Directive 83/189/EEC.

7. Recommendations

7.1. The ESC thinks that:

- the Commission must encourage national and regional authorities to be involved in the development of the information society;

- interim reports should be issued, providing information on the development of information society services and of laws and regulations;

- the development of user-friendly programmes must be encouraged in order to allow access to information society services;

- a platform entitled 'the development of information society services` should be set up for the benefit of employees' and consumers' organizations, small and medium-sized firms and very small firms;

- the machinery and criteria that can be handled under the urgency procedure should be defined more closely;

- it should be clearly stated in some sort of publication who within the Commission is responsible for the development of information society services and which departments are involved;

- an information centre entitled 'the development of information society services` should be set up for the benefit of ordinary people; and

- the newly amended version of Directive 83/189/EEC, together with a good explanation, should be published in full as soon as possible after its adoption by the Council.

Brussels, 19 March 1997.

The President of the Economic and Social Committee

Tom JENKINS

() OJ No C 307, 16. 10. 1996, p. 11.

() COM(96) 487 fin.

() COM(96) 395 final - 'From Corfu to Dublin` and 'The Implications of the Information Society for European Union Policies - Preparing the next steps`;

COM(96) 359 final - 'Standardization and the global information society: the European approach`;

COM(96) 389 final - 'Green Paper - Living and working in the information society: people first`; and

COM(96) 392 final - 'Regulatory transparency in the internal market for information society services` and a 'Proposal for a European Parliament and Council Directive amending for the third time Directive 83/189/EEC laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations`.