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Vol.1980/0170

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COMMISSION OFTHEEUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
COM(80)513 final
Brussels ,1stSeptember 1980
NEW INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES :
FIRST COMMISSION REPORT
(Communication from the Commission tothe Council )
Λ . ·;·ΛX ' -v/ jt
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v3 >
C0M(80 )513 final

Communication from theCommission tothe Council
New information technologies :First Commission report
Introduction • * •
Following thecommunication from theCommission totheEuropean Council in
Dublin onaCommunity response tothechallenge ofthenewinformation
technologies (1),thefinal communique took note oftheCommission recommen -
~dations andinvited theCouncil ofMinisters (Foreign Affairs -tostudy a
common strategy onthesubject .
Tohelp evolve this strategy ,theCommission will from time totime refer to
theCouncil measures that itdeems appropriate ,including budget measures
where necessary . '
This Communication from theCommission istherefore aninitial report on
itsactivities concerning thenewinformation technologies .Itspurpose is :
(a)tosuggest ageneral approach for theimplementation ofits
recommendations ;
(b)toreport onthepresent status ofthework and todescribe thebroad
lines ofthe action which the Commission intends totake later which
canonly befully effective ifthere isclose cooperation between the
Member States and theCommission ;
(1)European society faced with thechallenge ofnewinformation technologies
aCommunity response -COM(79 )650final of23November 1979 .

-2-
(c)tosubmit totheCouncil initial proposals ,regarded asmeriting
priority ,onthedevelopment ofmicroelectronic technology inthe
Community and thesteps tobetaken inthetelecommunications sector (2);
1.General approach suggested bytheCommission forimplementation ofits
recommendations
TheCommission considers that itwould notbeappropriate toadopt a
piecemeal approach whereby theCommunity framework would beselected
whenever itwasfeasible from thepolitical ortechnical angle ;such
aapproach would waste unnecessary time inafield where thepace of
development isextremely fast .
Itrecommends theadoption ofanoverall Community strategy which does
notinvolve acentrally administered common policy automatically provided
with itsown financial' arrangements rbut isaimed atdynamic integration
atoperationel level ofprojects conducted byseveral partners :
companies ,national governments andCommunity institutions .
Itaccords great importance tothefundamental concept ofthesharing of
responsibilities ,theonly way toensure that Community action iseffec­
tive . . ..
TheCommunity 'srole will befirstly toensure that full advantage is
taken oftheCommunity-wide scale :
-byensuring appropriate application ofthecompetition rules in
theEECTreaty ,
(2)First proposals forCommunity actions mthefield ofmicroelectronics

-byconcerting public procurement policies ,
-bypromoting cross-frontier projects byundertakings ,not
necessarily involving all theundertakings inthesector orall
the Member States .
Secondly ,theCommunity institutions will beused asastaging post and
where appropriate astarting point foractivities ,including legislative
action ,intended tocreate aclimate ofconfidence and toencourage
actively thechange necessitated bythedevelopment ofthenew infor­
mation technologies .
Lines ofaction
Broadly speaking ,these arebased onproposals inthedocument
COM(79 )650 final mentioned earlier .
They have three main aims :
-Measures intended tohelp society ingeneral and the twosides of
industry inparticular tomaster thenew technologies andadapt to
their use .Thevarious aspects include information ,education
training andretraining . .
-Establishment ofauniform market forthese new technologies throughout
theCommunity ,calling inparticular forcoordinated stages inthe
promotion ofcommon standards andinterfaces andtheopening upof
access topublic contracts .
-Projects intended both topromote newmarkets forthese technologies
and tostrengthen thecorresponding industrial capacity .
Inthis programme adistinction hasbeen drawn between immediate measures
andthose calling foradvance preparations ,which will beimplemented
only after thefirst year ofactivity .Each ofthegeneral ,lines of
action setoutabove will nowbeexamined ,with details oftheactivities
which theCommission regards ashaving priority .

4
3.Projects toprepare society forinnovation
Asfarasconsultations with the twosides ofindustry areconcerned ,
theCommission hascompleted apaper ontheimpact ofmicroelectronics
onemployment (3)which hasbeen discussed intheStanding Committee
onEmployment . ' .. - • .
With aview toestablishing aEuropean pool ofstudies andinformation ,
aninterdepartmental working party hasbeen setuptocollect inthe
first instance information available inthedepartments and toshare out
thetasks ofdata collection ,analysis andliaison .This organization
will beofuseonly ifgovernments andpublic authorities intheMember
States cooperate with itand atalater stage call upon itsservices .
With regard tospecialized training ,theCommission iscontinuing to
give itssupport toshort advanced training courses incomputer science '
and seminars toprepare educational specialists forwork inindustrial
retraining programmes .*• \
Concerning future developments ,theCommission hasgiven priority to
agroup ofprojects oninformation ,education andvocational training ,
which will bedefined within thenext year .
4.Establishment ofahomogeneous market
4.1 .Oneoftheprojects given priority deals with theharmonization offuture
digital telecommunications networks and theopening upofaccess to
contracts . ,
TheCommunication from theCommission containing recommendations on
telecommunications relates to : •
-theimplementation ofharmonization inthefield oftelecommunications ,
. I
(3)Employment and thenewmicroelectronic technology
COM(80 )16final of16February 1980 . ,

-theestablishment ofaCommunity market for thenew "telematic "
terminals ,
-aninitial stage intheopening upofaccess topublic procurement
contracts for telecommunications .
4,2 .With regard tocomputers ,anaction for thedevelopment ofstandardization
isunder way aspart ofthemultiannual data processing programme decided on
byt^ieCouncil (4).Thecontinuation oftheproject depends onwhether the
Commission isable totake onthetemporary staff which ithadrequested
tomanage this programme ,andwhich ithasnotyetbeen authorized to
recruit .
5.Creation ofnewmarkets and industrial capacity
5.1 *Plans forexploitation oftheenlarged information market are included
inthethird plan ofaction onscientific and technical information and .
documentation ,which envisages theuse ofmodern information processing
techniques and their extension toeconomic and social information .This
third plan isnowunder discussion intheCIDST (5)andaproposal for
aCouncil Decision islikely assoon astheCIDST hasdelivered its
opinion and thenecessary consultations have been held (European Parliement ,
CREST (6),Economic andSocial Committee )probably intheautumn .
5.2 .Projects insupport ofcomputer applications ,software and thedevelopment
ofpilot projects ,included inthemultiannual data processing programme
referred toabove ,also depend ontheavailability ofstaff forthe
programme .
5.3 .Microelectronic technology isregarded asthemost urgent field .
Inresponse totheCouncil Resolution ofJ1September (7),theCommission
hasprepared aproposal for aCouncil Regulation which issetout in
(4)Decision 79/783/EECof11September 1979 .OJN°L231 .
(5)CIDST iCommittee forScientific andTechnical Information and
Documentation
(6)CREST :Scientific andTechnical Research Committee .
(7)Council Resolution of.11September 1979 onaCommunity action promoting
microelectronic technology -OJN°C231ofJ3September 1979 .

-6-
itsCommunication onfirst proposals forCommunity actions inthefield
ofmicroelectronics . -
Theaim istoprovide Community industry with theresources needed to
*acquire andmaster ,bythemiddle ofthedecade ,thegeneral capacity
todesign ,manufacture anduseintegrated circuits ofatechnology Suffi­
ciently advanced tobecompetitive with theproducts ofAmerican and
Japanese industry .
Insubstance ,theproposal outlines arrangements for :
-coordination ofnational support policies
-aidforthecollaborative development byusers andequipment manufacturers
ofprototypes ofhighly specialized industrial equipment ;
-aresearch anddevelopment programme concerning computer-aided design
andtesting methods ;
-supporting (conditions concerning thetraining ofhighly-specialized
technicians and executives and the dissemination ofinformation on
products .,
5.4 .TheCommission attaches particular importance totheproject foran
information system between theCommunity institutions and theGovernments
oftheMember States .Asystem ofthis kind ,which will promote and
improve theefficiency ofexchanges ofinformation between these authori­
ties byusing themost advanced resources ofintegrated digital network
technologies ,will serve asasubstantial incentive forindustry ,for
thedevelopment ofthese networks and forthedefinition ofdata exchange
standards .
Toensure maximum efficiency inthedefinition oftheproject ,which
will take several years ofwork toimplement ,theCommission isseeking
thecooperation oftheMember States incarrying out theessential
premiminary work ,1i.e.theevaluation ofrequirements .Itsownstaff
I

-7-
hasmade a-start onthis work andthree stages areplanned prior to
final implementation :initial project definition ,design studies and
developments tobecarried outfrom theaspects oftheevaluation of
requirements ,technical andeconomic feasibility andthedefinition of
standards .
6.Use ofCommunity resources
TheCommission ,which initsinitial proposals isanxious toresort as
little aspossible totheCommunity 'sbudget resources ,isplanning to
call onexisting financial instruments tocontribute amaximum .tothe
development ofinfrastructures tosupport thenew technologies ,inclu­
ding telecommunications andinparticular their space segments .Itis
continuing itsexamination ofthesituation andofsuitable measures at
Community level .