WRITTEN QUESTION E-2938/97 by Nikitas Kaklamanis (UPE) to the Commission (17 September 1997)

Subject: Commission initiatives for the development of Internet

US President Clinton has recently promised aid of $100 million to the American data processing industry in order to improve the efficiency of Internet services in the United States.

This initiative is known as NGII ('Nxt Generation Internet Initiative'), and is accompanied by many others, including a second Internet initiative ('Internet II Initiative').

These developments reflect intensive efforts on the other side of the Atlantic to take the lead in a sector which has decisively influenced developments in the field of communications this decade and will probably continue to do so early in the next century.

The EU cannot afford to remain aloof if it is to avoid finding itself in the unenviable position of being forced to follow the lead given from the other side of the Atlantic. What measures has the Commission taken and what immediate action does it intend to take to bring the EU to the forefront of this leading sector, enabling it to take the initiative regarding the future development not only of Internet but also the information industry worldwide?

Answer given by Mr Bangemann on behalf of the Commission (4 November 1997)

The Commission is extremely interested in the development of the Internet ((OJ L 192, 16. 7. 1991. )) as regards the development of a high-output transmission network, communication protocols, applications, systems for the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR), tools for the marking and filtering of contents for the protection of minors (PICS), domain management and naming (DNS), and other areas.

The Fourth Research Framework Programme ((OJ L 334, 22.12. 1994. )) therefore contains a number of initiatives which are supported by the ACTS, Telematics Applications and IT programmes both for the commercial Internet, in particular for electronic commerce, and for the Internet for use by scientists and schools. In particular, the TEN-34 project for very-high-output interconnection of the national research networks in Europe began in the Spring this year.

The current proposal in the Fifth Research Framework Programme ((COM(97) 142. )) recommends grouping the ACTS, Telematics Applications and IT programme together in one single programme of information society technologies, which should facilitate the integration of developments relating to the Internet, whether these concern tools or applications. In this programme, special attention is paid to telematic infrastructures for use by scientists. These are defined as a horizontal measure to support all research areas, e.g. genome mapping, global warming and aeronautics.

The Commission is also participating in the projects being launched by the G7 to support the concept of a global information society, one project being concerned with interlinking the US, Canadian, Japanese and European broadband sites.

To broaden the group of people benefiting from the Internet, particularly in the field of education, the Commission has organised special 'Netdays' to encourage the use of the Internet in schools by bringing together the educational authorities and local industry.