WRITTEN QUESTION P-3416/96 by Tommy Waidelich (PSE) to the Commission (22 November 1996)

Subject: The European Union and the information society

The European Union has considered many aspects of the information society. The development of new growth sectors and the creation of new employment opportunities arising from the progress of the information society have been presented as one of the greatest challenges for the next century.

In this respect the European Union ought also to be making an active effort to promote the democratic aspects of data technology. In particular, information should be made universally available, and the EU should lead the way with its own information. It should provide access free of charge to as much information as possible.

What is the Commission's reaction to the idea of progressively putting all the EU's data bases on the Internet and making data bases such as 'Eurobases' available to the public free of charge?

Answer given by Mr Bangemann on behalf of the Commission (10 January 1997)

The Commission has implemented a number of services and mechanisms in order to ensure that the information emanating from its work is available to the public.

With the success of Internet the Commission uses this technology more and more for the distribution of information. Basic material for the citizens is offered free of charge through the Europa server, in operation since February 1995 with up to 1 million document accesses per month. Work is also in progress on an interinstitutional network of Internet servers in which Europa will be the main entry point.

The Europa server is complemented by a number of specialised servers which aim to stimulate participation in specific Community initiatives and programmes. At present there are mainly the ISPO server (information society project office), the I*M Europe server (multimedia content market) and the Cordis server (Community research and development information service). These servers provide information free of charge and each has several hundred thousand document accesses par month.

This concept of Internet servers makes sure that general information about Community policies is available to a large target public.

The Commission also distributes information of a more complex nature, e.g. detailed information about Community law, public procurement and harmonised statistics. Experience shows that local support is needed for the access to and the interpretation of these datasets. To this end a variety of distribution channels has been established including technical gateways, commercial agents and licence holders. Most of the organisations are small and medium sized entreprises which have created a number of value added services for their clients based on the raw material provided by the Commission. Users are not charged for collecting this information but for the costs of its distribution.

This policy is in line with the overall strategy for the development of a European information content market as currently pursued under the Info 2000 programme. It is estimated that up to 1 million new jobs wil be created in the multimedia content sector over the next ten years. In this respect the public sector will have an important role to play as a major source of raw information material for the creation of value added commercial products by the private sector.

The new rolling action plan for the development of the information society acknowledges the importance of the content sector and foresees a communication of the Commission on this issue during 1997.

The addresses (URLs) of the Commission Web servers are:

EUROPA: http://europa.eu.int

I*M Europe: http://www.echo.lu

CORDIS: http://www.cordis.lu

ISPO: http://www.ispo.cec.be