WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1273/98 by Freddy BLAK to the Commission. Access to knowhow and information technology
Date: 1998-04-29
Institutions: BLAK, European Parliament
Subjects: access to information, information technology, multinational enterprise, new technology, telecommunications

C 402/104

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

22.12.98

(98/C 402/133)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1273/98

by Freddy Blak (PSE) to the Commission

(29 April 1998)

Subject: Access to knowhow and information technology

Large multinational companies like Siemens-Nixdorf and IBM have prohibited access to the internet for their
employees despite the fact that these companies make a living from selling information technology.

Does the Commission not believe that an EU initiative should be taken to ensure that European wage- earners are
not restricted in their use of information technology and access to knowhow?

Answer given by Mr Bangemann on behalf of the Commission

(18 June 1998)

The Commission agrees with the Honourable Member that access to information technology and to knowhow are
indispensable for companies and organisations of all sizes, and their employees.

Even where the necessary network infrastructure is in place, a company may however conclude that it does not
wish to allow unrestricted access to the Internet to every single one of its employees, bearing in mind a number of
factors.

In the first place, the company has to bear the cost of provision of the necessary bandwidth for connection to the
Internet. European costs for leased lines are still unfortunately much higher than equivalent costs in the United
States even if telecommunications liberalisation should add to downward pressure in prices. There may also be
questions about the load on corporate networks caused by Internet traffic.

Companies may also be worried about the possible security issues of downloading computer viruses, about
liability attached to downloading pornography or unlicensed software and about possible (cid:145)time-wasting(cid:146) by
employees using company time to consult sites which are not strictly business-related.

It does not appear appropriate at this stage to attempt to lay down rules at European level as to how companies
should approach these issues. The Commission would however look favourably on initiatives by companies
which are faced with similar issues to discuss practical solutions in common and with their employees or their
representatives.

(98/C 402/134)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1278/98

by Gerhard Hager (NI) to the Commission

(29 April 1998)

Subject: Euro-Jus Programme

The Community project (cid:145)Euro-Jus(cid:146) involves local legal advisers working together with the Commission(cid:146)s offices
in the Member States and providing citizens with objective and non-official information on their rights under
Community law and the possibilities of enforcing them.

According to the information before me, this project seems to have attracted a lot of attention. Has the

1.
Commission any data on this?

2. Which budgetary headings are used to pay the costs of this project and how high are the costs of the
network?

3. What criteria are used to select the (cid:145)local legal advisers(cid:146)?

4. Who are the local legal advisers for (cid:145)Euro-Jus(cid:146) in Austria?