Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the "European programme of radio satellite navigation (Galileo)"
Date: 2001-09-12
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: EU programme, satellite communications

7.11.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 311/19

— How complex can the Internet become without risking

an intolerable degree of vulnerability?

— What are the specific psychological aspects of computer-
related crime in the virtual world compared with tra-
ditional crime in the ‘real and concrete’ world?

Brussels, 12 September 2001.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Göke FRERICHS

Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the ‘European programme of radio satellite
navigation (Galileo)’

(2001/C 311/05)

On 1 March 2001 the Economic and Social Committee, acting under the third paragraph of Rule 23 of
its Rules of Procedure, decided to draw up an opinion on the ‘European programme of radio satellite
navigation (Galileo)’.

The Section for Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and the Information Society, which was responsible for
preparing the Committee’s work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 17 July 2001. The rapporteur
was Mr Bernabei.

At its 384th plenary session of 12 and 13 September 2001 (meeting of 12 September), the Economic
and Social Committee adopted the following opinion unanimously.

1.

The Committee

having regard to the positive contribution which the develop-
ment of a European satellite navigation and positioning system
for civil purposes can, once integrated into the broader Galileo
programme of services, make to the economy and society as
well as at global level to the well-being and safety of all, by
an enhanced quality of
life and human fulfilment, while
safeguarding privacy and individual freedom;

having regard to the potential for state-of-the-art services
provided by Galileo in vital sectors such as fixed and mobile
communications, the e-economy, integrated transport logistics
and safety, remote medical services and the health sector,
distance education and training, civil protection and public
security, agricultural development and the protection of the
environment and of natural resources;

recommends the following to the Council, the European
Parliament and the Commission:

having regard to the competitive impact of Europe’s Galileo
system at global level, which can ensure full autonomy and
uninterrupted integrity, free of military interference, and the
economic impact in terms of new jobs, businesses, services
and occupational approaches, greater economic and social
cohesion, and fresh opportunities for cooperation and support
for development;

— early adoption of a single, joint strategy, with a defined
mandate and a clearly-delineated development platform
for a global approach embracing all the system’s elements
and services, reaching beyond satellite navigation pos-
itioning to herald a fully-fledged innovative revolution in
services to the entire economy, society and citizens;

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— embedding this strategy in an agreed ‘dual use’ approach
embracing all the Community policy responsibilities of
the European Commission, the WEU and the Council’s
Common Foreign and Security Policy secretariat;

— appropriate macro-economic studies to forecast how the
direct, indirect and secondary effects of implementing the
Galileo global system will influence public and private
sector organisational systems and individual organisation
systems in Europe;

— the launch, by the end of 2001, of a joint undertaking
under Article 171 of the EC Treaty, and subsequent
creation of a European Galileo Agency to set up a
permanent open network for all players in the system,
including final users;

— founding this joint undertaking, which should exist only
until 2005, and the subsequent agency, on four pillars:
an official steering committee open to public and private
players; a high-level ethics committee to ensure that the
requirements of transparency, exclusively civil use, and
safeguards for privacy are satisfied; a regulatory body to
provide adequate interoperability guarantees; and an
operating body along the lines of the American JPO (Joint
Program Office);

— rapid definition of standards under the Community’s ‘new
approach’, and of potential services, and identification of
future activities generated by the Galileo system, partly in
order to provide civil society with a clear picture of the
economic and social benefits and to foster the necessary
high level of consensus;

— applying the appropriate measures to afford full protec-
tion of private life and of the rights to privacy and
confidentiality for both individuals and companies, with
regard to freedom of movement and confidentiality of
commercial transactions, economically-based decisions
on location and prospecting for natural resources, pre-
venting any spin-off from Galileo in terms of technologi-
cal surveillance of citizens or businesses;

— speeding up the entry onto the market of an initial
operational phase in 2004, by integrating Egnos, and
accelerating the deployment in orbit phase of the Galileo
satellite network in 2006, establishing implementation
arrangements in successive modules, which would enable
income to be generated, an immediate impression of
product reliability to be created, and the general public to
be familiarised with it;

— cooperation and compatibility through co-existence with
GLONASS and GPS and their future developments,
by means of international treaties including guarantees
regarding specification, satellite constellation and terres-
trial infrastructure, together with a clear and balanced
definition of the relevant intellectual and industrial prop-
erty rights;

— consolidating the Galileo frequencies at the 2003 WRC
(World Radiocommunication Conference), and coordin-
ating frequencies with the existing global satellite navi-
gation system;

— launching a well-structured communication campaign
with a coordinated message, geared to ensuring credibility
on a competitive, high-risk market at world level, not
only for those directly involved in such work, but also
for the various economic and social categories, including
the general public,
in order to stimulate the greatest
possible degree of acceptance and support.

1.1.
The Committee calls upon the Council, the European
Parliament and the Commission to draw up a precise and
clearly-defined timetable for action in successive modules, and
to report regularly to the Committee so that it can be actively
involved in future practical developments.

2.

Introduction

The Galileo programme is a European Union initiative

2.1.
with a dual purpose:

— to provide a European contribution to the future Global
Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) for navigation and
positioning;

— establishing a commercial structure by means of a ‘Galileo
promotion company’ also involving the private sector,
which would subsequently assume the financial responsi-
bility, the technical and political responsibility remaining
with the public system;

— to offer technologically-advanced services to industry,
individual businesses, citizens and European society in
general in order to make the Community system more
competitive at world level.

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2.2.

This state-of-the-art technology allows:

— static or mobile users, equipped with a receiver able to
receive and process the signals emitted from a range of
satellites, to establish with precision their position in
terms of longitude, latitude and altitude, as well as the
exact time;

— the system to determine the position of any object or
person within a given territory, together with events or
connections with communications systems and data-
bases.

This technology has so far been dominated by the
2.3.
United States’ Global Positioning System (GPS). Being funded
and controlled by the US military, the system is dependent
upon it for the continuity and quality of civilian use. The
military authorities can, for example, block or impede the
signal at will. Russia also possesses satellite navigation tech-
nology with its GLONASS system, but it is at a very low level
of operability due to economic problems.

In its initial communication of 10 February 1999 (1),
2.4.
and also on the basis of the projects launched under the fourth
and fifth RTD framework programmes,
the Commission
presented its own radio satellite navigation programme (Gali-
leo), compatible and interoperable with, but independent of,
GPS. It is to be organised in four phases: the definition phase
was completed at the end of 2000; the test and validation
phase is planned for the period up to 2005; the deployment
phase up to 2007; and start of operations from 2008.

2.5.
The Transport Council of 19 July 1999 called upon
the Commission to prepare the definition phase of the Galileo
project in conjunction with the European Space Agency (ESA)
and the Member States.

on the private sector ‘to take up the challenge with regard to
participation in and financing of the project through a binding
commitment for the deployment phase’. It noted that the
private sector was ready to supplement the public budgets for
the development phase, and invited the Council to define the
next phase of the project before the end of 2001 and, in
particular, to establish ‘a single and efficient structure’ (2). An
early decision on the form this should take was proposed at
Stockholm ‘be it a joint undertaking under Article 171 of the
Treaty, an agency or any other suitable body’: how to
implement Galileo is therefore the crucial point of an on-going
debate (2).

The Council of Transport Ministers of 4 and 5 April
2.9.
2001 adopted a resolution confirming support for the Galileo
programme, emphasising its contribution to greater cohesion
in Europe, the encouraging prospects offered by satellite
the need for a fully available system under
navigation,
European control, and the advantages of
interoperability,
complementarity and guaranteed service. Agreement was
reached on financing of 100 million euros for 2001 through
the TEN programme, the proportions to be provided by the
ESA and the EU, the need to guarantee unicity of adminis-
tration and financial control, and the establishment of a
temporary management structure pending a decision on the
final structure by December 2001.

2.10.
The Transport/Telecommunications Council of 27
and 28 June 2001 took note of the Commission’s proposal on
the creation of a Galileo joint undertaking (3) (on which the
Committee is to draw up an opinion) and decided that satellite
navigation services would be developed ‘based on technical
requirement, user needs, economic viability and economic and
social benefits of different services, in close co-operation with
private and other potential partners’.

2.6.
The Research Council of 11 November 2000 adopted
a resolution and a European Commission/ESA protocol agree-
ment.

The Council will also examine the cost-benefit analysis present-
ed by the Commission in June 2001.

2.7.
The European Councils at Cologne in 1999 and Feira
and Nice in 2000 stressed the strategic importance of Galileo,
declaring their political will to press ahead with the definition
of the programme.

The Stockholm European Council of 22 and 23 March
2.8.
2001 also drew attention to ‘the importance of launching the
Galileo satellite navigation programme without delay’, calling

In the proposals for the VIth RTD framework pro-
2.11.
gramme, the Commission has dedicated a line to developing
the Galileo programme under the aeronautics and space
heading, in keeping with the launch of an integrated strategy
for space.

(1) Communication of 10 February 1999, COM(1999) 54 final.

(2) Conclusions of the Stockholm European Council, point 42.
(3) COM(2001) 336 final.

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3. Purpose of the opinion

3.1.
The Committee feels it is important to issue an own-
initiative opinion on the Galileo programme, as it believes that
launching this system may have major repercussions in terms
of company competitiveness, services to private individuals
and making advanced tools available to Community and
national policies to ensure sustainable, competitive and
dynamic development.

4.2.
The European resources required for the test and
validation phase (2001-2005) have been calculated, on the
to be
basis of a cost/benefit study, at EUR 1,1 billion,
shared equally by the European Commission and the ESA. A
Community contribution of a further EUR 600 million is
planned for the public-private partnership responsible for the
deployment phase (2005-2007). The Commission suggests
that from 2007, Galileo will be sufficiently cost-effective as
not to require further subsidy.

3.2.
From this starting-point, the Committee intends to
examine the state of progress of the programme, and to assess
its potential in terms of user services, applications for civil
society and for European economic competitiveness, its macro-
economic benefits and political and strategic dimension,
financing and management arrangements, the prospects for
cooperation, and its compatibility with other existing systems.

4.3.
The Committee points out that plans for a public-
private partnership urgently require a secure legal and financial
framework, as well as the establishment of a coordinated
management structure for Galileo drawing together the Com-
mission, the ESA and those private investors who wish to
contribute within this partnership.

3.3.
The Committee has previously welcomed development
of the European aerospace industry, lending ‘its full support to
a new strategic planning approach, agreed through dialogue
with the industry and invested with new European level
management functions for RTD’ (1), and has expressed favour-
able views regarding satellite personal communication ser-
vices (2), and radio spectrum use (3).

4.4.
A major success was achieved at international level
during the definition phase: the World Radiocommunication
Conference held in Istanbul in June 2000 provided broader
frequency bands for satellite navigation services. This result
must, of course, be confirmed and ratified by the next WRC in
2003 in the light of the compatibility studies which need to
commence as soon as possible.

It also emphasised the importance of RTD in the aerospace
sector in its opinions on the fourth and fifth framework
programmes and on the related specific programmes (4).

4. State of progress of the programme

4.1.
The Commission had adopted two communications,
one in July 1999 and the other in November 2000 (5), with
the aim of preparing the definition phase of the programme
and checking its results, in cooperation with the European
Space Agency, mobilising European space industries and
potential service suppliers.

5. The international framework

Three projects exist at international level: GPS, which
5.1.
has been operating for a number of years;
the Russian
GLONASS which, although not operational, offers technically-
advanced solutions; and the Galileo programme which is
emerging from the definition phase and is ready to move into
the development and validation phase.

Galileo’s objective is the deployment of a constellation of EU
satellites: it will comprise 30 satellites in non-stationary orbit
at an altitude of approximately 23 000 kilometres, at an
estimated total cost of some EUR 3,25 billion.

5.2.
The American GPS is undoubtedly the most advanced
system, since it is based on opening up an existing military
system to civilian use. Civilian use is free, but is subject to its
military source: access may be reduced in line with internal
military security considerations.

(1) ESC opinion on the Communication ‘The European aerospace
industry: meeting the global challenge’, OJ C 95, 30.3.1998, p. 11.

(2) ESC opinion, OJ C 140, 18.5.2000, p. 42.
(3) ESC opinion, OJ C 123, 24.4.2001; COM(2000) 407 final.
(4) The Committee has also prepared an opinion on the proposal for

a VIth RTD framework programme.

(5) Communication of 22 November 2000, COM(2000) 750 final.

5.3.
The Russian Federation has considerable experience in
developing and operating satellite navigation systems, and a
number of contacts are currently being maintained with the
EU to sound out the possibility of interoperability between
GLONASS and Galileo. One particular area for cooperation
might be the coordinated use of allocated frequency bands.

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5.4.
The European Union sees cooperation and comp-
lementarity with international partners for Galileo as crucial,
especially those partners who already have standards in
operation, as is the case with the United States. Europe is
currently examining a number of technical compatibility issues
with the United States with a view to GPS III, which is at an
advanced stage of planning,
in order to avoid marketing
problems while safeguarding the principle that the European
system should not be jeopardised. This means ensuring that
service continuity is not broken for reasons lying outside the
service itself.

The EU is also willing to open up research and development
on the Galileo programme and its practical industrial appli-
cation to all countries interested in joining together to create
an efficient, reliable and secure system.

6. Galileo for users: potential for state-of-the-art services

6.1.
The Committee believes that uses and markets for a
satellite navigation system must allow for a wide range of
public and private services essential to an integrated European
areas, including:

— market-oriented services targeted on broad catchment
areas, through an additional dedicated communication
channel;

— transport safety services (safe navigation for different

modes — air, maritime, road and rail);

— remote medical services (diagnosis for the treatment of

patients, location of goods and products);

— civil protection, emergency and law enforcement services
(countering low-level offending, drugs smuggling and
other common forms of crime);

— customs and excise services (automatic monitoring of

movements);

— monitoring of integrated and intermodal logistics, the

environment, agriculture and natural resources;

— support for radio navigation and automatic guidance at

the cruising, approach and arrival stages.

performance and neutrality which are needed where liabilities
are engaged, within a predefined framework but with a
financial commitment which is balanced in terms of such
services:

1)

2)

3)

4)

open services with no charge, for mass market appli-
cations, dual or single frequency applications, precision
time-keeping applications;

commercial services based on open signals for trans-
mission of added-value encrypted data, and commercial
and professional applications requiring a guaranteed,
higher level of service;

rescue services based on international standards with
integrity confirmation signals, on the basis of GRID
systems (a single-view distributed computer/multimedia
interconnection system) capable of carrying dedicated
encrypted messages;

public services, certified services providing performance
guarantees with a very high level of security which can,
in emergencies, be activated on authority, for public
service applications which must always be free of inter-
ruption or disturbance.

6.2.1.
In addition to these four basic services, Galileo will
have to provide an efficient databank system in order to ensure
efficient and secure use of other external terrestrial and satellite
networks on a multifunctional basis, such as UMTS or UHF
and DHS systems, or scientific or technological research and
development systems. At the same time, Galileo will have to
develop regional certification and reliability systems, with
integrity confirmation, for GPS signals and related services in
terms of interoperability with Galileo for North America and
the Europe-Asia region.

6.3.
The Committee underlines the need for Galileo’s space
infrastructure to be integrated with the various terrestrial
systems and technologies to meet the needs of users wherever
they may be: in urban areas (where satellite transmissions
without ground-based relays may be blocked by buildings), in
high-risk areas (construction sites, factories, depots), isolated
areas (where the cost of installing and maintaining terrestrial
communication systems may be prohibitive), regions in the
higher latitudes (where satellite signals are weaker), and on the
oceans,
in deserts and in the air (where greater risks are
present).

6.2.
firstly,
The Committee believes that Galileo must
provide competitive, high-quality services in the near future
and secondly, achieve a high-definition phase capable of
bringing the necessary precision to these applications,
accompanied by the guarantees of signal integrity, continued

6.4.
In the Committee’s view, the approach to setting up a
navigation infrastructure must be based on the requirements
expressed by the potential users of the services offered, from
the end user to the service providers, and including the
public authorities responsible for implementing the rules and
regulations.

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6.5.
The Committee is therefore convinced that large-scale
consultation is necessary to obtain a clear understanding of
the need for a global service that covers the entire globe,
including the oceans and desert areas, with a view not only to
ensuring the continuity of services involving maritime and
aviation applications but also to enabling system and receiving
equipment manufacturers to achieve economies of scale in an
unsegmented market.

6.6.
Integrating the navigation system with communication
systems, in order to exploit them to the full, is essential if
positioning, navigation and dating data integrated with added
value services are to be transmitted. The concept of a ‘panoply’
of services must consequently be incorporated into the par-
ameters of the navigation system.

The Committee underlines the need for reliable and
6.7.
timescales for programme qualification and service
short
definition on the basis of catchment areas, allowing competi-
tive services with global cover to be supplied not only to the
general public, businesses and the EU or ESA authorities, but
also for sale on a commercial basis on a wider scale, to external
players on the world market.

6.8.
An approach of this kind, under which Galileo would
be open to external uses, and especially in the sphere of
communication services, requires rapid definition of
the
regulatory aspects, particularly the licensing and intercon-
nection arrangements for telecommunications networks and
It could be extended to include applications to
systems.
improve mapping in Europe and beyond, especially in
developing countries with which the Community has special
relations. Applications focusing on earth observation will also
be studied as part of a global and sustainable development
strategy.

Commission, the ESA, the public authorities of the Member
States and the private sector. The strategy should be based on:

— a single management structure with clear identification
of those involved, a defined mandate and a clearly-
delineated platform for the development of new-gener-
ation services,
in the form of a joint undertaking in
accordance with Article 171 of the EC Treaty, as a single
internal and external representative, the legal bases needed
for a fully-fledged European Galileo Agency possibly
being laid down subsequently;

— designing and subsequently creating a ‘Galileo Promotion
Company’, underpinned by its capacity for integration,
financial capacities, expertise in
market knowledge,
organising navigation systems, and ability to develop and
exploit the market;

— establishing implementing arrangements in successive
modules which can be monitored and optimised in
proper order, by means of effective market demon-
strations, integrating Egnos (the European geostationary
navigation system), which was launched in 1996 and will
be operational from 2004, together with the regional
terrestrial GRAS system, into Galileo in order to accelerate
its entry onto the market and the resulting income from
professional air, maritime and road transport services,
applications for the general public, particularly in relation
to road traffic, and security and rescue services;

6.8.1.
In the Committee’s view, it is extremely important
that an on-board satellite subsystem be developed to permit a
modern public search and rescue service. The interest expressed
by the signatory states to the International COSPAS-SARSAT
Convention, which are currently implementing a system of
this kind covering the entire globe,
in developing a new
complementary service to be provided by Galileo must be
sustained. The Committee believes that the system should be
set up in such a way as to be complementary with the US
system which will emerge from future generations of the GPS.

— accelerating the deployment in orbit phase, with the
launch as early as 2006 of an initial service module for
public and private use, designed with the full participation
of
the private sector in order to ensure immediate
activation of a first range of competitive, broad use
services. This would guarantee Galileo’s success based on
into the
its ability to turn the positioning concept
‘managing mobility’ concept of an in-built connection
between location with mobile information available to
users;

7. Towards a joint strategy

The Committee believes that at the current stage of
7.1.
development of the Galileo programme, a joint strategy must
be defined embracing all the players concerned, especially the

— co-existence and compatibility with GLONASS and GPS
and with their future developments, by means of proper
guarantees regarding the implementation and technical
efficacy of
the systems, particularly in the field of
signal specification, satellite constellation and terrestrial
infrastructure. These should be official established by
international agreements, retaining the civilian nature of
the Galileo system under civilian control;

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— coordinating frequencies with the existing global satellite
navigation system as well as with other systems in
the event of reallocations of existing frequencies: the
WRC2000 allocations for the dedicated European fre-
quency plan should be consolidated on the occasion of
WRC2003 on the basis of: three broad bands open to
Galileo signals with the capacity to carry navigation,
integrity and commercial data to support open commer-
two regulated broad bands
cial and rescue services;
for the regulated public services, subject
to security
encryption; signals available on request and integrated
Egnos-Galileo signals to back up the Galileo integrity
services;

7.3.
The Committee would also highlight the key role of a
realistic, but well-structured communication campaign geared
to ensuring full credibility on a competitive, high-risk market:
a dedicated budget line should provide a quality mark for
the entire Galileo implementation process and guarantee a
foundation of reliability on which industrial, commercial and
public service products, services and applications can be
developed. This action must be based on a consistent, central-
ised global strategy which conveys a message of unity both
within and outside Europe, extending to issues of service
transparency/security/continuity/integrity
consumers/
users.

for

— defining technical standards, to be drawn up and agreed
at global level taking account of the need for effective,
commercial standards to be drawn up by a forum of the
operators directly concerned, but also of the fact that the
Galileo system is designed for a large number of user
terminals and a vast range of infrastructures: a core of
details standards is needed, as is flexibility in the way they
are applied to different business scenarios and to the
technical requirements of different operators. In accord-
ance with the ‘new approach’ of the Community policy
on telecommunications, these requirements should be
defined in qualitative terms, leaving quantification to the
standards bodies such as Cenelec, IMO, ISO, ICAO and
ETSI, on the basis of coordinated action, with a new
structure made up of experts from various fields;

— a timetable which, while providing secure successive
phases and deadlines, is at the same time flexible, so that
it can optimise the position on the world market in line
with technological developments and the competitive
pressures in play on it.

7.2.
The Committee believes that such a strategy is essential
in order to sustain (i) the European system’s competitive
impact at global level, ensuring that it is fully autonomous and
that integrity is upheld, free of military inference, and (ii) the
economic impact in terms of jobs, covering (a) the human,
financial and organisational resources engaged in creating,
certifying, implementing and upgrading the system’s technical
performance, and (b) users and user services with beneficial
effects in terms of creating new businesses, new services, new
occupational approaches and greater economic and social
cohesion within a Europe extended to include the applicant
countries, together with new opportunities for cooperation
and support for development.

8.

From a joint undertaking to a European Galileo
Agency

8.1.
In view of Galileo’s importance for the implementation
of common European transport policies, for example regarding
urban congestion and maritime, rail, road and air safety, as
well as for other Community policies such as agriculture,
forestry, fisheries, regional development and the environment,
together with industrial policy and the Union’s external
policy, the Committee considers it important that the Galileo
management structure is, and is seen to be, a single entity.

In this regard, the Committee urges the Council and
8.2.
the European Parliament to create a single platform for new
generations of services by setting up a ‘joint undertaking’ under
Treaty Article 171, within a time-frame extending to 2003,
and to back this up with a fully-fledged European Galileo
Agency embracing technical, research, standards and standard-
isation factors, enjoying a high profile in the eyes not only of
operators and users, but also of the rest of the world as part of
a service-based approach to the global market, with the ability
to monitor and check the timetable containing the various
phases and deadlines, and with an advanced capacity to
communicate information to ensure a European quality mark
for the entire process.

8.3.
The joint undertaking and subsequent European agency
should embody four pillars: an official steering committee open
to public and private players; a high-level ethics committee to
ensure that the requirements of transparency, exclusively civil
use, and safeguards for privacy are satisfied; a regulatory
body to provide adequate interoperability guarantees; and an
operating body along the lines of the American JPO (Joint
Program Office).

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9.

‘Galileo Promotion Company’

9.1.
The Committee is convinced that it is essential, from
the outset, that the commercial structure assume the form of a
‘Galileo Promotion Company’ bringing together the public
authorities through the European Galileo Agency in order to
launch systems to define and certify costs, and to stabilise the
system’s system of expansion, development, reinforcement
and maintenance: ownership of the company should gradually
shift from full public control to private investors who, by the
end of the process, should bear the full financial responsibility
— technical and political control and responsibility remaining
with the public sector.

In the Committee’s view, the private sector should
9.2.
therefore be involved from the inception of
the Galileo
Promotion Company, even if on a minority basis, although
this should ensure its participation in defining services and
designing the system; responsibility, costs and risks should
subsequently be fully borne in tandem with the growth of
return on investments in services as they come on stream.

9.3.
The establishment of an implementation system for
Galileo involving successive modules should make it possible
not only to check on the product’s market quality rapidly, and
lend credibility to the process, but also to speed up profitability
and gradually relieve the public sector of part of the financial
cost of managing Galileo. Technical and political responsibility
for Galileo must however remain in the public sphere, given
the sector’s highly strategic nature.

10.

Interoperability between Galileo and other satellite
navigation systems

10.1.
It is the Committee’s view that a ‘standards war’ must
be avoided by ensuring that Galileo is fully interoperable with
other existing and future satellite navigation systems, at the
same time establishing control over full service integrity and
continuity, and the civilian nature of the European navigation
and positioning system, as an essential requirement of the
system.

On this point, the Committee considers it important
10.2.
that a new structure be created bringing together European
and international standards bodies from the various sectors
concerned in order to ensure a coordinated approach based
on quality of requirements and flexibility of quantitative
standards, tailored to a vast range of operators, infrastructures
and receiver terminals.

10.3.
The Committee stresses that coexistence and interop-
erability must in any case be put on a formal legal footing by
means of international treaties covering guarantees for signal
specification, satellite constellation and terrestrial infrastruc-
ture. These guarantees must in any case include a multiannual
financial programme sufficiently long to ensure continuity of
service provision on a reciprocal basis.

10.4.
The Committee believes that clear intellectual and
industrial property arrangements must be established in order
to safeguard rights over technological applications developed
from Galileo, together with new services introduced at Euro-
pean level. This should be achieved by clarifying the relation-
ship with non-European intellectual property rights, particu-
larly those arising from American GPS operations.

11. The Galileo system and civil society

The Committee is convinced that clarity about the
11.1.
likely economic and social
impact of Galileo for all the
components of civil society is the only way of creating the
high level of consensus which is needed if citizens/taxpayers
are to bear the costs of bringing the system into operation.

11.2.
To this end, the Committee considers it crucial to
define the services, new businesses and new jobs which should
be generated in line with the declared strategy of the Heads of
State and Government in March 2001 at the Stockholm
European Council of becoming ‘the most competitive and
dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world capable of
sustainable growth with more and better jobs and greater
social cohesion’ (1).

11.3.
Turning to transport and the environment, it is worth
focusing on the use of, and the market for, the satellite
navigation system in reducing pollution, especially CO2 emis-
sions,
in keeping with the commitments assumed in the
Kyoto Protocol: Galileo’s impact on transport efficiency —
particularly cars, lorries and buses, together with light commer-
cial vehicles and air services — is already one of the most
requested services not only for environmental purposes, but
also in order to reduce transport stress and times, and fuel and
related costs. Safety in road, rail and air transport, together
with the development of trans-European networks and control

(1) Conclusions of
23 March 2001.

the Stockholm European Council, 22 and

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C 311/27

and management of the Single European Sky is also a key
element for the general public and society, reflecting the
legislative initiative currently being carried forward by Com-
munity policies (1).

ensure greater accessibility in proportion to the number of
users on the European and global market.

11.4.
In the maritime sector, satellite navigation can make
shipping safer at all stages, providing images and positions
of vessels, monitoring illegal discharges into the sea and
automatically identifying vessels, lessening the risk of ecologi-
cal and human disasters triggered by meteorological, routing
or cargo-related factors, facilitating the growth of marine
wildlife and biodiversity, and monitoring fishery activities and
oceanic and glaciation trends.

11.5.
In the area of agriculture and the environment, the
Committee stresses the importance of the contribution the
Galileo system can make by means of a comprehensive listing
of services available for measuring surfaces, harvesting dates
and deadlines, targeted use of fertilisers and pesticides, the
level and structure of irrigation systems, the prospects for
afforestation, soil conservation combined with measures to
counter desertification, and boosting rural development.

11.6. With regard to convergence of communication sys-
tems — mobile communications in particular — the Com-
mittee is of the view that citizens, business and society in
general should be provided with a clear view of the prospects
for secure, reliable services offering a range of combined
positioning-communication options relevant to private, indi-
vidual use, business-to-business purposes and contact with
public administrations, as well as for functions such as e-
integrated mobile Internet
learning, e-commerce and new,
platforms.

11.7.
The Committee sees a proper balance between open,
no-charge services, services subject to payment and public
services, and between the cost of such services for individuals
and for society as a whole, as a key point. The Committee has
telephone and
already voiced its views on the universal
telecommunications services, and on the costs related to the
telephony liberalisation process (2). Costs can clearly vary and

(1) The Committee has adopted a number of opinions relating to
safety in the different transport modes, e.g.: the ESC opinions on
(OJ C 14, 16.1.2001) and Erika II
maritime safety/Erika I
(OJ C 221, 7.8.2001, p. 54), and the ESC opinion on the
Communication on priorities in EU road safety — progress report
and ranking of actions, OJ C 14, 16.1.2001.

(2) ESC opinion on the Proposal for a Directive of the European
Parliament and of the Council on universal service and users’ rights
relating to electronic communications networks and services, OJ
C 139, 11.5.2001.

11.8.
The problem of payment of fees for such services
remains open, especially regarding controlled access to signals
for users such as air-traffic controllers, airlines, public service
network managers, rail companies, road traffic controllers,
customs services etc. Another unresolved question concerns
services with high security requirements: in the Committee’s
view, the signal encryption option should be built into the
financial estimate and confirmed during the validation phase.

11.9.
Concerning public services which require a high level
of signal precision and quality, and absolute reliability of
transmission, the Committee believes that the issue of certifi-
cation should be resolved in accordance with the regulations
applicable to the various modes of transport, such as the ICAO
for air transport and the IMO for maritime transport, in order
to guarantee integrity and continuity against any malfunction.

12. Galileo’s socio-economic impact

12.1.
The Committee is convinced that the social impact of
the Galileo system is the key to its acceptance and promotion.
This applies to both the benefits for society and in terms of
quality of
life, new and better jobs, and new high-tech
businesses.

The development of

12.2.
the aerospace industry and
related sectors has already been discussed in a Committee
opinion (3): it is a strategic sector, where Europe occupies a
prominent place on the world market and is making major
efforts in terms of human, financial and research resources, as
demonstrated by the numerous projects launched under the
Community’s multiannual research and development pro-
gramme.

12.3.
Europe’s SMEs could benefit enormously from the
Galileo programme: those involved in supplying space pro-
gramme activities and those involved in the use and develop-
ment of applications and services generated by the programme.
In the Committee’s view, spin-off actions involving these
applications and services should be promoted, as has happened
in the United States, where more than 300 SMEs have come
into being thanks to GPS applications.

(3) COM(2001) 336 final.

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12.4. With regard to employment, Galileo’s macro-
economic impact
in terms of both
is hugely important
investment in human resources and in new activities, and
of developing European services supplied using European
technologies: this involves both training of highly-qualified
scientific and technical staff, and the emergence of new
operators and service organisers with exponential growth
prospects.

12.5.
Galileo could pave the way for major developments in
remote medicine, particularly in the area of digital tomography,
permitting remote consultations for patient treatment and
care: it could have a significant part to play in graduate, post-
graduate and continuing training for the medical profession.

12.6.
The Committee considers that the Galileo programme
could help spread knowledge of the Union’s distinctive cul-
tures, and could enable educational programmes to be directed
to all sectors of the community.

12.7.
The Committee’s view on safeguards for privacy is
that appropriate measures to ensure confidentiality and respect
for individual, fundamental freedoms and for commercial
information must be devised. This should be achieved through
the full application of existing Community law relating to
protection of private life (1), and by providing technical means

(1) See the ESC opinion on the Proposal for a Directive of the
European Parliament and of the Council concerning the processing
of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic
communications sector, OJ C 123, 25.4.2001, p. 53.

for protection and encryption, matching the new capacities
of integrated identification, positioning and communication
services.

12.7.1.
The Committee recommends that a high-level ethics
committee be set up in conjunction with the joint undertaking
and subsequent European agency,
in order to guarantee
transparency, exclusively civil use and safeguards for privacy
at every stage of the development and final implementation of
the Galileo programme.

13. Conclusions

13.1.
In the light of the above comments, the Committee
lends its full support to the Galileo programme as a key
strategic element for the competitiveness of the European
system, and on account of Galileo’s potential positive impact
at world level, its innovative spin-off in economic, employment
and social terms, and its potential to enhance the quality of life
for civil society.

13.2.
The Committee therefore wishes to be kept regularly
briefed on the Galileo programme, so that it can take an active
part in future practical developments. It further urges that a
joint strategy be defined in the near future, and that efforts be
speeded up so that not only operators, but also the general
public, can see for themselves an initial range of attractive and
effective services.

Brussels, 12 September 2001.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Göke FRERICHS