Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on:the Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the eEurope Benchmarking report
Date: 2003-02-12
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: Internet, information society, information technology, new technology, project evaluation

C 128/14

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Official Journal of the European Union

29.5.2003

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on:

— the ‘Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the
Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the eEurope
Benchmarking report’, and

— the ‘Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the
Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on eEurope 2005: An
information society for all’

(2003/C 128/03)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

having regard to the European Commission Communication on the eEurope Benchmarking report
(COM(2002) 62 final) and the European Commission Communication on eEurope 2005: An information
society for all (COM(2002) 263 final);

having regard to the decisions of the European Commission of 6 February and 29 May 2002, to consult
it on this subject, under the first paragraph of Article 265 of the Treaty establishing the European
Community;

having regard to the decision of its Bureau of 6 February 2002 to instruct its Commission for Culture and
Education to draw up an opinion on this subject;

having regard to its Opinion on the Commission Staff Working Paper on Information society and
regional development — ERDF interventions 2000/2006: criteria for programme assessment (SEC(1999)
1217) (CdR 124/2000 fin) (1);

having regard to its Opinion on Helping SMEs to ‘GO DIGITAL’ (COM(2001) 136 final) (CdR 198/2001
fin) (2);

having regard to its Opinion on The elearning Action Plan — Designing tomorrow’s education
(COM(2001) 172 final) (CdR 212/2001 fin) (3);

having regard to its Opinion on Network and information security: proposal for a European policy
approach (COM(2001) 298 final) (CdR 257/2001 fin) (4);

having regard to its Opinion on eEurope 2002: accessibility of public web sites and their content
(COM(2001) 529 final) (CdR 397/2001 fin) (5);

having regard to its Opinion on the Follow-up to the Action Plan on promoting safer use of the Internet
and the Proposal amending decision No 276/1999/EC adopting a Multiannual Community action plan
on promoting safer use of the Internet by combating illegal and harmful content on global networks)
(COM(2002) 152 final) (CdR 140/2002 fin) (6);

having regard to its draft opinion (CdR 136/2002 rev. 2) adopted on 28 November 2002 by its
Commission for Culture and Education (rapporteur: Mr Jyrki Myllyvirta, Mayor of Mikkeli (FIN/EPP));

unanimously adopted the following opinion at its 48th plenary session of 12 and 13 February 2003
(meeting of 12 February):

(1) OJ C 22, 24.1.2001, p. 32.
(2) OJ C 19, 22.1.2002, p. 14.
(3) OJ C 19, 22.1.2002, p. 26.
(4) OJ C 107, 3.5.2002, p. 89.
(5) OJ C 278, 14.11.2002, p. 24.
(6) OJ C 73, 26.3.2003, p. 34.

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1. The Committee of the Regions’ views and recommen-

Modern online public services

dations

The Committee of the Regions

Benchmarking results and starting points for the Action Plan

The Committee of the Regions

points out the stated objective in the Action Plan of
1.8.
achieving the interoperability of all
layers of government
means greater transparency and will help to bring decision-
making closer to citizens;

1.1.
continues to consider one of its key goals to be the
creation of a socially and regionally equitable European
information society and ensuring that it is accessible for all so
as to prevent new forms of exclusion;

believes that it

1.9.
is not possible to develop online
government services which satisfy the needs of citizens without
broad cooperation covering all public and other services on a
local and regional basis which is genuinely aimed at estab-
lishing one-stop shops for public services;

1.2.
feels that basing the eEurope 2005 Action Plan on its
predecessor, the eEurope 2002 Action Plan, and the results
obtained from monitoring its progress will give EU policy
continuity and thus further the development of the tools for
its implementation;

1.10.
stresses that, besides enabling online services, ICT
makes it possible to cut red tape in public administration,
enhance the efficiency of government and customise services
delivered through traditional platforms and notes that this
does not receive enough attention in the Action Plan.

1.3.
agrees with the political conclusions drawn from the
eEurope 2002 benchmarking exercise, but would, however,
stress the importance for planning effective policy of recognis-
ing regional differences within Member States;

1.11.
notes that online government services must be easy
for users to find and offer users genuine added value. In
addition, there is a need for research-based information on
obstacles to the use of online government services;

1.4.
notes that the role and responsibility of local and
regional government are crucial, not only in developing online
public services but also in the use of
information and
communication technologies (ICT) in lifelong learning (given
that digital literacy is considered a new basic skill) and health
care, in promoting information security, in developing online
culture and tourism content services, in improving access to
online services and, of course, in developing the interoperabi-
lity of processes both within government and between organis-
ations in general;

1.5.
urges local and regional administrations in Europe to
increase their involvement in the dissemination and further
development of good practices, to exploit ICT potential to the
full in their own activities and, in particular, to use all means
at their disposal
to foster the emergence of an equitable
European information society covering all regions and serving
all citizens;

1.6.
highlights the need to support the planning of infor-
mation society policy by introducing more in-depth, scenario-
based analyses of developments in technology markets over
the next few years;

1.7.
considers that progress in candidate countries in recent
years has been rapid and that, with enlargement, the challenges
posed by the Action Plan will be similar for both current and
future Member States.

1.12.
considers that connecting government customer ser-
vice points, health care units, cultural institutions and schools
to broadband networks by 2005 as proposed in the Action
Plan has made good progress in local and regional adminis-
trations according to the eEurope 2002 benchmarking results,
but adds that further determined action will be needed at all
levels to achieve this target;

1.13.
proposes that adequate resources be allocated under
EU programmes to the development of technologies that
would make it easier for interactive public services already
available on the Internet and services to be developed in the
future to be delivered via digital TV and third-generation
mobile communication networks;

1.14.
requests that increasing citizens’ opportunities to
participate also be given prominence in the development of
interactive public services;

1.15.
local and
notes that, along with national players,
regional administrations bear a major responsibility for seeing
that ICT opportunities are exploited in education and learning
since a precondition for success here is close contacts with the
target group, and in many countries education is an important
part of local and regional government activity. Local, regional
and national administrations must
some
responsibility for ensuring safe Internet access for children
and young people, to prevent their formative years being
jeopardised;

therefore bear

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points out that,

1.16.
in developing services that match
people’s needs, it is not normally appropriate to distinguish
between the public and private sectors; rather both public and
private services should be accessible via the same portals or
other technical solutions, such as smart cards;

A secure information infrastructure

The Committee of the Regions

that,

emphasises

1.17.
in addition to the important
measures put forward by the Commission, there is a need
to adapt the internal operations of businesses and public
organisations to meet the challenges posed by lifelong learning;

1.18.
believes that, in addition to IT skills, there is a need in
both government and business, particularly in management,
for more skills in tapping the potential of ICT;

1.19.
considers that a better option than a separate Euro-
pean health insurance card would be to promote interoperabi-
lity and reduce the total number of cards required by
developing the functionality of European health insurance in
such a way that it could easily be incorporated in existing
smart cards;

1.20.
welcomes plans to make health services available to
citizens over the Internet. It is important in this context that
the Commission concentrate in the first instance on supporting
initiatives from the actual service providers in the field —
which are mostly local and national — by means of exchange
of experience, support, dissemination of best practice and
benchmarking;

1.21.
has misgivings about a common European system of
patient identifiers, partly on security grounds, and feels that
the necessary interoperability can also be achieved by making
use of existing national regional and local solutions.

A dynamic e-business environment

The Committee of the Regions

1.22.
hopes that the close relations that exist between local
and regional authorities and SMEs in their regions will be
exploited more than at present in European e-commerce
development projects;

1.23.
recommends that the Commission harmonise the
procedures applied in e-commerce and online public services
and the associated development work, particularly with regard
to measures aimed at strengthening trust and confidence
between parties.

notes that, owing to their wide range of administrative
1.24.
tasks, local and regional administrations have a key role to
play not only in the application of good information security
practices but also in their development and that a prerequisite
for good security in online government services is the appli-
cation of compatible methods at all levels of government;

1.25.
would like to see an increase in the effectiveness of
activities supporting the adoption of good security templates
and, in particular, of security advisory and warning services
needed by individuals, small businesses and government
customer service points;

1.26.
requests banking and other financial institutions to
make credit cards and other electronic payment methods more
secure, as citizens will not embrace e-commerce without a
guaranteed high level of security;

1.27.
points out that the importance of strong authenti-
cation in electronic transactions should not be exaggerated but
that it should, for example, continue to be possible in the
future to transact business by telephone without electronic
signatures;

1.28.
thinks that the Commission should invest more in
technologies that make it possible to prevent the use of
harmful content on the Internet, especially in computers which
are used mainly by children and young people.

Broadband

The Committee of the Regions

1.29.
agrees with the view put forward by the Commission
in both Communications that market forces have not led to
the provision of broadband technology to the extent that was
hoped in all regions of Europe and is extremely concerned that
this could become a serious obstacle to achieving targets as
there appears to be no hope of providing broadband for many
sparsely populated and peripheral regions of the Union;

that

notes

1.30.
improving European competitiveness
requires that all of Europe’s knowledge potential be exploited,
which can only be done if citizens, businesses and government
have access to communications services that match their needs
in all regions of Europe;

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1.31.
urges the Commission to deepen the analysis of policy
options for broadband and the obstacles to its deployment,
as promised in the Action Plan, since local and regional
administrations,
in addition to Member States, need this
information for drawing up their own strategies;

Development, analysis and dissemination of good practices

The Committee of the Regions

feels that digital TV,

1.32.
in particular, can offer new
groups of citizens an opportunity to actively exploit infor-
mation networks;

1.33.
underlines the fact that digital TV and third-gener-
ation mobile communications networks will not per se solve
the problem of availability of interactive services because, in
order to operate, these technologies need the same kind of
investment in infrastructure as other technologies;

1.34.
stresses that the MHP unified technical standard can
make a major contribution towards the introduction and
spreading of digital television in Europe;

1.35.
proposes that the needs of wireless Internet access
services be taken into account when deciding on use of
frequencies and transmission strength so as to facilitate, in
particular,
the take-up of WLAN technology in sparsely
populated areas and small population centres;

points out that the location of masts and other
1.36.
necessary investment
in broadband infrastructure is best
decided locally through negotiations between companies and
public administration;

calls for realistic plans for ending analogue television
1.37.
broadcasting and requests that, in connection with the digital
switchover, steps are taken to ensure the continuation of
regional and local TV companies
that are particularly
important from the point of view of local culture and other
local content;

1.38.
underlines the responsibility of Member States for
establishing a modern information network that covers all
regions,
imposing
licensing conditions or laying down obligations for firms in a
dominant market position;

for example by using special

funding,

1.40.
proposes that the important role played by the local
and regional level in implementing the objectives of the Action
Plan and in building the European information society be
recognised when organising conferences and seminars, as
well as in connection with other measures to promote the
dissemination of good practices;

hopes that the transparency of EU programmes will
1.41.
be increased and that procedures will be drawn up for
disseminating information on positive experiences, regardless
of the financial
instruments used to implement the pro-
grammes;

notes that the good practical cooperation that already
1.42.
exists at local and regional
level between Member States
and candidate countries offers a means of promoting the
operational objectives of the eEurope Action Plan and increas-
ing exchange of experience;

1.43.
points out that the proposal to translate good prac-
tices into templates based on, for example, open source
software will foster the dissemination of these practices to the
smallest organisations, in particular.

Benchmarking

The Committee of the Regions

believes that essential new information on develop-
1.44.
if
ments in European competitiveness could be obtained,
monitoring of online services were broadened to measure the
ability of public administrations to exploit ICT in modernising
services and structures;

1.45.
hopes that everything will be done to enable the
candidate countries to participate in the implementation of
eEurope before they become members and notes that, at a
minimum, this means their inclusion in benchmarking;

1.39.
calls for flexibility in the national and EU-level
programmes to be drawn up on the basis of the Action Plan,
especially as regards broadband, so that the programmes can
be successfully integrated into regional and local development
strategies.

1.46.
notes that the new regional indicators proposed by
the Commission offer an interesting possibility to compare
progress in Europe’s regions and will help to focus priorities
in regional strategies.

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A coordination mechanism for e-policies

The Committee of the Regions

1.47.
referring to the central role of local and regional
administrations in the implementation of the Action Plan,
proposes that good knowledge of local and regional circum-
stances and needs be a factor in determining the composition
of the future eEurope steering group;

1.48.
considers it important that the expertise on local and
regional needs and regional development strategies acquired

Brussels, 12 February 2003.

through the implementation of structural funds programmes
be represented on the eEurope steering group.

Financing

The Committee of the Regions

1.49.
proposes that a sufficient proportion of the financial
resources available under the Action Plan be earmarked for the
development of goods and services suitable for regions and
municipalities where, because of location and the structure of
the community, circumstances are exceptional, as these regions
and municipalities have their own specific needs, and favour-
able developments in all parts of the EU are a prerequisite for
achieving the general economic and social goals of the Action
Plan.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Albert BORE