Council Conclusions of 13 May 2003 on "adapting e-business policies in a changing environment"
Date: 2003-05-13
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: EU Member State, economic activity, enlargement of the Union, sustainable development

26.6.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 149/7

COUNCIL CONCLUSIONS

of 13 May 2003

on ‘adapting e-business policies in a changing environment’

(2003/C 149/03)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

1. RECALLING:

— the Conclusions of the Lisbon European Council on the
strategy for making the EU the world's most competitive
and dynamic knowledge-based economy, capable of
sustainable economic growth with more and better
jobs and greater social cohesion by 2010 and the
further elaboration of this strategy by the Stockholm,
Gothenburg and Barcelona European Councils;

— the European Charter for Small Enterprises, which calls
for the creation of the best possible environment for
small enterprises;

— previous Council conclusions and resolutions on entre-
preneurship, ICT and e-business as factors for competi-
tiveness, the impact of the e-economy on the competi-
tiveness of European enterprises, a more competitive
environment for enterprises, Information and Communi-
cation Technologies (ICT) and e-business skills in Europe,
and the implementation of the 2005 eEurope Action
Plan (1);

— the conclusions of the Copenhagen European Council

concerning enlargement;

— the conclusions of the Brussels European Council of 20
and 21 March 2003, which stressed the need for
exchanging experience and best practice in the field of
e-business.

2. NOTING THAT:

— the European Union and the Member States must fulfil
their commitments to the timely and effective delivery of
reforms across the three pillars of sustainable devel-
opment — economic, social and environmental, all
essential for the Lisbon strategy;

— coordinated actions in support of improved usage of
information and communication technologies (ICT)
in
business processes are among the main elements for
increasing EU performance in productivity growth;

— the policy focus is shifting from promoting e-commerce
to a more holistic view of e-business, deepening the

(1) OJ C 48, 28.2.2003, p. 2.

efficient use of
processes of companies.

ICT, both in internal and external

3. WELCOMES:

— the

on

communication

‘Adapting
Commission's
in a changing environment: The
e-business policies
lessons of the Go Digital
initiative and the challenges
ahead’, calling upon Member States and regions to
review their e-business strategies, notably in support of
SMEs, to help them adapt to a continuously changing
voluntary
e-business
from
e-business policy targets to accelerate the shift
e-commerce to e-business;

environment,

adopt

and

to

— the Commission's

intention to set up a ‘European
e-business support network for SMEs’ in order to bring
together e-business policy makers at European, national
and regional levels to foster the exchange of experience
and information;

— the fact that the Commission, in line with the eEurope
2005 Action Plan,
in close collaboration
is reviewing,
with the Member States and in liaison with business
legislation, with the aim of
representatives,
identifying and, where appropriate,
removing factors
that hinder e-business.

relevant

4. RECOGNISES THAT:

— widespread take-up and efficient use of

ICT in all
industries and services, notably SMEs, is critical for the
competitiveness of the whole EU economy;

— SMEs face particular difficulties in integrating new tech-
nologies and reorganising their business processes, due,
inter alia, to a lack of e-business knowledge, especially at
managerial level, relatively higher ICT and human capital
investment costs compared to larger enterprises and a
lack of common e-business standards;

— SMEs differ in their e-business readiness across Member
States, acceding countries, regions, and business sectors;
and policy actions therefore should be based on sound
economic analysis and a clear identification of the chal-
lenges to be addressed;

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Official Journal of the European Union

26.6.2003

— advanced e-business policies should facilitate SMEs in
ICT in order to re-engineer,

taking full advantage of
automate and streamline business processes;

— the need to foster dialogue and the exchange of good
practice between policy makers in the area of e-business
for SMEs;

— e-business policies, wherever appropriate,

should be
based on clear objectives and a mix of quantitative
and/or qualitative targets in order to ensure that they
meet the needs of SMEs and facilitate evaluation;

— the need to narrow and close the e-skills gaps and the
need for inclusiveness of the entire available potential
labour pool addressing in particular the severe under-
representation of women and older employees in the
ICT workforce.

— efficiency of e-business policies would benefit from a
better networking, exchange of experience and learning
from good practices among Member States and regions;

6. INVITES THE MEMBER STATES AND ACCEDING COUNTRIES TO:

— the

overall

constantly,
such as:

e-business

changing
environment
setting new e-business policy challenges,

is

— to improve the managerial understanding and skills

for e-business in SMEs;

— to promote the availability of SME-friendly e-business

solutions;

— to facilitate effective participation of SMEs in elec-

tronic marketplaces and business networks.

5. UNDERLINES:

— further complete, on a voluntary basis, at general policy
level, the Enterprise Policy Scoreboard, building upon
the elements of the ‘e-business index’, as included in
the list of eEurope 2005 benchmarking indicators;

— base specific e-business initiatives in favour of SMEs, at
operational level, wherever appropriate, on clear quanti-
tative and/or qualitative targets that serve to measure
their practical impact;

— enhance the e-business skills by encouraging SMEs to

participate in e-skills related training activities;

— make

efforts

further

to stimulate networking and
facilitate a constructive dialogue between SMEs and
ICT service providers;

— enterprises' own responsibility for implementing and

adopting electronic business processes;

— that economic growth can be increased through devel-
opment of business-related e-government applications,
inter alia, for public procurement;

— that it is important to facilitate the re-orientation of
thus responding to the changing

e-business policies,
needs of enterprises;

— further facilitate the take-up of ICT and e-business by
SMEs, with special emphasis on cross border electronic
transactions and a wider usage of broadband and the
facilitation of electronic business processes;

— facilitate the participation of SMEs in Internet trading
platforms and public electronic procurement by taking
appropriate actions to raise awareness and trust in these
new trading forms and by increasing the public sector
usage of ICT and e-business;

— the need to assist SMEs,

in particular,

to identify
e-business opportunities and to implement successfully
their transformation towards e-business by reorganising
their business processes in order to make efficient and
productive use of ICT;

— the importance of setting ambitious targets at policy
level,
to facilitate and promote restructuring towards
the knowledge economy, as well as specific, measurable,
attainable, realistic and time-related (SMART) targets at
operational level, for specific SME policies in support of
e-business;

— promote

interoperable

and
e-payment services for cross border transactions, by
supporting transnational interoperability test-beds, pref-
erably based on open source software.

e-business

solutions

7. INVITES THE COMMISSION TO:

— facilitate cross border electronic transactions by further
supporting the development of European standards for
and multilingual
interoperable
exchange of data and by improving legal
information
for enterprises through European portals;

e-business

solutions

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 149/9

— ensure the full

the eEurope 2005
Action Plan, in particular with respect to the needs of
SMEs and their broadband access and use;

implementation of

and on remaining obstacles for using ICT and e-business
services.

— report outcomes of

the European e-business support
network for SMEs on a regular basis to the eEurope
Steering Group;

8. INVITES THE COMMISSION, MEMBER STATES AND ACCEDING

COUNTRIES TO:

— promote the development of SME-friendly ICT and
inter alia, by facilitating access of

e-business solutions,
SMEs to the sixth RTD framework programme;

— further analyse and benchmark the progress made in the
ICT and e-business, based upon the eEurope

field of
2005 benchmarking indicators;

— consider the possibility to establish an EU network for
the information and support to women entrepreneurs in
the ICT sector, and promote an EU level awareness
initiative;

— report to the Council by end 2004 on the progress made
in the various initiatives to support e-business for SMEs

— actively engage in the European e-business support
network for SMEs, as part of the eEurope 2005 Action
Plan, bringing together regional, national and European
e-business initiatives, with a view to facilitating exchange
of experience and agreeing, on a voluntary basis, future
policy priorities and targets.

COUNCIL CONCLUSIONS

of 13 May 2003

‘European defence — industrial and market issues: towards an EU defence equipment policy’

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

(2003/C 149/04)

WELCOMES the communication of the Commission ‘Towards an EU defence equipment policy’ as a
valuable contribution towards creating the necessary conditions for strengthening the industrial and
market situation of European businesses, which are directly or indirectly connected with the defence
equipment market, enhancing defence related research and improving international competitiveness of
the industries concerned;

RECALLS that the Brussels European Council of 20-21 March 2003 recognised the role that defence and
security-related R&D could play in promoting leading-edge technologies and thereby stimulating inno-
vation and competitiveness;

RECOGNISES in particular the importance of putting in place arrangements, which could lead to greater
cost-effectiveness, improved harmonisation of standards, and more efficient planning and procurement of
defence equipment and RTD based on technological innovation;

NOTES the Commission's intention to further develop the initiatives identified in pursuit of these objectives
and will examine the specific issues raised in the communication in the appropriate bodies of the Council;
WELCOMES the Commission's identification of themes for further reflection and stresses the importance
that this analysis takes into consideration the contribution that entrepreneurial researchers, start-ups or
SMEs can make to the attainment of the Lisbon goals;

WELCOMES the intention of the Commission to present by the end of 2003 a further communication
developing more fully its planned preparatory action on security-related research, with reference also to the
longer-term perspective;

INVITES the Commission to report on progress made towards the achievement of the objectives set out
above by the end of 2003.