Amended proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a multiannual Community programme to make digital content in Europe more accessible, usable and exploitable (presented by the Commission pursuant to Article 250 (2) of the EC Treaty)
Date: 2004-04-30
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU programme, Internet, access to information, dissemination of information, information technology

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 30.4.2004 
COM(2004) 367 final 

2004/0025 (COD) 

Amended proposal for a 

DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 

establishing a multiannual Community programme to make digital content in Europe 
more accessible, usable and exploitable 

(presented by the Commission pursuant 
to Article 250 (2) of the EC Treaty) 

EN 

   EN 

 
 
 
  
2004/0025 (COD) 

Amended proposal for a 

DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 

establishing a multiannual Community programme to make digital content in Europe 
more accessible, usable and exploitable 

1. 

BACKGROUND 

On  13  February  2004  the  Commission  submitted  to  Parliament,  pursuant  to  Articles 251(2) 
and  157(3)  of  the  EC  Treaty,  the  proposal  for  a  European  Parliament  and  Council  decision 
establishing  a  multiannual  Community  programme  to  make  digital  content  in  Europe  more 
accessible, usable and exploitable (COM(2004) 96 – 2004/0025(COD)). 

Opinion of the European Parliament – first reading: 22 April 2004. 

2. 

OBJECTIVE OF THE COMMISSION PROPOSAL  

eContentplus  has  the  overall  aim  to  make  digital  content  in  Europe  more  accessible,  usable 
and  exploitable,  facilitating  the  creation  and  diffusion  of  information  and  knowledge  –  in 
areas of public interest – at the Union level. 

It  will  create  better  conditions  for  accessing  and  managing  digital  content  and  services  in 
multilingual  and  multicultural  environments.  It  will  broaden  users’  choice  and  support  new 
ways  of  interacting  with  knowledge-enhanced  digital  content,  a  feature  which  is  becoming 
essential to make content more dynamic and tailored to specific contexts.  

3. 

COMMISSION OPINION ON THE AMENDMENTS ADOPTED BY THE PARLIAMENT 

3.1. 

General assessment 

All the changes made by the European Parliament are in line with the Commission's proposal 
and  make  useful  clarifications  for  the  implementation  of  the  eContentplus  programme.  The 
Commission therefore accepts them all. 

3.2. 

Examination of the amendments 

Amendment 1 (recital 15a new), clarifying the reference to digital content stakeholders. 

Amendments  2,  3,  4,  5,  11,  12,  13,  14,  15,  16  clarifying  the  text  related  to  the  specific 
objectives. 

Amendments  6,  8,  9,  10  proposing  revised  text  to  ensure  the  consistency  of  the  annual 
appropriations with the financial perspective. 

Amendment 7 proposing to forward the results of the quantitative and qualitative evaluations 
to the European  Parliament and the Council together with any appropriate proposals for the 

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amendment  of  the  Decision  before  presentation of  the  draft  general  budget  of  the  European 
Union for the year 2007 and 2009 respectively. 

4. 

CONCLUSIONS 

In accordance with Article 250(2) of the EC Treaty the Commission amends its proposal as 
set out above. 

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