COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT accompanying the
Date: 2010-12-15
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Internet, action programme, cross-frontier data flow, electronic government, information society, information system, information technology, innovation, public administration, public service

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EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Brussels, 15.12.2010 
SEC(2010) 1539 final  

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 

accompanying the 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE 
COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

The European eGovernment Action Plan 2011-2015 
Harnessing ICT to promote smart, sustainable & innovative Government 

COM(2010) 743 final 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 

1. 

1.1. 

1.2. 

2. 

INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................ 4 

Aim of the staff working paper .................................................................................... 4 

Preparatory work and consultations ............................................................................. 4 

BACKGROUND eGOVERNMENT IN EUROPE ..................................................... 5 

2.1. 

The achievements of online public services in Europe................................................ 5 

2.1.1. 

eGovernment for businesses ........................................................................................ 7 

2.1.2. 

eGovernment for citizens ............................................................................................. 7 

2.2. 

2.3. 

2.4. 

2.5. 

Existing eGovernment policies at EU level ............................................................... 10 

Actions at EU level so far .......................................................................................... 12 

eGovernment policy development in the near future................................................. 15 

Policy options............................................................................................................. 16 

2.5.1.  Scenario 1: Limited Commission Activities .............................................................. 16 

2.5.2.  Scenario 2: Focused Action Plan................................................................................ 18 

2.5.3.  Scenario 3: An extensive Action Plan ........................................................................ 20 

2.6. 

Conclusion.................................................................................................................. 21 

3. 

3.1. 

3.2. 

3.3. 

GENERAL POLICY OBJECTIVES ......................................................................... 21 

Context of the Action Plan......................................................................................... 22 

Malmö Declaration..................................................................................................... 22 

Alignment with EU2020 and the Digital Agenda for Europe.................................... 23 

3.3.1.  Alignment with EU2020 ............................................................................................ 23 

3.3.2.  Alignment with the Digital Agenda for Europe......................................................... 24 

3.4. 

3.5. 

3.6. 

Links between the eGovernment Action Plan and existing EU initiatives ................ 26 

Links between priorities within the Action Plan........................................................ 26 

Type of actions and measures .................................................................................... 27 

3.6.1.  Defining and reaching commonly defined targets with the Member States .............. 27 

3.6.2. 

Joint development of services and sharing of results................................................. 28 

3.6.3.  Creating enabling conditions...................................................................................... 28 

4. 

PRIORITIES AND OBJECTIVES OF THE ACTION PLAN ................................. 28 

4.1. 

User Empowerment.................................................................................................... 28 

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4.1.1.  User centric and inclusive services ............................................................................ 28 

4.1.2.  Collaborative Production of Services......................................................................... 30 

4.1.3.  Re-use of Public Sector Information.......................................................................... 31 

4.1.4. 

Improvement of Transparency ................................................................................... 32 

4.1.5.  User Involvement in Policy........................................................................................ 34 

4.2. 

Internal Market........................................................................................................... 35 

4.2.1.  Seamless Services for Business ................................................................................. 35 

4.2.2.  Personal Mobility ....................................................................................................... 37 

4.2.3.  Cross-border Services ................................................................................................ 39 

4.3. 

Efficiency and Effectiveness of Governments and Administrations ......................... 40 

4.3.1. 

Improving Organisational Processes.......................................................................... 41 

4.3.2.  Reduction of Administrative Burdens........................................................................ 42 

4.3.3.  Green Government ..................................................................................................... 44 

4.4. 

Pre-conditions for Developing eGovernment ............................................................ 45 

4.4.1.  Open Specifications and Interoperability................................................................... 45 

4.4.2.  Key Enablers .............................................................................................................. 47 

4.4.3. 

Innovation .................................................................................................................. 49 

5. 

5.1. 

5.2. 

5.3. 

GOVERNANCE ........................................................................................................ 51 

Monitoring Progress................................................................................................... 51 

Evaluation .................................................................................................................. 51 

Governance ................................................................................................................ 52 

ANNEX 1: MILESTONES IN PREPARATION OF THE ACTION PLAN.......................... 52 

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1. 

INTRODUCTION 

1.1. 

Aim of the staff working paper 

The  present  staff  working  paper  accompanies  the  Communication  from  the  Commission  to 
the European Parliament, the Council and the European Economic and Social Committee on 
the European eGovernment Action Plan 2011-2015 (hereafter: staff working paper). The aim 
of  the  Communication  is  to  implement  the  Ministerial  Declaration  on  eGovernment 
(hereafter:  Malmö  Declaration1)  and  to  complement  the  Digital  Agenda  for  Europe2.  This 
staff working paper provides a rationale for the issues dealt within the Communication. 

1.2. 

Preparatory work and consultations 

The Communication on the eGovernment Action Plan 2011-2015 and this staff working paper 
have greatly benefited from background analyses and interactions with relevant stakeholders, 
including questionnaires to the Member States and studies. These studies included extensive 
surveys of businesses, citizens and experts, concerning their needs, demands and the expected 
impacts  of  eGovernment  innovation.  Extensive  interviews  were  also  conducted  within  the 
different  services  of  the  European  Commission,  with  all  the  Units  concerned  with 
eGovernment.  

In  addition,  an  Orientations  Paper  that  gave  guidance  to  the  Malmö  Declaration  has  been 
published.  In  parallel,  preparatory  groundwork  has  been  performed  by  the  eGovernment 
Subgroup3 which is the principal discussion forum where Member States4 and the European 
Commission jointly address European eGovernment policy.  

The  most  important  foundation  for  this  Action  Plan  was  laid  on  18  November  2009,  when 
Ministers agreed on the Declaration at the 5th Ministerial eGovernment Conference in Malmö, 
Sweden.  The  Ministerial  Declaration  has  received  wide  support  from  both  industry  and 
citizens  through  an  Industry  Declaration5  and  an  Open  Declaration  on  public  services  2.06 
respectively. The Council restated among others the objectives of the Malmö Declaration in 
its  Council  Conclusions7  on  the  post  i2010  Strategy.  The  Action  Plan  supports  and 
complements  the  Digital  Agenda  for  Europe  through  actions  in  the  area  of  'ICT-enabled 
benefits for EU society', 'Interoperability and Standards' and 'A vibrant Digital Single Market'. 

Annex  1  lists  the  time  line  with  the  most  important  milestones  in  preparation  of  the 
eGovernment Action Plan 2011-2015.  

1 
2 
3 

4 

5 
6 
7 

http://www.egov2009.se/wp-content/uploads/Ministerial-Declaration-on-eGovernment.pdf 
COM(2010) 245 (http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda) 
The  objective  for  the  i2010  eGovernment  subgroup  is  to  inform  the  i2010  High  Level  Group  on  the 
implementation  of  the  i2010  eGovernment  Action  Plan;  to  share  good  practice;  and  to  monitor  the 
progress of the eGovernment Action Plan and national plans 
For  the  sake  of  convenience  this  staff  paper  uses  the  term  "Member  States"  where  it  should  read 
Member States including Norway, Iceland, Croatia and Turkey. These four countries have chosen to be 
actively involved in European eGovernment policy and the process leading to a European eGovernment 
Action Plan 2011-2015. 
http://www.digitaleurope.org/index.php?id=34&id_article=390 
http://eups20.wordpress.com/the-open-declaration/ 
Council  Conclusions  on  Post  i-2010  Strategy  -  towards  an  open,  green  and  competitive  knowledge 
society.  2987th  Transport,  Telecommunication  and  Energy  Council  meeting  Brussels,  18  December 
2009. On-line: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/en/trans/111999.pdf 

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2. 

BACKGROUND EGOVERNMENT IN EUROPE 

eGovernment  is  on  the  verge  of  a  profound  transformation.  Many  new  technological 
opportunities are arising which may contribute to changing the way eGovernment services are 
delivered.  

The  first  part  of  this  chapter  highlights  the  achievements  within  the  EU  in  the  area  of 
eGovernment. Part two and three summarise the existing policies and corresponding actions 
that  have  affected  eGovernment  in  Europe  so  far.  Part  four  describes  how  eGovernment  is 
likely to develop in the future. The fifth part sets out different scenarios for actions that can be 
taken at EU level and leads to the conclusion that it is necessary to act at EU level in order to 
maximise the impact of actions conducted at national level. 

2.1. 

The achievements of online public services in Europe 

Europe  has  continued  to  make  significant  progress  in  the  delivery  of  online  public  services 
since  eGovernment  appeared  on  the  European  eGovernment  Agenda  in  20018.  The  online 
delivery of basic services9 has continued to increase steadily in recent years: their full online 
availability10 went from 21% in 2001 to 71% in 200911 (Figure 1). However, there is a marked 
difference  between  services  for  businesses  and  services  for  citizens.  Services  for  businesses 
reach 83% availability whereas services for citizens are still only at 63% availability.  

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9 

10 

11 

2001, 

Brussels, 

Belgium. 

ministerial 

declaration 

eGovernment 
See: 
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/egovernment/docs/ministerial_dec/ministerial_declara
tion_2001.pdf 
Basic  Services  refer  to  the  20  services  (12  for  citizens,  8  for  businesses)  used  to  benchmark  online 
availability  of  public  services.  These  are:  income  taxes,  job  search,  social  security  benefits,  personal 
documents,  car  registration,  building  permission,  declaration  to  police,  public  libraries,  certificates, 
enrolment  in  higher  education,  announcement  of  moving,  health-related  services  (citizens),  social 
contributions,  corporate  tax,  VAT,  company  registration,  statistical  data,  customs  declaration, 
environment-related permits, public procurement (businesses). 
Full online availability is an indicator which measures whether the service is delivered in a completely 
electronic  way  without  need  of  interacting  through  traditional  (i.e.  paper,  face-to-face)  channels.  It 
corresponds  to  level  4  and  above  of  the  sophistication  indicator  introduced  below.  The  composite 
indicator is an average of the values taken in the 20 services. 
The small decrease in 2004 is due to an enlargement of the sample to New Member States: until 2003 
the sample included only EU15 countries. 

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Figure 1: Full online availability, Trend from 2001 to 2009 for EU27+ 

100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

2001

Businesses

All services

Citizens

2002

2003

2004

2006

2007

2009

Source: CapGemini “Smarter, Faster, Better eGovernment: 8th Benchmark Measurement”, 2009. 

Despite major progress there are considerable discrepancies between Member States (Figure 
2). The gap between the best and worst performer is large (68 pp.) although it has declined 
since  last  measured  (85  pp.  in  2007).  Four  countries  (Austria,  Malta,  Portugal  and  UK) 
experience full online availability for all the 20 basic services considered in 2009. 

Figure 2: Full online availability for all services 

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

AT MT PT UK SI SE EE FI DK IE FR ES NO NL DE BE IT LU LV HU CZ LT SK IS PL CY EL RO BG HR CH

Full online availability for all services

Average of EU27+

Source: Cap Gemini “Smarter, Faster, Better eGovernment: 8th Benchmark Measurement”, 2009. 

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2.1.1. 

eGovernment for businesses 

eGovernment for businesses has progressed rapidly (Figure 1). It has also reached a high level 
of  sophistication12  (91%  in  2009  compared  to  84%  in  2007).  Some  crucial  services  for 
enterprises  like  VAT,  corporate  tax,  customs  declarations  and  social  contributions  are  fully 
available online in almost all EU countries. However, services concerning the registration of 
new companies are still lagging behind, although they are considered crucial to the European 
Growth and Jobs Strategy.  

In general, the use of online public services by businesses has kept up with the supply (Figure 
3): on average, use was at 72% in 2009 for the EU27 (up from 68% in 2008). Take-up is also 
relatively  high  for  advanced  ways  of  interacting  with  the  public  administrations:  54%  of 
enterprises  use  the  internet  to  return  completed  forms  and  43%  interacted  with  the  public 
administration entirely using electronic transactions. 

Figure 3: Supply vs. take-up - businesses13 

100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

AT BE BG HR CY CZ DK EE FI FR DE EL HU IS IE

IT LV LT LU MT NL NO PL PT RO SK SI ES SE UK

eGovernment usage by businesses (2009)

online sophistication for businesses (2009)

Source: Cap Gemini “Smarter, Faster, Better eGovernment: 8th Benchmark Measurement”, 2009, and Eurostat, 
Community Survey on ICT use in Households and by Individuals, 2009. 

2.1.2. 

eGovernment for citizens 

The take-up of eGovernment services by citizens is less developed (Figure 4). The EU27+14 
average  value  for  sophistication  is  78%.  Only  30%  of  EU27  citizens  used  the  internet  for 
accessing eGovernment services (over the past 3 months) in 2009, rising to 38% of citizens 
using  eGovernment  services  in  the  past  12  months.  EU  citizens  do  not  extensively  use 
advanced modes of interaction with the administration. Only 17% of them have downloaded 

12 

13 
14 

Sophistication  is  an  indicator  that  measures  the  degree  of  interaction  possible  between  citizens  and 
public administrations over the delivery of a given service. It consists of 5 possible levels: information, 
one-way  interaction  (downloadable  forms),  two  way  interaction  (electronic  forms),  full  transaction 
(full-electronic case-handling), personalisation (pro-active, automated).  
Take-up data for Belgium and Iceland refer to 2008. 
The EU27+ aggregate includes the EU27 countries + Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Croatia. 

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official  forms  from  a  public  authority  website  and  only  12%  have  used  the  internet  to  send 
back completed forms.  

Figure 4: Supply vs. take-up - citizens 

100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

AT BE BG HR CY CZ DK EE FI FR DE EL HU IS IE

IT LV LT LU MT NL NO PL PT RO SK SI ES SE UK

eGovernment usage by citizens (2009)

online sophistication for citizens (2009)

Source: Cap Gemini “Smarter, Faster, Better eGovernment: 8th Benchmark Measurement”, 2009, and Eurostat, 
Community Survey on ICT use in Households and by Individuals, 2009. 

However, the large disparity in eGovernment use seems to be driven more by the degree of 
internet penetration in a country than by the degree of sophistication of its online provision. 
There  is  a  strong  correlation  across  countries  between  internet  use15  and  the  percentage  of 
users of eGovernment services (Figure 5).  

15 

i.e. Individuals who used the internet in the last three months.  

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Figure 5: Use of Internet vs. Use of eGovernment (and other) Services (2009, EEA countries + Croatia)16.  

100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

d
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0%

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y = 0.2573x + 0.7005
R2 = 0.607

y = 0.8001x - 0.0531
R2 = 0.7306

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

used Internet in last 3mm as % of population

email

egov

Source: Eurostat, Community Survey on ICT use in Households and by Individuals, 2009. 

In addition, limited skills combined with a lack of education also contribute to the low use of 
eGovernment services, as they are the primary sources of disadvantage among groups at risk 
of exclusion from the digital society. A disparity indicator on eGovernment use17 (Figure 6) 
shows  that  there  is  no  clear  ‘digital  divide’  in  eGovernment  use  among  internet  users 
belonging  to  traditional  groups  at  risk  of  exclusion.  The  various  groups  show  usage  only 
slightly below the population average and the age group 55-64 shows even greater usage of 
eGovernment  services  than  the  average  population.  For  this  latter  category  eGovernment 
usage  may  even  be  a  major  driver  of  internet  use,  for  example  to  monitor  accumulated 
pension  rights  in  proximity  of  retirement.  The  main  category  at  risk  of  exclusion  from 
eGovernment  usage  (as  well  as  from  internet  use)  is  that  of  not  well  educated  people.  This 
could  signal  that  people  with  little  education  may  lack  the  skills  for  use  of  ‘advanced 
services’. 

16 

17 

x-axis: Used internet in last 3 months as % of population. y-axis: Used eGovernment (or email) services 
in the last 3 months as % of (i) people that used internet in last 3 months (ii) population. 
The  indicator  has  been  calculated  by  taking  the  ratio  of  (proportion  of  eGovernment  users  in 
disadvantaged groups) over the (proportion of eGovernment users in the population). Therefore, a value 
of  1  would  indicate  pattern  of  usage  for  the  concerned  group  equal  to  that  of  the  population,  while 
values closer to zero would indicate greater disparity in use. The groups not using eGovernment have 
been  further  split  into  two  analytical  subgroups:  people  not  using  the  internet  (and  therefore 
eGovernment services either) and internet users not using eGovernment services. 

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Figure  6:  Disparity  indicator  on  use  of  Internet  for  eGovernment  services  in  the  last  3  months. 
Decomposition of Internet use effect and eGovernment use effect (2009, EU27). 

1.2

1

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0

women

low income

low educated

rural

lagging region

economically
inactive/retired

unemployed

aged 55 to 64

aged 65 to 74

internet use

egovernment use

Source: Eurostat, Community Survey on ICT use in Households and by Individuals, 2009. 

In  essence,  although  online  provision  of  eGovernment  services  has  made  great  progress  in 
recent  years,  it  has  not  been  followed  by  an  equal  progress  in  take-up,  especially  on  the 
citizens'  side.  The  use  of  eGovernment  services  seems  to  be  driven  by  both  the  degree  of 
internet penetration in a country, skills, and by the degree of sophistication, availability and 
personalisation of online provision. 

2.2. 

Existing eGovernment policies at EU level  

In  the  past  decade,  the  European  Commission  has  contributed  to  the  development  of 
eGovernment by bringing together the actors and creating synergies in order to facilitate the 
modernisation  of  the  public  sector  in  the  European  Union.  In  2001  Ministers  agreed  in 
Brussels18  that  higher  priority  should  be  given  to  eGovernment  issues.  In  2003  in  Como 
(Italy)19  Ministers  emphasised  the  importance  of effective  eGovernment  throughout  Europe. 
The third policy orientation crystallised in the eGovernment Ministerial Declaration issued in 
Manchester20 in November 2005 during the UK Presidency. This Declaration resulted in the 
i2010 eGovernment Action Plan21 that was welcomed by the Council of the European Union 
in June 2006.  

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19 

20 

21 

http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/egovernment/docs/ministerial_dec/ministerial_ 
declaration_2001.pdf 
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/egovernment/docs/ministerial_dec/ministerial_ 
declaration_2003.pdf 
http://archive.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/egov2005conference/documents/proceedings/pdf/ 
051124declaration.pdf 
COM(2006) 173 final: i2010 eGovernment Action Plan: Accelerating eGovernment in Europe for the 
Benefit of All 

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The i2010 eGovernment Action Plan provided a concrete basis for joint activities at EU level. 
It was a comprehensive five point plan and integral part of the i2010 initiative22. It addressed 
the following five priority areas: 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

inclusive eGovernment – no citizen left behind,  

eParticipation – re-engaging citizens in the political processes,  

efficiency & effectiveness – reducing administrative burden,  

key enablers – e.g. mutual recognition of electronic identity, 

high impact services – e.g. borderless electronic procurement.  

Significant  efforts  have  been  made  in  all  Member  States  to  implement  the  Action  Plan.  All 
Member States now have policies and implementation plans in place for eGovernment and the 
five priority areas of the eGovernment Action Plan are reflected in the majority of the national 
action plans. In addition, the majority of Member States share the opinion that many subjects 
of the current Action Plan will remain relevant for the next five years23. This was confirmed 
by the Progress Report on the i2010 eGovernment Action Plan in the EU27+24.  

One  of  the  conclusions  of  the  Progress  report  was  that  eGovernment  performance  and 
development seem to be positively correlated with the amount of time policies have been in 
place (See Table 1). In general, EU15 countries are more likely to have eGovernment policies 
in place for a longer period than the EU12. EU12 countries, on the other hand, are catching up 
quickly  and  see  the  Action  Plan  as  a  chance  to  engage  directly  within  a  framework  of 
cooperation, support and learning. 

22 

23 

24 

i2010 was the EU policy framework for the information society and media between 2006 and 2010. It 
promoted the positive contribution that information and communication technologies (ICT) can make to 
the economy, society and personal quality of life. 
Source: Analysis of the questionnaire to Member States on 16 October 2008. The general message from 
the  feedback  to  the  questionnaire  was  to  continue  along  the  same  main  lines  as  in  the  former  action 
plan,  but  to  refocus  and  sharpen  by  bringing  in  new  elements,  and  reducing  the  number  of  priorities 
while enlarging their scope.  
Millard Jeremy, Shahin Jamal et al. (2009). i2010 eGovernment Action Plan Progress Study. Report for 
the  European  Commission,  Brussels:  Information  Society  and  Media  Directorate.  Note:  Belgium  has 
not been incorporated in the survey, and France indicated that it does not have a national eGovernment 
Action Plan.  

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Table 1: Countries with overall eGovernment strategies or policies, 2005-2009 

By 2005 = 12/30  

By 2007 = 20/30  

By 2009 = 29/30  

Austria 
Bulgaria 
Cyprus 
Estonia 
Ireland 
Latvia  

Lithuania 
Luxembourg
Netherlands 
Portugal 
Sweden 
UK 

Austria 
Bulgaria 
Cyprus 
Czech R 
Denmark 
Estonia 
Germany 
Greece 
Ireland 
Latvia 

Lithuania 
Luxembourg 
Netherlands 
Norway 
Portugal 
Slovenia 
Spain 
Sweden 
Turkey 
UK 

Austria 
Bulgaria 
Croatia 
Cyprus 
Czech R. 
Denmark 
Estonia 
Finland 
Germany 
Greece 
Hungary 
Iceland 
Ireland 
Italy 
Latvia 

Lithuania 
Luxembourg 
Malta 
Netherlands 
Norway 
Poland 
Portugal 
Romania 
Slovakia 
Slovenia 
Spain 
Sweden 
Turkey 
UK  

Overall,  the  Progress  report  concluded  that  the  Action  Plan  has  been  very  successful  in 
encouraging both general  and  specific  eGovernment policies to be put in place in European 
countries,  coordinating  these  where  appropriate  at  European  level,  linking  them  to  related 
information  society  and  public  sector  policies,  and  kick-starting  or  supporting  policy 
implementation. Actions  contributed  to  the  effectiveness  of  the  internal  market  and  have 
spurred  innovation  in  public  organisations  in  order  to  increase  their  efficiency  and 
effectiveness.  In  essence,  the  commitment  to  the  Action  Plan  has  stimulated  alignment  and 
coherence  of  national  policies  and  new  momentum  to  make  public  services  more  efficient, 
effective and more oriented towards the needs of the user. 

2.3. 

Actions at EU level so far 

The European Commission was and is engaged in deployment projects through pilots under 
the  "ICT  Policy  Support  Programme"25  as  part  of  the  Competitiveness  and  Innovation 
Framework  Programme  (CIP  ICT  PSP),  projects  funded  under  subsequent  Research 
Framework Programmes and the IDABC26 (Interoperable Delivery of European eGovernment 
Services to public Administrations, Businesses and Citizens) and ISA27 (the Interoperability 
Solutions for European public administrations) programmes. The projects launched play and 
will continue to play, a key role in improving innovation and supporting cross-border public 
services in the internal market. In addition, the EU has taken the lead in a number of sectoral 
initiatives. 

25 
26 
27 

http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/ict_psp/index_en.htm 
http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/home 
Interoperability solutions for European public administrations (ISA) (OJ L 260, 3.10.2009, p. 20). ISA 
replaces  the  IDABC  programme  (Interoperable  delivery  of  pan-European  eGovernment  services  to 
public administrations, businesses and citizens (OJ L 181, 18.5.2001, p.25).  

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The  CIP  ICT  PSP  programme  has  three  main  instruments  relevant  to  eGovernment:  large-
scale Pilots Type A, Pilots Type B28, and thematic networks. The Large Scale Pilots Type A 
implement interoperability of services between cooperating Member States in the context of 
agreed  policy  priorities  with  the  aim  to  close  missing  links  in  the  internal  market.  B  Pilots 
demonstrate  the  implementation  of  innovative  ICT  solutions  under  realistic  conditions  in 
several countries. The thematic networks bring together stakeholders to explore new ways of 
using ICT to implement policies. 

In  this  context,  notable  European  success  stories  in  the  eGovernment  area  are  three  Large 
Scale Pilots Type A29 funded by the European Commission. PEPPOL implements a European 
system of eProcurement that will facilitate the participation of businesses in (electronic) calls 
for tenders everywhere in the Union. STORK will enable citizens and businesses to identify 
themselves  when  interacting  with  their  own  and  other  national  administrations  over  the 
internet. The third pilot Type A project, called SPOCS, is related to the Services Directive. It 
will  enable  service  providers  from  all  Member  States  willing  to  offer  professional  services 
outside  their  "home"  country  to  deal  electronically  with  all  necessary  administrative 
procedures.  

In  2006,  at  the  request  of  the  European  Parliament,  the  Commission  launched  the 
eParticipation Preparatory Action30. This eParticipation Preparatory Action supported real-life 
pilot  projects  to  demonstrate  how  using  modern  ICT  tools  can  make  it  easier  for  people  to 
participate  in  decision-making  and  can  contribute  to  better  legislation.  Since  2009, 
eParticipation has been included in the CIP ICT PSP.  

The 7th Framework Programme for Research31 (FP7) is funding research projects under "ICT 
for  governance  and  policy  modelling".  The  projects  aim  to  develop  new  tools  and 
technologies to manage digital democracy as well as analytical tools to help understand and 
interpret  citizens'  debates  and  opinions.  Previously,  eGovernment  research  in  FP6  (2002-
2006)  has  focused  on  modernising  public  agencies  at  all  levels,  innovating  to  create  new 
and/or improved services for citizens and businesses.  

Under  the  former  IDABC  programme,  the  European  Commission  and  Member  States  have 
been working together on interoperability for European eGovernment services. Today several 
of  these  services  are  online  and  allow  European  public  administrations  to  work  together  in 

28 

29 

30 

31 

Under the umbrella of the CIP ICT PSP also Pilots Type B have been or are being launched. Pilots B 
require fewer participants than Large Scale Pilots; also the duration is shorter. Examples of these pilots 
are  projects  addressing  the  reduction  of  administrative  burdens  across  the  EU  or  innovative  solutions 
for inclusive and effective eGovernment. 
The  cross-border  Pilots  A  tackle  potential  fragmentation  on  the  internal  market  in  three  areas:  cross-
border  eProcurement  (PEPPOL  -  Pan  European  Public  Procurement  OnLine)  enables  companies, 
especially SMEs, to respond electronically to public tenders issued in another country; interoperability 
of  electronic  identities  (STORK  -  Secure  idenTity  acrOss  boRders  linKed)  is  a  key  enabler  of  future 
eGovernment  services;  the  pilot  on  the  Services  Directive  (SPOCS  -  Simple  Procedures  Online  for 
Cross-border Services) contribute to achieving interoperability of the electronic processes. These pilots 
provide a new dimension to cooperation and a framework on which Member States can build and which 
can leverage their existing investments. At the same time these pilots help to find a common European 
way forward while respecting national approaches. PEPPOL has 8 participating countries, STORK 14, 
and SPOCS 7. The countries are those that were official partners at the time of writing (i.e. September 
2010). Links: www.peppol.eu, www.eid-stork.eu, www.eu-spocs.eu. 
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/egovernment/implementation/prep_action/ 
index_en.htm 
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/egovernment/research/index_en.htm 

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critical  areas  such  as  health  and  consumer  protection,  the  internal  market  for  services  and 
employment. These services are enabled by the definition of common frameworks. The best 
known is the European Interoperability Framework for pan-European eGovernment services. 
The IDABC programme has been replaced by the ISA programme, as IDABC came to an end 
in 2009. Under ISA, the Commission will launch actions in four areas: 

– 

– 

– 

– 

Creation  and  improvement  of  common  frameworks  in  support  of  interoperability 
across borders and sectors; 

Assessment  of  ICT  implications  of  proposed  or  adopted  Community  legislation  as 
well  as  planning  for  the  introduction  of  ICT  systems  in  support  of  the 
implementation of such legislation; 

Operation  and 
the 
establishment,  industrialisation,  operation  and  improvement  of  new  common 
services; 

improvement  of  existing  common  services  as  well  as 

Improvement  of  existing  reusable  generic  tools  as  well  as  the  establishment, 
provision and improvement of new reusable generic tools. 

At EU level initiatives in many sectors have also contributed to the eGovernment agenda by 
creating interoperability. A few examples: 

– 

– 

– 

– 

32 

33 

34 

The  Services  Directive  2006/123/EC32  requires  Member  States  to  set  up  Points  of 
Single  Contact  (PSC)  through  which  providers  can  complete  electronically 
procedures  and  formalities  necessary  to  provide  a  service.  Interoperability  of 
eIdentification,  eSignatures  and  eDocuments  is  key  for  seamless  functioning  of 
electronic transactions.  

In the area of Environment, the INSPIRE Directive 2007/2/EC33 aims to establish a 
cross-border 
to  support  Community 
environment policies.  

infrastructure 

for  spatial 

information 

In the area of Justice and Home Affairs, a communication34 stressed the benefits of 
improved  effectiveness,  enhanced  interoperability  and  synergies  among  European 
databases such as the VIS, the SIS II, and Eurodac. 

In  the  area  of  support  of  the  Community  policies  for  customs,  taxation  and  excise 
duties,  the  Commission  coordinates  and  manages  a  set  of  operational  activities 
relying on interoperable systems.  

L 

L 

of 

376 

OJ 
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2006:376:0036:0068:en:PDF) 
OJ 
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2007:108:0001:0014:FR:PDF) 
On 24 November 2005 the Commission adopted a Communication COM(2005) 597 final on improved 
effectiveness, enhanced interoperability and synergies among European databases in the area of Justice 
and Home Affairs highlighting how IT systems can more effectively support the policies linked to the 
free movement of persons and serve the objective of combating terrorism and serious crime.  

27.12.2006 

25.04.2007 

(http://eur-

http://eur-

108/1 

of 

EN 

14 

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In  addition,  the  European  Commission  has  set  up  platforms  for  good  practice  exchange 
mechanism  (ePractice.eu,  OSOR  and  SEMIC35)  and  provides  a  consistent  progress 
benchmarking measurement36 of Member States. 

2.4. 

eGovernment policy development in the near future 

The European Commission launched two vision studies37 on the future of eGovernment. Both 
studies  see  the  public  sector  as  moving  into  a  new  era,  in  which  the  provision  of  public 
services will be oriented towards the creation of public value and user empowerment. In this 
context,  empowerment  means  to  increase  the  capacity  of  citizens,  businesses  and  other 
organisations  to  function  in  society  which  can  be  stimulated  through  the  creation  of  public 
value.  

One  vision  study38  has  described  the  paradigm  shift  in  the  way  that  governments  need  to 
completely  re-think  and  in  many  cases  redesign  the  service  provision  approach.  It  has 
summarised how eGovernment is likely to develop in the future: 

– 

– 

– 

– 

35 

36 
37 

38 

An international environment should be created in which government organisations 
will be connected, networked and fully joined-up and in which public organisations 
will  interact  and  connect  intelligently  with  each  other  and  with  private  actors  – 
citizens, civil society organisations and businesses. 

Services  should  be  increasingly  responsive  to  user  needs  by  providing  more 
individualised  services  and  allowing  users  to  tailor  the  services  to  their  personal 
requirements. Increasingly, users should be able to design, create and self-direct their 
own services, while providers should be able to differentiate and target recipients. In 
this  regard,  users  should  also  have  the  possibility  to  easily  access  applications  that 
use or processes their personal data. 

Governance  must  become  much  more  open,  participative  and  democratic  and  be 
receptive  at  all  levels  to  inputs  and  interests  from  all  segments  of  society.  New 
'crowd-sourcing' instruments should be developed to support evidence-based policies 
that  are  more  effective  in  their  own  right  and  better  justified  in  terms  of  their 
rationale by a presentation of the underlying evidence. 

Governments  and  public  administrations  must  make  better  use  of  ICT  to  improve 
monitoring  and  evaluation  techniques.  This  will  allow  them  to  increase  their 
performance. E.g. ICTs can be used to automatically provide statistics on the uptake 
use of eGovernment solutions. The respective functions should be built in during the 
implementation phase.  

http://www.epractice.eu/,  http://www.osor.eu/(Open  Source  Observatory  and  Repository  for  European 
Public Administrations), http://www.semic.eu (Semantic Interoperability Centre Europe). 
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/eeurope/i2010/benchmarking/index_en.htm 
Botterman Maarten, Millard Jeremy et al. (2009). Value for citizens: A vision of public governance in 
2020. Report for the European Commission, Brussels: Information Society and Media Directorate and 
Codagnone  Cristiano  &  Osimo  David  (2008).  Future  technology  needs  for  future  eGovernment 
Services: Services platform report. Report for the European Commission, Brussels: Information Society 
and Media Directorate.  
Botterman Maarten, Millard Jeremy et al. (2009). Value for citizens: A vision of public governance in 
2020. Report for the European Commission, Brussels: Information Society and Media Directorate.  

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Another  vision  study39  confirms  that  government  and  civil  society  will  both  invest  in 
providing  services  and  continuously  collaborate  to  innovate,  provide  better  services  and  to 
address complex societal challenges. This new approach is reflected in the proposal for a new 
ICT service architecture for eGovernment. This architecture should be flexible and modular, 
so  that  both  administrations  and  third  parties  can  collaborate  and  share  responsibilities  in 
producing and providing services according to the accepted principles of subsidiarity. There 
may still be a 'one-stop-shop' on the internet where users can access all governmental services 
at once. However, it will also be possible to embed these services into other platforms. These 
platforms may be managed by businesses or by professional organisations, acting as providers 
of value added services or simply as gateways. Alternatively, users may prefer to embed some 
services  in  their  own  electronic environment,  be  that  their  internet  hub,  a  social  networking 
site or their personal page.  

The  above  visions  have  been  confirmed  by  Ministers  in  the  Malmö  Declaration,  as  they 
"…aspire to a vision, whereby European governments are recognised for being open, flexible 
and  collaborative  in  their  relations  with  citizens  and  businesses.  They  use  eGovernment  to 
increase their efficiency and effectiveness and to constantly improve public services in a way 
that  caters  for  users’  different  needs  and  maximises  public  value,  thus  supporting  the 
transition of Europe to a leading knowledge-based economy."  

2.5. 

Policy options 

When considering possible effective policies for eGovernment in Europe, three policy options 
have been taken into account: limited European Commission activities, a focused Action Plan 
and  an  extensive  Action  Plan.  These  three  scenarios  estimate  the  impact  of  Commission 
activities in the development of eGovernment in Europe. All scenarios take into account that 
the  organisation  of  government  is  primarily  the  competence  of  national  governments.  This 
means  that  -  according  to  the  principles  of  subsidiarity  -  eGovernment  measures  are  also 
mainly the responsibility of national administrations. The scenarios focus on the added value 
of  a  European  eGovernment  Action  Plan  that  complements  and  brings  together  national 
initiatives.  

2.5.1. 

Scenario 1: Limited Commission Activities  

This scenario is based on the situation where the number of activities at European level will 
be cut back, where an Action Plan will not be adopted, and where the emphasis is on activities 
at  national  level.  The  scenario  to  cut  back  on  eGovernment  projects  might  be  tempting  in 
times of economic austerity. 

The  consequences  would  be,  among  others:  a  limited  coordination  role  for  the  European 
Commission in the area; less emphasis on standards and interoperability; less visibility of the 
concrete  outcomes  of  the  political  objectives;  limited  research  and  piloting  of  innovative 
eGovernment solutions in the FP7 research programme and the CIP ICT PSP programme. In 
addition to this, common political aspirations reflected in the Malmö Declaration would not 
be  realised,  as  the  European  Commission  would  not  propose  a  new  Action  Plan  for 
eGovernment  to  translate  the  political  priorities  into  concrete  actions.  This  might  lead  to  a 

39 

This architecture is derived from the TAO scenario and is adapted from a scenario exercise presented in 
Codagnone  Cristiano  &  Osimo  David  (2008).  Future  technology  needs  for  future  eGovernment 
Services: Services platform report. Report for the European Commission, Brussels: Information Society 
and Media Directorate.  

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reduced level of political support for European eGovernment policy. Member States would be 
expected to identify and resolve a number of common problems such as a lack of cross-border 
activities. 

Moreover, pilots launched under the CIP ICT PSP programme would not be followed up. The 
36  million  Euros40  in  the  three  Large  Scale  Pilots  could  be  regarded  as  lost,  although 
experience gained from them may be useful for national purposes.  

The  impact  will  be  that  the  pace  of  developments  in  critical  areas  will  likely  slow  down  in 
some Member States and will significantly vary across the EU.  

Some  Member  States  would  have  fully  fledged  personalised  systems  in  place,  while  others 
would  not  have  started  the  implementation  of  such  systems41.  In  addition,  many  Member 
States – due to time constraints, budget restrictions or other reasons – would choose a rather 
minimal implementation approach based on legacy IT systems. This would lead to a situation 
where eGovernment services might remain basically silo-centric, top-down, with little service 
innovation, expensive, and with just as many failures as successes.  

The  overall  figures  for  Europe's  take-up  of  eGovernment  will  presumably  not  grow  much 
further, as the take-up of ICT by governments and public administrations in countries lagging 
behind  will  not  catch  up  with  the  private  and  civic  sector.  The  assumption  is  that  in  the 
lagging countries the main focus of eGovernment services remains first and foremost to serve 
the needs of government, while disregarding user take-up.  

The risk of not acting in this area is that valuable expertise will not be shared with peers in the 
absence  of  events  and  initiatives  to  exchange  best  practices.  Countries  that  might  have 
developed efficient, sustainable and  user-centric eGovernment services would need to make 
additional  effort  to  get  their  message  across.  Furthermore,  experience  with  new  innovative 
concepts such as offering services in the cloud might not be further exploited. This would be a 
missed opportunity to further reduce costs and to advance eGovernment services.  

As  for  the  internal  market,  most  of  the  current  barriers  would  not  be  addressed  and  the 
potential  of  current  and  future  initiatives  being  set-up  would  not  be  reaped.  Evidence42 
suggests that current barriers on the internal market are mainly caused by national, regional 
and/or  local  regulation.  Despite  the  increasing  sophistication  of  national  systems,  legal, 
linguistic  and  procedural  differences  can  cancel  out  the  advantages  gained  by  ICT.  In 
addition,  a  proliferation  of  ICT  services  would  cause  new  digital  barriers  to  the  free 
movement of people, goods and services in the European Union. 

Without  the  implementation  of  standards  and  specifications  to  support  interoperability,  new 
and  cross-border  eGovernment  services  would  not  become  available.  This  would  result  in 
untapped  potential  for  the  future  strengthening  of  the  internal  market.  This  would  have 
negative consequences, such as:  

40 

41 

42 

This figure is based on the total estimated eligible costs of STORK, PEPPOL and SPOCS for the entire 
duration of the projects and includes the share of co-funding of participating Member States and other 
partners. 
Capgemini,  The  User  Challenge  Benchmarking  The  Supply  Of  Online  Public  Services  7th 
Measurement, September 2007. 
Villalba-van  Dijk  Lidia,  Ridsdale  Helen,  van  Oranje-Nassau  Constantijn  (2010).  eGovernment 
Scenario's for 2010 and the preparation of the 2015 eGovernment Action Plan. 

EN 

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– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

An  EU-wide  common  framework  for  electronic  identities  may  not  be  set-up.  This 
would be the most severe bottleneck for the progress of eGovernment services – both 
at  the  national  level  as  well  as  for  cross-border  services.  The  potential  of  it, 
encompassing  a  wide  use  of  B2B  and  B2C  cross-border  services,  will  not  be 
exploited. 

The  ISA  programme  would  make  progress  on  interoperability,  but  would  not  fully 
gain political visibility through a coordinated eGovernment Action Plan. 

Many providers would experience difficulties when exporting their services to other 
EU  Member  States,  in  setting  up  businesses  in  different  Member  States,  or  in 
procurements 
foreign  organisations.  The  share  of  cross-border 
eProcurement in total eProcurement would remain low. 

involving 

The potential benefits of the EU Services Directive would only be partially realised if 
it remains implemented on the basis of legacy IT systems. The large potential of the 
EU Services Directive to serve as a reference for future cross-border services and to 
reduce significantly administrative burdens may be lost. 

Vendor  lock-ins  might  remain,  with  a  risk  of  hindering  innovation  and  distorting 
competition, and of decreasing transparency and the efficiency of IT solutions. 

The  option  of  reducing  the  activities  of  the  European  Commission  is  considered  to  have  a 
significant negative impact in Europe far outweighing any savings in the short term and with 
likely  higher  costs  to  society  in  Europe  in  the  long-term.  Therefore,  this  scenario  is  not 
considered a viable option. 

2.5.2. 

Scenario 2: Focused Action Plan 

The Progress  Report  on  the  i2010  eGovernment Action Plan in the EU27+43 underlined the 
need to reap the benefits of existing policies and strategies. The report observed that there is 
still  a  gap  between  policy  and  practice  and  stated  that  this  "is  a  natural  reflection  of  the 
current phase of the many European countries which have only recently put their policies in 
place". Thus, the next eGovernment Action Plan must build on implementing the policies and 
strategies  already  in  place.  The  report  further  observes  that  "[f]or  example,  the  roll-out  of 
"Inclusive eGovernment" solutions is still in its very early stages in most countries, and in the 
"Efficiency  and  Effectiveness"  priority  area  many  countries  still  do  not  have  eGovernment 
measurement frameworks in place. In "High Impact Services" and "Key Enablers", the Large 
Scale Pilots on eProcurement and electronic identity management (PEPPOL and STORK) are 
still  in  their  early  days  and  need  to  attract  more  countries  and  stakeholders,  whilst  the 
coordination of separate "eParticipation" policies and practices across European institutions is 
lacking". The report concludes that there is a need to act at EU level in order to maximise the 
impact of actions implemented at the national level. 

This  requires  that  the  European  Commission  plays  a  clear  coordination  role,  setting  out 
practical objectives for Member States and itself. Activities on a number of focused areas are 
agreed,  and  can  have  high  impact  on  eGovernment  in  Europe.  Pilots  will  build  on  current 
experiences and will have maximum impact and function as an enabler for wider deployment 

43 

http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/egovernment/docs/i2010_action_plan_progress_ 
study_summary_report_2009.pdf 

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in the EU. Management and monitoring of progress towards common goals will be focused 
around political priorities described in the Malmö Declaration. 

The role of the European Commission is to support this transition to more efficient and more 
user-friendly eGovernment services for business and citizens, as part of Europe’s overall drive 
to strengthen competitiveness, which remains an important priority for Europe over the next 5 
years.  The  European  Commission  will  continue  helping  Member  States  to  accelerate  their 
development  of  eGovernment  services  by  maximising  actions  done  at  national  level  and  by 
exploiting the complementarities of national and European Union policy instruments.  

Regarding the expenditures for the European Commission and the Member States, these will 
remain  at  current  and  predicted  levels.  For  the  European  Commission,  this  would  entail 
continued  financial  support  through  the  CIP  ICT  PSP,  ISA  and  FP7  programmes  at 
comparable levels to today. 

At  the  same  time  the  current  economic  climate cannot  be  neglected.  'Doing  more  with  less' 
means  that  public  money  can  be  spent  on  ICT  more  effectively.  Effective  eGovernment 
involves  rethinking  organisations  and  processes,  and  changing  behaviour  so  that  public 
services are delivered more efficiently to the people who need to use them and in the way they 
expect them to be delivered. Money, time and energy can be saved by a more coordinated and 
collaborative  approach  (standardisation,  interoperability,  sharing  and  re-use)  for  the 
establishment of eGovernment services. 

The European Commission will play a key role in optimising the use of available resources 
and  instruments,  as  eGovernment  services  will  be  developed  more  economically  and  more 
effectively by pooling resources. Examples of pooling resources are, among others, research 
and development, studies, exchange of best practice and training at a European level, sharing 
software  components  and  infrastructure.  The  private  sector  could  also  contribute  to  the 
development of eGovernment services. 

The benefits will be that overall political goals will likely be achieved in 5 years and that the 
take-up by citizens will increase. For all Member States the focus is to ensure that citizens and 
businesses have easy, robust and user-friendly access to administrative services in the internal 
market, and at the same time being responsive to those who are potentially excluded. Among 
others, this creates an opportunity for public organisations to embrace emerging technologies 
enabling  citizens,  businesses  and  other  organisations  to  effectively  participate  in  the  design 
and operation of eGovernment services.  

As for the internal market, eGovernment services have the potential to ensure that Europeans 
wishing  to  travel,  work,  study,  reside  or  retire  in  another  country,  can  move  from  one  EU 
country to another as easily and smoothly as they can in their own country. Businesses will be 
able to seek new opportunities in other Member States, and reply to tenders issued in another 
country44, or process financial claims taking into account that there are 27 different systems in 
the EU.  

The  underlying  information  and  communication  technologies  offer  the  possibility  to 
interoperate by exchanging information and re-using the information that has been exchanged. 
This  demonstrates  the  need  to  further  'join-up'  some  of  the  most  critical  eGovernment 

44 

Today cross-border procurement represents only 5% of all procurements. So, there is a huge potential to 
strengthen competition at EU level. 

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services, thus ensuring that eGovernment services are seamless and borderless and contribute 
to economic growth across Europe.  

A focused action in eGovernment will be a better response than cutting back on eGovernment 
projects.  Common  actions  will  contribute  to  reducing  public  expenditure  on  the  long  term. 
The Citizens' Declaration of Malmö45, for example, underlines the necessity to cooperate, as 
the  "needs  of  today’s  society  are  too  complex  to  be  met  by  government  alone".  It  calls  for 
Europe to "grasp this opportunity and rebuild the relationship between citizens and the state 
by  opening  up  public  institutions  and  by  empowering  citizens  to  take  a  more  active  role  in 
public services". 

In  conclusion,  the  focused  Action  Plan  scenario  has  a  high  likelihood  of  success  and  the 
realisation of expected results is high. It proposes a balanced level of European Commission 
intervention,  focussing  on  the  close  cooperation  with  the  Member  States  with  the  aim  of 
improving the internal organisation of administrations, of increasing the quality of electronic 
interactions  with  citizens,  businesses  and  other  organisations,  and  of  creating  more  added 
value for the internal market at large. 

2.5.3. 

Scenario 3: An extensive Action Plan 

The  extensive  Action  Plan  would  build  upon  the  focused  plan  by  accelerating  the 
identification  of  areas  for  additional  European  action,  extending  support  programmes,  and 
initiating legislative measures. Typical examples of additional areas would be: more extensive 
activities  in  standards  and  interoperability  areas;  widespread  benchmarking  and  analysis; 
more extensive R&D, piloting, validation and implementation support to convert technology 
developments and organisational learning into real advancements and the delivery of tangible 
benefits. The transformational change would be supported by legislative actions at EU level in 
order  to  make  the  electronic  implementations  of  eGovernment  at  national  level  more 
compatible with each other. 

The  main  benefit  of  this  scenario  would  be  faster  progress  on  a  much  broader  range  of 
services and activities than in the focused Action Plan. Financial benefits beyond scenario 2 
would, however, not necessarily increase proportionally with the number of areas addressed 
as learning and re-use may saturate, though the leverage of key enablers such as eID would 
increase.  It  is  difficult  to  make  a  financial  estimate  of  the  benefits.  However,  even  if  the 
additional benefits are in the same order as those in scenario 2, there is a considerably larger 
risk associated with attaining them. 

Despite the accelerated progress of eGovernment in Europe, the costs of reinforcing pilots at 
the EU level are significantly higher for the European Commission and Member States than in 
scenario  2,  and  would  require  the  availability  of  substantial  additional  budget  in  the  next  5 
years. It would entail higher management and coordination costs. The risk would also be that 
Member States cannot find the resources to match EU co-funding for the IP ICT PSP Large 
Scale Projects. In addition to this, there is a risk that Member States would perceive actions at 
EU  level  as  overambitious,  which  could  lead  to  a  reduced  level  of  Member  States' 
commitment  in  advancing  eGovernment  in  Europe.  As  a  result,  some  Member  States  could 
decide  to  withdraw  from  projects  they  are  participating  in.  Another  risk  is  that  legislative 
measures would be proposed before the Large Scale Pilots have been tested thoroughly and 

45 

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their  results  have  been  fully  achieved.  This  would  reduce  the  support  for  legislative 
intervention at European level. 

Scenario  3  seems  to  be  attractive,  as  it  would  advance  eGovernment  through  an  increased 
intervention at EU level. However, it involves a higher cost for the European Commission and 
Member  States  to  deliver  results,  a  need  for  greater  coordination  and  management,  and  an 
increased risk of losing some Member States' commitment. In conclusion, the combination of 
increased  costs,  higher  management  and  coordination  overhead  and  risk  of  withdrawal  of 
commitment makes this option less sustainable and favourable than scenario 2. 

2.6. 

Conclusion 

eGovernment in Europe is going through a paradigm shift, which is much more than a simple 
transformation  of  paperwork-based  processes  into  an  on-line  equivalent.  Rather,  it  entails  a 
complete  re-thinking,  and  in  many  cases  redesign  of  the  service  provision  approach. 
Nevertheless,  although  online  provision  of  eGovernment  services  has  made  great  leaps  in 
recent years, it has not been followed by an equal progress in take-up, especially by citizens.  

The  evidence  summarised  in  this  chapter  suggests  that  in  order  to  increase  the  take-up  by 
citizens, policies need to focus on increasing the quality of public services by adopting a more 
user-centred  approach  rather  than  administration-centred.  Both  the  public  and  the  private 
sector should increasingly collaborate in order to maximise the value for society at large. In 
order  to  avoid  fragmentation  in  the  internal  market  both  sectors  should  consider  the  cross-
border aspect in their collaboration. 

A  comprehensive  eGovernment  Action  Plan  would  be  complementary  to  national  Action 
Plans. The role of the European Commission is to support innovation in eGovernment in order 
to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of eGovernment and to support the development 
and  provision  of  cross-border  services.  This  will  improve  the  functioning  of  the  internal 
market  and  empower  all  social  and  economic  actors  in  the  European  Union.  The  focus  of 
actions at EU level should correspond to the political commitments that Member States have 
agreed upon in order to achieve a high likelihood of success. The following chapter will deal 
with these issues and will explain in depth how the political commitments that Member States 
have made in the Malmö Declaration should be converted into an Action Plan.  

3. 

GENERAL POLICY OBJECTIVES 

This Action Plan includes a range of complementary actions aimed at the provision of a new 
generation of eGovernment services for businesses and citizens. Both Member States and the 
Commission  will  cooperate  closely  in  order  to  implement  the  Action  Plan.  The  role  of  the 
European Commission is to contribute by bringing together the actors and creating synergies 
in  order  to  facilitate  the  modernisation  of  the  public  sector.  Both  the  Commission  and  the 
Member  States  aim  to  address  potential  fragmentations  of  the  internal  market  caused  by 
uncoordinated or non-interoperable implementations of ICT-based public services.  

The  first  part  of  this  chapter  describes  the  context  of  the  new  Action  Plan.  Part  two 
summarises the Malmö Declaration. The third part explains the alignment of the Action Plan 
vis-à-vis the EU2020 initiative and the Digital Agenda for Europe. Part four links the Action 
Plan to current legislative initiatives. Part five describes the links within the Action Plan. The 
sixth part elaborates on the implementation measures. 

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3.1. 

Context of the Action Plan 

The  eGovernment  Action  Plan  responds  to  a  call  from  Member  States  for  a  shared 
eGovernment  policy  in  the  European  Union  in  order  to  build  on  past  achievements  and 
increase  collaboration  on  eGovernment.  This  includes  joint  action  between  Member  States 
and  close  collaboration  with  the  European  Commission.  This  call  was  made  in  the  Malmö 
Declaration. 

The Action Plan aims to implement the Malmö Declaration and is the successor of the Action 
Plan 2006-201046. The Ministerial Declaration has also received support from the industry as 
DigitalEurope  adopted  an  Industry  Declaration47  that  was  presented  at  the  conference.  An 
Open  Declaration48  on  public  services  2.0  resulted  in  the  involvement  of  citizens  and  the 
endorsement of three key principles including transparency, participation and empowerment. 
The  Council  Conclusions49  on  post  i2010  of  the  European  Council  of  7  December  2009 
restated the importance of the Malmö Declaration and invited the European Commission and 
the  Member  States  to  implement  its  objectives.  The  Granada  Declaration50  reaffirmed  a 
number  of  priorities  of  the  Malmö  Declaration.  The  Digital  Agenda51  further  supported 
among others, a number of eGovernment related actions. 

3.2.  Malmö Declaration 

The Malmö Declaration calls for an Action Plan that will contribute to a new generation of 
open,  flexible  and  personalised  eGovernment  services  of  administrations  at  local,  regional, 
national,  and  European  level.  Those  services  should  empower  citizens  and  businesses  and 
should  seamlessly  interact.  The  Malmö  Declaration  on  eGovernment  defines  four  political 
priorities, of which one is a horizontal priority: 

1. 

2. 

46 

47 
48 

49 

50 
51 

To  support  the  creation  of  eGovernment  services,  which  empower  citizens  and 
businesses.  Such  services  should  be  designed  around  their  needs  and  possibly 
developed  in  collaboration  with  users.  They  should  provide  better  access  to  public 
information,  make  governments  and  administrations  more  transparent  and  provide 
effective  means  of  increasing  the  involvement  of  citizens  and  businesses  in  the 
policy-making process. 

To increase the mobility of citizens and businesses in the single market. Cross-border 
services  should  be  developed  that  correspond  to  real  social  and  economic  needs. 
Seamless services should enable entrepreneurs to set up and run a business anywhere 
in  Europe  independently  of  their  original  location  and  allow  individuals  to  study, 
work, reside and retire anywhere in the European Union.  

Communication  from  the  Commission  to  the  Council,  the  European  Parliament,  the  European 
Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, i2010 eGovernment Action Plan: 
Accelerating eGovernment in Europe for the Benefit of All {SEC(2006) 511}. COM(2006) 173 final, 
Brussels, 25.04.2006. 
http://www.digitaleurope.org/index.php?id=34&id_article=390 
An  Open  Declaration  reflecting  the  growing  interest  of  citizens  in  eGovernment  was  presented  in 
Malmö in response to the Ministerial Declaration (http://eups20.wordpress.com/the-open-declaration/). 
Council  Conclusions  on  Post  i-2010  Strategy  -  towards  an  open,  green  and  competitive  knowledge 
society.  2987th  Transport,  Telecommunication  and  Energy  Council  meeting  Brussels,  18  December 
2009. On-line: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/en/trans/111999.pdf 
Informal Ministerial Declaration, Granada, Spain, 19 April 2010. 
COM(2010) 245 (http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda) 

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3. 

4. 

To  improve  the  efficiency  and  effectiveness  of  governments  and  public  services. 
This includes actions that use  eGovernment  to  reduce  the administrative burden, to 
improve organisational processes and to promote a sustainable low-carbon economy.  

To create the legal and technical pre-conditions enabling the implementation of the 
above  priorities.  This  includes  the  development  of  key  enablers  such  as  eIdentity 
management,  the  promotion  of  interoperability  through  open  specifications  and  the 
stimulation of innovation in eGovernment in general. 

In addition, the Malmö Declaration provides guidance on the governance and implementation 
of  the  priorities  in  the  Declaration.  In  brief,  Member  States  have  invited  the  European 
Commission to organise the joint governance through collaboration and coordination on the 
development of the Action Plan for 2011 to 2015. 

3.3. 

Alignment with EU2020 and the Digital Agenda for Europe 

By supporting digitally enabled public services in the European Union, the Action Plan also 
contributes  to  building  a  knowledge  based,  sustainable  and  inclusive  economy  for  the 
European  Union,  as  set  forth  in  the  EU  2020  Strategy52.  It  supports  and  complements  the 
Digital  Agenda  for  Europe,  through  actions  in  the  area  of  ICT  for  governments  and  public 
services.  

Combined, the actions proposed in the Action Plan have the ambition to increase the take-up 
of eGovernment services from approximately 38% of citizens on average in Europe in 2010 to 
50% in 201553 and from just over 70% of businesses in 2010 up to 80% in 201554.  

3.3.1.  Alignment with EU2020 

The  priorities  in  the  Action  Plan  are  in  line  with  'the  Political  Guidelines  for  the  next 
Commission'  proposed  by  President  Barroso  and  support  the  vision  for  a  European  Digital 
Agenda  for  Europe  outlined  by  Vice  President  Kroes.  To  achieve  a  sustainable  future,  the 
European Commission launched the Europe 2020 Strategy in March 2010 to prepare the EU 
economy for the next decade.  

The eGovernment Action Plan contributes to the EU2020 agenda as follows: 

1. 

52 

53 
54 

55 

In  the  context  of  the  current  economic,  social  and  environmental  challenges,  the 
Action  Plan  points  out  how  the  potential  of  eGovernment  can  be  increased  and 
stresses the need to deliver better public services with fewer resources. The need for 
a quicker transformation in the public sector as a result of public sector reforms has 
been  highlighted  by  the  financial  crisis55.  The  Action  Plan  has  the  ambition  to 
support  further  reduction  of  administrative  burdens,  improve  the  integration  of 
increasing  efficiency  and 
administrative  processes  and  hence  contribute 
effectiveness in the design and delivery of public services. 

to 

Communication  from  the  Commission.  Europe  2020.  A  strategy  for  smart,  sustainable  and  inclusive 
growth. COM(2010) 2020, Brussels, 3.3.2010. 
This figure is defined in the Digital Agenda for Europe. 
The  figures  presented  assume  a  stable  growth  of  internet  broadband  penetration  and  adoption  in  the 
same period. 
OECD:  The  Financial  and  Economic  Crisis  –  Impact  on  eGovernment  in  OECD  countries  - 
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/57/57/44089570.pdf 

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23 

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2. 

3. 

4. 

One  of  the  priorities  of  the  Action  Plan  is  the  empowerment  of  citizens  and 
businesses;  it  aims  at  ensuring  that  open  and  user-driven,  participatory  and 
collaborative public services contribute to this empowerment. eGovernment services 
need to be provided in a transparent way, designed for all, and personalised.  

Sustainable growth is at the heart of the Action Plan. It proposes ways to close the 
remaining  gaps  in  the  internal  market  and  promotes  mobility  of  citizens  and 
businesses through the portability of services. One of the priorities of the Action Plan 
is  that  eGovernment  supports  the  internal  market  so  that  citizens  can  study,  work, 
reside and retire in any country and that businesses can start a company or provide 
and purchase services and goods anywhere in the internal market. In a broader sense, 
the Action Plan proposes to identify legal, technical and organisational obstacles that 
hinder the development of cross-border eGovernment services. The Action Plan also 
promotes innovation in eGovernment.  

The  Action  Plan  calls  for  efforts  to  reduce  the  carbon  footprint  of  government 
operations  and  public  services  and  to  contribute  to  wider  carbon-reduction  targets 
through the efficient use of technology. 

eGovernment can help with reinforcing EU citizens' participation, supports an internal market 
fit for the 21st century, and ensures that public services can serve an economy which relies on 
the networks of the future. 

3.3.2.  Alignment with the Digital Agenda for Europe 

On  19  May  2010  Vice-President  Kroes  has  presented  the  Digital  Agenda  for  Europe56  with 
the aim of contributing to the EU's economic growth and spreading the benefits of the digital 
era to all sections of society. The Digital Agenda is the first of seven flagship initiatives under 
the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. It outlines seven priority 
areas  for  action:  creating  a  digital  Single  Market,  greater  interoperability,  boosting  internet 
trust and security, much faster internet access, more investment in research and development, 
enhancing digital literacy skills and inclusion, and applying information and communications 
technologies  to  address  the  challenges  facing  society  like  climate  change  and  the  ageing 
population. In these seven areas, the Digital Agenda foresees some 100 follow-up actions, of 
which 31 would be legislative. Five of those areas have a clear link with eGovernment. 

The  Digital  Agenda  for  Europe  clearly  states  that  Member  States  should  "implement 
commitments  on  interoperability  and  standards  in  the  Malmö  and  Granada  Declarations  by 
2013"  and  that  "European  governments  are  committed  to  making  user-centric,  personalised, 
multiplatform eGovernment services a widespread reality by 2015." 

In  addition,  it  provides  guidance  to  the  European  eGovernment  agenda  by  defining  clear 
actions  in  the  priority  areas.  The  list  below  provides  the  most  notable  actions  related  to 
eGovernment: 

– 

56 

In the priority area 'A new Single Market to deliver the benefits of the digital era' the 
European  Commission  urges  public  authorities  to  make  public  sector  information 
available  and  calls  for  more  secure  electronic 
identity  solutions  ensuring 
interoperability based on standards and open development platforms. 

COM(2010) 245 (http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda) 

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24 

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– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

The  priority  'Improve  ICT  standard-setting  and  interoperability'  defines  the  key 
action to promote interoperability between public administrations which will involve 
the Commission's adoption of a European Interoperability Strategy and the European 
Interoperability Framework to be drawn up under the ISA programme. 

The  priority  'Boost  cutting-edge  research  and  innovation  in  ICT'  emphasises  that 
"Europe’s public sector expenditure should be used to spur innovation while raising 
the  efficiency  and  quality  of  public  services."  In  particular,  it  notes  that  Europe 
makes little use of procurement of innovation and R&D to improve the quality and 
performance of its public services. To that end innovative and interoperable solutions 
in  areas  of  public  interest  should  be  tested  and  developed  in  the  framework  of  the 
CIP. In addition, an EU-wide strategy on "cloud computing" notably for government 
(and science) should be developed57. 

The  priority  "Empower  all  Europeans  with  digital  skills  and  accessible  online 
services"  aims  to  bridge  the  digital  divide  by  helping  members  of  disadvantaged 
social groups to participate on a more equal footing in services such as eGovernment. 
In particular, public websites and online services in the EU that are important to take 
a full part in public life should be brought in line with international web accessibility 
standards. 

support  of 

eGovernment is very prominent in the priority area "Unleash the potential of ICT to 
benefit  society"58.  This  key  action  foresees  that  the  European  Commission  should 
propose  a  Council  and  Parliament  Decision  to  ensure  mutual  recognition  of 
eIdentification  and  eAuthentication  across  the  EU  based  on  online  'authentication 
services'  to  be  offered  in  all  Member  States.  In  addition  to  this,  actions  for  the 
European  Commission  encompass 
seamless  cross-border 
the 
eGovernment  services  in  the  internal  market  through  the  CIP  ICT  PSP  and  ISA 
programmes, a White Paper on how to interconnect eProcurement capacity across the 
internal market, and the implementation of an eCommission 2011-2015 Action Plan. 
Actions that address Member States are the interoperability of eGovernment services, 
overcoming  organisational,  technical  or  semantic  barriers  and  supporting  IPv6, 
ensuring  that  the  Points  of  Single  Contact  function  as  fully  fledged  eGovernment 
centres  beyond  the  requirements  and  areas  covered  by  the  Services  Directive,  an 
agreement  on  a  common  list  of  key  cross-border  public  services  –  enabling 
entrepreneurs to set up and run a business anywhere in Europe independently of their 
original location, and allowing citizens to study, work, reside and retire anywhere in 
the European Union.  

The  Digital  Agenda  also  points  out  a  target  aiming  at  50%  of  the  citizens  using 
eGovernment, with more than half of them returning completed forms. In addition, it 
defines that the key cross-border public services contained in the list to be agreed by 
Member States by 2011, should be available online by 2015. 

eGovernment related actions listed in the Digital Agenda for Europe will be elaborated in this 
eGovernment Action Plan. 

57 
58 

The strategy should consider economic, legal and institutional aspects. 
The actions referring to a review of the Public access to Environmental Information Directive, and the 
implementation  of  cross-border  eEnvironment  services  have  not  been  taken  into  consideration  in  the 
eGovernment Action Plan.  

EN 

25 

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3.4. 

Links between the eGovernment Action Plan and existing EU initiatives 

A growing number of EU legislative acts relate to, or rely on, eGovernment services for their 
implementation.  Examples  include  the  Services  Directive59,  the  eSignatures  Directive60,  the 
Directive  on  the  protection  of  personal  data61,  the  Directive  on  the  re-use  of  Public  Sector 
Information62,  legislation  in  the  area  of  procurement63,  and  the  INSPIRE  Directive 
2007/2/EC64 on spatial information. Furthermore, a number of important policy initiatives are 
of direct interest to eGovernment, such as the Action Plan on eSignatures and eIdentification 
to  facilitate  the  provision  of  cross-border  public  services  in  the  Single  Market65,  the  Action 
Plan for the implementation of the legal framework for electronic procurement66, the Action 
Programme  for  Reducing  Administrative  Burdens  in  the  EU,  Sectoral  Reduction  Plans  and 
2009 Actions67, Interoperability Solutions for European Public Administrations68, the Seventh 
Framework  Programme  for  R&D69,  the  ICT  Policy  Support  Programme  under  the 
Competitiveness  and  Innovation  Framework  Programme70,  and  the  Lisbon  Treaty  providing 
for a citizens’ initiative71 and supporting administrative cooperation72. 

3.5. 

Links between priorities within the Action Plan 

This  Action  Plan  follows  the  sequence  of  the  four  political  priorities  in  the  Malmö 
Declaration.  However,  these  four  political  priorities  should  not  be  regarded  as  independent 

59 

60 

61 

62 

63 
64 

65 

66 

67 

68 

69 
70 

71 

72 

, 

L 

L 

L 

in 

the 

376, 

data, 

Journal 

on-line: 

Official 

on-line: 

2007/2/EC, 

23/11/1995, 

internal  market,  OJ 

Directive  2006/123/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  12 December 2006  on 
http://eur-
27.12.2006, 
services 
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32006L0123:EN:NOT 
Directive  1999/93/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  13  December  1999  on  a 
Community  framework  for  electronic  signatures,  OJ  L  013  ,  19/01/2000  P.  0012  –  0020,  on-line: 
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31999L0093:EN:HTML 
Directive  95/46/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  24  October  1995  on  the 
protection of  individuals  with  regard  to  the  processing of  personal  data and on  the free  movement  of 
such 
http://eur-
281 
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31995L0046:EN:HTML 
Directive 2003/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 November 2003 on the re-
use of public sector information, Official Journal L 345 , 31/12/2003 P. 0090 – 0096, on-line: http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32003L0098:EN:HTML 
http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/publicprocurement/legislation_en.htm 
OJ 
Directive 
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2007:108:0001:0014:en:PDF) 
COM(2008) 798 final: Communication from the Commission to the Council and European Parliament, 
Action Plan on e-signatures and e-identification to facilitate the provision of crossborder public services 
in 
(http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2008:0798:FIN:EN:PDF) 
OJ  L  134/1,  30.04.2004  (http://www.dkom.si/util/bin.php?id=2004121408020465  and  http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2004:134:0001:0113:EN:PDF) 
COM(2009) 544 final: Communication from the Commission to the Council and European Parliament, 
Action Programme for Reducing Administrative Burdens in the EU, Sectoral Reduction Plans and 2009 
Actions, 
http://eur-
on-line: 
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2009:0544:FIN:EN:PDF 
Decision 
16.09.2009 
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:260:0020:0027:EN:PDF) 
http://cordis.europa.eu/home_en.html 
Decision  No  1639/2006/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  24  October  2006 
establishing  a  Competitiveness  and  Innovation  Framework  Programme  (2007  to  2013),  on-line: 
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/oj/2006/l_310/l_31020061109en00150040.pdf 
Art. 11 of the Treaty on European Union and Art. 24 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European 
Union 
Art. 6 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. 

922/2009/EC, 

25.04.2007 

(http://eur-

(http://eur-

Market, 

Single 

108/1 

the 

of 

of 

EN 

26 

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priorities, as they are very closely interlinked. A few examples are described below in order to 
explain some of the links: 

– 

– 

– 

– 

The possibility to re-use public sector information throughout Europe will not stop at 
national borders and will strengthen the internal market.  

An increased participation of users may be taken one level up by actively involving 
businesses and citizens in the development and production of eGovernment services, 
thus  also  contributing  to  more  efficiency  and  effectiveness  in  the  provision  of 
government services. 

There is a direct link between the setting up of an electronic identities management 
infrastructure in Europe and the creation of new cross-border services.  

New  computing  paradigms  such  as  services  in  the  cloud  and  advanced  service 
oriented  architectures  may  allow  administrations  to  innovate  in  a  more  flexible 
manner, reduce costs of service development and enhance the conditions for further 
innovation.  

There are many more examples that demonstrate that the priorities of the Malmö Declaration 
and of this Action Plan are interdependent. The first three priorities (empowerment, internal 
market,  and  efficiency  and  effectiveness)  can  only  be  achieved  if  pre-conditions  and  key 
enabling  technologies  are  put  in  place.  This  would  improve  the  interoperability  and  the 
quality  of  services,  offer  guarantees  for  security  and  privacy  and  create  the  conditions  for 
further service innovation. In a climate of economic austerity it therefore makes sense to start 
with  improving  the  back-office  systems  that  require  immediate  investment  and  create  the 
conditions  for  new  social  and  economic  developments  and  to  put  in  place  the  key  enablers, 
such as electronic identities, that are the foundation of any new and improved eGovernment 
service. 

3.6. 

Type of actions and measures 

The  Action  Plan  distinguishes  three  types  of  actions  and  related  measures  to  support  the 
implementation of the priorities of the Malmö Declaration. Most of these types of actions can 
also be undertaken by a group of Member States which aim to work more closely together. 

3.6.1.  Defining and reaching commonly defined targets with the Member States 

This  type  of  action  focuses  on  areas  where  actions  in  the  field  of  eGovernment  are  led  by 
Member States, using their own resources. While the main responsibility for defining targets 
and  reaching  them  rests  with  the  Member  States,  the  role  of  the  European  Commission  lies 
mainly in the stimulation, support and coordination of these activities.  

In  this  context,  the  proposed  measures  can  include  the  setting  up  working  groups,  the 
exchange of best practice, studies to generate new knowledge, the exchange of information in 
order to define and to agree on targets and the formulation of recommendations or guidelines 
on how to reach them, and the monitoring and evaluation of the achievements of the Member 
States by the Commission. 

EN 

27 

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3.6.2. 

Joint development of services and sharing of results 

This  type  of  action  involves  the  European  Commission  and  the  Member  States  working 
jointly  to  develop  or  deploy  new  services,  typically  cross-border  services,  or  to  improve  or 
extend  existing  ones.  Typically,  the  Commission  will  take  the  lead  in  activities  where  joint 
resources  are  used,  such  as  deployment  projects  or  research  and  development,  while  the 
Member States hold the final responsibility for implementing activities that rely more on their 
own resources.  

Such actions may involve research and development projects, the setting up of pilot projects, 
the  roll-out  of  the  results  and  solutions  of  pilot  projects,  the  collaborative  development  of 
services by Member States, or the transfer of knowledge to the market.  

3.6.3.  Creating enabling conditions  

For this, the European Commission can make use of policy actions to leverage the activities 
of  the  Member  States  in  eGovernment.  This  may  involve  the  formulation  of  guidelines,  the 
development  of  legal  instruments,  the  setting  of  standards,  the  implementation  of  enabling 
technologies  and  provision  of  (re-usable)  technical  building  blocks  as  well  as  ensuring 
interoperability.  

It  should  be  noted  that,  with  respect  to  the  proposed  three  types  of  instruments,  not  all 
activities  should  be  undertaken  simultaneously  by  all  Member  States.  A  limited  frontrunner 
group of Member States could take action and demonstrate the potential of the activities and 
actions while others could join at a later stage. 

4. 

PRIORITIES AND OBJECTIVES OF THE ACTION PLAN  

The  eGovernment  Action  Plan  implements  the  four  main  priority  areas  of  the  Malmö 
Declaration  subdivided  in  14  policy  priorities.  This  chapter  reviews  in  depth  the  policy 
priorities and seeks to provide evidence to develop sound policies.  

4.1. 

User Empowerment 

User empowerment is the key objective of this priority. The new generation of eGovernment 
services  will  better  meet  the  expectations  of  users  by  ensuring  that  services  are  designed 
around their needs and developed in collaboration with them, whenever possible. They should 
provide  better  access  to  public  information,  make  governments  and  administrations  more 
transparent and provide effective means of increasing the active involvement of citizens and 
businesses  in  the  policy-making  process  through  the  implementation  of  newly  available 
technologies.  The  main  consideration  is  that  the  customer  must  always  be  at  the  centre  of 
what administrations do.  

4.1.1.  User centric and inclusive services 

The Progress Report on the i2010 eGovernment Action Plan in the EU27+73 has addressed the 
"need  for  a  more  deep-seated  transformation  in  the  way  governments  use  ICT  to  provide 
services…", by explaining that "the use of services hit a ceiling [… ] as far as citizen usage is 

73 

Millard Jeremy, Shahin Jamal et al. (2009). i2010 eGovernment Action Plan Progress Study. Report for 
the European Commission, Brussels: Information Society and Media Directorate.  

EN 

28 

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concerned  given  that  citizen  services  are  still  largely  based  on  existing  silos  and  a 
government-centric approach." It is therefore important to identify, assess and consider users' 
needs and expectations when designing and delivering services. One of the major challenges 
that  should  be  addressed  is  the  diversity  of  users  of  services.  It  is  not  possible  to  create  a 
single service that everyone will eagerly use and be satisfied with.  

Instead  public  administrations  should  offer  tools  that  are  designed  around  users'  needs  and 
provide  flexible  and  personalised  ways  of 
interacting  with  public  administrations. 
Personalised services allow citizens and businesses to perform transactions with most public 
service  providers,  and  to  monitor  the  progress of  administrative  actions  relating  to  them.  In 
addition, the usability of eGovernment services should be improved in order to cater for the 
different needs of users by delivering eGovernment services through multiple channels and by 
ensuring that new electronic content is also fully available to socially disadvantaged persons.  

This group typically consists of people with low income, poor education, marginalised status, 
or living in isolated locations (rural areas). It still represents a significant part of the European 
population and it is therefore important to design, implement and provide services that respect 
accessibility  principles  and,  more  specifically,  that  comply  with  the  WAI  guidelines  (Web 
Accessibility Initiative from the World Wide Web Consortium). In addition, service provision 
for  socially  disadvantaged  groups  needs  to  be  improved  by  working  on  multi-channel 
delivery.  

The  objective  of  these  actions  is  that  public  sector  websites  (and  websites  providing  basic 
services  to  citizens)  should  be  fully  accessible  by  2015.  By  the  same  time  Member  States 
should have personalised web services in place.  

To achieve the above the proposed actions are: 

2011-
2013 

The Commission will support Member States in developing eGovernment services 
designed around user needs, and in ensuring inclusiveness and accessibility by: 

–  agreeing common targets and evaluation criteria with the Member States, 
–  organising exchanges of valuable expertise at national, regional or local level to 

support additional take-up,  

–  supporting effective and concrete accessibility solutions, compliant with relevant 
European and international standards when available, through demonstration . 

2013  Member  States  will  develop  personalised  online  services  including  functionalities 
such as monitoring the progress of transactions with public administrations. 

Between 2011 and 2015 the tasks of the European Commission for these actions may include 
support to the Member States to: 

– 

– 

assist  the  Member  States  in  defining  common  targets,  corresponding  tools  and 
evaluation criteria for user-centricity, accessibility and inclusiveness of eGovernment 
services.  Where  appropriate,  it  will  support  European  standards  for  eAccessibility 
and referring to the latest specifications from the Web Accessibility Initiative; 

organise  the  exchange  of  knowledge  and  expertise  between  Member  States  about 
delivering  socially  inclusive  public  services  including  the  development  of  multi-
channel strategies; 

EN 

29 

   EN 

 
– 

– 

organise  the  exchange  of  knowledge  and  expertise  between  Member  States  about 
delivering personalised services, including functionalities monitoring the progress of 
interactions with public administrations; 

evaluate  the  achievements  of  Member  States  on  user-centricity,  accessibility  and 
inclusiveness of eGovernment services. 

4.1.2.  Collaborative Production of Services 

Although  internet  users  get  increasingly  involved  in  shaping  and  customising  the  services 
they want, the involvement of citizens and businesses in collaborative production and design 
of eGoverment services is still a relatively unexplored topic. The reason for this is that most 
European  governments  still  seem  cautious  to  engage  third  parties  to  deploy  collaborative 
approaches. Third parties can be businesses, civil society or individual citizens, e.g. software 
producers facilitating the interaction between administrations and users. The Progress Report 
on the i2010 eGovernment Action Plan in the EU27+74 notes the need "to undergo a transition 
from an eGovernment 1.0 government-centric phase to a second generation eGovernment 2.0 
[…]  user-driven  phase  before  further  significant  take-up  and  impacts  will  be  seen".  The 
impact  of  the  sharing  production  of  services  with  others  will  lead  to  the  creation  of  more 
innovative, flexible and personalised services. This will increase the overall effectiveness of 
eGovernment services and maximise public value. In this respect, the Citizens' Declaration of 
Malmö75  emphasises  that  the  "capacity  to  collaborate  with  citizens  should  become  a  core 
competence of government". 

In order to achieve this, it should be possible to analyse the possibilities offered by ICT-based 
collaborative  production  techniques  with  the  aim  of  engaging  third  parties,  in  developing 
services. This should lead to new open and collaborative services.  

To achieve the above the proposed actions are: 

2011 

Based on a study, the Commission will first assess how to involve users actively in 
design and production of eGovernment services and further elaborate 
recommendations / guidelines with and for the Member States.  

2011-
2013 

The Commission will facilitate exchanges of knowledge and experience between 
stakeholders, and, agree with Member States on common targets for the roll out 
collaborative services. 

Between 2011 and 2015 the tasks of the European Commission for these actions may include 
the following: 

– 

74 

75 

initiating  a  study  on  the  possibilities  for  developing  eGovernment  services  using 
methods  of  collaborative  production.  The  study  will  assess  the  user  needs  and 
establish  a  joint  mechanism  to  analyse  how  and  for  which  purpose  collaborative 
technologies and methodologies can best be implemented in public administrations. 

Millard Jeremy, Shahin Jamal et al. (2009). i2010 eGovernment Action Plan Progress Study. Report for 
the European Commission, Brussels: Information Society and Media Directorate.  
See: http://eups20.wordpress.com/the-open-declaration/ 

EN 

30 

   EN 

                                                 
– 

– 

– 

– 

supporting  the  Member  States  in  defining  targets  and  measurements  for  the 
development and provision of collaborative services; 

facilitating  the  exchange  of  experience  between  Member  States  and  stakeholders 
such  as  national,  regional  and  local  administrations  as  well  as  private  and  civil 
parties; 

supporting the Member States in evaluating the mutual achievements in developing 
and offering services for collaborative production; 

monitoring  and  evaluating  the  achievements  of  Member  States  in  developing  and 
offering open and collaborative services. 

4.1.3.  Re-use of Public Sector Information 

Information produced and stored by public administrations represents a massive resource with 
unique  potential  for  re-use  by  third  parties  to  create  new  products  and  services  and  to  offer 
consumers  more  choice  and  more  value  for  money.  Through  value  added  services  and  new 
products,  the  re-use  of  public  information  can  stimulate  public  engagement,  as  well  as 
business innovation, growth and jobs. 

There  are  many  issues  that  need  to  be  addressed  to  ensure  optimal  re-use  of  public  sector 
information.  It  is  often  difficult  to  determine  what  information  is  available  and  under  what 
conditions  it  can  be  accessed.  The  lack  of  common  principles  for  storing  and  describing 
information at various levels of administration and across countries may make it difficult to 
combine  (mash)  data  from  different  sources  to  provide  new  insights  and  potentially  new 
services.  Re-using  information  at  the  European  level  faces  additional  linguistic,  semantic, 
regulatory, organisational, and cultural challenges76. 

The  Directive77  of  17  November  2003  on  the  re-use  of  public  sector  information  (PSI 
Directive) aims to overcome the barriers that limit the re-use of public sector information. The 
actions  under  this  priority  are  linked  to  the  implementation  of  this  Directive.  Well 
implemented, the PSI Directive enables Member States to maximise the value of PSI re-use at 
national level.  

Member States have been required to identify and make public data resources that are readily 
available for re-use in all pre-existing formats and languages, and to take practical measures, 
such as the establishment of national PSI portals, to support re-use. Other rules established by 
the Directive include an obligation to provide clear rules for charging based on re-use-friendly 
principles,  and  to  apply  transparent  and  non-discriminatory  conditions  to  re-use.  While  the 
Directive  allows  for  charging  for  the  information,  Member  States  are  encouraged  to  make 
their information resources available at – at maximum – marginal costs. 

76 

77 

EN 

Villalba-van  Dijk  Lidia,  Ridsdale  Helen,  van  Oranje-Nassau  Constantijn  (2010).  eGovernment 
Scenario's  for  2010  and  the  preparation  of  the  2015  eGovernment  Action  Plan.  Preliminary  Report, 
Assumptions  Analysis:  reconstructing  the  intervention  logic.  Prepared  for  the  European  Commission, 
Rand Europe: Brussels. 
Directive 2003/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 November 2003 on the re-
use 
See: 
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/psi/docs/pdfs/directive/psi_directive_en.pdf 

information,  OJ 

31  December 

L345/90: 

public 

sector 

2003. 

of 

31 

   EN 

                                                 
Although progress in PSI re-use has been made since the adoption of the PSI Directive, the 
full potential of PSI still remains underexploited in Europe. Remaining problems concern high 
prices,  unfair  competition  in  the  market  by  public  sector  bodies,  persisting  restrictive 
licensing  conditions,  lack  of  transparency,  practical  problems  to  identify  public  sector 
information resources, and a lack of machine readable formats. 

Additional  points  for  action  for  Member  States  have  been  included  in  the  Commission 
Communication on the review of the application of the PSI Directive78. In the context of the 
Digital Agenda for Europe, the second review of Directive has been signalled as one of the 
key actions of the initiative. 

In order to maximise the potential of PSI re-use, Member States are invited to take proactive 
deployment measures. 

To achieve the above, the proposed actions are: 

2011  Member States will agree on a common set of PSI re-use indicators. 

2011 

2011-
2013 

2011-
2012 

The Commission will conduct a study to assess to what extent open data catalogues 
and/or  PSI  portals  (e.g.  data.gov.uk)  have  been  developed  and  implemented  by 
Member States  

The  Commission  will  facilitate  exchanges  of  good  practice  and  awareness-raising 
activities, and will adopt its own internal PSI strategy based on a review of the PSI 
Decision.  

The Commission will review the PSI Directive, as indicated in the Digital Agenda 
for Europe, and will  consider the  possibility of an extended strategy for European 
PSI. 

Between 2011 and 2015 the tasks of the European Commission for these actions may include: 

– 

organising meetings of the PSI Group79 where Member States will define and agree 
on  a  common  set  of  PSI  re-use  indicators  to  be  monitored  over  time,  and  where 
Member States can exchange information and best practices. 

4.1.4. 

Improvement of Transparency 

Transparency  of  public  administration  is  a  means  to  acquire  public  support  for  policies  and 
institutions in the long term. Transparency also involves the use of new technologies to allow 
users to trace their personal data stored by public administrations, to check who accessed their 
administrative files and for what purpose, and to gain insight into the reasoning behind actions 
and the process of decision making. This is by far the most requested feature of eGovernment 

78 
79 

For more information, see http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/psi/index_en.htm 
In 2002, the Commission set up an expert group called PSI Group. It consists of Member State officials, 
local or regional authorities, and representatives from private sector organisations who meet regularly to 
exchange good practises of PSI re-use and initiatives supporting PSI re-use and discuss practical issues 
regarding the transposition of the PSI Directive. 

EN 

32 

   EN 

 
                                                 
services  by  citizens.  In  the  Rand80  survey  of  citizens  51%  of  respondents  request  this 
possibility,  and  the  Citizens'  Declaration  of  Malmö  also  called  for  more  transparency.  By 
providing  citizens  with  more,  clearer  and  better  information,  administrations  will  become 
more  accountable  for  their  actions.  If  applied  effectively,  transparency  can  reduce 
administrative  burden,  duplication  and  corruption,  and  thus  increase  efficiency  and 
effectiveness. As a result, it will increase trust of citizens and businesses. 

Hence, transparency needs to be defined further, especially considering that the public tends 
to become more demanding. Although many individual Member States have defined goals for 
transparency, Europe has not yet defined common objectives for transparency. This provides 
a ground for setting common objectives on a voluntary basis and for sharing experience. On 
this  basis,  the  European  Commission  will  initiate  actions  that  support  reaching  commonly 
defined targets. 

The  objective  is  that,  depending  on  their  national  legislation,  by  2013  Member  States  will 
publish  on-line  all  public  information  on  government  policies,  public  budgets  and 
expenditures, as well as laws and regulation. In addition, the aim is that EU citizens should be 
able  to  check  on-line  which  personal  data  are  kept  electronically  on  them  by  public 
administrations. Actions should be in accordance with the Data Protection Directive81. 

To achieve the above the proposed actions are: 

2011 

The  Commission  and  Member  States  will  set  common  voluntary  transparency 
targets and exchange available experiences. 

2013  Member  States  and  the  Commission  will  provide  online  access  to  information  on 

government laws and regulations, policies and finance. 

2014 

In accordance with Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC, Member States will enable 
citizens to have electronic access to those personal data that are held on them when 
available electronically and will inform them electronically whenever such data are 
being processed by automatic means, in a simple and unambiguous manner. 

Between 2011 and 2015 the tasks of the European Commission for these actions may include: 

– 

– 

80 

81 

organising  the  exchange  of  best  practice  examples  on  transparency  enhancing 
measures with a view to making administrative processes widely accessible; 

stimulating  the  Member  States  to  provide  personal  data  websites  where  users  can 
control their personal data. 

Villalba-van  Dijk  Lidia,  Ridsdale  Helen,  van  Oranje-Nassau  Constantijn  (2010).  eGovernment 
Scenario's  for  2010  and  the  preparation  of  the  2015  eGovernment  Action  Plan.  Preliminary  Report, 
Assumptions  Analysis:  reconstructing  the  intervention  logic.  Prepared  for  the  European  Commission, 
Rand Europe: Brussels. 
OJ 
L 
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31995L0046:EN:HTML) 

23.11.1995 

(http://eur-

281, 

EN 

33 

   EN 

 
                                                 
4.1.5. 

Involvement of citizens and businesses in policy-making processes  

The Rand82 survey of citizens reveals that a vast majority of citizens feel that their opinion is 
not sufficiently valued by the government, and they estimate that online tools are an effective 
means to remedy this situation. New participative Web 2.0 technologies can provide citizens 
with  means  to  understand  legislative  processes  and  to  voice  their  opinions  and  views  on 
policy  issues.  This  will  boost  the  legitimacy  of  policies  and  administrative  decisions.  By 
improving the quality of decisions, user involvement in policy has great potential to bridge the 
perceived gap between governments and citizens.  

In  order  to  strengthen  participation  and  democratic  decision-making,  more  knowledge  is 
needed  on  how  online  consultations  (including  blogs  and  other  forms  of  eParticipation)  can 
actually  influence  the  political  discourse  and  political  agenda  setting.  In  fact,  how 
accountability and responsibility is tracked and controlled, and how information is distributed 
and  checked  still  need  to  be  explored  in  more  detail.  Member  States  are  seeking  concrete 
suggestions on how to engage people for an active democracy and how to exploit ICT when 
dealing  with  empowered  citizens.  This  also  encompasses  digital  applications  for  mass 
involvement of citizens in policy-making, transparent decision-making, accessible legislation 
processes and digitally interactive relations between politicians and citizens.  

At EU level, the Treaty of Lisbon defines the principles of democratic governance of the EU 
one of which is participatory democracy (notably the Citizens' Initiative provisions in Article 
11).  These  new  forms  of  interaction  between  citizens  and  the  European  Institutions  in  the 
EU's  decision-making  processes  provide  new  impetus  for  active  user  involvement  in  policy 
making  and  create  a  new  institutional  framework  for  developments.  This  will  support  the 
implementation of 'eParticipation' tools for citizens.  

The  Malmö  Declaration  proposes  to  actively  develop  and  promote  more  useful  and  better 
ways  for  businesses  and  citizens  to  participate  in  the  policy  processes.  Some  actions  in  this 
context have already been initiated in 2010 and will be pursued under this Action Plan.  

In  2010,  the  European  Commission  has  launched  several  FP7  projects  on  governance  and 
policy  modelling  as  well  as  eParticipation  pilots  under  the  CIP  ICT  PSP  programme, 
supporting  the  involvement  of  stakeholders  in  policy-making  processes  and  productive 
collaboration. These projects provide a base for implementation schemes and the exchange of 
best  practices.  The  first  results  of  projects  launched  under  the  CIP  ICT  PSP  and  FP7 
programme should be disseminated by the European Commission to administrations at local, 
national and European level. In addition, the availability of operational participative services 
based on pilot projects in Member States needs to be assessed. 

The  intended  outcome  of  these  actions  is  the  availability  of  operational  services  in  the 
Member States.  

To achieve the above the proposed actions are: 

2011 

The Commission will collaborate with Member States on developing the electronic 

82 

Villalba-van  Dijk  Lidia,  Ridsdale  Helen,  van  Oranje-Nassau  Constantijn  (2010).  eGovernment 
Scenario's  for  2010  and  the  preparation  of  the  2015  eGovernment  Action  Plan.  Preliminary  Report, 
Assumptions  Analysis:  reconstructing  the  intervention  logic.  Prepared  for  the  European  Commission, 
Rand Europe: Brussels. 

EN 

34 

   EN 

                                                 
service  to  support  ‘citizens  initiatives’  (as  foreseen  by  Art.  11  of  the  Treaty  on 
European Union). 

2011 

The Commission will assess existing research projects and launch new ones under 
the  ‘ICT  for  Governance  and  Policy  Modelling’  objective  of  the  2011-2012  FP7 
Work Programme and ensure further exchanges of knowledge and best practice. 

2011-
2015 

Member  States,  the  Commission  and  other  representative  institutions  such  as 
parliaments should develop services that involve stakeholders in public debates and 
decision-making processes building on pilots and demonstration.  

Between 2011 and 2015 the tasks of the European Commission for these actions may include 
the following: 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

organising the exchange of experiences between Member States and stakeholders on 
services that involve stakeholders in public debates and decision-making processes; 

following-up the CIP ICT PSP pilots on eParticipation; 

following-up  the  evaluation  of  the  FP7  research  projects  on  policy  modelling  and 
governance; 

making available the results of eParticipation projects under the CIP and the research 
projects on policy modelling and governance; 

assessing the availability of participative services in Member States. 

4.2. 

Internal Market 

eGovernment should support the further construction of the internal market. There is a need to 
do  ground  breaking  work:  the  delivery  of  cross-border  services  and  the  stimulation  of 
mobility  for  citizens  and  businesses.  Substantial  problems  remain  to  be  solved  in  the 
transferability of public services such as those related to social security rights, health benefits, 
pensions  and  other  personal  services,  or  to  facilitate  eProcurement  across  borders.  The 
barriers  which  still  exist  can  be  broken  down  by  means  of  better  and  more  effective 
eGovernment  services,  by  facilitating  mobility  for  citizens  and  businesses,  and  by  creating 
synergies in eGovernment solutions.  

In  addition  to  this,  cooperation  among  dispersed  organisations  in  different  countries,  with 
different  cultures,  jurisdictions,  legal  traditions,  incentives  and  concerns,  obviously  makes 
cross-border cooperation a challenge. With this in mind, the aim of this priority is to support 
the  easier  provision  of  services  that  can  be  offered  to  all  businesses  and  citizens  across 
borders in the internal market. 

4.2.1. 

Seamless Services for Business  

The  objective  of  this  priority  is  to  increase  business  mobility  by  supporting  cross-border 
eProcurement  and  capitalising  on  the  implementation  of  the  Services  Directive.  Actions  in 
these  areas  help  businesses  to  interact  and  do  business  with  public  administrations  by 
electronic means, as well as across borders. 

EN 

35 

   EN 

 
The  first  objective  of  this  priority  addresses  an  interoperable  and  easily  accessible 
eProcurement  infrastructure,  so  that  European  companies  can  provide  their  services  more 
easily  to  clients  in  other  Member  States.  Currently,  public  procurement  represents 
approximately 16% of the EU's GDP and the value of public procurement advertised at EU 
level  amounts  to  around  €1500  b illion.  Therefore,  Europe  has  substantial  opportunity  to 
benefit from an internal market approach83. Nevertheless, the lack of common standards for 
electronic  data  exchange  is  considered  an  obstacle  for  companies  to  participate  without 
barriers in public procurement processes. An interoperable eProcurement infrastructure would 
result in economies of scale, so that European  companies  could  provide their  services more 
easily to clients in other Member States. This will contribute further to the implementation of 
Public  procurement  directives  2004/18/EC  and  2004/17/EC  and  of  the  Action  Plan  for 
electronic public procurement adopted in 2004 (COM(2004)841). 

In  this  regard,  the  Large  Scale  Project  PEPPOL84  has  contributed  to  generating  solutions  to 
interoperability challenges in key eProcurement processes. As a next step, a plan for the long-
term  sustainability  for  concrete  eProcurement  solutions  needs  to  be  established  and 
implemented in order to reach a critical mass. 

The second objective of this priority aims to support the activities that develop further and go 
beyond  the  implementation  of  the  Services  Directive85.  The  Services  Directive  (Directive 
2006/123/EC)  obliges  Member  States  to  ensure  that  "Points  of  Single  Contact"  (PSCs)  are 
fully  functioning  after  the  end  of  2009.  It  is  the  first  time  that  Member  States  have  a 
horizontal  legal  obligation  to  put  in  place  eGovernment  services.  The  PSCs  are  destined  to 
become  an  online  gateway  through  which  businesses  can  exercise  their  rights  in  all  EU 
countries by electronic means.  

As  a  next  step  services  should  be  developed  in  the  framework  of  the  Large  Scale  Pilot 
SPOCS86.  This  would  entail  the  extension  of  the  application  of  the  Services  Directive  to 
business  areas  other  than  those  currently  covered  by  this  Directive.  This  should  eventually 
lead  to  a  "second  generation"  of  Points  of  Single  Contact.  To  this  end,  PSCs  need  to  be 
developed  by  enhancing  their  functionality,  making  them  more  user-friendly  (including  the 
use of other languages, customised information, reducing the amount of information required 
from  service  providers),  and  ensuring  enhanced  cross-border  accessibility  and  the  use  of 
eSignatures, eIdentification and eDocuments. 

The  primary  objective  of  these  actions  is  to  achieve  a  cross-border  and  interoperable 
eProcurement infrastructure and to make it as easy as possible for businesses to provide and 
use cross-border services in the EU.  

To achieve the above the proposed actions are: 

2011  Member States and the Commission will assess outcomes of PEPPOL and SPOCS 

and ensure sustainable follow up. 

2011 

The  Commission  will  issue  a  White  Paper  on  practical  steps  to  inter-connect 

83 
84 
85 

86 

EN 

Smarter, Faster, Better eGovernment, 8th Benchmark Measurement, November 2009 
PEPPOL (Pan-European Public Procurement Online) (http://www.peppol.eu) 
OJ 
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32006L0123:EN:NOT) 
SPOCS (Simple Procedures Online for Cross-border Services ) (http://www.eu-spocs.eu) 

27.12.2006 

376, 

L 

(http://eur-

36 

   EN 

                                                 
eProcurement capacity across the internal market. 

2012-
2014 

Member  States  should  roll  out  cross-border  services  based  on  the  results  of 
PEPPOL and SPOCS. 

2013  Member  States  will  ensure  that  a  ‘second  generation’  of  points  of  single  contact 
will  function  as  fully  fledged  eGovernment  centres  beyond  the  requirements  and 
areas covered by the Services Directive. 

Between 2011 and 2015 the tasks of the European Commission for these actions may include 
the following: 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

disseminating  and  exploiting  knowledge  and  expertise  produced  by  the  SPOCS 
Large Scale Pilot;  

carrying  out  a  high  level  study  on  the  functioning  of  the  PSC  (including  the 
eProcedures) and their further enhancement. It will look at the state of play, identify 
the main challenges and propose concrete ways of addressing them;  

following-up on the findings of the study on the PSCs and also assessing the need to 
take further initiatives; 

disseminating and exploit knowledge and expertise produced by the PEPPOL Large 
Scale  Pilot,  including  the  promotion  of  successful  eProcurement  platforms  and 
applications,  and  supporting  the  re-use  of  successful  solutions  across  the  internal 
market; 

preparing a White Paper with concrete steps on how to inter-connect eProcurement 
infrastructure.  This  could  include  commitments  to  review  EU  procurement 
legislation  if  needed  to  provide  a  clearer  environment  for  the  operation  of  on-line 
procurement  and  remove  bottlenecks  to  on-line  completion  of  procurement  related 
processes  (authentication);  initiatives  to  promote  standardised  and  interoperable 
solutions  particularly  in  critical  pre-award  phases  (tendering/submission)  where 
limited  progress  has  been  made  to  date;  actions  to  promote  use  of  (PEPPOL-
generated) solutions to interoperability challenges in key eProcurement processes. If 
the PEPPOL Large Scale Pilot is successful, implement a sustainable plan and define 
a roadmap for a trans-national infrastructure for eProcurement. 

4.2.2.  Personal Mobility 

The  overall  aim  of  the  actions  in  this  area  is  to  increase  citizen  mobility  across  Europe. 
According  to  the  Monti  report87  intra-EU  mobility  concerns  more  than  11.3  million 
Europeans.  For  example,  around  350  000  Europeans  per  year  engage  in  an  international 
marriage  with  a  national  of  another  Member  State.  Every  year  180  000  European  students 
move  to  another  Member  State  for  the  Erasmus  programme  or  to  attend  a  post  graduate 
degree. However, according to the Monti report progress in this area has been slow. 

87 

Mario  Monti:  A  new  strategy  for  the  Single  market  at  the  service  of  Europe's  economy  and  society 
(2010) (http://ec.europa.eu/bepa/pdf/monti_report_final_10_05_2010_en.pdf) 

EN 

37 

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In  the  Malmö  Declaration,  actions  are  also  based  on  the  European  Directive  on  the  right  of 
citizens of the Union to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States88 and 
on the fundamental freedom of free movement of persons.  

eGovernment can reduce the costs as well as the legal and administrative burdens of mobility. 
Although these administrative burdens are in reality only a fraction of people’s concerns when 
they decide to move to a different country, eGovernment may facilitate it by making mobility 
cheaper  and  less  burdensome,  as  users  should  be  able  to  complete  all  administrative 
procedures without the necessity to physically appear in foreign offices. In addition, possible 
data  on  citizens  could  be  exchanged  between  administrations  without  requiring  citizens  to 
submit data already stored by public administrations. In the Rand89 survey, a secure delivery 
(and storage) system for information and documents is by far the eGovernment service which 
is most requested by citizens in terms of concrete applications, and it is second in the list of 
most requested services by businesses. 

In the area of citizens the focus will be on facilitating the development of services enhancing 
their mobility with  regard to study,  work, health care,  residence and  retirement.  The  aim of 
these  actions  should  be  interoperable  services  for  secure  cross-border  exchange  and  safe 
storage  of  electronic  information  (eDelivery),  including  functionalities  such  as  receipt 
confirmation and eSignatures. eDelivery enables citizens to communicate, as well as send and 
receive electronic documents and information to and from public administrations. 

The objective is to achieve interoperability of electronic delivery of mobility documents and 
information in the above mentioned areas by 2015.  

To achieve the above the proposed actions are: 

2012-
2014 

The  Commission  will  support  the  exchange  of  best  practices  and  coordinate  the 
efforts  of  Member  States  to  jointly  develop  and  set-up  interoperable  eDelivery 
services. 

2015  Member States shall provide cross-border and interoperable eDelivery services for 
citizens to e.g. study, work, reside, receive health care and retire anywhere in the 
European Union. 

Between 2011 and 2015 the tasks of the European Commission for these actions may include 
the following: 

– 

88 

89 

coordinating and stimulating the activities and efforts of the Member States to set-up 
a system of secure cross-border eDelivery services; 

Directive 2004/38/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the right of 
citizens  of  the  Union  and  their  family  members  to  move  and  reside  freely  within  the  territory  of  the 
Member States amending Regulation (EEC), OJ: L 158/ 77 
Villalba-van  Dijk  Lidia,  Ridsdale  Helen,  van  Oranje-Nassau  Constantijn  (2010).  eGovernment 
Scenario's  for  2010  and  the  preparation  of  the  2015  eGovernment  Action  Plan.  Preliminary  Report, 
Trend analysis. Prepared for the European Commission, Rand Europe: Brussels. 

EN 

38 

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– 

– 

supporting the coordination between the Member States to achieve interoperability of 
the  electronic  delivery  of  mobility  documents  and  information  when  countries  use 
different formats; 

coordinating  the  activities  of  the  Member  States  leading  to  a  better  integration  of 
eGovernment services related to study, work, health, residence and retirement. 

4.2.3.  EU-wide implementation of cross-border services 

The  objective  is  to  develop  seamless  cross-border  eGovernment  services  that  correspond  to 
well defined needs – enabling entrepreneurs to set up and run a business anywhere in Europe 
independently of their original location, and allowing citizens to study, work, reside and retire 
anywhere  in  the  European  Union.  These  services  should  be  supported  through  the  CIP  ICT 
PSP.  

The  CIP  ICT  PSP  Large  Scale  Pilots  (such  as  PEPPOL,  STORK,  SPOCS,  epSOS90  and 
possible  new  ones  such  as  on  eJustice  and  eEnvironment)  are  designed  to  remove 
administrative barriers to ensure that services can be offered on a non-discriminatory basis to 
all businesses and citizens across Europe. The next step is that these projects should benefit 
from  each  other's  synergies  by  re-using  existing  infrastructures,  by  sharing  results  from  the 
Large  Scale  Pilots,  and  by  identifying  gaps  and  opportunities  in  order  to  facilitate 
interoperability and to maximise their impact. In this way, development efforts may have to 
be aligned. Further emphasis should be on the exploitation of the results of the pilots and on 
the  use  of  these  results  for  setting  up  operational  services.  This  includes  investigating  how 
strategic partnerships with third parties can be used to find appropriate solutions. 

In doing so, it is necessary to assess the real social and economic needs, costs and benefits, 
and  barriers  for  future  cross-border  services  where  interoperability  is  key.  Based  on  the 
assessment, Member States will agree on a list of key eGovernment cross-border services that 
have  the  potential  to  be  available  in  27  Member  States  by  2015.  The  Malmö  Declaration 
already puts forward the idea of cross-border services for starting and running a business. 

In  this  context,  the  "Interoperability  Solutions  for  European  Public  Administrations"  (ISA) 
programme  is  an  important  instrument  that  could  analyse  and  suggest  ways  to  ensure  the 
sustainability of common services and generic tools developed and demonstrated in the Large 
Scale Pilots.  

These  actions  will  also  gain  insight  in  the  administrative  procedures  related  to  cross-border 
life-events or life-stages. 

The  aim  is  seamless,  interoperable  and  sustainable  cross-border  eGovernment  services  that 
can be offered to all businesses and citizens across Europe by 201591. 

To achieve the above the proposed actions are: 

2011 

The Commission will conduct a study with the Member States, on the demand for 
cross-border  services  and  assess  the  organisational,  legal,  technical  and  semantic 

90 
91 

epSOS (Smart Open Services for European Patients) (http://www.epsos.eu) 
Except for the action on life events, all actions in this paragraph are defined in the Digital Agenda for 
Europe. 

EN 

39 

   EN 

                                                 
barriers. 

2011  Member  States  will  agree  on  a  number  of  key  cross-border  public  services  to  be 
rolled out between 2012 and 2015 and will identify appropriate life events/stages92. 

2012-
2015 

2012-
2015 

The Commission will support and coordinate the efforts of Member States to roll 
out  Large  Scale  Pilot  projects  and  to  start  new  ones,  while  encouraging 
coordination and re-use of results and solutions between them.  

The  Commission  will  work  with  Member  States  and  stakeholders  to  implement  cross-
border eEnvironment services 

Between 2011 and 2015 the tasks of the European Commission for these actions may include 
the following: 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

initiating a study in order to assess the needs for further cross-border services, where 
interoperability  is  key.  This  analysis  should  comprise  the  organisational,  legal, 
technical  or  semantic  barriers  to  deploy  such  services.  This  study  will  also  make  a 
cost-benefit  analysis  for  services  in  the  business  and  citizen  community  and  assess 
obstacles to such services. As a conclusion, this analysis should propose options for 
how  the  internal  market  can  stimulate  the  mobility  of  citizens  and  businesses  and 
identify the most potential cross-border services; 

supporting  experience  sharing  and  the  exchange  of  good  practice  between  running 
and new pilots (such as PEPPOL, STORK, SPOCS, epSOS and possible new pilots 
on eJustice and eEnvironment) in order to benefit from synergies by re-using existing 
infrastructures  and  building  blocks93,  sharing  results  and  by  identifying  gaps  and 
opportunities in order to facilitate interoperability and to maximise their impact94; 

supporting  and  coordinating  the  efforts  of  Member  States  to  continue  and  roll-out 
existing Large Scale Pilots;  

supporting the efforts of the Member States to develop new cross-border services, in 
particular those that correspond to identified needs capitalising on past investments;  

supporting  the  long-term  sustainability  of  services  developed  and  demonstrated  in 
pilot actions; 

organising workshops to discuss the potential for future cross-border services.  

4.3. 

Efficiency and Effectiveness of Governments and Administrations 

This  priority  includes  the  reduction  of  administrative  burden  and  introduces  the  topic  of 
organisational  change  on  the  European  eGovernment  agenda.  The  latter  includes  the 
horizontal integration of processes across administrative boundaries, the vertical integration of 

92 
93 
94 

See Digital Agenda for Europe 
Such as the DAE actions on eID, Points of Single Contact, and eSignatures. 
In  this  regard,  in  May  2010,  a  meeting  with  all  the  running  Large  Scale  Pilots  took  place;  another 
meeting is foreseen.  

EN 

40 

   EN 

 
                                                 
back  and  front-end  processes  as  well  as  the  collaboration  with  private  and  civic  parties.  In 
addition, this priority expresses a legitimate concern to make the best use of ICT to reduce the 
carbon footprint. 

4.3.1. 

Improving Organisational Processes 

Improving  organisational  processes  concerns  internal  efficiency  and  effectiveness  in 
administrations.  Along  with  outdated  eGovernment  infrastructures  and  the  lack  of  key 
enablers, ill-defined institutional boundaries and working processes represent a net extra cost 
to  administrations.  These  aspects  are  mainly  due  to  a  lack  of  integration  between  inherited 
administrative  procedures  and  organisation  schemes.  Investing  in  new  methods  of  working 
and  changes  in  back-offices  will  reduce  operational  costs  and  increasing  efficiency  in  the 
delivery  of  government  services  in  the  long  term.  For  example,  the  Austrian  government 
reduced  the  costs  of  filing  and  archiving  by  38%95.  However,  in  the  short  term,  the 
investments might lead to an overall increase in government spending.  

In  a  climate  of  economic  austerity,  it  is  important  to  generate  knowledge  on  improving 
organisational  processes  and  the  implementation  of  key  enablers.  The  role  of  the  European 
Commission will be to launch European training and learning experiments on organisational 
change  along  with  a  programme  for  staff  exchange  between  administrations  in  different 
Member  States.  The  ePractice.eu  portal  could  play  a  pivotal  role  in  enabling  the  learning 
experiences. Besides ePractice.eu, the OSOR and SEMIC are platforms which als support the 
Member States' eGovernment practitioners and possible synergies should be exploited. 

In  addition,  the  Commission  will  lead  by  example  in  implementing  smart  eGovernment 
services.  These  services  will  support  streamlined  administrative  processes,  facilitate 
information sharing and simplify interaction with the Commission, thereby empowering users 
and improving the efficiency, effectiveness and transparency of the Commission. 

In addition to this, the objective of the eCommission 2011-2015 Action Plan is to evolve from 
today's  'Integrated  Commission'  to  tomorrow's  'Transformed  Commission'  whereby  public 
services are built from the viewpoint of external and internal users, rather than based on the 
organisation’s  structure,  with  completely  automated  end-to-end  processes  crossing 
organisational  boundaries,  where  information  is shared  in  transparency  among  services,  and 
cross-DG working groups collaborate and share knowledge and expertise. 

To achieve the above the proposed actions are: 

2011 

2011-
2012 

2013 

The Commission will facilitate the exchange of experience, encouraging re-use of 
successful solutions and applications and exploring new approaches to support the 
Member States in improving organisational processes 

The Commission will transform the ePractice.eu portal into an effective experience 
exchange and information tool for Member States’ eGovernment practitioners. 

The  Commission,  in  close  cooperation  with  Member  States,  will  set  up  a 
programme  for  staff  exchanges  between  administrations  in  different  Member 
States. 

95 

Villalba-van  Dijk  Lidia,  Ridsdale  Helen,  van  Oranje-Nassau  Constantijn  (2010).  eGovernment 
Scenario's for 2010 and the preparation of the 2015 eGovernment Action Plan. 

EN 

41 

   EN 

                                                 
2011-
2015 

The  Commission  will  implement  an  ambitious  eCommission  2011-2015  action 
plan, including full electronic procurement. 

Between 2011 and 2015 the tasks of the European Commission for these actions may include 
the following: 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

facilitating an exchange of best practices between Member States on the benefits of 
organisational  processes  and  generating  knowledge  on  the  implementation  of  key 
enablers; 

stimulating the learning experiences in the Member States through the coordination 
of staff exchange programmes;  

improving  the  dissemination  of  knowledge  and  expertise  by  providing  access  to 
available didactic and other material on the subject; 

organising workshops with experts in order to rethink the functions of ePractice.eu, 
OSOR and SEMIC and to exploit synergies between these platforms; 

assessing  the  eCommission  2006-2010  achievements,  defining  the  vision  for  the 
eCommission  2011-2015,  and  preparing  the  associated  roadmap  for  the  envisaged 
actions under the umbrella of the eCommission 2011-2015. 

4.3.2.  Reduction of Administrative Burdens 

The  Industry  Declaration  of  Malmö96  states  that  "the  reduction  of  administrative  burden  for 
citizens  and  businesses  should  be  one  of  the  key  raisons  d’être  for  eGovernment".  The 
development  of  services  based  on  workflows  instead  of  the  traditional  'silo'  approach  of 
public  administrations  can  lead  to  substantial  efficiency  gains  and  a  reduction  in 
administrative  burdens.  Users  can  save  time  and  money  due  to  the  simplification  or 
elimination  of  processes  and  requirements,  e.g.  the  multiple  submissions  of  similar 
information for both businesses and citizens.  

'Once only registration of data' is number one on the wish list of citizens in the Rand Study97. 
The citizens' survey reveals that 41% of users want to have to provide their personal data once 
only, so that it can be re-used in subsequent interactions with public administrations. Despite 
some  concerns  regarding  privacy  protection  and  access  to  their  personal  data,  users  do 
understand  that  they  will  profit  from  such  functionality  as  they  will  save  time  with  other 
possible gains still to emerge. 

The High Level Group of Independent Stakeholders on Administrative Burdens has in many 
of  its  opinions  emphasised  the  importance  of  the  efficient  use  of  eGovernment  and  ICT  as 
tools for reducing the administrative burden for enterprises. In this context, in January 2007 

96 
97 

See: http://www.digitaleurope.org/index.php?id=34&id_article=390 
Villalba-van  Dijk  Lidia,  Ridsdale  Helen,  van  Oranje-Nassau  Constantijn  (2010).  eGovernment 
Scenario's  for  2010  and  the  preparation  of  the  2015  eGovernment  Action  Plan.  Preliminary  Report, 
Trend Analysis: Prepared for the European Commission, Rand Europe: Brussels 

EN 

42 

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the  European  Commission  presented  an  ambitious  Action  Programme98  for  Reducing 
Administrative  Burdens  in  the  European  Union.  The  European  Council  endorsed  the 
Programme  in  March  2007  and  agreed  that  administrative  burdens  arising  from  EU 
legislation, including  national  measures  implementing or transposing this legislation,  should 
be reduced by 25 % by 2012.  

The  outcome  of  these  actions  should  be  that  the  Member  States  to  eliminate  as  many 
unnecessary  administrative  burdens  as  possible,  especially  where  electronic  procedures  and 
communications can replace paper-based procedures. This can be done, for example, through 
the  implementation  of  the  principle  of  'once  only'  registration  of  data  by  2015  under  the 
condition that data protection and privacy protection requirements are respected.  

Another  important  aspect  of  reducing  burden  for  businesses  and  citizens  would  be  to 
introduce  functions  for  automatic  statistical  data  collection  and  reporting  into  eGovernment 
solutions.  Statistics  on  the  use  of  the  electronic  services  would  be  created  as  part  of  the 
normal  business  process.  Measures  would  have  to  be  taken  to  assure  data  confidentiality. 
Following this approach could lead to a significant reduction of burden on the one hand and 
would satisfy growing need to providing statistical evidence and benchmarking on the other 
hand.  

To achieve the above the proposed actions are: 

2011-
2013 

The Commission will organise the sharing of experiences with Member States on 
the  implementation  of  the  'once-only'  registration  principle  and  of  electronic 
procedures and communications having become a dominant channel for delivering 
eGovernment services, conduct a cost-benefit analysis and designing a roadmap for 
further implementation. 

Between 2011 and 2015 the tasks of the European Commission for these actions may include 
the following: 

– 

– 

– 

– 

98 

assessing the costs and benefits of the principle of 'once only' registration of data and 
designing a roadmap to implement the principle of 'once only' registration of data by 
businesses and citizens; 

evaluating and assessing the achievements of the Member States in implementing the 
principle of 'once only' registration of data; 

exploring  and  assessing  possibilities  for  integrating  statistical  data  collection  tools 
into  eGovernment  solutions  considering  necessary  harmonisation  process  for 
reporting purposes; 

stimulating  the  exchange  of  information  and  best  practice  examples  on  how 
electronic procedures and communications can replace paper-based procedures; 

COM(2007) 
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2007:0023:FIN:EN:PDF) 

23 

(http://eur-

EN 

43 

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– 

– 

evaluating  the  impact  of  ICT  usage  in  achieving  the  objectives  of  the  Action 
Programme for reducing administrative burdens; 

exploring through the ISA programme the possibilities offered by ICT technologies 
to support an effective and efficient implementation of new legislation by assessing 
the ICT implications of new legislation on existing or new ICT systems.  

4.3.3.  Green Government 

The Malmö Declaration assumes that the use of ICT by governments can play a leading role 
in  the  fight  against  climate  change  by  contributing  to  the  reduction  of  carbon  emissions.  In 
fact,  emissions  can  be  decreased  by  reducing  the  energy  consumed  directly  by  ICT 
equipment. At European level, the Commission Recommendation99 on mobilising information 
and communications technologies to facilitate the transition to an energy-efficient, low-carbon 
economy of 9 October 2009 includes public organisations in its framework.  

Although the Commission Recommendation does not contain specific measures pertaining to 
eGovernment, this Action Plan underlines that eGovernment can play a key role in leading to 
a greener environment. Examples of green government are: 

– 

– 

– 

– 

Considerable energy savings from what is called dematerialisation or substitution, by 
replacing offline administrative processes with on-line applications and services, and 
the use of electronic delivery; 

The  public  sector  can  stimulate  the  demand  for  notably  green  ICT  products  and 
services through public procurement; 

Promoting teleworking, telephone conferencing and virtual meetings;  

Shared  services,  as  well  as  developing  power-efficient  ICT  systems  could  be 
promoted.  

To  this  end,  the  European  Commission  together  with  Member  States  will  assess  the 
possibilities  for  administrations  to  reduce  their  carbon  footprint  and  agree  on  actions  and 
evaluation  procedures  for  the  reduction  of  the  carbon  footprint  of  administrations.  Energy 
saving targets should be in line with the Commission Recommendation on mobilising ICTs to 
facilitate the transition to an energy-efficient, low-carbon economy.  

The aim of the actions will be that the carbon footprint of administrations in Member States 
will be reduced by 2015. 

To achieve the above the proposed actions are: 

2012 

The Commission will conduct a study on the potential of eGovernment to reducing 
carbon footprint of governments including best practices 

2013  Member States should develop and agree indicators and evaluation procedures for 
measuring the reduction of the carbon footprint of their administrations as a result 

99 

COM(2009) 
(http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/sustainable_growth/docs/com_2009_111/com2009-
111-en.pdf) 

111 

EN 

44 

   EN 

                                                 
of eGovernment services. 

Between 2011 and 2015 the tasks of the European Commission for these actions may include 
the following: 

– 

– 

– 

supporting  a  collaborative  effort  of  the  Member  States  to  define  green  ICT  targets 
and guidelines for Member States; 

organising  the  exchange  of  expertise  on  how  eGovernment  services  contribute  to 
reducing  public  administrations'  carbon  footprint  and  how  to  measure  this 
contribution;  

coordinating  an  assessment  of  the  Member  States  performance  in  reducing  the 
carbon footprint of their administrations. 

4.4. 

Pre-conditions for Developing eGovernment 

A  number  of  pre-conditions  need  to  be  fulfilled  to  allow  for  secure  and  efficient  electronic 
collaboration  between  Member  States.  Actions  in  this  respect  include  the  development, 
deployment and interoperability of ICT infrastructures. The pre-conditions take into account 
the benefits of open specifications as a means to promote interoperability, the key enablers for 
improving existing and developing new services, and the innovation in eGovernment service 
architectures  brought  about  by  research  and  development,  pilot  projects  and  other 
implementation schemes. 

4.4.1.  Open Specifications and Interoperability 

Europe  does  not  yet  reap  the  maximum  benefit  from  interoperability.  When  establishing 
National  eGovernment  Services,  there  is  a  risk  that  Member  States  opt  for  incompatible 
solutions and that new electronic barriers emerge. Member States and the Commission should 
increase their efforts to avoid market fragmentation by striving towards interoperability. 

Interoperability  fosters  the  delivery  of  cross-border  public  services  and  is  an  important  pre-
condition for the open, flexible delivery of eGovernment services to citizens and business. It 
enables collaboration between administrations in Europe, as it facilitates the exchange of data 
across  Member  States.  This  involves  technical  as  well  as  semantic  interoperability,  as  the 
latter  in  particular  allows  for  the  seamless  exchange  of  administrative  data  across  Member 
States. The role of ICT standards and specifications is essential to achieve interoperability in 
the area of eGovernment.  

The  Malmö  Declaration  emphasises  the  need  to  pay  "particular  attention  to  the  benefits 
resulting  from  the  use  of  open  specifications  in  order  to  deliver  services  in  the  most  cost-
effective manner." The Granada Declaration notes in addition that it is important to "embed 
innovation and cost effectiveness into eGovernment through the systematic promotion of open 
standards and interoperable systems, development of EU wide eAuthentication schemes and 
proactive development of eInvoicing, eProcurement (and pre-commercial procurement)."  

Open specifications have advantages in terms of securing business model freedom, as well as 
providing a number of other benefits including faster innovation, lower costs, and lower entry 

EN 

45 

   EN 

 
barriers.  Nevertheless,  public  administrations  decide  which  formal  specifications  they  select 
to ensure interoperability.  

The  Commission  will  further  improve  the  conditions  for  interoperability  and  open 
specifications.  In  addition,  the  Commission  aims  for  a  level  of  smart  interoperability  that 
maximises  synergies  at  both  national  and  EU  levels.  Member  States  have  already  made 
investments. Consequently, the approach towards Member States fully takes into account the 
subsidiarity principle. 

By 2010, the Commission will have adopted an ambitious European Interoperability Strategy 
(EIS100) and the European Interoperability Framework (EIF101) to be drawn up under the ISA 
programme  (Interoperability  Solutions  for  European  Public  Administrations102).  ISA  will 
implement activities to make the EIF and EIS concrete through a rolling work programme. 

EIS  will  build  on  experience  in  the  fields  of  trusted  information  exchange,  architecture  and 
interoperability  awareness.  The  strategy  focuses  on  actions 
to  foster  cross-border 
interoperability  by  recommending  how  to  improve  cross-border  interoperability,  providing 
common tools and services in support of interoperability, and proposing a governance model 
in order to maintain an overview of initiatives. 

The EIF will recommend, among others, that where possible, public administrations use open 
specifications when establishing public services. Member States should follow the EIF in their 
activities  while  designing,  implementing  and  using  ICT  systems.  Failing  to  do  so,  might 
hinder  or  significantly  prolong  the  process  of  overcoming  the  difficulties  in  data  exchange 
between  ICT  systems  across  Europe.  Efficiency  gains  as  well  as  cost  savings  may  also  be 
limited as a result. 

The  aim  is  a  common  strategy  for  achieving  interoperability  at  European  level  and  for  the 
Member  States  to  align  their  national  interoperability  framework  with  the  European 
Interoperability Framework and related policies. 

To achieve the above the proposed actions are: 

2011-
2015 

2012 

The  Commission  (via  the  ISA  programme)  will  implement  activities  to  put  into 
action 
the  European 
Interoperability Strategy (EIS) (adoption of the EIF and EIS expected in 2010). 

the  European  Interoperability  Framework  (EIF)  and 

The Commission will organise exchanges of expertise and promote the re-use and 
sharing  of  solutions  to  implement  interoperable  eGovernment  services.  This 
includes  establishment  of  interfaces  to  gain  access  to  and  use  authentic  national 
sources. 

2013  Member  States  should  have  aligned  their  national  interoperability  frameworks  to 

the EIF103. 

100 
101 
102 
103 

http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/7772 
http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/7728 
Interoperability solutions for European public administrations (ISA) (OJ L 260, 3.10.2009, p. 20).  
This action is defined in the Digital Agenda for Europe. 

EN 

46 

   EN 

 
 
                                                 
Between 2011 and 2015 the tasks of the European Commission for these actions may include 
the following: 

– 

– 

– 

encouraging  the  Member  States  to  re-use  and  share  solutions  and  to  collaborate  on 
the development of common solutions when implementing eGovernment services; 

encouraging  the  ICT  industry  to  cooperate  on  the  development  and  emergence  of 
open  specifications  in  the  domain  of  public  services  for  the  re-use  by  all 
stakeholders; 

fostering an agreement between the Member States on the formalised specifications 
to  be  used  to  ensure  technical  interoperability  when  establishing  cross-border 
eGovernment Services. 

4.4.2.  Key Enablers 

Electronic  identification  (eID)  technologies  and  authentication  services  are  essential  for  the 
security  of  electronic  transactions  (in  the  private  and  the  public  sector),  and  today  the  most 
common way to authenticate is by the use of passwords. For many applications this may be 
sufficient, but more secure and privacy protected solutions are increasingly needed104. Europe 
needs  in  particular  better  administrative  cooperation  to  develop  and  deploy  cross-border 
public online services; this should include practical eIdentification and eAuthentication cross 
border services. 

In general, electronic identification (eID) is the key enabler for many services: registration of 
personal  data,  provision  of  personalised  services,  automatic  service  delivery  and  the 
simplification  of  administrative  and  commercial  transactions  including  billing  and  payment 
procedures. It is expected that in the future digital society electronic identity management will 
be  expanded  both  in  the  private  and  in  the  public  sector  to  domains  such  as  eHealth, 
eCommerce, finances, transport, travel and web 2.0 communities. 

Electronic Identification allows for significant quality improvements in eGovernment service 
provision,  such  as  the  'once  only'  registration  of  data  and  the  provision  of  personalised  or 
automated  services.  It  is  also  the  key  to  combine  openness  and  flexibility  with  an  adequate 
protection  of  privacy  and  increased  security  in  electronic  environments.  The  results  of  the 
Rand Study105 reveal that an electronic identity management (eIDM) system ranks in the top 3 
of most valued eGovernment facilities by businesses and citizens." 

In  order  to  achieve  this,  an  interoperable  infrastructure  for  eIDs  should  be  set  up  that  takes 
into  account  multiple  identity  instances,  from  government-accredited  to  commercially 
accepted,  and  ranging  from  near-anonymity  to  strong  and  unambiguous  identification.  This 
should start from a user-controlled and privacy-protecting perspective and provide the basis 
for accountability and innovative applications in an open and competitive market.  

The  role  of  the  European  Commission  is  to  support  the  creation  of  conditions  for  the 
development of such an interoperable eID infrastructure. There are a number of barriers for 

104 

105 

Which  is  why  the  Commission  has  proposed  a  European Strategy  on  Identity  Management  under  the 
Stockholm Programme - COM(2010) 171. 
Villalba-van  Dijk  Lidia,  Ridsdale  Helen,  van  Oranje-Nassau  Constantijn  (2010).  eGovernment 
Scenario's  for  2010  and  the  preparation  of  the  2015  eGovernment  Action  Plan.  Preliminary  Report, 
Trend Analysis. Prepared for the European Commission, Rand Europe: Brussels. 

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the implementation and acceptance due to fragmentation in the internal market, and a lack of 
user control, transparency and interoperability of eID. This work will complement and add to 
the  existing  European  Action  Plan  for  eSignatures  and  eIdentification106,  as  well  as  the 
revision of the eSignature Directive planned in 2011. 

Currently,  considerable  progress  is  being  made  on  the  technical  implementation  and  mutual 
recognition of interoperable electronic identity management in the EU, through the ICT PSP 
Large Scale Pilot STORK107. 

To this end the Commission will propose a Council and Parliament Decision to ensure mutual 
recognition  of  eIdentification  and  eAuthentication  across  the  EU  based  on  online 
'authentication  services'  to  be  offered  in  all  Member  States  (which  may  use  the  most 
appropriate official citizen documents – issued by the public or the private sector). 

As a next possible step, the Commission may, amongst other related activities, contribute to 
the joint development with the Member States of an EU-wide initiative to implement an eID 
management infrastructure108.  

eID is closely linked to the interoperability of services based on public and business registers 
enabling  secure  cross-border  exchange  of  sensitive  personal  data  between  Member  States. 
Interested  Member  States  should  develop  and  test  such  services,  in  compliance  with  data 
protection requirements and obligations.  

The outcome of these actions should be a framework for eID that would build on the results of 
the on-going CIP Large Scale Pilots, in particular STORK.  

The  aim  should  be  an  eID  framework  that  allows  for  secure  and  reliable  electronic 
identification  and  authentication  throughout  the  EU,  complies  with  the  data  and  privacy 
protection provisions, and is mutually recognised by all Member States. 

To achieve the above the proposed actions are:  

2011 

2012 

The Commission will propose a revision of the eSignature Directive with a view to 
providing  a  legal  framework  for  cross-border  recognition  and  interoperability  of 
secure eAuthentication systems109. 

The  Commission  will  propose  a  Council  and  European  Parliament  Decision  to 
ensure  mutual  recognition  of  eIdentification  and  eAuthentication  across  the  EU, 
based on online ‘authentication services’ to be offered in all Member States (which 
may  use  the  most  appropriate  official  identification  documents  —  issued  by  the 
public and private sectors)110. 

2012-
2014 

Member States should apply and roll out the eID solutions, based on the results of 
STORK and other eID-related projects. 

106 
107 
108 
109 
110 

http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/7768 
STORK (Secure identiTy acrOss boRders linKed) (https://www.eid-stork.eu/) 
COM(2009) 116 final: A Strategy for ICT R&D and Innovation in Europe: Raising the Game. 
This action is defined in the Digital Agenda for Europe. 
This action is defined in the Digital Agenda for Europe. 

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Between 2011 and 2015 the tasks of the European Commission for these actions may include 
the following: 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

launching a thematic network on eID. The outcome is expected to be a roadmap for 
the  implementation  of  interoperable  identification  including  steps  to  overcome  the 
barriers for its implementation, and the barriers concerning mutual recognition; 

exploring  the  possibilities  for  an  EU-wide  initiative  to  implement  an  effective  eID 
management infrastructure; 

validating  the  common  specification  for  the  eIdentification  and  eAuthentication 
models developed by STORK and organising the roll-out of the STORK Large Scale 
Pilot  as  an  operational  interoperability  framework  for  eID  in  as  many  countries  as 
possible; 

supporting  activities  required  for  the  preparation  of  the  Council  and  Parliament 
Decision on mutual recognition of all electronic identification and authentication in 
the EU (e.g. studies, consultations, etc); 

assessing the results of ongoing initiatives that aim at the interoperability of services 
based on public and business registers, and investigating whether further pilots will 
be needed. 

4.4.3. 

Innovative eGovernment 

Among  other  initiatives  on  ICT  innovation,  services  in  the  cloud  and  service-oriented 
architecture  (SOA)  are  technical  and  innovative  approaches  to  construct  open,  flexible  and 
collaborative eGovernment services while at the same time lowering ICT costs. 

Cloud computing is an emerging approach of shared IT infrastructure in which large pools of 
systems  are  linked  together  to  provide  IT  services  on  demand.  While  concerns  about 
dependability,  as  well  as  security-related  issues  still  need  to  be  resolved,  clouds  are 
increasingly  being  used  by  businesses  and  citizens.  The  introduction  of  cloud  computing  in 
public  administrations  will  have  an  impact  on  IT  operations  and  development  models.  The 
public sector should leverage the concept as well. Cost reduction due to the standardisation of 
processes  will  become  a  major  driver  for  establishing  public  services  in  the  cloud.  This 
concerns not only the infrastructure level, but also the service creation level.  

SOA,  when  pushed  to  the  extreme,  is  a  key  enabler  for  transforming  government  agencies 
into user-centric driven entities. It supports the transformation of administrative processes into 
a set of linked services or repeatable tasks that can be accessed over a network whenever and 
wherever needed. SOA will enable public administrations to quickly adapt to changing (e.g. 
regulatory) requirements.  

Additionally, public administrations will need to take actions for upgrading to IPv6 relevant 
eGovernment  infrastructures  (portals,  websites,  applications,  etc.)  and  on-line  services  of 
public  interest,  in  view  of  the  depletion  of  IPv4  addresses.  This  uptake  of  IPv6  will  be 
beneficial for public authorities in Member States to foster innovative, efficient and accessible 

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applications and services111. Therefore IPv6 deployment for governments (e.g. to enable IPv6 
on  public  sector  websites  and  eGovernment  services)  will  be  supported  by  the  European 
Commission.  

A European “GovCloud Initiative” may promote the availability and usage of convenient, on-
demand access to shared resources and services for the provision of eGovernment services. In 
addition, the innovative approaches of SOA allow to identify the different functionalities of 
eGovernment  services  and  to  build  ICT  components  or  'objects'  around  them,  which  can  be 
combined with each other to construct new services. 

The defined actions are expected to contribute to the promotion of innovation in eGovernment 
services,  effective  delivery  of  services,  re-use  of  public  services,  including  public  sector 
information  and  the  reduction  of  IT  costs.  Direct,  measurable  effects  are  to  be  expected  in 
terms  of  the  financial  resources  and  energy  required  to  run  data  centres  within  public 
administrations.  Promoting  a  shared-resources  approach  will  also  heavily  impact  the 
effectiveness and efficiency of service provision by easing the flow of information and the re-
use of data and applications, including the re-use of existing granular services. 

The  aim  will  be  that  new  technical  and  innovative  eGovernment  approaches  will  be  widely 
available and used in Europe's administrations by 2015. 

To achieve the above the proposed actions are: 

2011 

2011 

2012 

The  Commission  will  launch  a  study  and  recommend  action  on  how  to  apply 
emerging technologies and paradigms (such as SOA and clouds of public services) 
in the public sector. 

The  Commission  will  launch  activities  under  the  CIP  programme  to  support 
administrations  to  pilot  the  upgrade  to  IPv6,  thereby  creating  showcases  and  new 
momentum for moving to IPv6 on a large scale.  

The Commission will launch pilots to demonstrate how public administrations can 
deliver eGovernment services in a more flexible and efficient way through the use 
of innovative architectures and technologies. 

Between 2011 and 2015 the tasks of the European Commission for these actions may include 
the following: 

– 

– 

111 

organising  the  exchange  of  expert  opinions  (workshops)  and  launching  a  study  to 
explore  the  possibilities  offered  by  new  architectural  approaches  and  the  options 
available with a focus on their costs and benefits; 

investigating the areas where further research will be needed; 

In line with COM(2008) 313, the Commission will prepare a Staff Working Paper in 2011 identifying 
any follow-up actions that may be required. 

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– 

– 

launching  pilot(s)  to  demonstrate  the  possibilities  and  benefits  of  the  innovative 
architectures  and  technologies,  including  the  sharing  of  components  with  the 
Member States' administrations and other service developers; 

evaluating  the  study  results  and  defining  follow-up  actions  with  a  view  to 
implementing new paradigms, including exchanges of knowledge and experience.  

5. 

GOVERNANCE 

5.1.  Monitoring Progress  

The  overall  progress  of  the  Action  Plan  and  of  eGovernment  in  general  will  be  measured 
annually,  using  an  appropriate  mix  of  instruments  (benchmarking,  bench-learning,  self-
assessment) and methodologies (web research, public data analysis, user testing, interviews).  

In  addition  to  these  EU-wide  exercises,  Member  States  shall  share  with  the  European 
Commission  and  other  Member  States  any  benchmarking  initiatives  conducted  within  their 
country.  This  will  enrich  the  knowledge  base  and  also  enable  the  development  of  common 
measurement  exercises  among  interested  parties.  All  this  taken  together  shall  constitute  the 
basis of an eGovernment benchmarking framework in line with the goals of this eGovernment 
Action Plan. 

The aim is to have a good picture of how the EU is progressing and at the same time benefit 
from  the  lessons  learned  as  much  as  possible.  For  this  reason,  the  measurement  will  be 
complemented by the active and intense exchange of experience between Member States and 
the  Commission  (ePractice,  thematic  workshops).  To  this  end  active  learning  communities 
will be established in ePractice.eu. 

The  Commission  will  continue  to  support  and  develop  the  ePractice.eu  portal  as  the  place 
where eGovernment professionals can meet, share and learn from real life experiences. This 
platform  has  already  proven  to  be  a  success  in  terms  of  users,  cases  and  specialised 
communities.  The  Commission  intends  to  continuously  enhance  the  quality  of  the  portal,  in 
particular search facilities, making the most of web 2.0 technologies, increasing accessibility 
and developing multi-channel access. 

5.2. 

Evaluation  

A coherent framework needs to be established in order to discuss the take-up of eGovernment 
in  Europe,  to  monitor  and  evaluate  the  Action  Plan  and  exchange  experiences.  The 
implementation of the eGovernment Action Plan will be subject to a mid-term evaluation in 
2013. The evaluation will examine the extent to which the Action Plan objectives have been 
achieved, the progress made and the difficulties encountered. Depending on the results of the 
evaluation, any necessary adjustments to the objectives and actions of the Action Plan will be 
reviewed with the proposed High Level Expert-Group. A review of progress, discussions on 
new  directions  for  political  priorities  and  subsequent  updating  of  this  Action  Plan,  and  the 
promotion  of  eGovernment  services,  are  envisaged  on  a  regular  basis  through  Ministerial 
Conferences.  

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5.3. 

Governance 

The commitment of the Member States as demonstrated in the Malmö Declaration is essential 
for a successful implementation of the Action Plan. The Member States expressed the need in 
the Malmö Declaration to be involved in the follow-up of the Action Plan through a "steering 
group" chaired by the Commission in order to ensure a fruitful collaboration. 

To this end, the European Commission will set up and chair a High Level Expert-Group of the 
Member States representatives responsible for the national eGovernment strategies. This High 
Level Expert-Group will inform the High Level group for the Digital Agenda about progress 
in  the  eGoverment  areas  and  will  coordinate  with  the  ISA  Programme  Committee.  The 
intention  of  the  Commission  is  to  suggest  to  Member  States  that  the  same  delegates 
participate in the High Level Expert-Group and the ISA Programme  Committee. Additional 
cooperation will also be encouraged. 

The eGovernment High Level Expert-Group shall be composed of the representatives of the 
Member states and Candidate countries responsible for the eGovernment national strategies. 
Representatives  from  public  administrations  specifically  responsible  for  the  priorities  in  the 
Action  Plan  may  need  to  be  appointed.  Where  appropriate,  the  eGovernment  High  Level 
Expert-Group will report to or jointly meet with other expert groups. 

To achieve the above the proposed actions are: 

2011 

The  Commission  will  establish  a  High  Level  Expert-Group  of  Member  States' 
representatives and will suggest an appropriate mandate. 

2012  Member States will inform the Commission and the High Level Expert-Group how 
the political priorities of the Ministerial Declaration of Malmö have been or will be 
reflected in their national eGovernment strategies.  

2013 

2013 

2015 

All  Member  States  have  incorporated  the  political  priorities  of  the  Malmö 
Declaration in their national strategies. 

The eGovernment Action Plan is evaluated and the findings are used to update the 
Action Plan. 

All  Member  States  inform  the  Commission  and  the  High  Level  Expert-Group  in 
which way the political priorities of the Malmö Declaration have been realised.  

ANNEX 1: MILESTONES IN PREPARATION OF THE ACTION PLAN 

A time line with the most important milestones in the preparation of the eGovernment Action 
Plan 2011-2015 has been listed below: 

– 

On 6 August 2008 the European Commission sent a questionnaire to Member States 
collecting  the  priority  issues.  The  European  Commission  received  completed 
questionnaires  from  31  countries.  The  general  message  from  the  feedback  to  the 
questionnaire  was  to  continue  along  the  same  main  lines  as  in  the  former  Action 
Plan,  but  to  refocus  and  sharpen  by  bringing  in  new  elements,  and  reducing  the 

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number  of  priorities  while  enlarging  their  scope.  In  addition,  a  more  feasible  sub-
Action Plan should be specified. The European Commission sent an analysis of the 
questionnaire to Member States on 16 October 2008. 

In December 2008 the report ' Value for citizens: A vision of public governance in 
2020'112  was  presented.  The  vision  expressed  is  to  stimulate  the  debate  on  the  key 
transformations and challenges ahead for the renewal of the European eGovernment 
agenda beyond 2010. 

On  20  March  2009  the  European  Commission  published  its  Orientations  Paper113. 
The aim of this paper was to provide guidance for the decision-making processes that 
led  to  a  new  Ministerial  Declaration  on  eGovernment  in  2009.  It  concluded  that 
Member States and the European Commission will continue to foster innovation in 
eGovernment  and  to  carefully  assess  its  actions,  in  order  to  increase  the  efficiency 
and effectiveness of European governance in its own right and in order to support the 
development and provision of cross-border services that will improve the working of 
the  internal  market  and  empower  all  social  and  economic  actors  in  the  European 
Union. 

On  30  June  2009  Christiano  and  Osimo114  published  their  report  on  future 
eGovernment Services. Among others it presented the Tao Government scenario that 
leads to a flexible architecture. This would enable both government and third parties 
to collaborate and share responsibilities in producing and providing services. 

In November 2009 the Progress Report on the i2010 eGovernment Action Plan in the 
EU27+115 was published. The objectives of the study were to undertake a qualitative 
analysis  of  progress  towards  achieving  the  goals  of  the  i2010  eGovernment  Action 
Plan, 2006-2010, and to evaluate its stimulus effect across the Member States. 

At the same time in November 2009, the 8th eGovernment Benchmark116 report was 
presented that concluded among others that Europe shows continued steady progress 
in terms of full online availability. The overall EU27+ measure has risen to 71% in 
2009 from 59% in 2007.  

On  18  November  2009  Ministers  have  unanimously  approved  the  Malmö 
Declaration at the 5th Ministerial eGovernment Conference in Malmö, Sweden117. Its 
aim was to build on past achievements and to further improve online public services 
for  citizens  and  businesses  in  Europe  and  to  shift  from  a  "one-size-fits-all"  to  a 

a 

for 

post 

2010 

eGovernment  Action  Plan.  Online 

Botterman Maarten, Millard Jeremy et al. (2009). Value for citizens: A vision of public governance in 
2020. Report for the European Commission, Brussels: Information Society and Media Directorate. 
eGovernment  Sub-group  Working  document,  20/03/09,  Visions  and  priorities  for  eGovernment  in 
Europe;  Orientations 
report: 
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/egovernment/docs/2015_background_doc-210-pvt.pdf 
Codagnone  Christiano  &  Osimo  David  (2008).  Future  technology  needs  for  future  eGovernment 
Services: Services platform report. Report for the European Commission, Brussels: Information Society 
and Media Directorate. 
Millard Jeremy, Shahin Jamal et al. (2009). i2010 eGovernment Action Plan Progress Study. Report for 
the European Commission, Brussels: Information Society and Media Directorate. 
Smarter, Faster, Better eGovernment, 8th Benchmark Measurement, November 2009, Capgemini, Rand 
Europe, IDC, Sogeti and DTI for: Report for the European Commission, Brussels: Information Society 
and Media Directorate. 
http://www.egov2009.se/wp-content/uploads/Ministerial-Declaration-on-eGovernment.pdf 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

112 

113 

114 

115 

116 

117 

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customised  approach.  Ministers  have  indicated  that  public  administrations  should 
jointly strive for the following policy priorities, to be achieved by 2015:  

•  Citizens and businesses are empowered by eGovernment services designed around 
users’  needs  and  developed  in  collaboration  with  third  parties,  as  well  as  by 
increased  access  to  public  information,  strengthened  transparency  and  effective 
means for the involvement of stakeholders in the policy process,  

•  Mobility in the single market is reinforced by seamless eGovernment services for 
the setting up and running of a business and for studying, working, residing and 
retiring anywhere in the European Union,  

•  Efficiency  and  effectiveness  is  improved  by  a  continuous  effort  to  use 
eGovernment  to  reduce  the  administrative  burden,  improve  organisational 
processes and promote a sustainable low-carbon economy,  

•  The  implementation  of  the  policy  priorities  is  made  possible  by  appropriate  key 

enablers and legal and technical preconditions.  

The Ministerial Declaration has received support from the industry as DigitalEurope 
adopted an Industry Declaration118 that was presented at the conference in November 
2009. 

An  Open  Declaration119  on  public  services  2.0  drafted  by  citizens  resulted  in  the 
involvement of citizens and endorsement of 3 key principles including transparency, 
participation, and empowerment. 

On  4  December  2009  a  questionnaire  on  the  eGovernment  Action  Plan  2011-2015 
was  sent  to  Member  States,  which  aimed  to  identify  objectives,  actions  and  targets 
for a new eGovernment Action Plan 2011-2015. 17 Member States have provided the 
European Commission with their comments. 

On 18 December 2009 the Council of the European Union presented its conclusions 
on  a  Post  i-2010  Strategy  -  towards  an  open,  green  and  competitive  knowledge 
society'120. With regard to eGovernment the Council emphasised the four objectives 
of  the  Malmö  Declaration  and  added  that  promoting  open  ICT  standards  will 
facilitate  interoperability,  technological  progress  and  extend  the  use  of  ICT  to 
citizens and businesses. 

On  1  January  2010  Rand  et  al.  started  a  study  on  eGovernment  scenarios  for  2020 
and the preparation of the 2015 Action Plan. This study supported the elaboration of 
an  eGovernment  Action  Plan  2011-2015.  The  study  provided  inputs  to  the  process 
that lead to the definition of a coherent set of actions that contribute to the realisation 
of the political priorities and objectives laid down in the Malmö Declaration.  

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

118 
119 

120 

http://www.digitaleurope.org/index.php?id=34&id_article=390 
An  Open  Declaration  reflecting  the  growing  interest  of  citizens  in  eGovernment  was  presented  in 
Malmö in response to the Ministerial Declaration (http://eups20.wordpress.com/the-open-declaration/). 
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/en/trans/111999.pdf 

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– 

On  19  May  2010  the  Commission  launched  the  Digital  Agenda  for  Europe121.  The 
Agenda  outlines  seven  priority  areas  for  action:  creating  a  digital  internal  market, 
greater  interoperability,  boosting  internet  trust  and  security,  much  faster  internet 
access,  more  investment  in  research  and  development,  enhancing  digital  literacy 
skills  and  inclusion,  and  applying  information  and  communications  technologies  to 
address challenges facing society like climate change and the ageing population. In 
these seven areas, the Digital Agenda foresees some 100 follow-up actions, of which 
31 would be legislative. The Digital Agenda is the first of seven flagship initiatives 
under the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. 

121 

COM(2010) 245 (http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda) 

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