Source: EURLEX
Language: en
Format: md

6.1. 87 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 2/5

Proposal for a Council Regulation introducing the preparatory phase of a Community
programme on trade electronic data interchange systems (TEDIS)

_COM(86) 662 final_

_(Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 3 December 1986)_

(87/C 2/05)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Economic Community, and in particular Article 235
thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament,

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
Social Committee,

Whereas the Community has as its task, by establishing a
common market and progressively approximating the
economic policies of Member States, to promote
throughout the Community a harmonious development
of economic activities and closer relations between the

States belonging to it;

Whereas the Heads of State or of Government, meeting
in Stuttgart, Athens and Fontainebleau, have emphasized
the importance of telecommunications as a vital driving
force for economic growth and social development;

Whereas the European Parliament, in evaluating the
situation and development of telecommunications,
emphasized the key role of the latter in the future
political, social and economic development of the
Community (debates of the European Parliament on
telecommunications 1983, Leonardi report, Albert and
Ball report of 1982);

Whereas on 17 December 1984, the Council approved
the main features of a Community policy on
telecommunications, including the aim of developing
advanced telecommunication services and networks

through Community projects;

Whereas the telecommunications sector is of great
economic importance as regards both its own industrial
activities and its contribution to efficient information

interchange throughout the Community;

Whereas there are specific aspects to information
technology standards and the work needed to produce
them, and in particular:

— the complexity of the technical specifications and the
precision needed for data interchange and systems
interoperability;

— the urgent need for standards in order to prevent
totally incompatible (trade) electronic data interchange systems being developed;

— the need to ensure that international standards are

implemented on a basis that makes them credible for
practical use;

Whereas a general programme of information technology and telecommunications standardization is being
implemented;

Whereas the proposal for a Council Directive on standardization in the field of information technology and
telecommunications is intended to establish in those

sectors a general framework for drawing up standards or
common technical specifications so as to facilitate information exchange throughout the Community by
breaking down the barriers created by the incompatibilities that stem from the absence of standards
or their lack of precision;

Whereas under the CD project ( [!] ) action is to be taken
to ensure close cooperation with commercial and
industrial interests so as to provide appropriate
communications and information exchange interfaces
between commercial and industrial systems and those of
customs administration;

Whereas the abovementioned objective can be achieved
only through the establishment of close cooperation
between commercial and industrial interests in different

industries so as to ensure the necessary compatibility of
trade electronic data interchange systems;

O OJ No C 167, 6. 7. 1985, p. 3.

No C 2/6 Official Journal of the European Communities 6.1.87

Whereas the CDproject requires that consideration be
given to the aspects concerning the security, protection
and privacy of data in respect of imports, exports and
intra-Community trade supplied to, held by, or in course
of transmission between the Commission, customs
administrations and commercial CIRCLES;

Whereas the above questions form part of a much wider
issue, the protection of information in the context of
trade electronic data interchange between information
systems; whereas it is essential to ensure consistency
between the measures taken under the CD project and
those implemented in the industrial context;

Whereas the Commission's White Paper on completing
the internal market underlines the importance of the
development of new cross-border services and the part
that telecommunications networks based on common

standards can play in creating a market free of obstacles
at Community level;

Whereas trade electronic data interchange can increasingly help to strengthen the competitiveness of
European companies in manufacturing and services;

Whereas there is at present a rapid increase in public and
private efforts at both national and international level to
bring into service within companies, groups and
industries trade electronic data interchange systems that
are not compatible with each other;

Whereas the diverse and piecemeal approaches to trade
electronic data interchange adopted within a country or
more generally a firm, group of firms or industry are
likely to lead to the establishment of incompatible
systems unable to communicate with each other and to
prevent both users and suppliers of equipment and
services from benefiting to the full from the advantages
offered by the development of trade electronic data
interchange;

Whereas to ensure that these trade electronic data

interchange systems be able to communicate it is
necessary to adopt a programme containing an initial set
of activities of common interest needed for the

coordinated development of trade electronic data
interchange and a further set of activities more closely
linked to sectoral projects so as to help solve in a
coordinated fashion the common problems encountered
during their development;

Whereas in a preparatory phase it is necessary to carry
out activities and studies so as to establish and develop
conditions conducive to the coordinated development of
trade electronic data interchange;

Whereas in the light of results obtained in the
preparatory phase it will be necessary to define the aims
and details of a second phase offering support for pilot
projects and continuing some of the activities started in
the preparatory phase;

Whereas the Treaty has not provided the necessaryspecific powers,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

_Article 1_

A Community programme on trade electronic data
interchange systems (TEDIS) is herey set up.

_Article 2_

The preparatory phase shall be implemented in
accordance with the provisions of this Regulation. It
shall cover a period of two years starting on 1 January
1987.

_Article 3_

The aims of the preparatory phase are:

1. coordination at Community level of work going on
in the Member States on the development of trade
electronic data interchange systems;

2. alerting of potential users;

3. alerting of European hardware and software manufacturers to the opportunities offered by electronic
data interchange;

4. logistic support for European sectoral groups;

5. consideration of the specific requirements of trade
electronic data interchange in telecommunications
and standardization policies; carrying out of
preparatory work for that pupose;

6. help in the setting up of conformance testing centres
for software and hardware used in trade electronic

data interchange systems;

6.1.87 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 2/7

7. solving of legal problems that might inhibit the
development of trade electronic data interchange
and ensuring that restrictive telecommunications
regulations cannot hamper the development of trade
electronic data interchange;

8. study of security requirements for trade electronic
data interchange systems so as to guarantee
confidentiality of messages transmitted;

9. study of specific problems caused by the many
different languages in the Community and examination of the possibility of using of the results
obtained or expected under the machine translation
programmes Systran and Eurotra;

10. study of the advisability of promoting the
development of the specialized software needed for
trade electronic data interchange;

11. list of existing or potential sectoral projects on trade
electronic data interchange and a comparative
analysis of them;

12. identification of special requirements emerging
during the implementation of trade electronic data
interchange systems that could be solved more easily
with Community assistance;

13. particular study of the assistance that could be given
small businesses to help them to take part in trade
electronic data interchange;

14. possible support for pilot projects whose gradual
implementation would help to find solutions that
could be extended to problems of common interest
encountered by most trade electronic data
interchange systems.

_Article 4_

Activities in the preparatory phase shall be carried on in
coordination with the existing or planned policies and
activities in the Community on telecommunications, the

information market, value-added networks and services,
standardization and multilingualism, and in particular
with the Caddia and CD projects, so as to ensure the
necessary interaction with the specific requirements of
trade electronic data interchange.

_Article_ _">_

Contracts for the preparatory phase shall be concluded
with companies, including small and medium-sized firms,
research establishments and other bodies established in

the Community.

_Article 6_

1. The Community shall contribute to the preparatory
phase of the programme within the limits of the appropriations entered for that purpose in the general budget of
the Communities.

2. The amount estimated necessary to cover the
Community's contribution to the work in the
preparatory phase of the programme is 6 million ECU
for the duration of the preparatory phase.

_Article 7_

The Commission shall ensure that the preparatory phase
of the TEDIS programme is carried out satisfactorily
and shall take the appropriate implementing measures.

_Article 8_

The Commission shall submit to the Council by 1
January 1989 at the latest a report on the execution of
the work defined in this Regulation and on guidelines
for the continuation of the TEDIS programme.

_Article 9_

This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January 1987.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
directly applicable in all Member States.