Source: EURLEX
Language: en
Format: md

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## **`COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES`**

```
                       COM(89) 603 final - SYN 228

                       Brussels, 5 December 1989

                 Proposal for a

                COUNCIL DECISION

    adopting a specific programme concerning the preparation of

       the development of an operational EUROTRA system

             (presented by the Commission)

```

_C&nt<_ _>_

```
          Communication fro» the Commission to Counoil

    Subject : Proposal for a Counoil Deoision adopting a specific
         programme concerning the preparation of the development
         of an operational EUROTRA system.

#### **•JT4 •** v**

```

```
                 - 2 
I. BACKGROUND

1. The Framework Programme 1987-1991C [1] ) foresees under action line
   8.4. with regard to linguistic problems the following actions :

     completion by 1990 of a first multilingual prototype machine
     translation system (for nine official Community languages)
     (EUROTRA)

     For this point the Commission has submitted to Council a
     proposal on 1 June 1988^ [2] ) and amended it on 7 February
     1989(3) incorporating a number of recommendations of the
     European Parliament, and Council has adopted its Decision on
     20 June 1989(4)

     support to the industrial development of a machine
     translation system, development of methods and tools for the
     reusability of lexical resources in computerized
     applications and creation of standards for lexical and
     terminological data.

     These points are the subject of the present proposal.

2. Action line 8.4. of the Framework Programme foresees a tota"
   expenditure of 55 million ECU. This amount is subdivided amon e
   the various specific programmes as follows :

       VALUBC [5] ) 38 million ECU
      Phase 3 of EUROTRA 7 million ECU
      present speoifio programme proposal 10 million ECU

     TOTAL 55 million ECU

   The present proposal takes into account these factors and the
   duration of the current EUROTRA programme (ending on 30 June
   1990).

(1) OJ n» L 302 Of 24.10.1987, p. 1
(2) COM (88) 270 final
(3) COM (89) 20 final/2 - SYK 137
(4) OJ n* L 200 Of 13.7.1989, p. 15
(5) OJ n [#] L 200 Of 13.7.1989, p. 23

```

```
                   - 3 
II. STARTING CONDITIONS OF THE PROGRAMME

3. The proposal builds on the achievements of the current EUROTRA
   programme.

   The objective of the programme is the creation of a machine
   translation system of advanced design (EUROTRA) capable of
   dealing with all official languages of the Community.

   On completion of the programme an operational system prototype
   should be available in a limited field and for limited categories
   of text, which would serve as a basis for development of a
   practical system in the period following the current programme.

   The practical results likely to be obtained by the end of the
   third phase include among others :

      for each of the nine languages analysis and synthesis
      modules with a broad coverage of the linguistic phenomena
      which occur in the text types chosen (handbooks, manuals,
      scientific articles in the field of telecommunications);

      for each of the languages the general vocabulary which is
      used in these texts (approx. 8.000 entries);

      the technical terminology of a number of subfields of
      telecomunications (approx. 12.000 entries);

      transfer modules with this coverage for a representative
      number of language pairs (approx. 50);

      a number of linguistio research results achieved during the
      final year of the programme which should be incorporated in
      the future Implementations.

   It is planned to carry out an intermediate evaluation of the
   progress of the EUROTRA programme during the second half of 1989.
   As far as possible the same experts as those who carried out the
   programme assessment in 1987 will be invited to conduct this
   evaluation. The evaluation report should become available before
   the end of 1989.

```

```
p

```

```
                 4 
T
 n the Council Decisions of 25 July 1988(6) on the transition of
EUROTRA to the third phase and of 20 June 1989(?) on the
completion of the programme, these initial objectives have been
maintained. In addition, following the recommendations of tr.e
panel of independent experts who assessed the programme in 198;'
and of the Energy, Research and Technology Committee of the
European Parliament a number of additional actions have bee^
included in the programme of work of the third phase of EUROTRA.

These additional actions aim in particular at the preparation f c
the implementation of a practical EUROTRA system, thr.
involvement of enterprises, setting up cooperation schemes
between research institutions and enterprises and training of
researchers and engineers.

```

```
6. In the course of 1989 the Commission has launched studies
   covering the following points :

      outline definition of a practical BUROTRA system including
      qualitative and quantitative performance, user and system
      maintenance environments, sub-, by- and spin-off produr      and systems, development strategies, actors, time scale...
      costs etc. Among other things this study should provide
      enterprises with elements which will allow them to make use
      of the research results of the EUROTRA programme for product
      development;

      system analysis of the general architecture of EUROTRA. This
      study aims at the definition of a basis for further
      technological development both in view of machine
      translation and other applications;

      design studies to define the system development, testing and
      research environment. They should lead to a number of
      recommendations and specifications covering the various
      system components needed for the development of large scalo
      systems, especially in view of the economic feasibility of
      such development ;

      a project definition study for the re-usability of lexical
      resources in computerized applications.

   In addition the Commission supports, and participates actively
   in, an international project, called "Text Encoding Initiative"
   which was launched by professional associations and aims at the
   definition of a proposal for international standards concerning
   textual and lexical data.

(6) OJ N [e] . L £22 Of 12.08.1988, p.l
(7) OJ H [c] . L 200 Of 13.07.1989, p. 15

```

```
                   - 5 
III. OBJECTIVES AND CONTENT OP THE PROGRAMME

7. Considering the time-scales and the levels of financing foreseen
   for the proposed programme, the objectives are necessarily
   limited.

   The programme is foreseen to last for a period of 2 years from 1
   July 1990 to 30 June 1992 with an average Community funding of
   5 million ECU per annum.

8. Following the actions foreseen in the Framework Programme • the
   objectives of this proposal are articulated under three main
   headings :

   (i) Preparation for the development of an operational EUROTRA
      system.

      The main objective of the actions under this heading is to
      create, starting from the EUROTRA prototype and building on
      the results of a number of ESPRIT projects, appropriate
      conditions for its further development. This includes
      further research aiming at the improvement of the linguistic
      performance of the system. The main action lines include :

      (a) Implementation of a stable and efficient system
        development and testing environment: it should include :

        - a streamlined rule formalism with special emphasis on
          expressive power, reversibility, declarativity,
          modularity and control mechanisms;

                 an efficient rule interpreter capable of handling
          large dictionaries, grammars and texts at an
          acceptable speed;

        - a data base system for the storage and management of
          large dictionaries, grammars and text corpora;

        - a user environment for the creation and maintenance
          of large dictionaries and grammars;

        - a testing environment with special emphasis on
          interactive testing .

      (b) Language speciflo linguistic research and development
        work aiming at the extension of the prototype system and
        at the improvement of its linguistic performance. This
        action line should include :

```

```
            - 6 
  Review of the existing linguistio implementations

  The existing linguistio implementations will have to be
  adapted to the revised framework and environment, so
  that they can be used as a stable basis for further
  extensions foreseen within the present programme and
  beyond.

  Extension of the linguistio coverage

  The grammatical coverage is to be gradually extended so
  as to deal with phenomena occurring in new text types.
  Special attention should be given to the optimal use of
  the modularity of the system architecture to capture
  text type and subject field specific phenomena.

  Experimentation with relayed transfer

  The basic principle consists in using one interface
  structure as a pivot through which transfer from and
  into all other languages transits. The economio stake
  for a practical multilingual system (awaiting an
  interlingual solution) is the reduction of the geometric
  progression of individual language pairs (72 for nine
  languages) to exactly one transfer from and into each
  language. The success of this experimentation would
  greatly enhance the economic feasibility of a truly
  multilingual system with equal coverage of all
  directions of translation.

  Incorporation and testing of research results

  EUROTRA is designed as an evolutionary system able to
  inoorporate new researoh results. When such results
  become available, they must be integrated in the
  relevant modules and extensively tested with regard to
  their effectiveness for the solution of the problems
  which they are intended to solve, mostly in three
  areas :

  - the resolution of ambiguities;
  - the reduotion of complex transfer;
  - the extension of the interlinguality of the interface
    structure.

  Ultimately, they aim at the improvement of the quality
  of translation.

```

**`(o)`** **`Linguistio`** **`research`** _**QiSkSlQ**_ **`and applied)—`** _**ol**_ **`—general`**

```
  interest

  To ensure the evolution of EUROTRA, a continuing effort
  of linguistio research is necessary.

```

```
               - 7 
     An initial sot of priority areas is expected to be
     defined as an outcome of the system review undertaken
     during the third phase and the evaluation at the end of
     the EUROTRA programme.

     Strategically the systematic and exhaustive use of
     general linguistio knowledge is to be given priority. It
     is, however, well-known that certain classes of problems
     cannot be solved on the basis of linguistic knowledge
     alone, and that "extra-linguistic" knowledge is needed
     for their solution (common sense world knowledge,
     domain-specific knowledge, discourse-specific
     knowledge).

     Since considerable research efforts are being made
     outside the present programme in relation to knowledge
     bases, expert systems, inferencing, advanced information
     systems etc., the main thrust will be in the use of the
     research results obtained in such projects and in
     experimentation in cooperation with such projects.

   (d) Research in system architectures

     EUROTRA is designed as an intelligent knowledge based
     system (IKBS) which at present incorporates linguistic
     specialist knowledge and eventually will incorporate,
     or interface with, extra-linguistlo knowledge.
     Considerable effort is being put elsewhere in knowledge
     representation/engineering, expert systems and advanced
     hardware arohiteotures (parallel, associative,
     connectionist machines). In order to give EUROTRA and
     language technology in general a sufficient potential
     for innovation, a permanent effort is necessary to
     explore the possibilities offered by the new
     developments and eventually to experiment their use for
     natural languages.

(ii) Development of methods and tools for the reusability of
   lexical resources in computarlzed applications.

   The objectives of this action line are twofold:

   Oe) Use of existing lexical and terminological resources for
     building EUROTRA dictionaries

     The availability of large-scale high-quality
     dictionaries and terminological resources is crucial for
     a practical MT system and any other application
     involving natural language. This action line is to
     provide methods and tools for this purpose. The project
     definition study under way will provide the necessary
     details.

```

```
                   - 8 
      (f) Re-usabillty of lexical and grammatical resources

        The purpose of this aotion line is to demonstrate that
        modules developed for EUROTRA can actually be used in a
        variety of applications with some natural language
        component. It Involves pilot and demonstrator projects
        in cooperation with those responsible for relevant
        application projects.

   (iii) Creation of standards for lexical and terminological data:

       In every field of technology the availability of
       international standards is a necessity. For linguistic
       technologies the Commission considers the creation of sue:,
       standards as a long-term objective. Within the present
       programme the only realistio actions to be envisaged must
       be of a preparatory nature including prenormative research
       and stimulatory actions, such as :

       (g) Active participation in initiatives aiming at the
          creation of such standards (dictionaries,
          terminologies, corpora).

       (h) Stimulation of activities aiming at provide
          adequate terminological ooverage of the offic
          languages in key areas of soienoe and technology.

9. The results expected from this programme are :

      a set of stable, efficient and user-friendly software tools
      and a tested methodology for large-scale system development;

      a set of tools and methods for building large-scale
      dictionaries by the extensive use of existing lexical

      resources;

      a set of tools and methods for the incorporation of
      specialized terminological collections;

      for all nine Community languages well-tested implementations
      of analysis and synthesis modules with broad grammatical
      coverage and a representative lexioal coverage (no large      scale lexicographio work is foreseen in this programme,
      pending the outcome of the work on the reusability of
      lexical and terminological resouroes);

      should the experimentation with relayed transfer be
      successful, the translation from eaoh language into all
      other languages, otherwise the translation between a
      representative number of language pairs;

```

```
                   - 9 
      experience of cooperation models aiming at the developrent
      of a practical multilingual translation system, and cf a
      number of intermediate sub-, by- and spin-off products;

IV. ORGANIZATION AND ACTORS

10. EUROTRA involves the active participation of all twelve Merber
   states. This participation is implemented through contracts of
   association with the Member States which determine also the ratio
   of Community and national contributions to the programme.

11. In general the responsibility of each national research teaa is
   the analysis and synthesis of its own national language and the
   transfer from the other languages into its own language. The work
   on the Dutch language is done jointly by the Netherlands and
   Belgium and on the French language by France and Belgium. Ireland
   is responsible for the coordination of the terminological wcrk,
   while Luxembourg provides general infrastructural support for
   documentation and testing and distribution of the software and
   Belgium is also responsible for eleotronio lexicographic work of
   general interest.

12. All national teams participate aotively in basic and applied
   lingulstio research of general interest. This work is coordinated
   by the project team in the Commission with the support of a
   number of researchers from the national teams whose work is
   financed 100 % from Community funds.

13. The design of the general system framework and of the rule
   formalism and the initial prototype implementation of the
   software were carried out under a similar schema as the general
   lingulstio research. In the course of the third phase, software
   development and maintenance have progressively concentrated in
   the Commission project team with the assistance of experts from
   the European software industry. This work is also fully financed
   from Community funds.

```

```
                   - 10 
14. In the course of the third phase, the virtually closed schema of
   the contracts of association has been opened to additional
   research institutes and enterprises, who have been entrusted with
   a number of system analysis, feasibility and design studies.

15. In the light of the experience gained with the organizational
   structure of EUROTRA, the following schema is proposed for this

   programme :

   (a) The design and specifications of the system development and
      testing environment are expected to be ready for the start
```

**`of this programme. It is estimated that some 20 % of`** _**t:**_
```
      overall budget is necessary for its implementation, whi
      should be fully financed from Community funds.

   (b) The language-specific R#D work described under point 8
      letter b should continue and be co-finanoed by the
      Community and the Member States based on the same
      arrangements as the current contracts of association. It is
      proposed that about 40 % of the Community funds should be
      destined for this purpose.

   (c) The actions of a more exploratory nature, especially those
      desoribed under point 8, letters o, d, e and f should
      carried out as cooperative ventures between industi.
      research Institutes and existing EUROTRA teams and be co      financed on a 50-50 basis by the Community and the
      participants. The projeots will be seleoted through calls
      for proposals/tenders. 30 % of the overall budget should be
      used for this purpose.

   (d) The Commission is aware of the soaroity of expertise and
      talent in the field of maohine translation and computational
      linguistics. It is therefore proposed to reserve 10 % of the
      Community budget to award grants to graduate students to
      enable them to participate in the work of the EUROTRA teams
      or of the other participants in the programme.

   (e) The Commission will maintain the programme management and
      coordination function. It is estimated that 8 additional
      temporary staff are required for the implementation of this
      specifio programme.

```

```
                 - 11 
   (f) The Commission proposes that in the execution of this
      Programme it should be assisted by an Advisory Committee,
      which should among others, take over the role of the present
      CGC-12.

V. 7INANCTAL ESTIMATIONS

16. The overall budget of 10 million ECU should be subdivided as
   follows (in 1,000 ECU) :

```

```
 National
Contributions

  4.000

  3.000

  7.000

```

```
. SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT AND

 TESTING ENVIRONMENT

. NATIONAL RESEARCH TEAMS

 - Community contribution

 - National contribution

. COOPERATIVE PROJECTS

 - EC contribution

 - participants

. TRAINING

. TOTAL

```

```
   EC
Contributions

  2.000

  4.000

  3.000

  1.000

 10.000

```

```
TOTAL

 2.000

 8.000

6.000

 1.000

17.000

```

```
                 - 12 
17. The Commission requests the Council to adopt the proposal
   for a decision concerning a speoifio programme for
   development of an operational EUROTRA system
   which is annexed to this communication.

VII. âXuLEXEû.

I. Proposal for a Council Decision adopting a specifio programme
   for the preparation of the development of an operational EUflOT^
   system .

II. Opinion of CGC-12 of 26 June 1989.

III. Financial Statement.

```

```
                 - 13 - ANNEX I

               Proposal for a

              COUNCIL DECISION

   adopting a specific programme concerning the preparation
     of the development of an operational EUROTRA system

TEE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES.

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic
Community, and in particular Article 130q, (2) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission^ [1] ),

In cooperation with the European Parliament(2),

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social
Committee^ [3] ),

Whereas Article 130k of the Treaty provides that the Framework
Programme is to be implemented through specific programmes
developed within each activity;

Whereas by Decision 87/516/Euratom, EEC^ [4] ) the Council adopted a
Framework programme of Community research and technological
development (1987 to 1991) providing inter alia for activities on
linguistic problems (action line 8.4;, Including the preparation of
the development of an operational machine translation system;

Whereas by Decision 82/752/EEC^ [5] ), the Council adopted a
Community research and development programme for a machine
translation system of advanced design (EUROTRA) ;

Whereas Decision 86/591/EEC(6) amended Decision 82/752/EEC on
account of the accession of Spain and Portugal;

Whereas by Decision 88/445/EEC^ [7] ), the Council approved the
transition of the EUROTRA programme to its third phase;

Whereas by Decision 89/410/EEC(8), the Council adopted a specific
programme for the completion of EUROTRA;

Whereas Decision 82/752/EEC provided that on oompletion of the
EUROTRA programme an operational system prototype should be
available in a limited field and for limited categories of text;

```

```
24.10.
13.11.
04.12.
12.08.
13.07.

```

**(1)**
```
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)

```

```
OJ NO

OJ NO

OJ NO

OJ NO L
OJ NO L

OJ NO L

OJ NO L
OJ NO L

```

```
302,
317,
341,
222,
200

```

```
1987,
.1982,

```

```
1986,
1988,
1989,

```

```
P
P
P.

P
P
```

```
1.
19.
39.
1.
15.

```

```
                 - 14 
Whereas Decision 82/752/EEC included in the programme of work for
the third phase of the EUROTRA programme the preparation of a
proposal for the further development of the system;

Whereas the objectives of the EUROTRA programme are expected to be
achieved by 30 June 1990;

Whereas the results of the programme are expected to constitute a
solid basis for the preparation of the development of an
operational multilingual machine translation system for the nine
official Community languages;

Whereas the programme is expected to make an important contribution
to the economic, social and cultural cohesion of the Community, and
to reconcile the benefits of its linguistic plurality with the
attainment of the internal market;

Whereas the programme constitutes the first step towards the
development of a practical machine translation system;

Whereas additional efforts will have to be made by the Community,
the Member States and European Industry in order to reach this
objective;

Whereas the Scientific and Technical Research Committee (CREST) has
been consulted;

Whereas the Management and Coordination Advisory Committe
"Linguistic Problems" (CGC-12) has delivered a favorable opinion;

Whereas an estimate of the amount of the financial contribution of
the Community deemed necessary for the exeoution of this programme
should be made;

Whereas this amount is included in the financial forecast annexed
to the interinstitutional agreement of 29 June 1988(9);

Whereas the appropriations effectively available will be determined
by the budgetary prooedure aooording to the provisions of the
aforementioned interinstitutional agreement,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Artiole 1

A specifio researoh and technological development programme
concerning the preparation of the development of an operational
EUROTRA system as defined in the Annex is hereby adopted for a
period of two years from 1 July 1990.

(9) OJ NO L 185, 15.7.1988, p. 33.

```

```
                 - 15 
Article 2

1. The amount of Community funds deemed necessary for the
   execution of the programme adopted by this Decision is
   ECU 10 million, including expenditure on 5 temporary staff.

2. The appropriations to be made available eaoh year shall be
   determined in the budget.

Article 5

Detailed rules for the implementation of the programme and the
rate of the Community's financial participation are set out in the
Annex.

Article *

The Commission shall conduct an evaluation of the results achieved
at the beginning of 1992 and shall transmit a report on this
subject to the Council and the European Parliament. This report
shall be established having regard to the objectives set out in
Annex and in accordance with Article 2, (2) of Decision
87/516/Euratom, EEC.

Article g

1. The Commission shall be responsible for the execution of the
   programme.

2. The contracts concluded by the Commission shall regulate the
   rights and obligations of eaoh party including the methods of
   disseminating, protecting and exploiting the research results.

Article 6

1. The Commission shall be assisted by a committee of an advisory
   nature oomposed of the representatives of the Member States
   and chaired by the representative of the Commission.

2. The representative of the Commission shall submit to the
   committee a draft of the measures to be taken. The committee
   shall deliver its opinion on the draft, within a time limit
   whioh the ohairman may lay down aocording to the urgenoy of
   the matter, if necessary by taking a vote.

3. The opinion shall be recorded in the minutes; in addition,
   each Member State shall have the right to ask to have its
   position recorded in the minutes.

4. The Commission shall take the utmost account of the opinion
   delivered by the committee. It shall Inform the committee of
   the manner in which its opinion has been taken into account.

```

```
                 - 16 
Article 7

In accordance with Article 13On of the Treaty, the Commission is
hereby authorised to negotiate agreements with international
organisations, third countries participating in European
cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technological Research
(COST) and European countries having conoluded framework agreements
for scientific and technical cooperation with the Community, with a
view to associating them wholly or partly with the programme.

Where framework agreements for scientific and teohnioal cooperation
between European countries and the European Communities have been
concluded, organisations and entreprises established in those
countries may participate in a project undertaken within this

programme.

Article 8

This Deoision is addressed to the Member States.

Done at Brussels, For the Counoil

                             The President

```

**-** **17** **-**

**A N N** **£_X**

**1.** **Objectives**

**This** **programme** **constitutes** **the** **first** **step** **towards** **the**
**development of an operational machine translation system of**
**advanced** **design,** **capable** **of** **dealing** **with** **a l l** **official**
**Community languages. The specific objectives of the programme**

**are :**

**(a)** **Creation** _**Ql**_ **the** **conditions** **for** **the** **transition** **to** **an**
```
   operational system

      implementation of a development, testing and research
      environment capable of supporting large-scale systems;

      extension of the linguistic coverage and large-scale
      testing of the analysis and synthesis modules for all
      languages covered by EUROTRA;

      the definition of common methods for large-scale
      development for machine translation and other
      applications involving natural language;

      experimentation and evaluation of relayed transfer, using
      an interface structure as pivot;

      research, prototype implementation and evaluation of new
      linguistic models aimed at the improvement of the
      interlinguality of the interface structure and control of
      overgeneration;

      research, prototypical implementation and evaluation of
      methods for the use of subjeot-field and text-type
      specific knowledge for translation and other
      applications.

(b) Advancement of work on lexicography and terminology

```

**definition** **of** **common** **methods** **and** **tools** **for** **the**
**integration** **of** **existing** **l e x i c a l** **and** **terminological**
**collections;**

**'** **participation** **in** **the** **definition** **of** **international**
**standards for textual, l e x i c a l and terminological data.**

**-** **16** **-**

**(c)** **Training and** **coopérative** **projects**

**training of researohers** **and engineers through a grant**
**scheme;**

**setting-up, experimentation and evaluation of cooperation**
**schemes between research i n s t i t u t e s and industry.**

```
2. Priority nfitl <™ llnftfl *nrt «nljmfclfln ATMI tff^Tll ftftl flOJltfiPt

   2.1. System development, testing and research environment

   On the basis of the critical review of the prototype
   implementations and the specifications produced by the end of
   June 1990 the implementation of a system development, testing
   and research environment will be commissioned to the European
   software industry on a turn-key basis.

   This environment should have the following characteristics :

      a powerful and user-friendly formalism for desoribing
      linguistic facts (to encode dictionaries and grammars);

      a special-purpose data management system for the creation
      and maintenance of large-scale dictionaries and grammar [r ]
      with special user services for the addition, inspeoti
      and modification of the linguistio data;

      an efficient rule interpreter capable of dealing witix
      large dictionaries, grammars and texts;

      a set of testing tools with special attention to
      interactive run-time testing and oorreotion of
      dictionaries and grammars.

   The system development environment will pay special attention
   to modularity to ensure the re-usability of the linguistic
   resources created through the possibility of oombining the
   various modules in different ways to fulfil speoial tasks and
   of interfacing them with external applications.

   2.2. Language-gpeoiflo Research and Development work

      2.2.1. Review and extension of thS existing
          implementations

      For each of the nine languages oovered, the analysis and
      synthesis modules produced by the EUROTRA programme will
      be thoroughly reviewed to ensure their generality and
      adjusted to the features of the revised formalism.

      On the basis of these revised implementations the
      grammatical coverage will be gradually extended to
      include additional text and discourse types. No large      scale lexical and terminological development work is
      planned for this phase pending the outcome of the
      research on the re-usability of lexical and
      terminological resources (see 2.3 below).

```

###### **- 10 -**

```
   2.2.2. Relayed transfer

   The research and experimentation are to determine the
   feasibility of this approach and the optimal strategy for
   its Implementation.

2.3. Llnguistio research of general Interest

This action line is intended to gradually improve the
linguistlo performance of the system and the quality of
translation. It will be organized along three main directions

   general linguistic research to increase the
   interlinguality of the interface structure and to reduce
   overgeneration;

   use of subject-field specific knowledge (terminologies,
   classification schemes, paradigmatic relations, domain
   models, knowledge bases etc.);
   use of text and discourse type-specifio constraints to
   reduce overgeneration.

It can be predicted that some progress will be made in the
course of this programme, but additional efforts must be
foreseen for the future.

```

**2.4.** **Research into advanced system architectures**

```
To create a potential for innovation and keep pace with the
fast advancement of hardware and software technologies a
continuous research into new formalisms, software and hardware
architectures is to be foreseen, which will lead in selected
cases to experimentation and prototype Implementations (e.g.
parallel system architectures).

2.5. Re-usability of lexical and temlnologloal resources

The details of this aotion line will be defined through
project definition studies to be carried out in 1989 and 1990.

It is expected to have two main components :

   development of methods and tools for the conversion of
   the formalized parts of existing dictionaries which oover
   mostly orthographic phonological, morphological and
   syntactlo information;

   research into the utilization of non-formalized portions
   of dictionaries which ooncern mostly subject
   classification, discourse types, definitions and examples
   or citations. This is an advanced research topic whose
   outcome cannot be predicted now.

```

```
                  - 20 
   2.6. Standards for textual, lexical and terminologie! data

```

**This activity is** **closely** **related** **to the re-usability** **of**
**linguistio** **resources** **in** **the** **future.** **The Commission** **will**
**support and stimulate international activities** **in** **this field**
**in** **close** **oooperation** **with** **professional** **associations** **and**
**national and international standards organizations.**

##### **2.7. education and training**

**A number of research grants will be awarded to post-graduate**
**students to participate in the research and development work**
**In** **the projects outlined hereabove.**

```
   2.8. Evaluation

   At the end of the programme the results will be evaluated by
   independent experts.

5. Modalities of Execution

   The various action lines pursue different objectives which
   demand different forms of organizational, contractual and
   financial schemes.

   3.1. Services Contracts

   The implementation of the system development, testing and
   research environment (action line 2.1) which will provide all
   participating parties with a common set of tools, will be
   entrusted to industrial contractors on the basis of calls for
   tenders. It will be financed fully from the Community budget.

```

**3.2.** **National research teams**

```
   The work concerning the different languages (aotion line 2.2)
   will be oarrled out by national research teams in the member
   States, and oo-financed by the Community and the member
   States.

   3.3. Shared cost projects

   The linguistio researoh of general Interest (aotion line 2.3),
   research and development into advanced system architectures
   (aotion line 2.4) and re-usability of lexical and
   terminological resources (action line 2.5 ) will be carried
   out as cooperative ventures between industries, research
   centres and EUROTRA teams. The specif io projects and
   contraotors will be selected on a call for tenders/proposals
   basis. The Community contribution to these projects will be in
   general 50%.

```

```
                 - 21 
   3.4. Grants

   Grants will be awarded to qualified post-graduate students.

   3.5. Subsidies

   The Commission will award subsidies to professional
   associations and standards organisations for action line 2.6.

4. Indicative break-down of the expenses

   The indicative break-down of the amount of 10 million ECU
   deemed necessary for the- execution of the programme is as
   follows (in 1000 ECU) :

(a) System development environment 2,000

(b) EC contribution to the national research teams 4,000

(c) Shared-cost research projects 3,000

(d) Training, subsidies, evaluation 1,000

        Total 10,000

```

```
                  - 22 
###### **`AHHEL2`**

  OPINION OP THE MANAGEMENT AND COORDINATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE

           LINGUISTIC PROBLEMS (CGC-12)

               of 26 JUNE 1989

Subjeot : Draft proposal for a speoific programme for the
       preparation of the industrial development of a
       practical EUROTRA system

At its meeting of 26 June 1989 the Committee has examined the
revised draft of the Communication to Council and the proposal for
a Council Decision annexed to it concerning a specific programme
for the preparation of the development of a practical EUROTRA
system (doc CGC-12/193/89 rev.l).

The Committee notes that the programme proposed covers the aotlons
foreseen under line 8.4 of the Framework Programme 1987-1991 which
includes with regard to linguistio problems in addition to the
completion of the EUROTRA programme decided by Council on 20 June
1989 :

   support to the industrial development of a machine translation
   system;
   development of methods and tools for the reusability of
   lexical resources in computerized applications and;
   creation of standards for lexical and terminological data.

The Committee notes that for this speciflo programme 10 million ECU
are earmarked, of which 5 will become available only on 1992 as the
contribution to the overhang of the Framework Programme, and that
therefore the objectives of this programme must be necessarily
limited.

The Committee endorses the objectives and priorities set out in the
proposal and considers them realistio with respect to the
resources and time scales of this programme. It stresses the
Importance of a Community policy in the domain of lexicography.

The Committee welcomes the proposed mode of execution of the
programme by which in addition to R&D carried out by national
research teams under contraots of association, cooperative projeots
are foreseen which are to stimulate the involvement of industry
through oooperatlon with universities. It considers also that the
use of 10% of the resources earmarked for training through grants
and exchange of researchers is an effective measure to improve the
situation, with regard to the scarcity of qualified researchers and
engineers in this subjeot field.

The Committee reiterates the urgent need for a global Community
polioy and a strateglo R&D programme in the field of linguistio
technologies, which it expressed in its opinion of 27 February
1989, and expects that its recommendations will be taken into
account in the Commission's proposal for the revision of the
Framework Programme.

```

```
                  - 23 
                               AHMBE III

   SPECIFIC PROGRAMME FOR THE PREPARATION OF THE DEVELOPMENT

       OF AN OPERATIONAL E U R 0 T R A SYSTEM

              FINANCIAL STATEMENT

1. Budget item concerned : Item B7389 (EUROTRA)

2. Legal basis

   Article 130 Q, (2) of the EEC Treaty
   Council Decision 87/516/Euratom, CEE of 28 September 1987^)
      Council Decision / /CEE of (2)

3. Description, aims and justification

   3.1. Description

       The objective of the programme is to support the
       development of a machine translation system by turning
       the achievements of the current EUROTRA programme,
       namely, an operational system prototype in a limited
       field and for limited categories of text, into the
       basis for further development .

       The programme spans nine aotlon lines, from the
       implementation of a system development, testing and
       research environment, through activities leading to
       the reusability of lexical and terminological
       resources, to a final evaluation by independent
       experts. The various lines will have different
       contraotual and financial schemes.

   3.2 Alios

       On oompletion of the programme, the following results
       are expected :

       - a set of software tools and a tested methodology for
        large scale system development;

               a set of tools and methods for building large-scale
        dictionaries from existing lexical resources;
       - a set of tools and methods for the incorporation of
        terminological oolleotions;
       - well tested Implementations of analysis and
        synthesis modules in all nine Community languages
        with broad grammatical ooverage and a representative
        lexical ooverage;

(1) OJ NV L 302 Of 24.10.1987, p

(2) OJ N*. L Of

```

```
                  - 24 
       - the implementation of relayed transfer if the
        corresponding experimentation is successful;
       - a strategy for the industrial development of a
        practical multilingual translation system and of a
        number of related products;
       - a strategy for the development of a generalized
        linguistio technology reusable in a large variety of
        applications.

   3.3. Justification

       The main objeotive of the programme is to oreate,
       starting from the BUROTRA prototype, the appropriate
       conditions for a large-scale industrial development.
       This includes the development of methods and tools for
       the reusability of lexical resources in computer
       applications as well as the creation of standards for
       lexical and terminological data.

4. Financial implications.

   The overall costs of the duration of the programme, 1.7.1990    30.6.1992, break down as follows ('000 ECU) :

(a) System development and testing environment 2 000
(b) Community contribution to the national research
   teams 4 000
```

(c) Cooperative projects 3 000
(d) Training, subsidies, evaluation 1 000

Total 10 000

```
To this must be added 7 million ECU of national contributions
(4 million to the national researoh teams and 3 million ECU of
contributions from participants to cooperative projeots) bringing
the total oost of the programme to 17 million ECU.

The planned finanolng of the programme, 1990-1992, is the
following :

Item B7S89

```

**Budgeted researoh appropriations** :

**Xear** commitments **Payments**

```
1990 2 000* 100

1991 3 000 2 800

1992 5 000* ' 5 000

1993 2 100

* earmarked for the specific programme in the 1990 preliminary
   draft budget
*• contribution to the overhang of the Framework Programme, 1987   1991

```

```
                  - 25 
Budgeted operating appropriations :

The preliminary draft budget for 1990 foresees under item B7389
five temporary posts (2A + IB + 2C) for this speoifio programme.
The administrative expenditure related to these posts has been
included in the appropriations requested for chapter A29 of the
1990 preliminary draft budget.

```

ISSN 0254-1475

**« .**
# DOCUMENT

## **EN ié**

### Catalogue number : CB-CO-89-579-EN-C ISBN 92-77-55705-0

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