Source: EURLEX
Language: en
Format: md

No C 41/6 Official Journal of the European Communities 18. 2. 91

Opinion on the proposal for a Council Decision concerning a specific programme of research
and technological development (R&TD) in the field of telematic systems in areas of general

interest (1990-1994) ( [x] )

(91/C 41/03)

On 6 June 1990 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, under
Article 130Q(2) of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, on the
abovementioned proposal.

The Section for Energy, Nuclear Questions and Research, which was responsible for preparing
the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its Opinion on 7 November 1990. The
Rapporteur was Mr Flum.

At its 281st plenary session (meeting of 20 November 1990), the Economic and Social
Committee adopted the following Opinion unanimously.

1. Description of the programme

1.1. The aim of the Commission proposal is to create
the preconditions for setting up European telematic
networks in areas of general interest. The following
priorities have been selected:

1) exchange of information between national administrations;

2) control and management of road and air transport;

3) health care;

4) distance learning;

5) libraries;

6) linguistic research and engineering.

1.2. A total budget of 380 million ECU is earmarked
for the programme, divided up as follows between the
various areas (as %): area 1: 29-33, area 2: 30-34, area
3: 15-17, area 4: 10-12, area 5: _6-7,_ area 6: _5-6._

1.3. All these have two features in common:

a) They essentially concern the conditions for future
services, above all in public sectors.

b) They essentially concern relations between the suppliers and users of public services i.e. between public
servants and citizens—and hence the quality of services as products.

1.4. The aim of the proposed programme is to computerize functions and relations in the above areas, i.e.
to transfer these functions and relations partly or wholly to automated information and communication systems.

(!) OJ No C 174, 16. 7. 1990, p. 19.

2. General comments on the research programme

The Committee basically welcomes the proposed programme because it can help to promote Community
integration. The programme can be the basis for a farranging, rational introduction of information technology into the public services in the Community, taking comprehensive data protection into account. To
this end, the Committee asks for the following points
to be borne in mind:

2.1. The draft programme assumes that completion
of the Internal Market will entail an increased demand
for telematic services. In the Committee's opinion this
assumption needs to be examined more closely in the
light of the following:

— Whether or not the demand for public services is
increased depends entirely on the way in which
public tasks are reorganized at national and European levels.

— Only when a socially sound plan for the organization of these tasks has been developed will it be
possible to say whether the computerization of individual services is useful.

This answer cannot be found by applying the principle that the greatest possible use has to be made
of automated information and communication systems. Given the high risks involved in a far-reaching
'computerization' of public tasks (data protection
risks, vulnerability risks, threats to the purpose of
services, deterioration in the providers of the services' working conditions, etc.) it is better to proceed on the principle that the tasks taken over by
electronic networks should be limited to what is
necessary and socially acceptable.

18. 2. 91 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 41/7

2.2. The draft programme aims to create the theoretical, technological and prenormative basis for the
gradual introduction of European telematic networks.
The creation of this basis means that important
decisions are being taken in advance for the future of
the sectors in question. The Committee takes the view
that these tasks entail a number of problems and risks,
of which the research programmes take little or no

account.

2.3. These fundamental relationships between promotion of research into telematic services and the future

of these services necessitate the participation of
interested parties in the proposed measures, to ensure
that their interests are taken into account even at the

prenormative and normative stages of the innovation
processes. The draft programme completely omits to
take account of the basic need for the democratic

involvement of all interests in the organization of technology and work. The participation envisaged is confined to technology manufacturers, network operators,
suppliers of telecommunications services and the institutions which will use these services on an experimental
basis. The employers', workers' and consumers' groups
affected are excluded.

2.4. The result of the planned promotion of research
will have a decisive effect on the quality of the services
and the functions in question, without there being any
assessment of whether and in what way the intended
computerization of services and functions may be counter-productive. For example, it is likely that the planned
automation of distance learning may suppress even
further the social interaction essential to learning processes. There is also a risk that the further computerization of patient care in the health sector may push vital
elements of the healing process even more into the
background. The social groups concerned must therefore be able to participate from the start in the planning
of research and development (R&D) measures.

2.5. a) The networking of Europe-wide telematic
services will also bring far-reaching changes
for work in the service sector, especially in
terms of work organization, content of work,
health hazards and other stresses at the work
place, and quality requirements. It must
therefore be ensured at an early stage that
possible effects on later organization of work
and techniques are already taken into
account when innovations are planned.

b) The networking of telematic systems also
raises the question of protection of authors'
rights (protection of intellectual property) in
many fields; this question has not yet been
addressed in the programmes, and needs to
be clarified.

3. Conclusions

3.1. The starting-point and basis for the proposed
research measures must in principle be the development
of protected citizen-orientated and worker-orientated
organizations and operational blueprints for public services.

3.2. The Committee would like once more to draw

special attention to the following points:

— basic provision for high-level data protection,
especially with programmes 1 and 3;

— guaranteed protection of authors' rights ( [1] ), particularly with programmes 4, 5 and 6;

— careful monitoring of the proposed programmes,
e.g. for distance learning, language learning and
patient care in the health sector;

— safeguarding of legitimate interests in the fields of
worker protection, work organization, and hazards
at work, and as regards quality requirements in the
setting up of the relevant telematic systems;

— participation of the interested groups, most notably
consumers, workers and employers.

3.3. In the Committee's view,

a) the Commission's planned report and the results of
its review (Article 5 of the proposed programme)
should also be addressed to the ESC; planned
changes to the programme must be referred to the
ESC in accordance with the Treaties;

b) social groupings such as employers, workers and
consumers must be given the opportunity to submit
suggestions and comments to the committee envisaged in Article 6.

3.4. The measures regarded as necessary by the ESC
for promoting research into the effects of technology
and into alternatives should not be carried out separately from the technological research itself, but must
be promoted as an integral part of the various technological research areas (telematic networks for administrators, etc.). A reasonable proportion (at least 10%)
of the overall budgets for these areas must go to financing the promotion of such measures.

( [J] ) See also the Committee Opinion on the Commission's Green
Paper on copyright and the challenge of technology, OJ No
C 71, 20. 3. 1989, p. 9.

No C 41/8 Official Journal of the European Communities 18. 2. 91

3.5. The Committee assumes that the Commission
will take the necessary decisions on staffing to ensure
that the programme can be implemented succesfully.

4. Final remarks

4.1. The ESC has taken it upon itself to set out its
suggestions and opinions very clearly here. Its intention

Done at Brussels, 20 November 1990.

is to contribute to a Community in which citizens do
not automatically have the feeling of belonging to a
'computerized', i.e. electronically interlinked, society
rates technological potential higher than safeguards for
individual liberties.

4.2. The ESC therefore calls on the Commission to
take these concerns very seriously and to bear them in
mind when it revises the proposal.

_The Chairman_

_of the Economic and Social Committee_

Francois STAEDELIN