CELEX: 51990PC0475
Language: en
Date: 1990-11-07
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DECISION ESTABLISHING THE SECOND PHASE OF THE TEDIS PROGRAMME ( TRADE ELECTRONIC DATA INTERCHANGE SYSTEMS )

No C 311/6                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                12. 12.90
             Proposal for a Council Decision establishing the second phase of the Tedis programme (Trade
                                           Electronic Data Interchange Systems)
                                                     COM(90) 475 final
                                  (Submitted by the Commission on 22 November 1990)
                                                       (90/C 311/09)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                         preventing suppliers of equipment and services, and
                                                                 users, from deriving maximum benefit from the
                                                                 advantages created by the growth in electronic data
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European            interchange;
Economic Community, and in particular Article 235
thereof,
                                                                Whereas, in line with the Council Resolution of
                                                                 22 January 1990 on trans-European networks (*) and the
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,               conclusions of the Strasbourg and Dublin European
                                                                 Councils, the smooth running of the internal market
                                                                 depends on undertakings and authorities involved in it
Having regard      to  the  opinion    of   the   European       being able to exchange data as part of their activities by
                                                                 making use of compatible systems which enable genuine
Parliament,
                                                                 pan-European data interchange networks to be
                                                                 developed;
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
Social Committee,
                                                                Whereas the work already initiated in the field of elec-
                                                                 tronic data interchange (EDI) during the first phase of
                                                                 the Tedis programme, (1988-89) established by Council
Whereas one of the Community's tasks is, by establishing         Decision 87/499/EEC (2) makes it possible to envisage
a common market and gradually reducing the gap                   the establishment of such pan-European networks,
between the economic policies of the Member States, to          provided that this work is continued and expanded by
promote the harmonious development of economic acti-             instituting a second phase to the programme;
vities throughout the Community and closer relations
between the Member States;
                                                                Whereas by Decision 89/241/EEC (3) the Council of
                                                                 Ministers amended the initial Decision on the Tedis
Whereas the Commission White Paper on the                       programme to allow non-member countries, in particular
completion of the internal market stresses the importance        member states of the European Free Trade Association
of the future development of new transfrontier services          (EFTA), to be associated with the Tedis programme and,
and the contribution made by telecommunications                  in accordance with Article 228 of the Treaty, authorized
networks based on common standards towards the                  the Commission to negotiate agreements with the EFTA
creation of a market free of barriers at Community level;        member states;
Whereas the exchange of computerized data (EDI) can             Whereas by Decisions 89/689/EEC (4), 89/690/EEC ( s ),
contribute increasingly towards the competitiveness of           89/691/EEC (4), 8 9 / 6 9 2 / E E C O , 89/693/EEC (8) and
European undertakings in the production and services             89/694/EEC (9) the European Economic Community
sectors;                                                         concluded agreements on systems for the electronic
                                                                 transfer of data for commercial use with respectively
                                                                Austria, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Swit-
Whereas there is rapid growth at present in public and           zerland;
private initiatives for putting into service within a
company or group of companies or sector of activity, at
national and international level, electronic data inter-
change systems which are not compatible with each                (') OJ  No  C 27, 6. 2. 1990, p. 8.
other;                                                           O   OJ  No  L 285, 8. 10. 1987, p. 35.
                                                                 (3) OJ  No  L 97, 11. 4. 1989, p. 46.
                                                                 O   OJ  No  L 400, 30. 12. 1989, p. 1.
Whereas, as regards electronic data interchange, the             (') OJ  No  L 400, 30. 12. 1989, p. 6.
diversity and fragmentation of initiatives taken at              (') OJ  No  L 400, 30. 12. 1989, p. 11.
national level or more generally by a company, group of          O   OJ  No  L 400, 30. 12. 1989, p. 16.
companies or sector of activity may lead to the creation        (•)  OJ  No L 400, 30. 12. 1989, p. 21.
of incompatible and non-communicating systems, and to           (')  OJ  No L 400, 30. 12. 1989, p. 26.
 ---pagebreak--- 12. 12.90                             Official Journal of the European Communities                             No C 311/7
Whereas the Treaty does not provide powers, other than                                     Article 4
those of Article 235, to undertake the action concerned,
                                                                The implementation of the programme shall be coor-
                                                                 dinated with existing or planned Community policies and
                                                                 activities concerning telecommunications, the infor-
HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:                                          mation market, security of information systems and stan-
                                                                 dardization, and in particular with the Caddia
                                                                 programme and the CD project, so as to ensure the
                          Article 1                              necessary interaction with the specific requirements of
                                                                 the exchange of electronic data.
The second phase of the Tedis (Trade Electronic Data
Interchange       Systems)      Community        programme
concerning the exchange of electronic data (EDI) in                                        Article 5
trade, industry and administration, hereinafter called the
'programme', is hereby set up. The programme shall be            Contracts arising from the programme shall be
implemented according to the conditions set out below            concluded with undertakings, including small and
for a period of 36 months starting from the date on              medium-sized businesses, research establishments and
which this Decision takes effect.                                other bodies established in the Community, in the
                                                                 member countries of the European Free Trade Asso-
                                                                 ciation or in a third country with which the Community
                                                                 has concluded an agreement associating that country
                          Article 2                              with the programme.
The objectives of the programme are to ensure that elec-
tronic data interchange systems are established to the                                     Article 6
best effect, in view of the socio-economic importance of
such systems, and to mobilize the necessary resources to         1.    The Community shall contribute to the programme
achieve this end at Community level.                             within the limits of the appropriations entered each year
                                                                 for that purpose in the general budget of the European
                                                                 Communities.
                          Article 3
                                                                 2.    The appropriations to be entered into the general
In order to achieve the objectives defined in Article 2,
                                                                 budget of the European Communities shall be decided
measures will be taken and continued in the following
                                                                 annually by the Budget Authority.
areas:
                                                                                           Article 7
— standardization,
                                                                 The Commission shall see to it that the programme is
                                                                 carried out satisfactorily and shall take the appropriate
— interconnection of EDI services,                               implementing measures.
— legal aspects of EDI,                                                                    Article 8
                                                                 At the end of the Tedis programme, the Commission
— security of messages,                                          shall present to the Council, the European Parliament
                                                                 and the Economic and Social Committee a final report
                                                                 containing an assessment by independent experts of the
— multi-sector and Europe-wide projects,                         progress made towards each of the objectives set under
                                                                 the programme on the basis of the criteria and indicators
                                                                 annexed to this Decision.
— analysis of the        impact    of EDI     on   company
    management,
                                                                                           Article 9
— information campaigns.                                         This Decision shall take effect on 1 July 1991.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 311/8                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                    12. 12. 90
                                                              ANNEX
                      Guidelines for assessing progress made towards the objectives of the Tedis programme
           In order to achieve the objectives defined in Article 2, several measures, referred to in Article 3, will be
           taken and continued. The progress thereby achieved will then be assessed.
           1. For standardization, this will mean assessing the influence of the Tedis programme on:
              (a) the development and use of the Edifact standard in Western Europe;
              (b) the availability and use of conversion software and its conformity to the international Edifact
                   standard.
           2. Interconnection of EDI services: assessment of the Tedis programme's impact on the capacity of data
              networks to operate together and the availability of Europe-wide EDI services.
           3. Legal aspects: examination of how the measures taken under the Tedis programme have helped ensure
              the legal validity of EDI data interchange in each Member State and how they have encouraged the
              introduction of 'paperless trading'.
           4. Security of messages: examination of how the Tedis programme has helped protect the EDI message itself
              and the security of EDI messages in an interlinked business environment.
           5. Multi-sector and Europe-wide projects: measuring how far support for the launching of multi-sectoral
              pilot projects has contributed towards the sectoral and geographical integration of EDI projects.
           6. Management: assessment of the value of studies and analyses carried out under the TEDIS programme
              to assess the impact of EDI on company management and its economic and social impact.
           7. Information campaigns: assessment of the impact of measures taken under the Tedis programme on the
              use of EDI in Western Europe.
           Proposal for a Council Decision concerning the conclusion of a Protocol extending the first
           stage of the Agreement establishing an association between the European Economic Community
                                                            and Malta
                                                       COM(90) 558 final
                                   (Submitted by the Commission on 26 November 1990)
                                                         (90/C 311/10)
           THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
           Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in
           particular Article 238 thereof,
           Having regard to the recommendation from the Commission,
           Having regard to the assent of the European Parliament,