CELEX: 51983PC0661(01)
Language: en
Date: 1983-11-10
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DECISION ADOPTING A COMMUNITY PROGRAMME FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SPECIALIZED INFORMATION MARKET IN EUROPE

2.12.83                            Official Journal of the European Communities                            N o C 328/3
                                                          II
                                                   (Preparatory Acts)
                                            COMMISSION
             Proposal for a Council Decision adopting a Community programme for the development
                                  of the specialized information market in Europe
                                                  COM(83) 661 final
                        (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 17 November 1983)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                    independence in the specialized information area, is a
COMMUNITIES                                                    challenge for the European Community calling for
                                                               appropriate Community support; whereas the fast
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the                   developments in this area require an appropriate
European Economic Community, and in particular                 programme which offers considerable flexibility of
Article 235 thereof,                                           priorities;
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                               Whereas Community efforts relating to the
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parl-             specialized information market and its development
iament,                                                        are a necessary complement to other related
                                                               Community initiatives, in particular the Esprit
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and               programme to strengthen the European information
Social Committee,                                              technology industries through Commission support of
                                                               cooperation among European manufacturers and
                                                               R & D institutions in the development of advanced
Whereas, under Article 2 of the Treaty, the                    pre-competitive component technologies, the Insis
Community shall have as one of its tasks that of               project for developing an advanced interinstitutional
promoting     throughout     the    Community        the       information and communication system for the
harmonious development of economic activities and a            institutions of the European Communities and those
continuous and balanced expansion;                             of the Member States, and the new Community
                                                               initiatives (1983 to 1987) on vocational training and
Whereas information has worldwide become one of                new information technologies;
the prime factors in economic activity, and the
effective use of information is one of the essential
ingredients of economic growth and competitiveness;
                                                               Whereas it is primarily a matter for the Member
Whereas the European integration process becomes               States to create the basis for an effecient information
increasingly dependent, among other factors, on the            market by means of support programmes and
effective flow of, and access to, information within           policies; whereas       such    measures    should    be
and between all Member States;                                 strengthened and supplemented through specific
                                                               Community action in areas of common interest and
                                                               value to initiate, accelerate and support developments
Whereas, given the growing complexity of infor-                in Europe which should lead to higher international
mation needs for business and political decision-              competitiveness of the European              information
making, for scientific and technical development, for          industries and to a more favourable information
the professional, cultural, social and economic                environment for the Community as a whole;
choices of individuals and groups of people, it is
necessary to develop advanced solutions for a flexible
and transparent information market at Community
level;                                                         Whereas the results achieved and the experience built
                                                               up in executing three successive action plans (1975 to
Whereas the development of the specialized infor-               1983) in the field of scientific and technical infor-
mation market in Europe aiming at better use of                mation and documentation, and the need to
economies of scale and at adequate European                    strengthen and consolidate activities undertaken in
 ---pagebreak--- N o C 328/4                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                    2. 12. 83
this context and to provide for continuity of                                                 Article 4
Community action, justify a Community programme
of activities which are needed to help to attain the                 The Commission shall be assisted by the STIDC,
long-term objective of developing a common market                    whose duties and method of operation are defined in
for information in Europe; whereas it will be                        Annex II.
necessary, at the same time, steadily to evaluate the
results obtained, and to coordinate actions in this                  The STIDC shall be kept regularly informed by the
field and in related fields at national and Community                Commission of the progress of the work in the field
level;                                                               in question and in associated fields.
Whereas the Treaty has not made provision for the                                             Article 5'
specific powers which are required to attain these                   The Commission shall ensure access to the knowledge
objectives;                                                          resulting from the programme as well as its
                                                                     dissemination.
Whereas the Scientific and Technical Information
and Documentation Committee (STIDC) and the
Scientific and Technical Research                Committee                                    Article 6
(CREST) have both delivered their opinions on the                    1.    In accordance with Article 228 of the Treaty,
Commission proposal,                                                 the     Community       may      conclude      cooperation
                                                                     agreements with third countries within the framework
                                                                     of the programme.
HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:
                                                                     2.    The Commission shall be authorized to
                          Article 1                                  negotiate the cooperation agreements referred to in
                                                                     paragraph 1 after having sought the opinion of the
A Community programme for the development of the
                                                                     STIDC for this purpose in accordance with Annex II
specialized information market in Europe, as defined
                                                                     (3) (c).
in Annex I, hereinafter referred to as 'the
programme', is hereby adopted for a period of five
years with effect from 1 January 1984.                                                        Article 7
                                                                     1.    The Commission shall review the programme
                          Article 2                                  after 30 months.
The appropriations needed for implementing the                       The Council and the European Parliament shall be
programme are estimated at 40 million ECU and shall                  informed of the results of this review.
be entered in the general budget of the European
Communities.                                                         2.    The programme may be extended for further
                                                                     periods of five years, following a proposal by the
                          Article 3                                  Commission to be transmitted to the Council.
The Commission shall be responsible for the                          3.    Together with the proposal for the extension of
implementation of the programme. In particular, it                   the programme, the Commission, after consulting the
shall decide on the definition of detailed activities and            Committee referred to in Article 4, shall submit to the
on the type of projects to be undertaken. It shall                   Council and the European Parliament an evaluation
establish each year and update as required a working                 report on the performance and results of the
programme.                                                           programme.
                                                           ANNEX I
              The first five-year programme contains the following orientations and action lines:
              1. Improvement of the information environment and market conditions
                 The main objective is to improve the use of information products and services of European
                 origin in order to ensure, as far as possible, their economic viability. This is to be achieved by
                 taking appropriate action on existing obstacles, thus resulting in increased user-friendliness and
                 more transparence for information supply and demand.
 ---pagebreak--- 2.12. 83                       Official Journal of the European Communities                               N o C 328/5
         The activities to be pursued include:
         (a) Technical aspects
              — extension of the Euronet-Diane concept,
              — application of advanced information technologies for the processing, distribution and use
                of information,
              — achieving compatibility of procedures, software and equipment for advanced information
                services,
              — network extensions and developments in connection with the adhesion of new Member
                 States,
              — removing discrepancies in the level of development between different Member States in
                the specialized information area;
         (b) Linguistic aspects
              — multilingual directories and thesauri,
              — multilingual manuals, referral services and information access procedures (CCL),
              — development of services with machine translation capabilities;
         (c) Administrative aspects
              — harmonization of contractual arrangements,
              — development of user-friendly billing and payment systems,
              — standardization of access procedures;
         (d) Economic aspects
              — increasing the transparency of tariff structures,
              — market research for identifying existing and developing market requirements and gaps in
                 the supply of information products and services,
              — export of information;
          (e) Legal aspects
              — copyright in relation to electronic publishing and document delivery in the specialized
                 information area,
              — restrictive royalty arrangements and territorial rights;
          (f) Policy aspects
              — interrelationship between public and private initiatives in the specialized information
                 market,
              — economic and political aspects of monopolies in the area of specialized information
                  services,
              — relations with international organizations (OECD, Unesco),
              — relations with developing countries (ACP—Lome);
          (g) Awareness and training
              — programmes and facilities for vocational training of users of specialized information,
              — development of professional expertise,
              — publicity, promotion and awareness measures,
              — training programmes and facilities with particular regard to regional requirements.
 ---pagebreak--- N o C 328/6                            Official Journal of the European Communities                              2.12. 83
            2. Reinforcement of the supply and quality of European products and services
               The objective is to create or develop specialized information products and services of European
               origin which are innovative and unique, and which offer added value with a view to improving
               the competitiveness of European suppliers on the European and the world markets, as well as
               their responsiveness to the needs of a wide range of users, thus creating a relative European
               independence. This is to be achieved through the encouragement of innovative and entrpren-
               eurial initiatives to include:
               (a) Information projects in sectoral fields
                    — improving the quality, user-friendliness and economic viability of existing products and
                        services,
                    — improving the supply and use of information systems and services in specific, less-
                        developed sectors of specialized information which represent areas of growing
                        importance and of Community interest,
                    — identifying the needs and methods of bringing specialized information to the interest of
                        the general public and/or specific user groups,
                    — examining gaps in the regional distribution of specialized information and encouragement
                        of appropriate initiatives to improve the situation;
               (b) Added value information services
                    — implementing document delivery and electronic publishing services in the specialized
                        information area,
                    — encouraging new intermediary and consultancy services to provide better information
                        services to specific user groups such as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs),
                    — developing Videotex applications in such subject areas in which end "users or large groups
                        of less-educated users need to have direct access to specialized information,
                    — promoting research into new methodologies for the processing, distribution and use of
                        specialized information.
                                                            ANNEX II
            DUTIES AND METHOD OF OPERATION OF THE SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL
                           INFORMATION AND DOCUMENTATION COMMITTEE (STIDC)
              1. Without prejudice to the reponsibility taken on by the Commission in carrying out the first
                 five-year programme for the development of the specialized information market, the STIDC
                 shall contribute by its opinions to the optimum execution of the programme.
              2. Under this programme, the Commission shall consult the STIDC on all measures which it
                 intends to take for:
                 (a) turning Euronet into a public operational on-line information network;
                 (b) the development of the market for specialized information within the Community;
                 (c) the promotion of technology and methodology in order to improve information services, in
                      particular those of Euronet-Diane.
              3. The Commission shall also seek the opinion of the STIDC on:
                 (a) preparing for future work in this field;                    ,
                 (b) coordinating this programme with related programmes, and with the multilingual
                      programme in particular;
                  (c) conducting negotiations with non-Community institutions, such as institutions in third
                      countries.
 ---pagebreak--- 2. 12. 83                          Official Journal of the European Communities                               N o C 328/7
           4. The STIDC should also be asked to give an opinion on:
              (a) the detailed working out of policies, and priorities;
              (b) the annual preparation of budgets and allocation of approved appropriations;
              (c) the determination of the aims of, and the overall budgets for, projects;
              (d) the specification of work to be done and the determination of criteria for the selection of
                  contractors;
              (e) the choice of contractors and the supervision of the projects.
           5. The STIDC shall give opinions which shall be prepared by the secretariat and submitted for the
              approval of the Committee. Any member of the Committee may request that his point of view
              be recorded in these opinions. These opinions shall be forwarded to the Commission and a copy
              sent to the Council.
           6. The STIDC shall lay down, in agreement with the Commission, the procedure for examining
              the measures referred to under 2, 3 and 4. This procedure should not interrupt the carrying out
              of the programme particularly in the case of emergencies. In order to provide for flexible
              management, certain tasks shall be delegated to working parties.
           7. The Commission shall periodically submit a report to the STIDC on the measures taken and the
              results obtained.
           8. The STIDC shall consist of two representatives from each Member State, appointed for three
              years. The Member States may also appoint two alternate members.
           9. The STIDC shall adopt its own rules of procedures.
          10. The Commission shall provide the secretariat of the STIDC.
          11. The provisions of this Annex shall neither modify the other tasks assigned to the STIDC in the
              resolution of 24 June 1971 nor its advisory relationship to CREST.