CELEX: 51989PC0094
Language: en
Date: 1989-03-09
Title: AMENDED PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DECISION INSTITUTING A SPECIFIC MULTIANNUAL PROGRAMME FOR THE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF STATISTICAL EXPERT SYSTEMS ( DOSES )

No C 181/8                           Official Journal of the European Communities                                 18. 7. 89
             Amended proposal for a Council Decision instituting a specific multiannual programme for the
                            research and development of statistical expert systems (Doses) (')
                                              COM(89) 94 final — SYN 149
             (Submitted by the Commission pursuant to Article 149 (3) of the EEC Treaty on 9 March 1989)
                                                      (89/C 181/10)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                        Whereas it is desirable to promote basic or applied
                                                                research whose value for the development of statistics is
                                                                unquestionable but whose short-term viability is
                                                                uncertain;
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Economic Community, and in particular Article 130q (2)
thereof,
                                                                Whereas coordination between Member States makes it
                                                                possible to limit incompatibilities, overlapping and
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,              redundancy;
In cooperation with the European Parliament,                    Whereas it is desirable to further exchanges and transfers
                                                                of knowledge on statistical expert systems between the
                                                                Member States;
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
Social Committee,
                                                                Whereas in the present state of development of infor-
                                                                mation systems and in particular statistical systems, the
Whereas Article 130k of the Treaty provides that the            development of statistical tools appears a useful and
framework programme shall be implemented through                indeed essential aid to the optimum use of information;
specific programmes developed within each activity;
                                                                Whereas the enhancement of statistical tools will enable
Whereas statistical information can be of use in defining       work productivity to be increased;
and monitoring economic activity and expansion, one of
the tasks assigned to the Community in Article 2 of the
Treaty;
                                                                Whereas it is desirable for statistical information to
                                                                become more widely used by making access to it easier;
Whereas in its Decision 87/516/Euratom, EEC of 28
September 1987, concerning the framework programme
for Community activities in the field of research and
technological development (1987 to 1991) (2) the Council        Whereas that Decision provides that a particular aim of
approved the development of statistical tools as the            Community research shall be to strengthen the scientific
objective of the work on forecasting and assessment and         and technological basis of European industry and to
other back-up measures (including statistics);                  encourage it to become more competitive at the interna-
                                                                tional level and that Community action is justified where
                                                                research contributes inter alia to the strengthening of the
                                                                economic and social cohesion of the Community and the
Whereas it is necessary to encourage the undertakings to        promotion of its overall harmonious development, while
which such an initiative is of relevance, research centres      being consistent with the pursuit of scientific and
and universities, in their research and technological           technical quality; whereas it is intended that the Doses
development activities as well as to support their efforts      programme should contribute to the achievement of
to cooperate with one another;                                  these objectives;
                                                                Whereas the Scientific and Technical Research
(') OJ No C 203, 4. 8. 1988, p. 5.                              Committee (Crest) has been consulted about the
O OJ No L 302, 24. 10. 1987, p. 1.                              following measures,
 ---pagebreak--- 18. 7. 89                             Official Journal of the European Communities                            No C 181/9
HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:                                                                   Article 5
                                                                 In accordance with Article 130n of the EEC Treaty, the
                         Article 1                               Commission is hereby authorized to               negotiate
                                                                 agreements with European third countries and with
A specific programme on research into and the devel-             international organizations, particularly the OECD and
opment of statistical expert systems for the European            its member countries, with a view to their full or partial
Economic Community is hereby adopted as defined in               integration into the programme.
the Annex for a period of four years starting on
                                                                Where framework agreements for scientific and technical
1 January 1989.
                                                                 cooperation between non-Community countries and the
                                                                 European Communities have been concluded, organiz-
                                                                 ations and enterprises established in those countries may
                         Article 2
                                                                 become partners in a project undertaken within the
The funds estimated as necessary for the execution of            programme.
the programme amount to ECU 4 million, including                 No contractor based outside the Community and partici-
expenditure on a staff of one. The indicative allocation         pating as a partner in a project undertaken under the
of these funds is set out in the Annex.                          programme may benefit from the Community financing
                                                                 of the programme. Such contractor shall also contribute
                                                                 to general administration costs.
                         Article 3
The programme implementation procedures and the                                           Article 6
description of staff duties are set out in the Annex.
                                                                 During the second year of implementation, the
                                                                 Commission shall review the programme and send a
                          Article 4                              report on the results of its review to the Council and the
                                                                 European Parliament. This report shall be accompanied
In the implementation of the programme, the                      where necessary by proposals for the amendment or
Commission shall be assisted by an advisory committee            extension of the programme.
composed of representatives of the Member States and
chaired    by a Commission            representative.  The       At the end of the programme, an evaluation of the
Commission representative shall submit to the committee          results achieved shall be conducted by the Commission
a proposal regarding the measures to be taken. The               which shall report thereon to the Council and the
committee shall give its opinion on this proposal, within         European Parliament.
 a period which the chairman may lay down in the light           The abovementioned reports will be carried out having
 of the urgency of the question concerned, and if appro-          regard to the objectives set out in Annex I to this
priate a vote may be taken. The opinion shall be entered          Decision and in accordance with the provisions of Article
 in the minutes; in addition, each Member State shall             2 (2) of the framework programme set out in Decision
 have the right to request that its position be recorded in       87/516/Euratom, EEC.
 these minutes. The Commission shall take the greatest
 account of the opinion delivered by the committee. The                                    Article 7
 Commission shall inform the committee of the way in
 which it has taken account of this opinion.                      This Decision is addressed to the Member States.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 181/10                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                     18. 7. 89
                                                             ANNEX      I
                                                       TECHNICAL ANNEX
                      PROGRAMME OBJECTIVES AND SUMMARY OF T H E WORK PROGRAMME
          The actions address the exploitation of advanced information technologies in the field of statistics: in
          particular, the application of expert systems technology to the whole chain of statistical data processing.
          The actions are oriented to develop knowledge and expert systems rules, which can constitute the base for
          the development of expert systems in the various domains of the statistics field.
          The programme shall consist of two parts: Part I comprises the organization of coordinated projects and
          Part II comprises research and development projects regarded as meriting priority in the field of official
          statistics. It is subdivided into four parts.
          Part I: Coordinated projects
          The coordinated projects shall consist in coordination at Community level of activities which are of general
          interest to the Member States and satisfy the criteria laid down in the section 'Coordinated projects' of
          Annex I. The Commission shall provide a framework within which projects can be selected on the basis of
          proposals submitted by the interested parties and financial assistance can be provided for the organization
          of these projects.
          The following are suitable for coordinated projects:
         — subjects which are intrinsically international in character,
         — problems arising in a similar manner in the various Member States (and possibly within the
              Commission) which may therefore benefit from a coordinated approach,
         — problems which have to be solved for purposes of harmonization,
         — problems arising in connection with the processing of confidential data.
         The main feature of these projects is thus that a minimum number of participants coordinate their work of
         fields of common interest and exchange their findings.
         The emphasis will be on projects able to produce results in a relatively short time (two to three years).
         The participants will fund their own share of the work to be done but will be informed of all the results.
          Part II: Jointly funded projects
         The research will be carried out under the terms of joint funding contracts to be concluded with the
         research bodies, companies and other organizations in the Community. As a general rule, the Community
         will meet at the most 50 % of the costs, the rest normally being borne by the contractors. As an alternative
         solution in the case of universities and research bodies carrying out projects or actions, the Community
         may meet up to 100 % of the additional cost of their implementation. Work will be carried out in the
         following areas:
         Theme 1: Vertical study: preparation of a complete system for automated information processing, from
                       collection to dissemination, in a specific field (as a prototype for other fields and a reference
                       framework for the other themes);
 ---pagebreak--- 18. 7. 89                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                No C 181/11
          Theme 2: Documentation of data and statistical methods;
          Theme 3: Access to statistical information;
          Theme 4: Forecasting.
          Implementation procedures
          Contracts under Part I shall be awarded by means of restricted invitations to tender.
          Contracts under Part II shall be awarded by means of public invitations to tender. They shall involve the
          participation of at least two partners, who are independent of each other and who may not be established
          in the same Member State. Public invitation to tender shall be published in the Official Journal of the
          European Communities, and summaries shall be published in the scientific journals specializing in the
          subject.
          Auxiliary staff and experts shall be recruited to help the Commission to carry out its work. They will be
          responsible for the secretariat and the technical monitoring of the programme. They will advise the
          Commission on the technical aspects of project selection and evaluation.
                                                             ANNEX    II
                                       Internal distribution of funds — (for guidance only)
                                                           (1989 to 1992)
          Part I: Coordinated projects
          Part II: Jointly funded projects
          Staff and administrative costs