CELEX: 51993PC0069(01)
Language: en
Date: 1993-03-12
Title: Proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION on a series of guidelines for trans-European data communications networks between administrations

No C 105/ 10                         Official Journal of the European Communities                                   16 . 4. 93
                                                            II
                                                    (Preparatory Acts)
                                               COMMISSION
              Proposal for a Council Decision on a series of guidelines for trans-European data communi­
                                        cations networks between administrations
                                                      (93/C 105/ 10)
                                                    COM(93) 69 final
                                    (Submitted by the Commission on 12 March 1993)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                         Whereas trans-European data communications networks
                                                                 between administrations from an integral part of trans­
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European            European telecommunications networks ;
Economic Community, and in particular Article 235
thereof,                                                         Whereas it is important, for the purposes of the internal
                                                                 market, to facilitate the movement of goods, services,
                                                                 persons and capital between the Community and
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,               non-Community countries, and more specifically the
                                                                 member countries of the European Free Trade Asso­
Having regard to the opinion of the European                     ciation; whereas this calls for interchange of information
Parliament,                                                      between the administrations in the countries concerned ;
                                                                 Whereas this in turn requires cooperation with these
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                 countries in order to promote data communications
Social Committee,                                                projects of common interest and ensure the interoper­
                                                                 ability of networks ;
Whereas the internal market establishes an area without
                                                               x Wheras appropriate Community action is needed to
internal frontiers in which free movement of goods,              establish adequate coordination between Member States
persons, services and capital must be guaranteed ;               in order to ensure consistency in the implementation and
whereas in order to ensure each of these freedoms the
                                                                 operation of data communications networks between
Community acts adopted or being adopted provide for              administrations ; whereas failure to adopt a Community
measures involving substantial interchange of data               decision on the setting-up of trans-European data
between individuals, economic operators and the                  communications networks between administrations
competent administrations ; whereas such interchange can         would be liable to result in a lack of interconnection and
be ensured using trans-European networks ;                       interoperability between national networks and in
                                                                 limiting access to those networks ;
Whereas the aim of establishing trans-European
networks is to enable this interchange of data to take           Whereas the only legal base provided by the Treaty for
practical form, in order to allow the internal market to         adoption of this decision lies in Article 235 ,
function in a number of areas, in particular as regards
the effects of removing border controls, full exercise of        HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS :
the four freedoms of movement, support for Community
policies   and the operation of the Community                                               Article 1
decision-making process ;
                                                                 This Decision lays down the guidelines identifying the
                                                                 objectives, priorities, broad lines of action and a number
Whereas the smooth functioning of the internal market            of projects of common interest in the field of trans­
calls for closer cooperation between the administrations         European data communications networks between
in the Member States and, to a far greater extent than           administrations.
hitherto, for a systematic interchange of information
with very short deadlines which can only be met by using                                    Article 2
data communications methods ; whereas this entails
having access to internal data interchange systems which         The objective of trans-European data communications
are compatible and interoperable with those of the other         networks between administrations is to contribute to the
administrations ;  whereas     national   measures     and       efficient management of a Community area without
resources, possibly supplemented by Community                    internal frontiers by means of the joint use of data
resources, are required in order to set up these systems ;       communications networks .
 ---pagebreak--- 16 . 4 . 93                             Official Journal of the European Communities                            No C 105 / 11
                           Article 3                              — setting in place mechanisms and procedures enabling
                                                                       the operational networks and projects of common
The priorities for the attainment of the objective referred            interest to be operated jointly.
to in Article 2 are as follows :
                                                                  Horizontal measures :
— to provide within a short time data communications
     systems which are adapted to the need for data inter­        — devising common architectures to ensure interoper­
     change arising out of the abolition of border controls            ability between the various networks, making
     within the Community and the stepping-up of                       maximum possible use of proven technologies and
     controls at the Community's external frontiers,                   commercially available products . This will lead to the
                                                                       adoption of joint instruments such as standards ,
— to further the full exercise of free movement of                     network architectures and bearer services ,
     goods, services, persons and capital within the              — promoting the provision to users of bearer services
     Community,                                                        such as electronic mail , access to data bases and file
— to further the management of common policies which                   transfer in order to ensure that the information is
     contribute to the smooth functioning of the                       passed among those concerned,
     Community area without frontiers,                            — launching an information campaign for adminis­
— to further the adaptation of the Community                           trations directly or indirectly concerned by the
     decision-making process ,                                         problem of trans-European data communications
                                                                       networks ,
— to promote the development and convergence, in the
     medium term, of operational systems towards a                — introducing mechanisms for cooperation between
     common data communications architecture allowing                  Community administrations and those in non­
                                                                       member countries .
     data flows to be optimized and operating costs to be
     cut ,
                                                                                             Article 5
— to promote the interoperability of information
     systems by implementing compatible administrative            The trans-European data communications networks
     methods and mechanisms, defining common technical            between administrations to be implemented under this
     specifications and harmonizing standards,                    Decision shall be covered by projects of common
                                                                  interest. The projects planned are set out in Annex I.
— to encourage the establishment of a satisfactory
     range of trans-European telecommunications bearer                                       Article 6
     services such as electronic mail , file transfer and
     universal access to data bases .                             The Member States shall mobilize the financial, technical
                                                                  and management resources and introduce the organiz­
                           Article 4                              ational measures necessary for the implementation of
                                                                  trans-European data communications networks between
The broad lines of action designed to attain the objective        administrations .
referred to in Article 2 shall be as follows :
Sectoral measures :                                                                          Article 7
— drawing        up   technical    specifications  for    data    The Commission is hereby authorized to open nego­
     communications networks which will contribute to             tiations with non-Community countries likely to
     projects of common interest, by means of feasibility         conclude agreements with the Community designed to
     studies which will include a validation phase where          allow them to participate in the projects of common
     appropriate ,                                                interest referred to in Annex I and to improve the inter­
                                                                  operability of the data communications networks linking
— implementation of these networks by the partners                their administrations to those of the Community
     concerned, incorporating them into a single project          Member States .
     of common interest and ensuring their maintenance
     and    subsequent     development,      with   particular                               Article 8
     reference to the networks required for managing the
     internal market,                                             This Decision is addressed to the Member States .
— launching common initiatives designed to accelerate                                        Article 9
     the setting-up of specific data communications
     networks in areas where very short deadlines call for        It shall take effect 21 days after the date of its publi­
     a special joint effort on the part of the national and       cation in the Official Journal of the European
     Community administrations,                                    Communities.
 ---pagebreak--- NoC 105 / 12                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                 16 . 4 . 93
                                                              ANNEX I
             PROJECTS OF COMMON INTEREST FOR TRANS-EUROPEAN DATA COMMUNICATIONS
                                            NETWORKS BETWEEN ADMINISTRATIONS
             1 . Elimination of internal border controls
                 — Management of external borders.
                 —   Management of statistics on Community trade.
                 —   Management of fraud prevention and control.
                 —   Management of mobility of persons.
                 —   Management of indirect taxation.
             2 . Full exercise of the four freedoms of movement
                 — Free movement of goods .
                 — Free movement of services .
                 — Free movement of persons.
                 — Free movement of capital.
             3 . Support for Community policies
                 — Management of the common agricultural policy.
                 — Management of environmental policy.
                 — Management of competition policy.
                 — Management of training and education policy.
             4. Operation of the Community decision-making process
             Proposal for a Council Decision adopting a multiannual Community programme to support the
             implementation of trans-European networks for the interchange of data between administrations
                                                                (IDA)
                                                           (93 /C 105/ 11 )
                                                          COM(93) 69 final
                                         (Submitted by the Commission on 12 March 1993)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                              Whereas in Decision 85 /214/EEC ('), the Council ,
                                                                      having taken note of the Commission's report and the
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European                 proposals put forward in accordance with Decision
Economic Community, and in particular Article 235                     82/607/EEC (J), agreed that the Commission would be
thereof,                                                              responsible for implementing the coordination measures
                                                                      necessary for the specification, implementation and use
                                                                      by the Member States and itself of the Caddia data (CD)
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                    communications facilities relating to the interchange of
                                                                      information in the areas of agriculture, customs and stat­
Having regard to the opinion of the European                          istics, in accordance with an agreed development
Parliament,                                                           programme ; whereas in the absence of a development
                                                                      programme at the time the abovementioned Decision
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                      was adopted, the validity of the decision was restricted
Social Committee,                                                     to an initial period of two years, ending on 2 April 1987 ;
Whereas the Council adopted Decision 93/. . ./EEC on
a series of guidelines for data communications networks               O OJ No L 96, 3 . 4. 1985 , p. 35 .
between administrations ;                                             O OJ No L 247, 23 . 8 . 1982, p. 25 .