CELEX: 51993PC0069(02)
Language: en
Date: 1993-03-12
Title: Proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION adopting a mutiannual Community programme to support the implementation of trans- European networks for the interchange of data between administrations (IDA)

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 .
 ---pagebreak--- 16 . 4 . 93                                  Official Journal of the European Communities                             No C 105 / 13
whereas Council Decision 86 /23 / EEC (J ) laid down the               hereinafter referred to as the 'programme', is hereby
detailed arrangements for implementing the CD project                  adopted. It shall run for five years from the date of the
as part of the Caddia long-term development                            Decision .
programme ; whereas Council Decision 87/228 /EEC (2)
extended by five years the period of validity of Decision                                        Article 2
85 / 214/ EEC which therefore expired on 31 May 1992 ;
                                                                       The objectives of the programme are :
Whereas Council Decision 82 / 869 / EEC (3) introduced a               — to support projects of common interest on data inter­
Community interinstitutional information system (Insis)                     change between administrations in the Community,
designed to allow electronic interchange of data between                    identified in Decision 93 /. . ./EEC ; interchange will
the administrations of the Community institutions and                       relate to the information, data and documents
the Member States ;
                                                                            needed for the functioning of the Community, in
                                                                            particular the completion and functioning of the
Whereas Council Decision 91 / 385 /EEC (4) established                      internal market ;
the second phase of the Tedis programme (Trade elec­
tronic data interchange systems), which makes a                        — to ensure the interoperability of data communications
significant contribution in particular to harmonization                     networks and applications .
activities in the field of electronic data interchange
(EDI);                                                                                           Article 3
Whereas in Decision 91 / 353 / EEC (5) adopting a specific             The contents of the programme are set out in Annex I.
programme of research and technological development
in the field of telematic systems in areas of general                                            Article 4
interest ( 1990 to 1994 ), activities are planned with the
aim of giving technological support for the setting-up of              1 . The implementation of the programme shall be
trans-European networks between administrations ;                      closely coordinated with Community policies and
                                                                       measures concerning the completion and functioning of
                                                                       the internal market.
Whereas there is a need amongst the Community
institutions for support for the creation of pan-European              2 . This coordination shall apply notably to the specific
services , so as to give the Community industry new                    programme on telematic systems iii areas of general
ambitions ;                                                            interest and to the following areas : trans-European tele­
                                                                       communications networks, security of information
Whereas cooperation is also appropriate with non­                      systems , standardization , data interchange in the various
Community countries in order to promote projects of                    sectors of administration, and the legal aspects and
common interest and ensure interoperability of the data                confidentiality issues raised by the introduction of data
communications networks between administrations ;                      communications networks .
Whereas the Community consequently needs to establish                                            Article 5
a framework for the contribution of the Community to
implementing trans-European data communications                        The Commission is hereby authorized to negotiate and
networks between administrations , where the objectives                conclude agreements with non-Community countries
of the proposed measures cannot be adequately attained                 with a view to their full or partial involvement in the
by the Member States and are therefore, by virtue of the               programme .
scale and the implications of the measures in question,
best carried out at Community level ;                                                            4rticle 6
                                                                       1 . The Commission shall be responsible for the
Whereas the only legal base provided by the Treaty for                 implementation of the programme .
adoption of this Decision lies in Article 235 ,
                                                                       2.     The procedure laid down in Article 7 shall apply
                                                                       to :
HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS :
                                                                       — the drawing up of the work programme for feasibility
                              Article 1                                     studies ;
A multiannual Community IDA programme (interchange                     — the adoption of the recommendations of feasibility
of data between administrations) as defined in Annex I ,                    studies ;
                                                                       — the progress of implementation and management of
(•) OJ   No L 33 , 8 . 2 . 1986 , p . 28 .                                  specific trans-European networks ;
(2) OJ   No L 145 , 5 . 6 . 1987 , p . 86 .
C)  OJ   No L 368 , 28 . 12 . 1982 , p . 40                            — the adoption of technical solutions of interconnection
(4) OJ   No L 208 , 30 . 7 . 1991 , p . 66 .                                for the interworking of telematic networks and
(s) OJ   No L 192 , 16 . 7 . 1991 , p . 18 .                                applications ,
 ---pagebreak--- No C 105 / 14                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                   16 . 4 . 93
                             Article 7                                                               Article 8
1.   The Commission shall be assisted by a committee                     1 . Every year the Commission shall report on acti­
of an advisory nature composed of the representatives of                 vities to the Council and the European Parliament.
the Member States and chaired by the representative of                   2 . At the end of the IDA programme, the Commission
the Commission .
                                                                         shall present a final report to the Council and the
                                                                         European Parliament, including an assessment of the
2.   The Commission representative shall submit to the                   extent to which each of the objectives laid down for the
committee a draft of measures to be taken. The                           programme has been attained, on the basis of the criteria
committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft, voting if              and indicators set out in Annex II, and propose any
necessary, within a time limit which the chairman may                    further action which may be needed.
set depending on the urgency of the matter concerned.
                                                                                                    Article 9
The opinion shall be recorded in the minutes ; each                      Decision 82 / 869/EEC is hereby repealed.
Member State shall be entitled to ask for its position to
be recorded in the minutes .                                                                        Article 10
                                                                         This Decision is addressed to the Member States .
The Commission shall give serious consideration to the
committee's opinion. It shall inform the committee of                                               Article 11
how it has taken account of the opinion.
                                                                         It shall take effect 21 days after the date of its publi­
3 . The Committee may examine any question relating                      cation in the Official Journal of the European
to the interchange of data between administrations.                      Communities.
                                                                 ANNEX I
                                                     Definition of the IDA programme
             1 . The IDA programme consists of two closely linked parts.
                 Part one covers Community support for projects of common interest on computerized interchange of
                 administrative information, data and documents between administrations within the Community.
                 Part two deals with measures to ensure interoperability of data communications networks and
                 applications, increase reliability and reduce costs.
             2. The part on projects of common interest for the interchange of administrative information, data and
                 documents aims to coordinate and support the development of systems for the interchange of data in
                 particular sectors between national administrations, and between these administrations and the
                 Community institutions and bodies.
                 The measures envisaged in this pan of the programme take the form of feasibility studies and support
                 for implementation.
                 Feasibility studies for projects of common interest generally comprise the following stages :
                 — analysis of the legal or de facto, national and Community bases giving rise to data interchange,
                 — analysis of the type and conditions of existing or likely interchange,
                 — description of data, data flows, frequency and volume of interchanges, and transmission time
                     available,
                 — identification of missing links of data communications applications, including links which do not
                     exist and those which are unsuitable and need altering or replacing,
 ---pagebreak--- 16 . 4 . 93                                Official Journal of the European Communities                                    No C 105 / 15
                — preparation of a comprehensive plan setting out all the relevant action to be taken,
                — examination of the problems of methodology and coordination,
                — proposal of one or more alternative or supplementary recommendations concerning all the work to
                     be carried out and operations to be managed, along with an execution plan and an assessment of the
                     costs and risks of all the structures to be set up or altered,
                — validation, on a small scale, of the essential functions of the solutions adopted,
                — comparison of the recommendations proposed and the conclusions of the validation exercise,
                — drafting of technical installation, management and maintenance specifications for the introduction of
                     operational systems .
                In addition to the feasibility studies there will be regular monitoring of the measures and projects
                undertaken by the administrations of the Member States and Community institutions and bodies with a
                view to the introduction of the operational data communications networks which result from the feasi­
                bility studies .
                Community support for the implementation of projects of common interest will comprise partial support
                for national administrations and Community institutions, so as to encourage the implementation of the
                projects whenever this should prove necessary in order to ensure the interconnection and interoper­
                ability of the Community networks . This support will take whatever form is most appropriate to the
                specific needs and urgency of each project.
                Without prejudice to existing or future specific action plans, the support will also comprise assistance for
                the implementation and management of individual trans-European data communications networks , and
                in particular :
                — networks in the field of     statistics within the Community,
                — networks in the field of indirect taxation and customs ,
                — networks in the field of     data interchange on animal and plant health,
                — networks in the field of     education and training,
                — networks in the field of     export controls and managing Community quantitative restrictions.
            3 . The part concerning the interoperability of data communications networks and applications consist of
                providing technical interconnection solutions enabling the independent information systems of the
                administrations to communicate with one another via the telecommunications infrastructure . These will
                also facilitate the execution of feasibility studies on the interconnection of systems, conducted under
                part one of the programme .
                The measures planned , which will be based on existing technologies, are set out below :
                — defining the common data communications architecture to be used and, where appropriate,
                     encouraging migration from existing architectures towards a common architecture,
                — defining common communications protocols and technical interfaces between independent systems ,
                — choosing between telecommunications services ,
                — laying down detailed technical interconnection rules,
                — drawing up management rules,
                — setting up small-scale integrated systems in an appropriate environment as demonstration platforms,
                — organizing consultations with the parties concerned, namely the national administrations and the
                     Community institutions' computer specialists , telecommunications network operations, relevant
                     service providers and representatives of industry,
                — taking account of the work carried out in the European standards institutes and work on computer
                    security and confidentiality,
                — incorporating, as they become available, the results of R & D work under the part of the framework
                    programme that relates to data communications systems for the use of administrations ,
 ---pagebreak--- No C 105 / 16                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                    16 . 4 . 93
                 — promoting the development of trans-European bearer services which meet the European and interna­
                     tional standards and can be used as the basis for setting up a common architecture,
                 — providing user information and, in particular, informing and training the national administrations
                     and the Community institutions directly and indirectly concerned with trans-European data
                     communications networks, and facilitating coordination and monitoring between administrations at
                     national and European level .
                                                                  ANNEX II
                            CRITERIA AND INDICATORS FOR ASSESSING THE IDA PROGRAMME
             1 . The part of the programme on projects of common interest for the interchange of administrative infor­
                 mation, data and documents
                 (a) identification of end-users' needs : determine whether they have been properly taken into account
                      and how far users' interest has been aroused ;
                 (b) projects of common interest : assess progress on feasibility studies and project implementation, and
                      compliance with deadlines ;
                 (c) interoperability : assess the solutions described in each project of common interest and how far they
                      are compatible ;
                 (d) information, data and document interchange methods : assess the effectiveness of these procedures
                      and the level of user satisfaction .
            2 . Part concerning the interoperability of data communications networks and applications
                 (a) interconnection of systems : determine whether appropriate assistance has been given and whether
                      practical and effective solutions have been devised and implemented in the projects of common
                      interest ;
                 (b) methodology for implementing a common architecture : check whether technical guides making
                      reference to standards have been drawn up, whether management rules have been laid down and
                      how far they are effective and appropriate to the various areas of application ;
                 (c) consultation of parties concerned : determine whether the action taken involves them all and the
                      level of their involvement ;
                 (d) standards, and security and confidentiality aspects : assess the conformity and the level of security
                      and confidentiality of the practical solutions recommended for sectoral applications ;
                 (e) transfer of results of R & D work : assess how far these results have been taken into account during
                      the IDA programme ;
                 (f) user support, training and information : assess the effectiveness of assistance and the level of user
                      satisfaction .