CELEX: 51986PC0662
Language: en
Date: 1986-12-01
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION INTRODUCING THE PREPARATORY PHASE OF A COMMUNITY PROGRAMME ON TRADE ELECTRONIC DATA INTERCHANGE SYSTEMS ( TEDIS )

6.1. 87                                Official Journal of the European Communities                                No C 2/5
              Proposal for a Council Regulation introducing the preparatory phase of a Community
                            programme on trade electronic data interchange systems (TEDIS)
                                                     COM(86) 662 final
                             (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 3 December 1986)
                                                         (87/C 2/05)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                          Whereas there are specific aspects to information
                                                                  technology standards and the work needed to produce
                                                                  them, and in particular:
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Economic Community, and in particular Article 235
thereof,                                                          — the complexity of the technical specifications and the
                                                                      precision needed for data interchange and systems
                                                                      interoperability;
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                                  — the urgent need for standards in order to prevent
Having regard to the opinion of the European Par-                     totally incompatible (trade) electronic data inter-
liament,                                                              change systems being developed;
                                                                  — the need to ensure that international standards are
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
                                                                      implemented on a basis that makes them credible for
Social Committee,
                                                                      practical use;
Whereas the Community has as its task, by establishing a
                                                                  Whereas a general programme of information techno-
common market and progressively approximating the
                                                                  logy and telecommunications standardization is being
economic policies of Member States, to promote
                                                                  implemented;
throughout the Community a harmonious development
of economic activities and closer relations between the
States belonging to it;
                                                                  Whereas the proposal for a Council Directive on stan-
                                                                  dardization in the field of information technology and
Whereas the Heads of State or of Government, meeting              telecommunications is intended to establish in those
in Stuttgart, Athens and Fontainebleau, have emphasized           sectors a general framework for drawing up standards or
the importance of telecommunications as a vital driving           common technical specifications so as to facilitate infor-
force for economic growth and social development;                 mation exchange throughout the Community by
                                                                  breaking down the barriers created by the in-
                                                                  compatibilities that stem from the absence of standards
                                                                  or their lack of precision;
Whereas the European Parliament, in evaluating the
situation and development of telecommunications,
emphasized the key role of the latter in the future
political, social and economic development of the                 Whereas under the CD project (!) action is to be taken
Community (debates of the European Parliament on                  to ensure close cooperation with commercial and
telecommunications 1983, Leonardi report, Albert and              industrial interests so as to provide appropriate
Ball report of 1982);                                             communications and information exchange interfaces
                                                                  between commercial and industrial systems and those of
                                                                  customs administration;
Whereas on 17 December 1984, the Council approved
the main features of a Community policy on
telecommunications, including the aim of developing               Whereas the abovementioned objective can be achieved
advanced telecommunication services and networks                  only through the establishment of close cooperation
through Community projects;                                       between commercial and industrial interests in different
                                                                  industries so as to ensure the necessary compatibility of
                                                                  trade electronic data interchange systems;
Whereas the telecommunications sector is of great
economic importance as regards both its own industrial
activities and its contribution to efficient information
interchange throughout the Community;                             O OJ No C 167, 6. 7. 1985, p. 3.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 2/6                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                  6.1.87
Whereas the CDproject requires that consideration be              Whereas in the light of results obtained in the
given to the aspects concerning the security, protection          preparatory phase it will be necessary to define the aims
and privacy of data in respect of imports, exports and            and details of a second phase offering support for pilot
intra-Community trade supplied to, held by, or in course          projects and continuing some of the activities started in
of transmission between the Commission, customs                   the preparatory phase;
administrations and commercial CIRCLES;
                                                                  Whereas the Treaty has not provided the necessary-
Whereas the above questions form part of a much wider             specific powers,
issue, the protection of information in the context of
trade electronic data interchange between information
systems; whereas it is essential to ensure consistency
between the measures taken under the CD project and
those implemented in the industrial context;                      HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Whereas the Commission's White Paper on completing                                          Article 1
the internal market underlines the importance of the
development of new cross-border services and the part             A Community programme on trade electronic data
that telecommunications networks based on common                  interchange systems (TEDIS) is herey set up.
standards can play in creating a market free of obstacles
at Community level;
                                                                                            Article 2
Whereas trade electronic data interchange can in-                 The preparatory phase shall be implemented in
creasingly help to strengthen the competitiveness of              accordance with the provisions of this Regulation. It
European companies in manufacturing and services;                 shall cover a period of two years starting on 1 January
                                                                  1987.
Whereas there is at present a rapid increase in public and
private efforts at both national and international level to
bring into service within companies, groups and                                             Article 3
industries trade electronic data interchange systems that
                                                                  The aims of the preparatory phase are:
are not compatible with each other;
Whereas the diverse and piecemeal approaches to trade               1. coordination at Community level of work going on
electronic data interchange adopted within a country or                in the Member States on the development of trade
more generally a firm, group of firms or industry are                  electronic data interchange systems;
likely to lead to the establishment of incompatible
systems unable to communicate with each other and to
prevent both users and suppliers of equipment and                  2. alerting of potential users;
services from benefiting to the full from the advantages
offered by the development of trade electronic data
interchange;
                                                                   3. alerting of European hardware and software manu-
                                                                       facturers to the opportunities offered by electronic
                                                                       data interchange;
Whereas to ensure that these trade electronic data
interchange systems be able to communicate it is
necessary to adopt a programme containing an initial set
of activities of common interest needed for the                    4. logistic support for European sectoral groups;
coordinated development of trade electronic data
interchange and a further set of activities more closely
linked to sectoral projects so as to help solve in a               5. consideration of the specific requirements of trade
coordinated fashion the common problems encountered                    electronic data interchange in telecommunications
during their development;                                              and standardization policies; carrying out of
                                                                       preparatory work for that pupose;
Whereas in a preparatory phase it is necessary to carry
out activities and studies so as to establish and develop          6. help in the setting up of conformance testing centres
conditions conducive to the coordinated development of                 for software and hardware used in trade electronic
trade electronic data interchange;                                     data interchange systems;
 ---pagebreak--- 6.1.87                                  Official Journal of the European Communities                               No C 2/7
 7. solving of legal problems that might inhibit the               information market, value-added networks and services,
     development of trade electronic data interchange              standardization and multilingualism, and in particular
     and ensuring that restrictive telecommunications              with the Caddia and CD projects, so as to ensure the
     regulations cannot hamper the development of trade            necessary interaction with the specific requirements of
     electronic data interchange;                                  trade electronic data interchange.
 8. study of security requirements for trade electronic                                       Article                     ">
     data interchange systems so as to guarantee
     confidentiality of messages transmitted;                      Contracts for the preparatory phase shall be concluded
                                                                   with companies, including small and medium-sized firms,
 9. study of specific problems caused by the many                  research establishments and other bodies established in
     different languages in the Community and exami-               the Community.
     nation of the possibility of using of the results
     obtained or expected under the machine translation                                       Article 6
     programmes Systran and Eurotra;
                                                                   1.    The Community shall contribute to the preparatory
10. study of the advisability of promoting the                     phase of the programme within the limits of the appropri-
     development of the specialized software needed for            ations entered for that purpose in the general budget of
     trade electronic data interchange;                            the Communities.
11. list of existing or potential sectoral projects on trade       2.    The amount estimated necessary to cover the
     electronic data interchange and a comparative                 Community's contribution to the work in the
     analysis of them;                                             preparatory phase of the programme is 6 million ECU
                                                                   for the duration of the preparatory phase.
12. identification of special requirements emerging
     during the implementation of trade electronic data
                                                                                              Article 7
     interchange systems that could be solved more easily
     with Community assistance;                                    The Commission shall ensure that the preparatory phase
                                                                   of the TEDIS programme is carried out satisfactorily
13. particular study of the assistance that could be given         and shall take the appropriate implementing measures.
     small businesses to help them to take part in trade
     electronic data interchange;
                                                                                              Article 8
14. possible support for pilot projects whose gradual              The Commission shall submit to the Council by 1
     implementation would help to find solutions that              January 1989 at the latest a report on the execution of
     could be extended to problems of common interest              the work defined in this Regulation and on guidelines
     encountered by most trade electronic data                     for the continuation of the TEDIS programme.
     interchange systems.
                                                                                              Article 9
                          Article 4
                                                                   This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January 1987.
Activities in the preparatory phase shall be carried on in
coordination with the existing or planned policies and             This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
activities in the Community on telecommunications, the             directly applicable in all Member States.