CELEX: 51987PC0360
Language: en
Date: 1987-09-02
Title: DRAFT DECISION FROM THE COUNCIL CONCERNING THE ESTABLISHMENT AT COMMUNITY LEVEL OF A POLICY AND A PLAN OF PRIORITY ACTIONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN INFORMATION SERVICES MARKET

17.9.87                                Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 249/5
                                                               II
                                                       (Preparatory Acts)
                                                 COMMISSION
              Proposal for a Council Decision concerning the establishment at Community level of a policy
                    and a plan of priority actions for the development of an information services market
                                                      COM(87) 360 final
                               (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 4 August 1987)
                                                        (87/C 249/05)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                           economy as a whole, as well as being an essential
                                                                   component both of the cultural identity of the
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European              Community and of the fabric of a modern society;
Economic Community, and in particular Article 100 A
thereof,
                                                                   Whereas, by virtue of the economic importance of infor-
                                                                   mation,- the creation of a common information services
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                 market occupies an essential place in the achievement of
                                                                   the internal market by the end of 1992;
In cooperation with the European Parliament,
                                                                   Whereas there exist numerous technical barriers in the
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                   way of the development of services, as well as barriers to
Social Committee,                                                  access and unacceptable distortions of competition which
                                                                   must be eliminated in order to set up a fair and balanced
                                                                   framework for the development of the information
Whereas it is essential to adopt measures for the gradual
                                                                   market in the widest sense, and thereby also for the
establishment of the internal market during the period up
                                                                   whole economy;
to 31 December 1992; whereas the internal market
comprises an area without internal frontiers in which the
free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is           Whereas the development of information resources and
ensured;                                                           information-based services requires the application of
                                                                   new technologies and the achievement of economies of
Whereas the Heads of State and of Government,                      scale, thereby presenting a number of problems, but at
meeting at the European Council in Brussels on 29 and              the same time opens up, directly or indirectly, new
30 March 1985, approved the creation of a Community                prospects which have many important repercussions, not
information market as a specific objective;                        only for the competitive working environment of the
                                                                   internal market but also for the whole Community in the
                                                                   face of its main competitors in the world arena;
Whereas the Council on 18 March 1986 gave a
favourable reception to the communication from the
Commission comprising a work programme for creating                Whereas public authorities in the Member States are
a common information market;                                       carrying out to a varied extent different activities in the
                                                                   domain of the information market;
Whereas the Commission, having consulted represen-
tatives of users and suppliers of information services as
                                                                   Whereas the growing importance of information in inter-
well as the Senior Officials Advisory Group on the
                                                                   national transactions, and of the related problems
Information Market, has been able to draw up an agreed
                                                                   concerning services, is receiving increasing attention in
definition of the principal objectives and lines of action
                                                                   international forums and this fact serves to emphasize
of a Community policy which is designed to tackle on a
                                                                   the necessity for Member States to develop common
broad front the complex, diverse and overlapping
                                                                   position in those forums;
questions arising out of the evolution of the information
market;
                                                                   Whereas the needs and legitimate demands of users of
Whereas it is recognized that information plays a role of          information services and particularly of those in small
fundamental importance in the development of trade and             and medium-sized enterprises and in the less-favoured
industry, giving strength and coherence to the European            regions of the Community merit special attention;
 ---pagebreak--- No C 249/6                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                  17.9.87
Whereas the Community already possesses potentially                — the launching of pilot and demonstration projects
useful instruments for the implementation of the above                 which will act as catalysts for the development of a
policy;                                                                European market,
Whereas the Community's financial engineering                      — the preparation of a specific action in favour of
mechanisms may contribute to the implementation of the                 libraries,
present action plan, in particular with regard to the pilot
                                                                   — the reinforcement of user support activities and the
and demonstration projects designed to exert a catalytic
                                                                       launching, in coordination with the Member States,
effect on the development of the information services
                                                                       of a campaign to promote the wealth and quality of
market,
                                                                       European information services available on the
                                                                       market.
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:
                                                                                            Article 3
                           Article 1
                                                                   The action plan described in Article 2 shall be
Approval is hereby given to the objectives and broad               implemented in two phases, the first of which shall last
lines of the plan of action proposed by the Commission             two years, beginning with the date of adoption of this
with the following aims:                                           Decision, and shall constitute an introductory phase
— to set up an internal information services market by             designed to intensify cooperation between the different
    the end of 1992,                                               parties concerned and to test the feasibility of a number
                                                                   of pilot and demonstration projects.
— to stimulate and reinforce the competitive capability
    of European suppliers of information services,                                          Article 4
— to promote the use of advanced information services              The amount deemed necessary for the implementation of
    in the Community,                                              the introductory phase is 15 million ECU for 1989 and
— to reinforce joint efforts to achieve the internal and           20 million ECU for 1990.
    external cohesion of the Community with respect to             Part of the amount deemed necessary, that used to
    information services.                                          finance pilot and demonstration projects, may serve in
                                                                   particular to bring to bear, as appropriate, additional
                          Article 2                                sources of finance emanating from interested partners,
In order to attain the objectives referred to in Article 1         thus multiplying its effect on the development of the
the following actions shall be undertaken under the                European information services market.
responsibility of the Commission:
                                                                                            Article 5
— the establishment of a European information market
    observatory,                                                   During the second half of 1989, the Commission shall
                                                                   transmit to the Council and to the European Parliament
— the presentation to the Council of proposals which               an evaluation report on the results obtained during the
    will aim at eliminating technical barriers to the              introductory phase and shall present, on the basis of
    establishment of an information market,                        those results, guidelines for the continuation of actions
— the improvement of the conditions for transmitting               until 1992.
    and accessing information services,
                                                                                            Article 6
— the preparation of initiatives concerning the role of
    the public sector in the information market,                   This Decision is addressed to the Member States.