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Document: 1:2 Swedish Presidency of the European Union PUBLIC e-SERVICES WITHIN THE EUROPEAN UNION TODAY 36th Conference of the Directors-General of the Public Service of the Member States of the European Union Uppsala, 17 and 18 May 2001 1

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Document: 1:2 Swedish Presidency

of the European Union

PUBLIC e-SERVICES WITHIN THE EUROPEAN UNION TODAY

36th Conference of the Directors-General of the Public Serviceof the Member States of the European Union

Uppsala, 17 and 18 May 2001

Report drawn up by Dr Jean-Michel Eymeri, Senior Lecturer at theEuropean Institute of Public Administration, Maastricht (NL)

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SUMMARY

Acknowledgements 3Introduction 4

First Part: State of advancement of e-services in the Member States’ administrations 8

1.1. Main recent measures aimed at developing e-services in the administrations of the Member States. 81.1.1. Portal sites 91.1.2. The completion of a first wave of electronic services 101.1.3. Accessibility and the fight against the “digital divide” 121.1.4. Generalisation of electronic service delivery by the State to society 131.1.5. Developing e-commerce and online public procurement 151.1.6. Electronic identification and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) 16

1.2. What is the common standard of online services offered to usersin Europe? 20

Second Part: Best practices of e-services in the EU: an overview. 33

2.1.Belgium 332.1.1. SIS Card 33 2.1.2. Central Information Bank of Social Security, A Reference model forthe exchange of data in the public sector 342.2. Denmark 362.2.1. Electronic self-service to private individuals in the Municipality of Copenhagen. 362.2.2. EasyPay 362.3. Germany 372.3.1. BAföG-Online 372.3.2. Profi – Professional information system for efficient managementof project promotion 372.4. Greece 382.4.1. Downloadable administrative procedures. 382.4.2. Internal communication almost exclusively by electronic mail. 382.5. Spain 382.5.1. Innovative systems on the Spanish financial sector 382.5.2. The Spanish Social Security on the Internet 392.6. France 402.6.1. Modernisation of services provided to the users: The new portal ofthe French public administration 402.6.2. Modernisation of the internal functioning of the state: Development

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of regional information systems 412.7. Ireland 422.7.1. Electronic Public Service Delivery using the Service Delivery Model 422.7.2. Government Strategy for Electronic Procurement by Public ServiceAgencies 432.8. Italy 432.8.1. Ministero del Tesoro: Acquisti on-line (G2G, G2B) 43 2.8.2. Fisco on-line HYPERLINK (G2C) 442.9. Luxembourg 442.9.1. Telematic directory of the central state administration 44 2.9.2. HealthNet 452.10. The Netherlands 462.10.1. Programme “Streamlining key data” 462.10.2. Project EOS 472.10.3. Business counter 472.11. Austria 482.11.1. Electronic Companies Register and the Electronic Land Registerh) 482.11.2. Electronic data file of edicts (Ediktsdatei) 482.11.3. Electronic archive of official documents for Austria 482.12. Portugal 492.12.1. Direct Public Service (SPD) Public Service on-line 492.12.2. Digital Cities 492.13. Finland 502.13.1. Labour Market Services 502.13.2. Participation 502.14. Sweden 512.14.1. Database for cars on the National Road Administration 512.14.2. Open Customer Systems in the Public Employment Service (AMS) 522.15. United Kingdom 532.15.1. The Government Gateway 532.15.2. Internet site ‘MyChildAtSchool.com’ 542.16. European Union 542.16.1. EUROPAplus 542.16.2. Europe Direct 55

Third Part: Pan-European e-services offered to facilitate citizens’freedom of movement 57

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Acknowledgements

I would like to express my gratitude to the officials of the Swedish Statskontoret with whom the preparation and realisation of this study has brought me into contact: my direct sponsor Anders Johanson, chair of the working group on e-government, and his deputy Ulrika Ekström. It was always a pleasure to work with these highly professional partners in a friendly atmosphere of mutual understanding.

The goodwill of those who, within the fifteen national administrations concerned, were entrusted with responding to the questions should of course also be mentioned.

Within EIPA, I would once again like to thank for the confidence they have shown in me the Director-General, Gérard Druesne, and his deputy, Robert Polet. Particular mention should be also made of Barbara van der Graaf, student assistant, who greatly aided me in the management of documents and the drawing up of tables. As regards the linguistic services of the Institute, Andrew Constable, Suzanne Habraken , Sabine Magagnoli and Claude Rongione have produced the trilingual translation of this report with their usual professionalism.

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INTRODUCTION

The rapid spread of information and communication technologies and the advent of the “information society” have shown to be major structuring forces, both at an individual and collective level, and in the most varied of fields: educational, scientific and cultural, social, legal, economic and financial, etc. Like all developed areas, Europe is caught up in an innovating whirlwind. Public administrations must endeavour to harness it as, in each of their respective countries, they make up a vast collection of organisations which have to adapt their internal functioning and methods of service provision to technological developments. Public administrations must also, and in a more ambitious way – given that they are responsible for public policy making and implementation in the name of the State – facilitate, organise and regulate these developments.

That is to say that in several ways, the topic of e-government, which was made a priority objective by the e-Europe 2002 Action Plan – “An information society for all” adopted by the European Council of Santa Maria da Feira on 19 and 20 June 2000, represents a major challenge for the public services of the EU Member States. By way of reminder, point 3.b. “e-Government” of the Plan sets the following 6 objectives for the partners:

Actions Player(s) DeadlineKey public data on line, in particular legal, administrative, cultural, environmental and traffic data

Member States, with the support of the European Commission

End 2002

Simplified online administrative procedures for business: e.g. accelerated procedures for setting up a company

Member States, European Commission

End 2002

Definition of a coordinated approach to public sector information, including at Community level

European Commission End 2000

Set up pan-European portals for interactive public services (through the IDA program-me)

European Commission, Member States

mid-2001

Promote the use of free software in the public sector and promote good practices for online public authorities through exchanges of experiences throughout the Union (via the IST and IDA programmes)

European Commission, Member States

During 2001

All simple transactions with the European Commission should be accessible on line (e.g. financing, research contracts, recruit-ment, public tenders)

European Commission End 2001

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In terms of methodology, the e-Europe 2002 Action Plan concentrates in particular on the open method of coordination and on benchmarking. From this point of view the focus is similar to that of the IDA programme (data exchange between administrations), which aims to increase the exchange of electronic data between the Member States with a view to creating pan-European online services. It is a programme which strives to give a dynamic role to exchanges of good practices.

In this general context, it is therefore only logical that the Directors-General of the Public Service of the Member States of the European Union have put the topic of e-government, which is now a major issue, on the agenda for their joint regular work. The current troika moreover has displayed impressive unanimity and a very marked continuity of will, since the issues relating to the electronic administration will have been dealt with at three meetings of the Directors-General, i.e. in Strasbourg under the French Presidency, in Uppsala under the current Swedish Presidency and in Bruges under the future Belgian Presidency. Each of these Presidencies moreover requested that the European Institute of Public Administration carry out a study on one or other aspect of the issue of e-government.

In the second half of 2000 the French Presidency took a number of initiatives, including the creation of an Extranet site providing an overview of the activities which have involved cooperation and exchanges between the fifteen Member States as regards administration and public service, which was opened in October 2000 at the address: www.fonction-publique.gouv.fr/Strasbourg; then, under the Swedish presidency the site became: www.statskontoret.se/eudg. In addition, the European Institute of Public Administration was asked to conduct a study describing the use of information and communication technologies in the European administrations, which led details being exchanged at the 35th meeting of the Directors-General in Strasbourg (9-10 November 2000).

The resolution concerning e-Government adopted at this meeting provided for the creation of an e-Government Working Group. Its tasks are not only to regularly list the important measures taken and the exchanges of information carried out by each Member State in connection with e-government, but also to reflect on benchmarks in that field.

Within the framework of the work of this group, for its meeting on 19 and 20 April 2001 preparing for the 36th meeting of the Directors-General in Uppsala on 17 and 18 May 2001, the Swedish Presidency, which has described the development of e-government as one of its major priorities, therefore wished to gather information from the Member States and the EU institutions on the state of progress as regards electronic services offered by official authorities to citizens and to private organisations. The carrying out of a survey on this subject, based on a detailed questionnaire prepared according to the Swedish Presidency’s instructions and sent to the fifteen national administrations and the services of the European Commission in February 2001, was entrusted to the European Institute of Public Administration.

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This report is the result of that work, which is the continuation of the report conducted under the French Presidency. It should therefore be read together with the previous one, still available on the extranet site. It should be noted in particular that the report does not provide a detailed overview of ten years of e-Government policies within the Member States – its content is only an updated view, focusing on recent developments and achievements. The consequence is that this report does not cover all of the important achievements dating back over four or five years of those countries particularly advanced in this field (for instance, a specific example among others is PKI in Spain).

The report is organised in three major parts. The first part aims to assess the state of advancement of e-services in the public administrations of the EU. The second part offers an overview of “best practices” in public e-services as selected by the Member States themselves. The third part aims to provide more in-depth knowledge on the current plans and projects for the provision of e-services offered to facilitate freedom of movement primarily for citizens but also for goods and capital.

At the end of this introduction, it should be pointed out that the answers of the Member States and of the European Commission are put on line in extenso on the Extranet site of the Swedish Presidency.

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FIRST PART: State of advancement of e-services

in the Member States’ administrations

The resolution of the Directors-General on e-government entrusted the working group on e-government with, among other things, the task of regularly taking stock of important measures taken in this field by the EU Member States and to analyse the impact of information and communication technologies (ICT) on the internal functioning of the administrations and on the methods and quality of the services they provide to the public. Consequently, the objective of this first part is to give an overall view of the current state of advancement of European public administrations in this field.

In the first part, important measures recently taken by the governments will be discussed; the second section will, on the basis of tables, give precise information on the exact situation at the end of February 2001 as regards the online public services that are actually operational in the countries of the EU.

1.1. Main recent measures aimed at developing e-services in the administrations of the Member States.

The first question in the questionnaire sent to the national administrations was an open question asking them to list and give a short presentation of the five most important measures taken in their country during the past year in order to develop e-services provided by the administration. However, as is often the case, the sixteen replies (the fifteen Member States as well as the Commission, responding on behalf of the EU) do not have the same logical status: indeed, while some keep strictly to the description of the measures actually adopted recently, others go back over several years or, which was even more common, present plans and projects for the future which have just been formally adopted in the last months but are still far from having been transformed into concrete measures and operational services for the public, the deadlines often being between eighteen months and three years. Comparisons of the different countries should therefore be made with caution and the reader should be wary of drawing peremptory conclusions from the following pages as to the “level” or the “degree of development” of one country as opposed to another when it comes to e-services.1

That having been said, a presentation of each country in the form of “data sheets” juxtaposed in such a way as to merely summarise the replies of each national administration to question 1.1 would be of little interest, as these replies can be found on line in extenso on the Extranet site of the Swedish Presidency.

1 For more information on this point, see Part 1.2 below.8

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The aim here is therefore to offer a more horizontal analysis which identifies among the replies of the States a certain number of main themes around which the achievements and projects as regards public e-services are organised.

First, it should be pointed out, so as not to have to repeat it, that many States started by citing, among their “most important measures” adopted, the various action plans officially announced by their governments and often even by their Prime Minister in person. The “e-Government Action Plan” of the Belgian federal government, the “Denmark on the net” plan adopted in Copenhagen in October 2000, the action plan called “Internet for everyone – 10 steps on the way towards the information society” announced by the German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder in September 2000, the “INFOXXI” Programme in Spain, the “Action plan for the information society” adopted by the Italian Council of Ministers in June 2000, etc.: there are only very few national governments that do not use the field of e-government in their communication strategy to assert themselves as “change managers” able to respond to technical progress and to lead their societies towards the future. However, while some plans are very detailed and accompanied by quantified objectives, others remain quite vague and general.

It is therefore important to stick to the measures actually implemented or becoming reality in the near future, as presented by the States. They can be divided into six types or main areas:

1.1.1. Portal sites

Most Member States and the EU itself have already created or will introduce, before the end of the year, a portal site which offers users a single point of entry into the network of web sites of all the public institutions of the country. This aim is of course made indispensable by the proactive ambition displayed everywhere to provide each public administration or agency with its own Internet site. Considering the very high numbers of such structures in most developed democracies, this is leading to an explosion in the number of public sites, which have started to form a real maze in which a single portal will provide essential visibility.

A complete overview of the state of advancement of the countries in this area can be found in part 1.2. below. To avoid repetition, we have limited ourselves to pointing out here that, depending on the case, the portal can either be truly “single” or split into two addresses, one aimed at citizens and the other at businesses.

As regards the sophistication of their facilities and the abundance of the information they provide, such portals clearly differ from one State to another. Furthermore, in several countries where it has already been in existence for a few years, the portal site is being overhauled and modernised. Everywhere, the long-term objective is that the sites have a powerful search engine and an internal structure which enables the user to navigate easily. The basic idea is that the functioning of the system should be organised according to the intentions and needs of the user, contrary to the institutional presentation derived from

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bureaucratic logic. Similarly, the ideal that is being strived for is to make access to the portal possible from several instruments: a computer connected to the Internet of course, but also a fixed telephone, a digital television or a mobile phone.

As regards the policy of public portals, mention should be made of two original initiatives in France and the Netherlands which are suited to their own politico-administrative cultures. The first case is France, which is paradoxically a unitary State where the State administration is strong but which is also a country where the level of political decentralisation and administrative de-concentration is also very high, with the risk of fragmentation of the administrations that represent the various sectoral ministries in the field. In this particular framework, it is no surprise that an initiative has been taken which aims to create, between now and summer 2001, an Internet site in each of the 100 préfectures of the French départements in charge of representing the central State in the country and coordinating the local services of various ministries. The function specifically assigned to this site is that of a “local public portal” which should link up the various web sites opened by the sectoral State services to be found at the local level.

The Netherlands has a politico-administrative model where the tradition is that of a strong “local government” and of a central State which should remain modest. This means that many of the functions which in other countries are taken on by the State administration fall within the competence of the provinces or even that of the municipalities. It is therefore not legitimate for the central State to produce a national portal site which contains procedures coming under the competence of the local authorities. However, at the same time, it was difficult to let each of them “deal with it” in its own way, which would have led to an incoherent patchwork and to significant differences in the e-services provided to the citizens according to the town in which they live. Therefore, a compromise solution was found last year: a catalogue of public electronic products was created. This catalogue describes some 300 services and procedures carried out by local authorities (issuing of driving licences, real estate tax, etc.). All municipalities can, without any charge, obtain this catalogue, put it on their web site and adapt it to their needs. To promote the development of this tool, the State grants a subsidy for the implementation of the catalogue. The whole project is a real success and, as a result, many small municipalities who did not have the capabilities or funds to create a web site have now decided to set one up.

These are two examples – there are more of course– of the way in which new technologies are being incorporated into a politico-administrative context specific to each individual case, to which they are adapted with varying degrees of success.

1.1.2. The completion of a first wave of electronic services

The creation of a single portal site is to some extent a sign that a national administration has begun to master a number of e-services which constitute a kind of first step towards e-government. It would of course be going too far to describe them as “basic” services or to say that they “have become part of everyday life”:

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their creation is much too recent or must even still be realised in some countries, and their use is far from being widespread in all categories of the population.

In addition to these e-services, mention should be made of the fact that in most countries an Internet server for legislation has been introduced. Here, depending on the case, users can find the online versions of only the main national laws or all positive law in force: national laws and regulations, treaties, Community regulations and directives, and legislation or regulations of federal or regional bodies in the countries where these exist. This point will not be further discussed here, as it is dealt with under 1.2. below on the basis of specific information.

Another type of electronic service which is becoming traditional in European administrations is the putting on line of the most important administrative forms, a field where certain countries are putting forth great efforts. This is for example the case in Greece, where no less than 600 forms have already been digitised, and where 300 others will be within the next two years. The first stage of such programmes is that these forms can be printed out and thus be transformed into paper documents in no time. However, the long-term objective is of course that these forms should be completed on line and returned to the administration simply by clicking the mouse. Of course, the aim is to dematerialise the most common administrative procedures.

In the framework of such a plan, it will be all the more essential for the user, who is increasingly often alone at the computer to deal with administrative procedures, to receive advice and instructions the level of which is at least equivalent to what he/she would now be given at the counters of public institutions. This is what makes the creation of “citizen’s guides” on the Internet particularly important. The development of these quite sophisticated tools - a more difficult task than the abovementioned achievements - is one of the other important measures often cited in the answers that we received from the Member States.

Usually provided on the portal site, the “citizen’s guide” informs users on the procedures they should follow in order to carry out the main administrative formalities of their daily life. The general tendency that can be noted among the designers of these citizen’s guides is to structure them around what is now called “life events” such as marriages or property moves in the case of private individuals and, for companies, the creation of a public limited liability company, tax payments, increases in capital, etc.

These are examples of services which, combined with the creation of a powerful portal site, make up this “first generation” of online public services which are not even operational everywhere yet while the specialists in charge of e-government projects are already concentrating on the later stages. Before discussing those, however, we should consider another type of very important measure mentioned by several States, the logical nature of which is different: these are not new e-services as such but rather involve making these services available to the largest public possible.

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1.1.3. Accessibility and the fight against the “digital divide”

European governments have all become aware that the ICT revolution may well create a “digital divide” not only on a global scale, between the countries of the North and the South, but also within each national area between privileged individuals or groups and those which are less so. In several countries, this awareness results in a very proactive policy to increase the accessibility of electronic public services for those who suffer from social exclusion, are geographically remote or have a physical disability.

This is the case in, for example, France where thousands of free points of access to the Internet are being set up (7000 points envisaged for the end of 2003); moreover, all Internet sites of the State services are now being made accessible to blind people (controls will be carried out in summer 2001); finally, there are plans to create call centres offering telephone services - equivalent to those of the single portal and the legislation servers - to persons, in particular the old, who do not know how to use a computer.

Greece has created in each prefecture (representation of the central State in the administrative subdivisions of the territory) points of access where, on a digital screen, citizens from even the most remote areas can have access to public e-servers. Ireland has adopted a similar scheme: it plans to provide points of access to the Internet in all public buildings throughout the country very soon.

Austria, on the other hand, adopted a different approach, with the explicit aim of preventing that citizens who do not have access to the Internet have to go to one of the administrations: this is the network provided by the tobacconists, the “Trafiken”, which are being equipped with work stations which make it possible, via the portal www.help.gv.at, to access the public sites, to print administrative forms, etc. 700 tobacconists are already equipped, and 2000 will be by the end of the year.

The United Kingdom is making important and varied efforts as regards accessibility, and, more widely, as regards the fight against social inequalities in the face of the new electronic world. For instance, since last year 153 kiosks called “NHS Direct Information Points” have been installed in supermarkets, pharmacies, ferry terminals, schools, etc., which enable citizens to reach the web site of the National Health Service, “NHS Direct On-line”. In addition, an interactive web site was launched in September 2000 which enables employees as well as employers to get information on the new National Minimum Wage (NMW). Software containing questions and answers even makes it possible to calculate the hourly rate in each individual case. Lastly, also since September 2000, the server www.learndirect.co.uk offers high-quality learning at a time, place and pace to suit the user. A choice is possible of what to learn and when to learn, depending on the user’s goal: to learn for fun or work, to gain knowledge, to enhance employability, to take control of his/her future, etc.

These are some of the initiatives in the fight against the inequalities with regard to e-administration in its current state of development.

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Finally, it should be pointed out that the answers of several States reflect their ambition to go further in the direction of generalised use of e-services.

1.1.4. Generalisation of electronic service delivery by the State to society

Even though many national administrations are far from being in a position to already move to this stage, certain States indicate very clearly in their answers that they have launched broad and ambitious projects which aim at medium-term dematerialisation and at generalised “electronisation” of public services and relations between official authorities and civil society in the coming decade.

The German Project “BundOnline 2005” can be mentioned in this context: the objective is for all the federal administration services to be provided entirely through the Internet, parallel to the current traditional services and increasingly taking their place. The programme comprises three complementary sections, A2C: “Administration to Citizens” services, A2B: “Administration to Business” services and A2A: “Administration to Administration” services (i.e. between the federal administration, the Länder and the municipalities).

Ireland has just adopted a very ambitious Electronic Service Delivery strategy which corresponds to an general model, accessible through a “single gateway” which will be more than a single portal for information and procedures. The long-term aim is the complete networking of all public databases and services provided by all public agencies, whether it concerns administrative, legal or fiscal procedures or economic and commercial relations between public institutions and private companies. Presented as best Irish practice in the second part of this report, the implementation of this large-scale project, which begins this year, will of course necessitate the development of a secure public key system for electronic identification (see below).

The same is true of the Netherlands, which is also moving towards the large-scale provision of online services to the public. The realistic short-term objective set by the government in The Hague is that by the end of next year (2002) 25% of the public services should be accessible via the Internet.

Finland, one of the countries where the population and administrations make the widest use of ICT and whose legislation is on e-government is particularly advanced (Parliamentary Act of January 2000 on electronic service in the administration, etc.), is taking large strides in the same direction. For instance, a decision of the Council of State (government) of March 2000 on information management in public administration has laid the foundations for the generalised exchange of information and interoperability between the databases of the various public agencies. A decision of May 2000 has approved a considerable number of projects aimed at working out common solutions as regards electronic service delivery and has granted them budget appropriations up to 2003.

Sweden, which is another advanced country where it concerns the information society, has been developing, since the governmental action plan “Public administration in the service of the citizens”, a strategy to generalise Internet-

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based public service. The main idea is to put an end to the unequal dialogue between the State and the citizens and to promote a “self-service” e-government in which the user is no longer a mere subject or a rather passive recipient but a fully active consumer-citizen.

One of the major objectives is in particular the “24/7 agencies”: through the electronisation of service delivery, the 285 public agencies must be able to meet the expectations of citizens and companies whenever convenient for them, i.e. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This requires of course total security when it comes to message and document transmissions, which is achieved through electronic signatures and the creation public keys (cf. below).

Such a generalisation of the provision of the main public services via the Internet also requires the creation, within the public sector, of an open electronic infrastructure for information circulation. This was the aim of the activities, undertaken between 1995 and 1999, of the “Topleader Forum” (TLF). Led by the Minister of Finance and made up of the Directors-General of ten public agencies making extensive use of ICT, and the Directors of the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and the Federation of the Swedish County Councils, the TLF worked at eliminating obstacles and at creating good conditions for a rational and secure use of ICT in the transfer of information between public agencies and institutions.

Along the same line, an “e-Forum” was created - on the initiative of the Agency for Public Administration - involving several large agencies: it aims to identify needs and establish cooperation to enable the transformation of public administration services into networked e-services, with full case handling when necessary. Accordingly, a governmental project called “eLink” is underway, a joint project aimed at developing a set of generic services provided to citizens and companies and to facilitate efficient and secure communication between administrations. These are some examples of the Swedish achievements in this field.

The United Kingdom is not being outdone, since the aim set by the Prime Minister, by launching his programme “UK Online” in September 2000, is that 100% of the public services should be offered on line to citizens and companies in 2005. As in Ireland, the concepts of electronic service delivery (ESD) and of a Government Gateway, logically separate from the Internet portal site of the administrations, have a central place in this mechanism. More details about this “Gateway” as best practice are presented in Part II. Here, it should just be pointed out that for the moment the site, which was launched in February 2000 and is geared towards companies as well as private individuals, offers three major services, including electronic VAT returns. However, its uses continue to develop and, as stated in the British reply, “over the months and years ahead, this list of services will grow until almost all the paperwork that you currently send off to government departments will be available online”.

On the whole, it seems that a rapid transition to generalised electronic service delivery is establishing itself in the most advanced countries as a top priority on

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the agenda of public e-government policies. It requires the interconnection of public databases, as has already been pointed out.

However, this trend should also go hand-in-hand with the development of e-commerce and, even more so, with the creation of a reliable system of electronic identification and of public key infrastructures (PKI). It is on these last two topics on which we should now focus our attention.

1.1.5. Developing e-commerce and online public procurement

The technological innovations have led or will lead, in this field as in others, to an evolution in European legislation. For instance, a European directive on electronic commerce was adopted in 2000 and amendments to the directives on public procurement have been under discussion since last year. To attain the objective which it had proposed in 1998. i.e. that 25% of public procurement should be realised on line by 2003, the Commission proposes to give the same validity to electronic aids as to paper documents and to speed up the time within which they should be submitted and replied to whenever electronic procedures are used.

In this context, countries find that in this field they need to work on two complementary levels. On the one hand, the State must adapt its national legislation in order to allow the development of e-commerce throughout the economy: this need not be discussed here as this is not an e-service offered by the administrations, if the only precondition for the development of e-commerce is for electronic identification, public keys and encryption to be generalised so as to make transactions secure (see point 1.1.6.). On the other hand, it is up to the administrations to give companies with which they establish trade relations the possibility to manage them mainly by electronic means.

Therefore, projects to develop online public procurement have been started in the EU Member States. Several countries have already taken the lead in this field and cite various projects among their five most important measures.

In Denmark for instance the “e-business plan 22” contains a group of measures concerning 22 types of goods adapted to electronic commerce for the purchase of which the State has to set up an electronic purchase system in 2001-2002. The purchases of these 22 products on the open market represent an annual budget of 8 billion Danish crowns. The objective is to achieve an entirely electronic and paperless procedure. At a more general level, a public purchasing portal will be opened at the end of 2001. First the State administrations and then all public institutions will be able to make grouped purchase bids while private companies may make bids for the sale of goods or services to the public sector. It will be a kind of electronic auction room.

Germany is first directing its efforts at the legal organisation. For instance, the federal cabinet adopted the draft law on the legal framework conditions for e-commerce (ECG) in February 2001, which is currently being debated in the Bundestag. Germany is the first country to submit to its Parliament the transposition of the directive on e-commerce into its national law. This text, which

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concerns the economy in general such as the trade relations of public authorities, is coupled with another, relating to the adaptation of the rules of private and administrative law to the new legal form that certain acts will have (sale-purchase, loan, etc.) in e-commerce. These two draft laws go hand-in-hand with a third relating to electronic signatures (see below).

Ireland is setting up a government strategy for electronic public procurement, in accordance with the new European directives on the matter. This strategy is detailed in part II below as best Irish practice (also see the site www.e-tenders.gov.ie).

The Italian administration is also very active in this field which is one of the main objectives of the action plan adopted in June 2000. Two “public e-procurement platforms” are under consideration and should be put on the web in the next few years. The first is a virtual auction market where the public employee who is the end user can make a bid for goods and services specifying their characteristics. Various suppliers make bids until the auction is closed and the best value offer wins. The first type of products which are being purchased in this way are copy machines, personal computers, printers and office supplies. The second system involves traditional tendering where the winner provides an electronic catalogue out of which the final users choose and order products.

The Austrian government is carrying out an original project, called the “Austrian virtual marketplace” (Virtueller Marktplatz Österreich - VMÖ), the realisation of which is underway with its completion planned for the end of 2001. This Internet site will enable, among other things, the purchase and sale of goods and services, both between administrations and private companies and between the latter. It is therefore a global “e-business” tool which is being established.

In 2000, Portugal passed a law and Finland adopted a government decision laying down rules and conditions which will enable the development of public e-procurement. Sweden also pursues a proactive policy as regards e-commerce and online public procurement. Various initiatives have been taken since 1995, in particular by the SEIS association (Secured Information In Society), which aims to develop solutions to implement IT security for commercial use.

Indeed, it is clear that the matter of e-commerce, both in general and in public administrations, cannot be separated from the issue of security of electronic exchanges through the adoption of electronic identification and the swift creation of a public key infrastructure. We should now turn our attention to this very forward-looking topic.

1.1.6. Electronic identification and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)

Having been mentioned several times in the previous pages, it has become clear that the sine qua non for the rapid general implementation of the electronic provision of important public services such as the development of online economic transactions, is to secure electronic communications and give them a legal value which is equivalent to that of paper documents.

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This requirement opens the door to an enormous area for work involving:– the interconnection of all public databases (demographic, civil status, tax,

social, legal, police, etc.);– a single form of electronic identification of individuals, public and private

organisations, and functions and mandates of individuals within these organisations,

– the electronic identification card;– the encryption of communications and documents using pairs of digital keys

(one public and the other private);– the creation of a PKI which will ensure the interoperability of the network

made up of the authorities in charge of registering identity certificates, certification authorities that will control the granting of digital key pairs, and the clients/users.

All these achievements form a logical whole: together, they constitute what may be considered the second major step in the process of the development of e-government and, more broadly speaking, of the information society. At this stage, the technological tools are no longer mere instruments with which to improve the functioning of society, but rather a force inducing what is potentially quite an important transformation of the structures, organisation and rules of society.

At the European legal level, this still very new area is covered by Directive 1999/93/EC of 13 December 1999 on a Community framework for electronic signatures. Our previous report already indicated that in the course of 2000 eleven Member States had transposed its provisions into national law. Since then, Germany, Greece and Finland have done so as well. However, it should be emphasised that it sometimes takes a long time for the implementing rules to be laid down: in France, for instance, where the law was adopted in March 2000, the implementing decrees were only adopted in early April 2001, after a year of hard work.

When considering the replies of the Member States, it is Belgium which, in the framework of its e-government Action Plan, professes the greatest short/medium-term ambitions. Belgium clearly intends to introduce the electronic identification of all natural persons and every social or economic entity by using a single and permanent national identification number, which will purely be a combination of figures without a specific meaning. At the same time, an electronic identity card will replace the current paper card: it will comprise a microprocessor with several sections, one with basic personal data (name, first names, date and place of birth, residence), the other with the private key of the holder which enables him/her to sign electronically, and another with health insurance data and medical information contained in the current SIS card, and other sections which will be left empty so that they can then be used for example by sub-national authorities. It will thus be a multifunctional instrument.

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The overall structure of the public key infrastructure (PKI) is being studied in the framework of the preparation of a bill relating to certification: the certification authorities will be private operators and plans are to entrust the Belgian municipalities with the registration of the identity certificates. Moreover, consideration is being given to status or position certificates for natural persons, relating to the positions they hold and to the powers delegated to them, i.e. of signature, whether in the administration – for officials authorised to perform certain official acts, or in private organisations – for managers authorised to conclude contracts and give orders to buy or sell which sometimes involve large sums of money. Pairs of public and private keys will also have to be attached to these statuses or positions and delegated powers, of course constantly redefined according to the evolving professional careers of individuals.

Such electronisation of identities and statuses will go hand-in-hand with the co-ordination of electronic data exchanges between the Belgian public services. A “Universal Message Engine” is being developed to ensure the integration into a single “star-shaped” network of various electronic databases of public authorities, while electronic “barriers” are being arranged that ensure the protection of personal data and guarantee that only authorised officials can access certain information related to a citizen (cf. Part II below, presentation of the second Belgian best practice). These are the ambitious Belgian plans as regards this complex subject.

As for Denmark, its law on electronic signatures entered into force six months ago and the government now has to remove the legal and concrete barriers to the widespread use of electronic signatures. Germany adopted a law on this issue even more recently and is considering what could constitute a PKI. In the framework of the Media@Komm projects, the production of identity chip cards with this digital signature is being discussed.

Italy is particularly innovative where electronic identification is concerned. It is one of the first countries to adopt a full set of rules on electronic signatures, which have been in full use since April 2000. In addition, the “Netlink” project has realised the first large-scale distribution (as in Finland) of an electronic identity card and an electronic health card in 114 Italian cities involving 100,000 cards. This chip card is a multifunctional and multi-service device.

The Netherlands is still at a more experimental phase where this area is concerned. A task force has been set up to ensure the creation of a complete PKI by 2002. An electronic identity card is being developed, and the systematic use of electronic signatures is being tested in the framework of a pilot project in the city of Delft, where the unemployed can send their weekly reports to the local social services without having to go there in person.

Austria is going in the same direction. In November 2000 its government unanimously approved the creation of chip cards in order to facilitate and protect contacts between citizens and administrations. A transitional phase has been launched for 2001 and 2002, during which the student card and the social security card serve as citizen’s card (Bürgerkarte) before a real electronic identity card

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under the same name is introduced which will contain people’s private key and electronic signature.

In Finland, a PKI is already operational and enables the large-scale issuing of electronic identity cards and secure authentication and use of electronic signatures. It is the Population Register Centre which launched this service.

In the framework of its action plan called “Public administration in the service of the citizens”, Sweden is developing the use of electronic signatures in the context of the secure electronic transmission of documents. In December 2000, the government put the National Tax Board in charge of setting up an efficient PKI.

Finally, through its Government Gateway the United Kingdom is working on a single authentication service for all government procedures and transactions. Once registered, users will be able to take care of these themselves using a common user ID or digital certificate.

These are the many and similar initiatives recently undertaken by the EU Member States as regards electronic identification, PKI and the protection of exchanges of documents via the Internet.

In conclusion, it therefore seems that lately there has been some sort of transition between what perhaps could soon be called the “first generation” of e-government services and a “second stage” on which the Member States now seem to be focusing their efforts. Characteristics of this “initial phase” of e-government are the generalisation of Internet sites for all public institutions and their interconnection through a portal site of public administrations, the putting on line of the official journal, of legislation in force and of the main administrative forms, etc. These electronic services with actually quite basic facilities improve the quality of services provided to citizens and businesses without dramatically changing the nature of these services and without posing any particular fundamental problems. On the other hand, the “second generation” of electronic public services, which involves the full interconnection of public databases, electronic identification and PKI, presents real technical difficulties and poses fundamental problems of an ethical, political as well as legal nature. These problems are commensurate with the transformations which this “second generation” of e-government will introduce into the relations between the State (public administrations in the broad sense of the word) and civil society. This calls for more in-depth work, which will be conducted under the Belgian Presidency.

However, we should leave the longer-term perspective and move to the next point, whose - more modest - objective is to take stock of the current state of affairs of online services actually offered to users across the European Union.

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1.2. What is the common standard of online services offered to users in Europe?

Besides projects for the future and ambitious objectives undertaken by the Member States as regards e-government, in a collective process resulting from emulation, it seems important to regularly assess the state of affairs as regards the services which are actually operational within the EU Member States at a given point of time. From this viewpoint, the report submitted by EIPA at the previous meeting of the Directors-General made it possible to identify a sort of common basis of initiatives, which had already been realised in some countries, while in others they were still plans albeit ones on which consensus had been reached. This common standard of online services provided by the public Internet sites of various national administrations can be considered as the real and current content of an “electronic Europe in practice”. On the basis of the list with the same title in the first part of the said report, our aim with the present study was to update the general picture through a series of specific questions which the Member States were asked to answer in a standardised format in order to facilitate comparison.

First of all, it is important to point out that in our view, the seven items selected (on the basis of the replies given by the Member States themselves in the previous study) do not constitute inviolable criteria with which national administrations can be classified as being at a higher or lower level of progress in the field of e-government. Indeed, the validity of these items as representative criteria is debatable. To give just one example: the fact that a country has a server which places the State’s official journal on line is probably less relevant in assessing the extent of progress made by that country in the field of information and communication technologies than the standard of equipment civil servants use for electronic messaging. The tables presented and discussed here are therefore merely elements of comparative European information which we hope will be useful.

The first question concerned the existence of a single portal providing access to all the public Internet sites of the administrations; the replies have been summarised in Table 1.

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Table 1: Is there a single portal site for access to all public administration web sites?

B Dk Ger Gr Sp F Ir I L Nl Au P Fin S UK EU

Already existing X2 X X X X X X X X X XStarting in 2001 X3 X X X X XPlanned X X4

Not yet planned

2 Some countries ticked two boxes, explaining that the service already exists but that its functionalities are not very developed, and an improvement is already planned. It is the case here for Belgium and Portugal.3 For federal services only.4 For all public services.

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Table I shows that portal sites of public administrations are already operational in ten of the fifteen countries and in the European Commission. In the remaining countries such portals will be opened soon, i.e. by the end of 2001.

However, two important remarks should be made with regard to this subject. First of all, the existence of such a portal site does not necessarily mean that its functions are perfect or that it operates to everyone’s full satisfaction. On the contrary, several Member States made a point of stating that their portal site has limits and shortcomings, and announced that it would be improved soon. In Belgium, for instance, the site www.fgov.be is mainly a general home page, containing a list of administrations and an electronic directory of these administrations. On the other hand, the creation of a real dome site which integrates all electronic services and has a very user-friendly search engine which focuses on the intentions of the citizens-users instead of on an administrative-institutional categorisation, is still in the planning stage. The same applies to Ireland, Luxembourg and Portugal, where the site www.infocid.gov.pt has existed since 1995 as an information site but where the creation of a real portal site, www.infocid.pt, will be completed this year.

The second remark concerns the specific cases of Germany and Finland. The fact that Germany does not yet have an integrated portal site and that the creation of such a site is scheduled for 2001 for the services of the federal administration (this will be www.bund-on-line.de), and later for all public services, in no way means that there is a technological backlog, as this is simply not the case here. Instead, it is due to elements of politico-administrative sociology (federalism and the autonomy of ministries) which have somewhat complicated the start of this project. As regards the case of Finland - one of the most advanced countries where e-government is concerned - the fact that the official portal site will be launched as late as 2001 should not mislead the reader. In this respect an optical illusion is created by the early development of electronic services in this country, which has led to the web site of the Prime Minister supplying the list of all public sites (www.vn.fi), while the site of the Ministry of Finance (www.opas.vn.fi) contains a citizen’s guide with hyperlinks to all the web pages of the administrative institutions. These existing services will be merged, made consistent and completed this year.

These two examples illustrate, if it were necessary, that caution is called for in considering the results in this first table. However, those in Table 2 are easier to interpret:

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Table 2: Is the Government’s Official Gazette online in your country?

B Dk Ger Gr Sp F Ir I L Nl Au P Fin S UK Com

Already existing X X X X X X X X X X X X X XStarting in 2001Planned X XNot yet planned

Table 3: Is there an official Internet server where can be foundthe main national and European laws and regulations in force in your country?

B Dk Ger Gr Sp F Ir I L Nl Au P Fin S UK EU

Already existing X X X X X X X X X X X X X XStarting in 2001Planned X XNot yet planned

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Table 2 does not require lengthy comments. To a factual specific and simple question, i.e. whether the text of the official journal of the State (and that of the European Communities) is available on line on an Internet site, the Member States gave replies which display great unanimity: all the countries (and the European Union), with the exception of Ireland and Italy, offer such a service. From a technical point of view this should not come as a surprise, since it involves the putting on line, with hardly any extra work as regards development and organisation, of a document created every day in electronic form in order to be published as a printed journal. The case of the United Kingdom is special and is due to the fact that there is no official journal in this State (the closest equivalent being the Civil Service Year Book): as a result, users have to refer to the public legislation site, www.hmso.gov.uk/legis.htm. Indeed, the question of whether the official journal is available on line should be analysed together with that addressed in Table 3, which is closely related: the existence of an official Internet site where users can have online access to the main - both national and Community - laws and regulations in force. Most countries that provide their official journal on line also offer this service, often on the same Internet site (for instance, www.just.fgov.be in Belgium, www.legifrance.fr in France, and www.europa.eu.int/eur-lex for the European Union) and sometimes on a different site (for instance, in Portugal the official journal can be found on www.incm.pt and online legislation on www.digesto.gov.pt). In this context it should be noted that Ireland and Italy do indeed have such a legislation site, while they do not offer their official journals on line.

On the other hand, the opposite is true in Greece and the Netherlands. As regards the latter case, it should be noted that the Dutch government has scheduled the creation of this type of legal database for spring 2002: this site will bring together both national legislation and regulations decreed by provincial and municipal authorities, and will of course contain a link with EUR-Lex.

Finally, it should be pointed out, even though this does not appear from the Table, that some States where legislation on transparency is an old tradition (as in Finland and Sweden) go further than other countries in facilitating access for citizens to public documents via the Internet: for instance, many survey reports, studies and preparatory work for laws discussed in Parliament, etc., are available on line. These electronic services go therefore beyond the mere distribution of existing positive law. These are perhaps practices which other countries might wish to develop on their own public sites in the future.

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Table 4: Is there an electronic « citizen’s guide » explainingthe main administrative procedures in your country?

B Dk Ger Gr Sp F Ir I L Nl Au P Fin S UK EU

Already existing X X X X X X X X X X XStarting in 2001 XPlanned X X XNot yet planned X

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Table 4 concerns a type of online service which is clearly generally approved by public officials in all European Member States as it meets a marked social need among a population which is faced daily with the often growing complexity of administrative rules and procedures: the creation of an electronic “Citizen’s guide”.

Ten Member States, and of course the European Union as such, already have such electronic citizen’s guides. However, in Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg, such a guide is still only in the planning phase, and in the Netherlands this is not even the case yet. Once again, it seems that this fact is not symptomatic of a technological backlog since the data available also indicates that these countries, and their administrations, are well equipped with IT tools and make great use of them. The absence of such guides in these countries results rather from legal complications, which is particularly due to the organisational structure of the State and the substate bodies, and to characteristics related to the administrative culture. To that may be added, as in the case of Belgium, the fact that other priorities have been set where e-government is concerned, in this case the complicated issue of electronic identification (cf. Part Two below) and the fact that it is not possible to implement all plans at the same time.

In the eleven administrations where it does exist, the electronic citizen’s guide can usually be found on the portal site of the administration, or, less frequently, at its own address. The objective of such a guide is clear: to inform users about the main administrative procedures and to help them carry out these procedures.

Nevertheless, this general objective having been defined, the structure of such sites, the way they work and the degree of detail in the information provided certainly vary from one country to the next, depending on the resources allocated to them. In some countries, the citizen’s guide is still a mere succession of pages with information organised according to a very traditional and quite bureaucratic logic. These guides do not offer interactive possibilities for users, who will often be able to get information which is more detailed and more in line with their situation if they telephone the competent authority directly, as in the past.

However, in some administrations, the citizen’s guide has already become a very efficient tool. This is the case at the level of the EU, whose guide can be found on the interinstitutional server EUROPA, at the following address: www.europa.eu.int/citizens/index_en.html. Its facilities are set out in the second part of this report. Mention should also be made of the reorganised and enhanced portal recently opened by the French administration, www.service-public.fr, where the section “Your rights and procedures”, besides many downloadable administrative forms (see below), provides Internet users with 2500 detailed information sheets related to the main concrete situations in which they may find themselves. They are organised around several major topics (housing, elections, family, social security, etc.), which give access to frequently asked questions (FAQs), to which detailed and concrete answers are given (“Do you have to apply for a permit to put up a fence between the gardens of two houses?”; “What do you have to do to enrol your child in the crèche?”, etc.). The electronic guide for British citizens,

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which is accessible at www.ukonline.gov.uk, sorts the replies according to the same logic, structured around specific events in one’s life (moving, having a baby, retiring, etc.). In Ireland, the law on the freedom of information obliges all administrations and public agencies to publish information on the services they provide and the corresponding procedures on the Internet citizen’s guide. This Irish guide is now being updated and rewritten.  Overall, although the existence of efficient electronic citizen’s guides is undoubtedly part of the common standard of e-government in the minds of public officials in the Member States, it is patently obvious that the differences in quality of the service currently offered to the citizens of the Union depending on the country they live in are still very real in this field.

The same applies to the next item, shown in Table 5 on the next page: the putting on line, usually on a single portal, of the most important administrative forms. This enables citizens to, in the first place, print them out and then fill them in by hand. Later, when the system has further developed, they can fill them in on line and return them to the administration electronically. The considerable reduction that may be expected in traditional correspondence and in the number of paper documents administrations now have to manage - which will inevitably lead to time, personnel and therefore public funds being saved - is one of the long-awaited results of the transition to the age of widely used e-government.

However, here again we should admit that there are significant differences between the Member States. The question asked in the survey did not concern all administrative forms, but only the “most important” ones for the life of the citizens (and administrative management) such as applications for identity cards or driving licences.

Even in this limited form, the question received a positive reply from only ten countries. In two other cases, Greece and Italy, such an electronic service should be realised some time in 2001. In Belgium and Luxembourg, however, things are still at the planning stage. The Dutch reply indicated that the development of this type of electronic service is not envisaged because of differing procedural rules in the Dutch administrations where official documents are supposed to be made “ready while-you-wait”: as they need to be collected in person, it does therefore not seem to be possible to distinguish between a first stage, which would be the request for the document, which is precisely what is put on line in other European countries, and a second stage, i.e. the collection of the requested official document. However, the situation seems to vary from one province or municipality to the next. This case illustrates the fact that technological innovations are not sufficient in themselves to revolutionise administrative functioning, which is sometimes the result of strong sociological realities, such as tradition or commonly shared perceptions within a nation about what is possible and desirable at a given moment.

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Table 5: Are the most important administrative formsavailable online on a public site in your country?

B Dk Ger Gr Sp F Ir I L Nl Au P Fin S UK EU

Already existing X X X X X X X X X XStarting in 2001 X XPlanned X XNot yet planned X N/A

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In addition, when considering the comments made by the various countries which put the most important administrative forms on line, one can see that the methods and scope of this service are different. As regards methods, in some countries the central State has worked together with the intermediate authorities (regions, counties, departments, etc.) and the municipalities to place forms onto one single site, whatever the authority to which they should be sent (e.g. www.danmark.dk). In Germany, however, the putting on line of administrative forms has been left to the Länder and the municipalities, which means that the type of service offered may vary from one place to the next. In Ireland, though a centralised State, one can see a relative scattering of these downloadable forms among the sites of the various public agencies, a situation which will soon be put right by the renewal of the portal site of the administrations.

The scale on which forms have been “electronised” in this way also varies considerably. In some Member States, it still only concerns a few forms which have maximum social visibility (applications for identity cards or driving licences). On the other hand, the Scandinavian countries, the United Kingdom and France are already highly advanced in their policy of systematic digitalisation of all administrative forms. For instance, in France the number of online and downloadable forms already amounted to 600 at the time our previous survey was held (early September 2000). Now, six months later (late February 2001) this number is 700, which means a strong increase and shows the great efforts made by the public authorities, all the more so because every time administrative forms are placed on line this is an occasion to reformulate and simplify them, or even to just do away with a significant number of them.

We are now leaving the field of online services provided by administrations to citizens in order to discuss electronic services for businesses, by analysing the two following tables (6 and 7, next page).

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Table 6: Is there in your country a special portal which providesinformation and electronic services for companies?

B Dk Ger Gr Sp F Ir I L Nl Au P Fin S UK EU

Already existing X X X X X X X X X X XStarting in 2001 X X X XPlanned X XNot yet planned

Table 7: Is it possible for companies to file their VAT returns online in your country?

B Dk Ger Gr Sp F Ir I L Nl Au P Fin S UK EU

Already existing X X X X X X X X XStarting in 2001 X X XPlanned X X X5 XNot yet planned N/A

5 Currently a pilot is underway.

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Table 6 summarises the replies to the question of whether there is a portal site for businesses which provides them with information and offers electronic procedures that may help them in their activities.

Such sites, usually created by the ministries in charge of economic affairs and/or industry, already exist at European Union level and in ten Member States – though two of these countries, Germany and Portugal, state that they are general information sites which provide little detail and a low level of interactivity (in Germany, the site will be significantly improved before the end of 2001 in the framework of the Media@Komm project). Ireland, Luxembourg and Finland are also scheduling the launch of such a service for businesses by the end of the year. As for Belgium and Spain, the creation of this type of site is at the planning stage. So, the will to develop such services is unanimous. The United Kingdom is certainly the country which is most advanced in this field, considering the priority target set by Tony Blair’s government to generalise electronic service delivery by 2005. There are several sites, to begin with the portal for businesses, www.ukonlineforbusiness.gov.uk, and more specifically the electronic services of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, such as “Companies House” (general information for businesses), “Small Business Services” (advice for SMEs), “Trade Partners UK” (information on trade and investment), which are Internet servers consulted thousands of times each day.

As regards the European Union, the server whose electronic address is www.europa.eu.int/business/en/legal/index.html, in its “Dialogue with business”, provides the most important information which businesses need as regards technical and quality standards applicable in the internal market, public procurement, social security, state aid and subsidies, patents and intellectual property, etc. (see Part Two for details, under point 16).

The seventh and last table concerns a more specific question, whether businesses can complete and return their VAT returns on line. The existence of this possibility is one of the factual indications which can give an idea of the extent to which e-government has been introduced into the relations between the business world and tax authorities, situated at the heart of the state apparatus.

The table shows that nine Member States offer this possibility, though it should be pointed out that in France this has been an experiment since 2000 and does not constitute a large-scale service; it will only become fully operational by the end of 2001. The same applies to Belgium and Greece. In Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Austria, this matter is still at the planning stage, although in the Netherlands plans are at an advanced stage as a pilot project is currently in progress.

Thus, there is no country in the EU where the dematerialisation of VAT operations is not on the short or medium-term agenda. This is really quite logical as it is true that highly routine and extremely tedious procedures of this kind are

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exactly those where the widespread use of information technologies may generate the most remarkable savings in terms of time, energy and money. These are all the qualified analyses which could be made on the basis of the replies from the Member States to the seven factual specific questions they were asked. The differences and disparities in the scope and quality of electronic services offered by the various administrations within the Community area are marked and will probably continue to exist for several years to come. However, one can see, and this is quite encouraging, that most countries have already reached the standard of electronic services that was the common denominator among their replies to the previous survey carried out under the French Presidency.

Thus having determined the common, or nearly common, basis of electronic public services in Europe, the perspective should be shifted in order to no longer aim solely at the standard already reached but rather at the exception or exceptions that may serve as models: the next part contains an overview of best practices and most innovative achievements in the field of e-government within the exchange area that is the Union.

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SECOND PART:Best practices of e-services in the EU: an overview.

The method followed in the second part of this study was different and more interactive. The Member States and the European Commission were asked to select two achievements considered as exemplary, original or particularly interesting from the e-services or procedures which were already operational in their administrations or public institutions (agencies, local authorities, etc.). Here, the presentations of these “best practices” provided by the Member States themselves are gathered together, without any alterations to them (other than spelling corrections)6.

This selection will not result in a choice being made at the meeting of the Directors-General of three or four particularly remarkable achievements which would have justified more in-depth study, as such a choice would presuppose a consensus on the criteria which does not exist in the current state of the work of the working group on e-government. Moreover, one may even ask oneself whether it is possible to identify criteria that have general validity, whatever the country considered and regardless of the national cultures specific to each of them, criteria which give meaning and a contextual utility to the various achievements in the field of electronic services offered to citizens and businesses.

These best practices will be presented country by country, in the official order of the States of the European Union, while the achievements at the level of the European institutions (selected by the European Commission) will end the list.

2.1. Belgium

2.1.1. SIS Card

The SIS card is a protected smart card available to all persons residing in Belgium (from new-born babies to old age pensioners) as well as to all migrants who are in contact with the social security. On 1 January 2001, 10,400,000 SIS cards were in operation.

The SIS card holds two functionally separate types of data:- The data concerning the identification of the natural person: unique

identification number, surname, first names, date of birth, and sex. This data is registered in a readable way on the front of the card and is also contained in unencrypted form in the protected memory. This data is to be used by employers, all the social security institutions and the care providers (pharmacists, hospitals, doctors, nurses, dentists, etc.).

6 Contrary to what was stated in the questionnaire sent to the States with an intended dissuasive effect, presentations of over 1,500 characters have been reproduced in full.

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- The data concerning the administrative status of the natural person with respect to health care insurance: time and level of reimbursement of health care. This data only appears in encrypted form in the protected memory of the card; it must be updated when the natural person's social security status changes. This data can, and in certain cases must, only be used by the care providers and the mutual insurance companies. To that end, the care providers have reading devices and professional cards with microprocessors which enable them to access this data and to decipher it. The electronic capture of this data and its automated transmission to the mutual insurance companies which reimburse the care providers avoids what would be a significant charge for encoding this administrative data, for tens of millions of benefits paid out under the third party's payment scheme. The organisation of the whole process of reimbursing health care costs has been considerably simplified and made secure.

The most remarkable aspect of the SIS card should be mentioned, which is the fact that any person in Belgium now has a medium which enables him/her to be identified in an electronic way, in particular in his/her dealings with the public services. This electronic key in the SIS card identifies each citizen in a unique way using a national number; this national number itself is used in all the large data banks of the public services which manage files on these natural persons (taxation, social security, traffic, regional and local authorities, etc.) and which have regulatory authorisation for that purpose. In this way it is possible to organise the exchange of data between administrations and thereby automate the recognition and the calculation of a maximum number of social rights.

The SIS card can thus be regarded as a basis from which all the e-government services can gradually be offered to the citizen. The stage of certain identification of a natural person conducting an electronic dialogue with a public service has thus already been passed successfully in Belgium; the population is also largely familiar with this procedure. Now is the time to prepare the second stage, which will enable the citizen’s identity to be verified using this type of media, in particular though the generalised use of the electronic signature!

2.1.2. Central Information Bank of Social Security, A Reference model for the exchange of data in the public sector

The “Banque Carrefour” (Central Information Bank) of social security is a Belgian public institution created by an Act of Parliament. Its key mission is to co-ordinate and ensure the electronic exchange of social data of a personal nature between the 2,000 Belgian social security institutions; it automated 215 million Social Security certificates in 2001. It is not the institution in itself which is presented here as best practice but rather the model used as a reference for its development. The principles of this reference model can guarantee the success of a good e-government policy: without the setting up of a back-office enabling a maximum and structured exchange of data between public services, e-government would be a mere illusion for citizens and companies.

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- Individual identification of citizens and companies :To ensure that data can be exchanged between public services with a view to offering high-quality electronic services to citizens and companies, the identification keys of these entities should be unique and generalised in all the data banks of the public services. Also, citizens and companies must possess these identification keys themselves, in an electronic form (e.g. card).

- Star-shaped network structure :The centralisation of data collection in one organisation or the proliferation of bilateral agreements between the various public services concerned are models to be avoided. The organisation of a star-shaped network is, however, a model which offers the advantage of respecting the autonomy of administrations and of simplifying electronic data exchange both at the functional and technical level. The same standards can thus be applied and connection to only one platform is enough. Ideally the management authority of this central institution responsible for the development and management of the exchange services will be made up of representatives of connected public administrations.

- Directory of references and the protection of privacy :Though it simplifies the administrative life of citizens and companies, the systematic exchange of data between public services should not violate their privacy. The principles of proportionality and “finality”, which form the basis of the European Directive on protection of privacy, can be automated by the implementation of a data-bank under the responsibility of the star network manager. This directory will be supervised by an independent control authority, and will include the following tables:

- the directory of persons (who - where - when - in what capacity) indicating the persons, capacities and periods, for which a public administration may hold a file,

- the directory of access authorisation (who – may obtain - what) indicating what data concerning what type of dossier can be obtained by which public administration,

- the directory of available data (what - where) indicating what types of data are available in which public administration. Each message which is put on the network is thus screened as a precautionary measure as regards legitimacy, “finality” and proportionality by this directory of the references. The second function of this directory is to automatically redirect requests for data or for consultation towards the right public service, i.e. towards the service with the data being sought. The third function of this directory is to automatically initiate the transmission of new data collected by a public service towards the other public services which need it (e.g. change of address).

- Functional distribution of data banks and authentic source To ensure maximum quality in exchanged data, they should always come from their authentic source, namely from the public administration responsible for gathering, updating and monitoring this type of data. All access to recopied and reinterpreted data according to the individual requirements of a specific

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administration always results in a loss of quality and of topicality of the data. Consequently the authority which coordinates this star network must determine the models of exchanged data and agree on their optimal functional distribution.

The above is a brief description of the functional principles on which the success of the Belgian social security network is built and which have been applied by the Belgian federal government in the organisation the back-office of its e-government policy.

2.2. Denmark

2.2.1. Electronic self-service to private individuals in the Municipality of Copenhagen.

Many municipalities are introducing electronic self service. One of these is Copenhagen City. A wide selection of municipal services are now being made available by electronic means. This applies for example to child allowance, changes of address and housing benefits. This will improve the level of service to the public as well as efficiency in administrative departments. The overall aim is to allow private individuals to carry out their business over the Internet without the need to appear in person at the municipal offices. The project also contains citizen satisfaction survey (before and after) and cost analysis (before and after). Cost analysis includes documentation of workflow, unit costs per service, design of new workflows, measure of changed unit costs per service, and all adds up to a savings potential. The project is expected to be in full operation end late summer 2001.

2.2.2. EasyPay

The background for EasyPay is a political wish for administrative alleviation’s for the business community, especially small and medium-sized enterprises. The analysis work performed by the Ministry of Business and Industry.

As of today the PAYE taxes, SP-contributions, labour market supplementary pension fund contributions, stopping of pay, statistical details to the Danish Employers Confederation, and pension fund contributions are reported and paid by the firms subject to different deadlines. With EasyPay all these are to be reported to only one place - the EasyPay reception centre - which will then distribute the reports and payments to the relevant parties. Participation is optional for the firms.

The project includes a Web-calculation module. Firms are to report id-numbers, salary/wages, and hourly rate. EasyPay will then calculate everything for each employee and notify the firm of the total amount to be paid. EasyPay will receive the tax rate & deduction card and drawings, if any, in respect of stoppings of pay

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direct from the tax agency. EasyPay generates withholding statements, which the employer can download from the system and distribute to the employees.

All details are gathered “under one hat”. Public authorities can obtain each person’s salary/wage or transfer income status for the past month - which is expected to reduce arrears to the Treasury considerably. Firms and employees may enter the system and search for their own data.

Citizens will experience a more coherent public sector since documentation regarding salaries, tax etc. can be found in the datawarehose by relevant authorities and need not be obtained and presented by the citizen himself. Furthermore citizens will have an expanded and easier access to data concerning themselves reported to the authorities.

The project is estimated to cost 52 millions ddk. The potential savings for companies is estimated to 1 billion ddk. each year. The project is expected to be fully operational mid 2004.

2.3. Germany

2.3.1. BAföG-Online (financial assistance for students of higher education) Since 1 November 2000, the Bundesverwaltungsamt (German federal office of administration) has been offering a new service for the repayment of student loans. In addition to extensive information via the Internet, over 500,000 students repaying their loans may now request social special rates for repaying their student loans on-line. This includes for example requests to make early repayments, for performance-related partial remission of debts, as well as release from or deferment of loan repayment. The on-line requests are transferred over a secure connection to the Web server of the Bundesverwaltungsamt where they are automatically examined to verify whether the minimum data is complete. Where it is not complete, the applicant receives immediate feedback to this effect. After a security check, complete requests are led directly to the electronic desk of the person dealing with the matter.

BAföG-Online is an extension of the document management and file examination system FAVORIT® OfficeFlow® developed by the Bundesverwaltungsamt, which has been making the paperless treatment of files possible since June 1997.

2.3.2. Profi – Professional information system for efficient management of project promotion

The handling of innovative projects in education, research, economics and technology is being made easier: the project funding/information system “Profi”, which was developed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, supports the Ministry and agencies responsible for projects by saving them time

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and costs in project management. Furthermore, Profi facilitates the lodging of applications through the electronic application system “Easy”.

Whereas previously each office entered data into its own information system, there is now one common database, which is jointly maintained by all those responsible. This interconnection means that projects can be better planned, managed and evaluated by all participants. Such synergies also lead to savings in costs and time. The advantage for citizens: applications for project funding can be handled much more quickly and promotion funds can be paid out far sooner.

With the Profi project funding/information system, modern project management is a reality, ensuring that the funds granted are used even more efficiently in the future.

Further details on both projects can be found under http://www.bund.de.

2.4. Greece

2.4.1. All citizens equipped with a personal computer can print out from the Internet the application for a given administrative procedure and send it filled up, through fax to the competent service. Those who do not have a PC have access to these documents through a workstation installed in the municipalty of their residence and with the help of an employee hired for this purpose can their applications to the relevant service.A pilot application of this Programme is now operating in 96 municipalties in the islands of the Aegean Sea, under the name ASTERIAS. During the first two months of the operation of 96 bureaus in municipalties then thousand (10.000) people have been served. By the end of 2001, the programme will include all the documents needed for the sum of the administrative procedures a citizen might have to initiate.

2.4.2. Internal communication almost exclusively by electronic mail.

2.5. Spain

2.5.1. Innovative systems on the Spanish financial sector

Comisión Nacional de Mercado de Valores. Service “CNMV on-line”

The Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV) is the agency in charge of supervising and inspecting the Spanish Stock Markets and the activities of all the participants in those markets. The purpose of the CNMV is to ensure the transparency of the Spanish market and the correct formation of prices in them,

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and to protect investors. The CNMV promotes the disclosure of any information required to achieve these ends, by any means at its disposal.

The "CNMV on line" is a "Virtual Window" or One-Stop shop service that groups 22 different types of administrative procedures that the Commission maintains through its relationship with its supervised entities. Stock, real estate or mutual funds investment institutions are the users of this service. Access to it is done through registry in a encryption and electronic signature system called CIFRADOC. If required by the process, this system provides both the signature of the fund house and that of the account holder without the need of both being physically present at the same time. The user is informed by electronic mail of every step, change or act in the administrative process. The information is kept conveniently grouped under specific items in order to simplify the monitoring its file by the user.

Tesoro.es: The new system for Buying or selling Spanish Government bonds through the Internet

Tesoro.es allows Spanish individual investors to take part in regular Government Bills and Bonds auctions through the Internet. The securities they buy are kept in an account at the Bank of Spain. The investor saves the commission that financial intermediaries charge for buying the bond, keeping it in an account and paying coupons and principal. Rough calculations suggest that an investor can save up to 50 basis points on average if they buy a bond through internet instead of using its own bank.

The system, so far restricted to individuals resident in Spain, has the maximum guaranty as it allows for the precise identification of the two parties and ensures that their communications can not be track by anyone else. To achieve that, it is necessary a personal identification of the investor before it joins the system. Once in, every transaction can be carried out directly through internet. The system provides the investor with all the relevant information about the system itself and the products it is planning to buy.

Apart from buying bills and bonds, the investor can also sell those bills and bonds through the Internet, as far as they are deposited in an account at the Bank of Spain.

2.5.2. The Spanish Social Security on the Internet

The presence of the Spanish Social Security services on the Net can be presented in three groups of services: Information to citizens, Payments to Social Security creditors and RED Project.

Information to citizens: Two kind of informations are provided. First, information on general matters about social security activities; second, queries about personal information as identification data, contribution, etc.

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Payments to Social Security creditors: Companies in this position can get data relating to unresolved payments of the last two accounting years.

RED Project (Remisión Electrónica de Documentos, Electronic Document Delivery): Allows the intechange of information and documents containing workers data, between the Social Security Treasure and companies, professionals and organizations. To have an idea of the importance of this telematic service, we give the basic figures for the month of December 2000:

Total number of employees: 12.661.661 Total number of employees whose data are received through RED: 10.824.569

(85,8%) Affiliation movements (updating transactions): 2.341.022 Affiliation movements through RED: 1.526.073 (65,19 %)

The security of the services delivered on the Internet is achieved trough the use of digital certificates issued by the Fabrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre (Spanish Mint) and by using filtering techniques on the access to the Corporative Information System. At present time, 1S type (software based) certificates are used, but Social Security is planning the adoption on the next future of 1T type certificates that are based on card.

2.6. France

2.6.1. Modernisation of services provided to the users: The new portal of the French public administration: http://www.service-public.fr 

Being an inter-ministerial site, the portal www.service-public.fr has been developed mainly to respond to questions raised by users and to simplify their interaction with the administration. It has three major functions:

- Orientation: By consulting two directories (public internet sites and the directory of departments of the administration) the user can access more than 4,300 public sites (local, national, European and international), i.e. more than one million pages, and find the addresses of 11,000 departments and 13,000 officials working in the administration.

- Providing information about administrative actions and offering practical services: In the section called “Vos droits et démarches” the user can find basic practical information (about 700 downloadable forms, approx. 2,500 practical information sheets, FAQs, local addresses, etc.) as well as a large number of links to additional departments; it is also possible to access all kinds of legal information.

- Ensuring up-to-date information: In the section “Actualités”, the Service-Public site offers users three types of information: practical information, essential information about new rules as well as on new on-line services. A news-letter is

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available on subscription. Users can also browse vacancies within the administrations.

A section has been reserved for professionals and companies. Under the heading “Textes et rapports” legal documents can be consulted (Official Journal, codes, legal news, etc.) and public reports can be downloaded free of charge.

For more information www.service-public.fr

2.6.2. Modernisation of the internal functioning of the state: Development of regional information systems (Système d’information territorial - SIT) = developing team work between different administrative departments in the same region:

A SIT is an “extranet of administrative departments” in a département or region, i.e. an internet site with restricted access for its users through passwords.

The SIT lies at the core of three major elements of the modernisation of the administration: de-concentration, inter-ministeriality and new working practices. Their objective is to facilitate co-operation of state services, between themselves and with the usual partners in local public policies: sharing information, exchanging opinions, and renewing working procedures.

It is the administrative departments which at the local level act as a guide when choosing the subjects for inter-ministerial work to be carried out in their SIT by way of priority as well as the solutions adopted. However, support is provided at the central level by the Inter-ministerial Delegation for State Reform (Délégation Interministérielle à la Réforme de l’Etat - DIRE), which, among other things, runs an Extranet used by local project leaders.

In January 1999 the Government decided to generalise the use of SIT by the end of the year 2000. By that time this objective had, on the whole, been achieved. Priority has been given to the speed at which these systems are spread, although this means that at first the SIT will remain limited to the exchange of information and to a restricted number of subjects for inter-ministerial work.

In 2001, the content and use of these systems should be increased as regards to priority topics for inter-ministerial action of the state at local level and in association with the customary partners in these public policies. In particular, exchange of information with local authorities is progressing.

For more information http://www.fonction-publique.gouv.fr/tic, under “SIT”.

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2.7. Ireland

2.7.1. Electronic Public Service Delivery using the Service Delivery Model

The central aspect of this strategy is a service delivery model which will allow clients to transact business with public service agencies through a single convenient gateway, either on a self service basis or via a contact centre.

The gateway will have the following qualities: clients (both persons and organisations) will have a single identity and will use

a single central authentication service. This authentication service will also address the needs of non-nationals. Clients will also be given guarantees in relation to protection of their privacy;

information, including contact details and where appropriate downloadable forms, will be provided on all services. This centrally provided information will be of high quality and appropriately organised for the service on offer. Some of the information will also be presented in a number of European languages;

it will have a data vaulting service where certified information can be stored e.g. certificates, digital photos, societal roles, means data etc. This will eliminate the need for a whole range of paper certificates provided by one public service organisation for use by another. Potentially the service could also be used for storage of certified information provided by private sector organisations. Any subsequent use of the vaulted information will be at the data owner’s discretion;

it will centrally manage, to pre-agreed service delivery targets, the delivery of services from individual agencies. It will also provide a facility where services from separate organisations relate to episodes/events in people or in organisation’s lives are delivered together as a coherent package;

It will be closely associated with a government contact centre for use by clients who cannot or will not use the central self–service facility. The contact centre will also be used to complete or get information on partially completed transactions. Access to the central gateway and to the government contact centre will be provided from all government buildings countrywide.

A gateway conforming to this model allows for an evolution of services, beginning with simple service and information offerings and growing over time to providing increasingly complex packages of services. A facility of this nature is seen as being central to a whole range of change initiatives in the Irish public service designed to further improve the quality of public service delivery. The client-controlled data vaulting facility is also seen to be critical to the development of the PKI industry.

This facility will begin to be rolled out in the second quarter of 2001. It will offer central authentication services in late 2001 and complex services by the first quarter of 2002.

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2.7.2. Government Strategy for Electronic Procurement by Public Service Agencies

An inter-organisational committee, with central government, local government and health sector representation has been set up and charged with procuring a full lifecycle electronic procurement facility for the wider public service. This initiative is seen to be critical to: influencing the development of the new EU Procurement Directives so that

they will provide a basis for the use of the widest variety of different types of electronic market;

significantly reducing the administration costs of procurements by agencies; encouraging further internal change in public sector agencies through the

building new e-enabled processes and the need to integrate these processes with new accruals-based accounting systems planned for implementation over the next few years;

encouraging the private sector (particularly the SME sector) to invest at an early stage in e-commerce and PKI-enabled systems;

encouraging the development of e-payment systems in the wider economy; encouraging cross-border trade and the development of common (PKI-based)

business identifiers across Europe.

The e-procurement initiative will address such issues as:

the re-engineering of work practices and business processes; the development of new innovative procurement strategies; the integration of electronic ordering, payment and catalogue systems into an

overall e-Procurement solution; the integration into the workplace of new Information and Communication

Technologies as part of an overall solution.

As it will not be possible to roll out a new full lifecycle facility until the new Procurement Directives become available, an interim arrangement on which all procurement opportunities in the public service will be advertised will be made available in the next few weeks, see www.e-tenders.gov.ie

2.8. Italy

2.8.1. Ministero del Tesoro: Acquisti on-line (G2G, G2B)

The Italian Government is currently developing an E-procurement business model, with the mission to rationalise public spending through three main drivers:- create a "best value" environment in which the public sector can purchase,

being confident of the savings and the quality of goods and services- simplify purchasing procedures and processes- maintain the autonomy of the public administration during the purchasing

process.

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The e-procurement model will increase transparency, effectiveness and efficiency in the purchases of the public sector.

This project is currently focused on the common expenditure categories for the Public Sector, covering about $2,500 million with forecasted savings of $400 million on an annual basis. A few months after the start-up, the project has already generated savings of more than $100 million. Telecom services and office equipment can be purchased with a saving of about 50%. The Public Sector can procure goods directly from the internet, and ordering from the electronic catalogue available in the Public Sector Web site (www.acquisti.tesoro.it).

2.8.2. Fisco on-line HYPERLINK (G2C)

The electronic transmission of tax returns and tax payments introduced by the Revenue Department of the Italian Ministry of Finance is the keystone in the Italian Tax System reform. A fundamental aspect of the tax system simplification regards the introduction of electronic filing of tax returns and the electronic transmission of tax payments. Italian Electronic Filing System involves taxpayers and taxation bodies (Treasury, Regions, Social Security) as well as tax advisors (professionals, tax assistance centres, professional associations) and those intermediaries involved in tax collection (banks, post offices and other authorised intermediaries). As a result there are over 100,000 intermediaries connected to the Information System of the Tax Registry and 1,031,000 billion liras collected in past year.

2.9. Luxembourg

2.9.1. Telematic directory of the central state administration

This electronic service, made up of a network of four telephone exchanges and of eighteen off-set units, makes it possible, via leased lines (which provide access to a database with information concerning the physical and electronic addresses of, as well as the posts held by, all the officials in the government administration) to conduct user-friendly searches according to certain criteria (surname, first name, function, administration, etc.) to find the information useful for transmission and for interpersonal communication respectively.

The strength of this service lies in the fact that at no moment does it seem complex. Indeed the directory function is merely the side product of a national system integrating a secure structure as regards communication. In this way it is possible to manage all the fixed and mobile telephones of the government administration from one exchange. The internal directory is updated in real and accessible time both by the State personnel and by the public.

This telematic service thus makes it possible to group together in a common directory information concerning multiple telephone exchanges which would

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otherwise be dispersed under different headings. It is important to point out in this context that it is planned in a later phase to extend this system with information enabling the non-initiated public to find the state official competent to deal with their requests, without specific prior information. For example, this tool will enable the user wishing to renew his/her driving licence, without knowing the ministry or official to approach, to get the details of the person in charge of renewals directly.

2.9.2. HealthNet

This project, launched in September 1995, the pilot phase of which was a success, aimed at developing a closed and secure computer network (Intranet) with added value for all the professionals of the health and social security sector in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

The idea of this project arose from national and international initiatives, especially those of which the conclusions are included in the documents mentioned below:

Report Info 2000 (L) Bangemann report EC White Paper G7 - Information Society

The aim of the HealthNet project is in particular to create a telematic service network (tele-medicine, professional message switching, exchanges of medical and administrative data, medical image transmission, etc), reserved for all those working in the health and social security sector. We stress that one should recall that this network which is protected from unauthorised access is not to be confused with the Internet.

The primary objectives of the project are briefly the following: – to provide support so to facilitate communication between members of the health professions; – to provide support which optimises and encourages co-operation with foreign countries, particularly the EU Member States (via the TEN34 projects and Quantum);– to facilitate communication with national as well as with international centres with specific competences (radiotherapy, neurosurgery, mammography, etc.); – to optimise existing resources; – to offer the citizen in the near future an effective information system concerning the fields of health and of social security.

Lastly, in order to highlight the importance of the HealthNet project, it is worth listing the participants at strategic level:

1) The Ministry of Health: The Ministry of Health was the initiator of and the organisation responsible for the HealthNet project, because of which it made the necessary financial resources available and defined the broad outline of the project.

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2) The Steering Committee: The Steering Committee called “The Strategic Commission for Health Informatics” is composed as follows (alphabetically):

Administration of the Medical Control of Social Security Association of the Doctors and Doctors-Dentists (AMMD) Social Security Informatics Centre (CISS) Medical Board The Higher Council for certain Health Professions (CSPS) Confederation of Benefits and Care Recipients (COPAS) Directorate of Health Agreement of the Luxembourg Hospitals (EHL) General Social Security Inspectorate (IGSS) National Health Laboratory (LNS) Ministry of Health Ministry of Social Security Luxembourg Society of Clinical Biology (SLBC) Trade Unions of Luxembourg Pharmacists Union of Health Insurance Institutions (UCM)

2.10. The Netherlands

2.10.1. Programme “Streamlining key data”

An important element in the Dutch e-government policy is the programme “streamlining key data”. This programme is aimed at building a system of authentic registers. In these registers data are collected that are to be used by different public agencies (multiple use).

The programme aims at 4 to 10 large scale authentic registrations, among which:* basic register for persons* basic register for businesses* buildings register * geographic base register (digital maps)* register of social insurance policyholders* register for income

The first register is already consisting. Modifications in marital status or address, which citizens report to the municipal administration, are automatically transferred to other public agencies. Citizens can only apply for certain provision if they are in the basic register.

Reduction of administrative burdens for businesses and individuals will be the most important benefit of the programme. The system supports the implementation of new public service concepts (one-counter, pro-active service provision). Another positive effect is efficiency. Different organisations, which

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were doing similar activities on collecting and verifying data, can in future rely on the data from the authentic registrations.

In the programme multiple hurdles have to be taken, like legal constraints, privacy, technical requirements. The final result should be a reliable and efficient government, with whom the citizen could sign a contract, confirming the mutual information relationship.

2.10.2. Project EOS

People renting a house are under certain conditions entitled to rent subsidy. Their right depends on their income and the amount of the rent. The intensive process of application and judgement has been improved with ICT.

With the modernisation of the process the subsidients automatically get a notification each year whether or not their subsidy is get their subsidy. For this process data on income, address and rent are verified automatically, making use of ICT, since the data to be verified are in different (decentralised) organisations.

The main benefits of the project are efficiency and customer friendliness. To start with the last, about 800.000 households make use of the subsidy and were used to asked to fill out difficult forms each year, for which they often had to ask advise. In the near future they don’t need to fill out a form each year, in order to get the subsidy again and get automatically a notification. Besides people, applying for the first time will get the notification within two weeks, instead of waiting months.

Concerning the efficiency, a lot of money is saved in the different organisations that are involved in the implementation process.

2.10.3. Business counter

The service provision concept Business counter is an element of the successful Public Counter 2000 programme, and is aimed at facilitating entrepreneurs. They should be able to get integrated information and services of different agencies, it be at a physical or a virtual counter. In this stage at least three public agencies are involved in the three current regional pilots. Chambers of Commerce, municipalities and local offices of the taxation board. The pilots will be finished and evaluated late 2002. After positive evaluation the concept of integrated business counters will be rolled out throughout the country. A national portal could be a concrete action in this regard.

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2.11. Austria

2.11.1. Electronic Companies Register (Firmenbuch) and the Electronic Land Register (Grundbuch)

In cooperation with an external service provider (Datakom Austria) citizens have been given access to the authentic Companies Register database of the Ministry of Justice and thus to data in the ledger and the collection of documents, which are all updated on a daily basis. The database contains the entries in the Companies Register in accordance with the Companies Register Act. Searches can be carried out by name or company register number. At present this database contains about 144,000 companies and is constantly updated.

Together with an external service provider (Datakom Austria) the public administration (Bund) has, since July 1999, enabled access to the authentic Land Register of the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Federal Ministry of Justice via the Internet. With this system, all data on land and real estate can be accessed and consulted electronically, such as the number of entries (A, B and C series), the list of deleted entries, the journal, the land record, property listing and property addresses, regional information, information about changes, coordination requests, information folders, and extracts from the land register. At the moment about 11 million plots of land and real estate can be accessed through this database.

2.11.2. Electronic data file of edicts (EDIKTSDATEI) (http://www.edikte.justiz.gv.at)

Since 1 January 2000, insolvencies (bankruptcies, legal settlements, debt adjustment) are announced exclusively on the Internet (which is legally binding) and citizens can obtain an overview of the current state of affairs. By simply striking a key the data is transmitted automatically from the insolvencies register of the Automation Service of the Ministry of Justice to the insolvency data file. The next day the insolvency declarations become legally valid. As of 1 January 2002, auctions will be announced on the Ediktsdatei (the trial run will start on 1 September 2001). The publication of entries in the Companies Register as well as other justice-related fields is also scheduled for early 2002.

2.11.3. Electronic archive of official documents for Austria

In future, Austrian notaries are to become the central persons to whom citizens should turn. In this way administrative tasks can be performed more quickly and at a lower cost than before. A first instrument for this is CyberDOC (http://www.cyberdoc.at, homepage for clients), an electronic archive of notarial deeds. CyberDOC is a joint venture of the Austrian Chamber of Notaries (http://notar.at). All 435 Austrian notaries have joined this network and thus have the possibility to archive notarial deeds effectively and to retrieve them quickly. By mid-2001 cross-links are envisaged with authorised third parties, such as courts, administrations and lawyers. This should in particular considerably reduce

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administrative expenditure and increase the processing speed of administrative documents.

2.12. Portugal

2.12.1. Direct Public Service (SPD) Public Service on-line

The on-line public service created by the Council of Ministers Resolution nº 156/2000 of November the 20th, and launched on February the 5th, is a new feature of INFOCID (Interdepartmental System of Official Information for Public Service Users) as a provider for Public Administration services.

The first service to be created was the electronic request of certificates civil (birth, marriage, death), property and business – and many others will be gradually made available. With the purpose to allow as much citizens as possible to use the Service, a number of different means of payments are to be used – cash or delivery, debit (multibank) and credit (VISA) cards. These different means of payment were adopted as the Service is aimed not only at users residing in the country, but also at those residing abroad, mainly Portuguese emigrants. In this case, VISA is of the utmost importance. The outstanding interest of Direct Public Service is reflected in the high rates reached by citizens’ requests.

On-line public service is a step towards change. A change for a Public Administration where the virtual nature will be a factor in the democratisation process, providing a diversity of means both for access and for dealing with requests. The Public Administration, by means of on-line public service will focus still more on citizens and their needs.

2.12.2. The Ministry of Science and Technology launched Digital Cities – The Programme for Digital Cities, in the framework of the Initiative for Information Society.

This Programme aims at promoting a better quality of life for citizens, by means of searching for the best practices of improvement and introduction of Information and communication technology at a city scale and of giving evidence of the benefits of its adoption.

We can point out four axes for the development of the Programme for Digital Cities:- To improve urban life;- To counteract interiority ;- To reinforce economic and job competitiveness;- To support social integration.

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The Programme for Digital Cities has been a success, and it will lead to Portugal Digital. It will be naturally developed by citizens and regional institutions, because those are the best players to define and satisfy their own necessities.

2.13. Finland

2.13.1. Labour Market Services:

Ministry of Labour web –site http://www.mol.fi has rich content is among the most visited in Finland. According to a study of the Ministry of Transport and Communications the web site attracts 10 times more visitors than the next popular public sector web-service. The site is among the top 5 of all Finnish web sites according to Alexa.com –measurement.

Information: bulletins on actual affairs, search and delivery of publications, statistics, and possibility to feed back

Job search: information about vacant jobs in Finland and abroad, job search e.g. by professional field and place, links to private employment services two way interaction:

Search among job seekers: Job seekers can have their CVs on the net and check their own information. Job seekers can update their information via Internet using a user ID and password they have got from the employment office or the electronic ID card and PKI based authentication provided by Population Register Centre. Interested employers can directly contact the job seeker.

Training possibilities: Information about labour-market training possibilities and normal professional education are available on-line.

2.13.2. Participation

The Ministry of Finance launched in November 1999 a project to make citizens’ possibilities to influence better by means of ICT. The project named ”New Information Technology and Citizen’s Possibilities to influence decision making ” consisted of three different dimensions. The first was to find out how administration’s web pages could better serve citizens and what best practices could be found. A survey produced included Finnish state agencies, municipalities and international examples from ten countries.

Had since February 2000 a pilot discussion forum in the Internet (http://www.otakantaa.fi). The idea behind this pilot was to test:

Is this kind of a project interesting to citizens? How much resources running this kind of a forum requires? Will there be real discussions in the forum? To collect lessons learned from running the forum.

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How to advertise the forum. What the forum should be like (technical qualities etc)? Should there be this kind of forum also in the future? To what kind of issues and questions can the discussion forum be

used?

The discussion themes have been changed every 4 to 6 weeks. The most popular theme was how to cut government expenditures. People were asked to make comments to State Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, who received 1 500 comments.

Several on-line discussions on the site were organised. Minister Siimes from Ministry of Finance, Committee of Future of the Parliament and the Social and Health Committee of the Parliament participated in these. These lasted for an hour and tens of people were participating.

The results of the pilot were encouraging. This year the site is run so that every month one ministry moderates the discussion on actual topics of its field. Experiments are used to develop participation functions in public sector portal, Suomi.fi and other projects on participation.

2.14. Sweden

2.14.1. Database for cars on the National Road Administration

The Swedish National Road administration has set up an Vehicle Database to facilitate companies, agencies and organisations which are dealing with cars or need information about vehicles and their owners directly from the National vehicle Register. The service started in 1999 for retrieving information and in 2000 for registration of cars. This service has some 300 subscribers, most of them are Cardealers. Examples on other companies who can benefit from the system are: Truck Companies, Insurance Companies, Parking Companies, Banks, Garages etc. The advantages today are less telephone calls and manual labour.

The illustration (next page) shows how the system works:

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Vehicle Register

Revocation Catalogue Certificate

Telia provides the solutions for electronic identification (eID), signing and encryption to the National Road Administration. Car dealers and other professional users get a discount when they buy the solution. Thanks to the eID, the car dealer can be allowed to access the Vehicle Register to add or change information. Through the e-signature, the Vehicle Register can verify the car dealership and the person making the registration. Since the ownership of the car has been established, the car owner can purchase an insurance immediately. The Police get an immediate update, so no road side questions need to be asked.

2.14.2. Open Customer Systems in the Swedish Public Employment Service (AMS).

The main purpose of the AMS` Internet programme is to improve and modernise the infrastructure provided by the Employment Service by creating a comprehensive web- site for placement, vocational guidance and information on education and the labour market. Since the introduction of the first services in 1995, the number of visitors has grown rapidly. Today, the Internet Service has 3-4 times as many daily visitors as the traditional Job Centers. During a month more than 10% of the total labour force are using the AMS Service on Internet, of

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which half is not registered with the traditional Job Centers, and not unemployed. AMS is the dominating player on the net recruitment arena, with more visitors than all commercial actors combined. Since most employers and job-seekers can rely on the new self-service tools, the staff at the employment offices can focus more on long-term unemployed and other job-seekers who need more individual guidance, as well as on companies and market-sectors that experience shortage of skilled labour.

The AMS website comprises following main services:- The Job Bank, where all vacancies reported to AMS are exposed. A description of each vacancy with the nature of the job and full contact details is given. The job seeker can apply for the job directly by email. The employer can by using the ”Recruitment Assistant” carry out individualized electronic interviews with applicants.- The Job Seeker Bank, where job seekers can register there CVs and employers can search for applicants with relevant skill profiles in the CV-database. Some 30.000 companies have registered as users of this service.AMS Internet provides comprehensive information and guidance on careers and training. The Occupational A to Z contains descriptions of 500 occupations, showing duties, training alternatives, employment prospects and rates of pay. - Education’s in Sweden holds up-dated information on more than 3.500 education programmes and training courses all over Sweden, as well as information on different ways of financing studies.

Via the website you can also get information from the local Job Centers, make an ”e-visit” to your personal councilor, register as unemployed or, as employer, register and withdraw job vacancies.

2.15. United Kingdom

2.15.1. The Government Gateway

A groundbreaking new project, launched in February 2000, to deliver secure Internet transactions.

VAT returns from HM Customs & Excise, IACS Area Aid Applications (part of the Common Agricultural Policy) from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and PAYE year end returns from Inland Revenue, will be the first transactions to be delivered online through the Government Gateway. In time the Gateway will provide secure relations and enhance confidence in working online for citizens when dealing with public bodies in more and more areas of life and work.

The Government Gateway will offer citizens and businesses a single authentication service for all government transactions: once users have successfully registered, they will be able to access services from different Departments using a common user ID or digital certificate. The Gateway is

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designed to provide high levels of security and resilience, twenty-four hours a day through many points of access, such as the UK online citizen portal, Government web sites, commercial portals and applications.

This is a key step to meeting the Prime Minister’s target to get all UK Government services online by 2005, as part of "UK online". By enabling secure transactions for a wide range of portals and commercial applications, the Gateway will break down our primary obstacle.

2.15.2. Internet site ‘MyChildAtSchool.com’

Parent and teacher communications stepped into the 21st century with the launch of the pilot internet site MyChildAtSchool.com: an interactive web portal for parents/careers. MyChildAtSchool.com serves as an Internet link for parents wanting to access information relating to their child’s progress via the school’s administrative system. The portal premiered at BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) on 13th June 2000 to an audience of government officials, civil servants, teachers and education administrators.

Parents wanting to access information about their child’s attendance, grades and behaviour are issued with a unique user password and PIN by their school. This ensures complete security whilst providing online access. Future elements in development for the portal include information on homework; e-mail messaging between parents and teachers; and the ability to pay online for school outings and expenses.

Teachers’ jobs in schools using the e-School system are simplified considerably by electronic information collection. The automated process means that attendance information is constantly monitored lesson by lesson, without burdening the staff. Grade, Achievement and Behavioural data can also be collected very easily by the teacher.

2.16. European Union

2.16.1. EUROPAplus

Created in April 1995 as the Intranet of the European Commission, EUROPAplus offers a coherent, quick and transparent flow of information and communication between the College, the Director-Generals, the services and the staff. Several horizontal services provide most of the information available, namely Administration and Personnel DG, Press and Communication Service, Secretariat General, Budget DG, Translation Service, Informatics Directorate. All information is currently available in English and French.

The EUROPAplus Intranet contains about 5 million online documents and is used by over 20,000 people. Each working day, officials consult up to 150,000

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documents. Moreover, comments and suggestions can be made via a central suggestion box.

EUROPAplus contents are largely concentrated around three main functions, namely administrative information for the personnel, information and news, and finally document production.

Administrative information for the personnel concerns:- organisation charts of all General Directorates of the Commission- practical guides on staff matters, medical care and costs, furniture and office

supplies, European schools, internal directories, job vacancies- IT guidelines and services- secretariat general services on-line (for instance, manual of procedures,

legislative preparatory documents)- sites produced by Directorates-General- information about the administrative reform undertaken by Vice-President

Kinnock, including interactive service with the staff

As far as information and news are concerned, EUROPAplus offers external news - by press agencies - and internal news by several Commission services.

In addition, EUROPAplus provides officials with electronic databases of legislative and preparatory documents, namely:- SG-Vista, containing all documents emanating from the Commission services, which can be retrieved either via code number or full text search facilities. Old documents, dating back to 1981 have been included. - CELEX, a database containing 2,500,000 documents concerning the European law. All language versions are included.- EUR-Lex, containing the online version of the European Official Journal, dating back to 1998.- QUICK WAY, a one-stop database containing a collection of legal documents, including regular updates on Commission procedures.

2.16.2. EUROPE DIRECT

Officially launched in June 1998, Europe Direct is a service to help citizens and businesses find information on all sorts of subjects related to the EU.

Given the domestic structure of the European Commission, it may happen that information required is fragmented across the different Commission services concerned. Accordingly, access to information may result difficult and time-consuming. By acting a first point of contact, Europe Direct cuts the run-around and provides direct responses to general enquires and detailed questions.

Aiming to open a veritable dialogue with citizens, this service is available in all 11 EU official languages. In addition, information is offered through the following three main “access points”: via phone: free telephone service for each Member State is provided

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via e-mail ([email protected]): a direct response service will provided tailor-made answers.

via website (http://europa.eu.int/europedirect/en/index_en.html). Apart from providing general information, this website is divided into two specific sub-sites, namely “Dialogue with Citizens” and “Dialogue with Business”.

The “Dialogue with Citizens” website offers information concerning:- general information on European Union issues and policies- practical information on how to obtain a residence permit, how to get

qualifications recognised, how to complain about unsafe products, etc.- guides giving an overview of citizen’s rights and opportunities (including a

job database) in the Single Market- information on the euro and its impact on everyday life- personalised assistance, provided through a “Signpost service”, an electronic

query form to be filled online. Replies will be given via email or phone.

The “Dialogue with Business” website provides firms with practical information about how to access the Single Market, including:- detailed information on technical standards, EU funding opportunities, public

procurement and intellectual property rights- summary and texts of EU and national legislation, case law and EU policies- online personalised business advice from the 250 Euro Info Centres across the

EU- business news, a free translation service, information on potential business

partners, etc.- a “suggestion box” facility is provided to encourage two-way interaction.

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THIRD PART :Pan-European e-services offered to facilitate

citizens’ freedom of movement

The free movement of European citizens within the European Union is a fundamental right which is guaranteed both by Community law and by national laws. Moreover, at present the 15 EU Member States show a clear willingness to promote free movement, particularly for civil servants, teachers and researchers (conclusions of the European Councils of Lisbon and Nice). Therefore, at a time when the very rapid expansion of means of electronic communication is enabling the virtual free movement of Internet users, it is logical to ask the question as to how such generalised electronic networking may favour the actual physical movement of citizens from one country to another.

More specifically, the Swedish Presidency wanted this study to enable a better evaluation of the state of the existing systems and of the ongoing projects at the level of the European institutions and in the administrations of the various Member States as regards e-services aimed at facilitating free movement.

With these objectives in mind, the questionnaire posed the following three questions:“3.1. What are the electronic services already provided by your public administration in order to help your citizens who plan to establish in another EU Member, and to facilitate the establishment of European citizens in your country? Please give a very short description of these services. 3.2. What plans and projects does your public administration have in that domain in the next three years?3.3. Pan-European e-services can contribute to a europeanisation of social and economic life. In this respect, what are the aspects that should be given priority: free movement of capital, business, individuals (and which category among them: students, civil servants, low skilled workers, etc.)?”

The purpose of recalling these questions here is to stress that they addressed what is a subject of real importance. And yet, on the basis of the replies received, one cannot but find that this topic has generated very little interest among the Member States, or at least, to be more precise, among the civil servants who in each Member State replied to this questionnaire.

For instance, out of the fifteen countries there were two which simply did not reply to this third part of the study (Belgium and the Netherlands), two which replied to only one of the three questions (France and Ireland), and three which only responded to two of the three questions, not going into the last one, which was also the most forward-looking (Denmark, Germany and Finland).

Several others gave one-line replies which were very general, such as: “Many public sector web services increase the content available in English”. This concern about translation with a view to overcoming the language barrier is of course a

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basic prerequisite for information provided on official sites to be understood by citizens in other countries. Nonetheless, translation cannot be enough, and the aim of facilitating movement of persons requires far more ambitious means, to start with actions such as the production of information which can be understood by migrants or potential migrants, and which responds to their concerns and specific problems. Other countries gave replies which were positive in principle while recognising that their “plans regarding this subject are still at the conceptual stage.”

Overall, the general tone of the replies from the national administrations on this subject is illustrated quite well by this explicit statement made by one of the countries: “There is no information available on electronic services with regard to intra-EU movement of citizens. The main focus of the policy is to improve the electronic services for (our own) citizens”. The analysis given by the European Commission in its reply certainly explains this to a large extent. It refers to “the completion of the Single Market, whose pillars are the so-called “four freedoms, namely free movement of services, capital, goods and persons. While the first three freedoms can be considered as having been achieved, the free movement of persons has displayed various degrees of achievement with regard to citizens of the differing social categories. In particular, the social and cultural implications of the free movement of persons have somehow represented an obstacle to mobility.” These persistent cultural barriers probably explain why mobility of European citizens is hardly a priority objective of the public policies in most Member States. However, another explanatory factor can no doubt be found when considering the more specific theme of electronic services provided by the administration to support this free movement: the mere fact that, relatively speaking, public administrations have fallen behind in the transition to the age of Internet and in the realisation of e-government has led most public decision-makers to concentrate their efforts, and therefore their financial resources, on the most essential and visible aspects of this matter (which support for the arrival of migrants is not). This same logic had already been made clear in the report presented at the previous meeting of the Directors-General in Strasbourg, noting that in using ICT administrations had so far given higher priority to improving the services provided to citizens than to improving their internal functioning: as regards e-government, the European administrations have dealt with the most urgent matters first over the past years, i.e. they created services which were most visible to national public opinion.

Now that the information society is developing and administrations can start capitalising their achievements in this field, one can imagine that in the coming years there will be an “all-out” development in all EU Member States of new services and wider issues, including facilitating intra-Community mobility. It may be expected that such a development will to a large extent take place in the context of existing tools, run by the European Commission or created on a European basis through the joint goodwill of several States. The most original and innovative achievements of four or five countries may also serve as examples of “best practices” for those who will fall in behind them. We should now focus on these different achievements in the field of electronic services that facilitate free movement, as appear in the replies to our survey.

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As regards the European institutions, and particularly the Commission, mention should first of all be made of the interinstitutional server EUROPA (www.europa.eu.int). It includes a site called “Citizens” with a section “Dialogue with citizens”, which enables citizens who wish to migrate within Europe to access a range of information on the legislation of each Member State concerning settlement and residence conditions: procedures for obtaining a residence permit, obtaining a driving licence, car registration, tax and social security scheme for residents. In addition, there is specific information about higher education (ERASMUS exchanges, scholarships, etc.) and job searches. The section “Dialogue with business” provides the most frequently requested legal-economic data on each Member State: rules on business start-ups, the functioning of the social security system, patents and protection of intellectual property, public procurement, etc.

Secondly, mention should be made of EURES, the European employment service, co-ordinated by the Commission. The task of this service is to promote the mobility of workers between the 17 countries of the European Economic Area. More specifically, this network, which brings together national employment agencies, workers’ unions and employers’ and professional organisations, sets out to:– inform and advise potentially mobile workers on job opportunities and

working conditions within the EEA;– help employers to recruit staff from other countries;– give special support to workers and businesses in border regions.

Indeed, several national responses said that their administration or employment agency fed the EURES database with job offers in their country on a daily basis and that their national web site contained a hyperlink to the EURES server. At a more detailed level, the German site www.arbeitsamt.de contains information for nationals who wish to emigrate (job opportunities abroad, posts in German schools abroad, etc.) as well as for potential immigrants (assistance with settling in Germany, explanations about the labour market, etc.).

As regards the Swedish Public Employment Service, DG Employment of the European Commission has entrusted it with the important task of creating a Job Seeker Database. This service must be available on the Internet in 2002.

The main public web sites can, in a more general way than by only showing job offers, facilitate the mobility of European citizens within the EU by providing wide-ranging information. For instance, in various countries the “Citizens’ guide”, which can be found on the portal of the national administration, contains a section for foreigners who are planning to pay a temporary visit to the country or who wish to settle there for a longer time; in this section the main administrative data relevant to their situation has been translated into another language. Some countries go further and develop a comprehensive Internet site which is intended for business people, foreign investors, journalists, politicians and civil servants from partner countries, and of course for academics, students and, at another level, foreign tourists who wish to go to the country in question. Soon, such a site will be operational in for instance Denmark where the Danish State Information Service is completing the creation of the “Info Denmark” site. This web site

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should become the “official door to Denmark”, enabling foreigners to better understand Danish society, its laws, its functioning, and to contact the appropriate public authorities directly. It should be added that certain Mediterranean countries which attract a lot of tourists also have web sites more exclusively designed for tourists, such as www.tourspain.es in Spain, which provides any kind of tourist information (ranging from programmes of cultural activities to hotel reservations) needed for a pleasant stay on the peninsula.

As regards the field of commerce, the survey has highlighted certain original and innovative initiatives. For instance, there is the Europäisches Firmenbuch (European Companies Register), in the creation of which Austria’s Federal Ministry of Justice played a dynamic role. It involves intergovernmental cooperation in the form of a consortium which has so far been joined by 11 countries (Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Latvia, Norway, Austria, Finland and Sweden); Germany and the United Kingdom are in the process of joining the consortium. The basic idea behind this network is that the possession of reliable data on foreign businesses is necessary in commerce, and that while most countries have a register of companies, it is difficult and time-consuming to gain access to the information in these registers. The European Companies Register puts these registers on the net in a network, in real time and without linguistic barriers (language used: German). It has a search engine with which a company can be found by name or part of its name. The user can thus access a standardised extract which contains the name and register number of the company in question, its address, telephone number, date of establishment, legal form (original founding text), branch of activity, registered capital and last balance sheet. So, without directly being an instrument for mobility, the Companies Register indirectly facilitates commercial contacts and agreements between companies which often involve exchanges or settlement of staff abroad. A different - though related - and trans-national initiative is the “eMarket Services”, created in July 1999 jointly by the Australian, Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish Trade Councils. This electronic information service aims to facilitate international commercial contacts by developing a digital market reserved for companies (business-to-business electronic marketplaces).

Also in the economic field and more specifically in that of the free movement of goods, one can see that several countries have a programme, already partly realised or still ongoing, to computerise customs procedures. In Sweden, for instance, for the last three years companies have been filling in 80% of their import and export declarations on line and have been sending them electronically to the administration thanks to the general implementation of a secured smart card. The aim is that by 2005 this will have gone up to 100%.

Finally, we have to come back to services aimed at citizens to find two very special cases of electronic services offered to a public outside the border. The first is Portugal, which everyone knows used to be a country with a very high level of emigration until the 70s and 80s. Consequently, many European citizens of Portuguese origin or Portuguese citizens living in other EU countries regularly need official documents such as birth, marriage, death and ownership certificates, etc. To deal with their requests more efficiently, the Portuguese State has just created an online service (launched in February 2001) where these documents can

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be ordered electronically and the corresponding costs can be paid by international Visa card.

The other special case involves a border area between Denmark and Sweden, with quite specific geographical and human characteristics: the Öresund region. A regional initiative, fully supported by the governments of both countries, has resulted in the creation, on 1 July 2000 (which is the day on which the Öresund bridge opened), of an Internet site www.Oresunddirekt.dk. This web site should be an instrument for enhancing regional integration so that citizens and companies do not regard the authorities as obstacles to the development of trade between both shores of the Öresund. The site contains two sections: one which is meant for Danish people and deals with the Swedish situation, the other is for Swedish people and concerns the Danish situation. The site provides legal and administrative data, information on job opportunities, education, democratic life, daily life (shopping, etc.), as well as a bilingual dictionary. It also has a “hotline” to answer questions from citizens, and it will increasingly become an interactive vehicle for communication which can aid public authorities to learn from citizens about matters which require public action in order to improve life in this region.

These are a few of the electronic services, related in one way or other to free movement, which some States have developed and which represent examples of “best practices” which may be followed by other administrations, in their specific national context and with the necessary adjustments which this context will always demand.

However, this third part of the survey cannot be concluded without recalling that the general tone of the replies given by the Member States clearly show that the provision of electronic services aimed at facilitating movement within the EU has so far not been a priority in national public policies in the field of e-government.

Still, it should be pointed out that in the coming years the various Member States are invited to join the European Commission’s Skills and Mobility Task Force, which will have to submit its final report in 2005 and whose mission is precisely to identify barriers to the mobility of workers and to study solutions to reduce them. In the framework of this forward-looking exercise one can imagine that all the possibilities offered by the tools of the information society will be considered.

With this call for future action we would like to conclude this third part, and the report as a whole, seeing that a general conclusion cannot be drawn for at least two reasons. The first one is that this study aimed, quite modestly, to provide precise and updated information to the working group on e-government, in order to add to its joint reflection on the topic and consequently to the discussions at the meeting of the Directors-General in Uppsala. The second reason is that the very subjects of this work – electronic public services – and, more broadly speaking, the distribution of information technologies in public administrations, are constantly and rapidly developing matters which do not lend themselves well to conclusions, as they may be outdated as soon as they are formulated.

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