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Open consultation on pan-European government e-services

Closed on 19 July 2002

Aim

The purpose of this consultation is to help the Commission and the Member States to identify the needs and opportunities of EU enterprises and citizens in terms of pan-European Government e-services. That is to say, the requirements for government e-services for those enterprises and citizens that interact electronically across Europe’s borders with public administrations in other Member States.

Background

The EU Member States are currently putting in place government e-services for enterprises and citizens. These ‘e-services’ are designed to replace paper-based ways of working with public administration with electronic working over the Internet. Government e-services typically include web sites, one stop shops, downloadable forms, electronic transactions, interactive services, electronic forms, etc. They also involve the increased provision of public sector information on government web sites.

This consultation is aimed at both enterprises and citizens. It is targeted particularly at enterprises that trade across Europe’s borders and also at enterprises that operate in multiple Member States. It is also targeted at citizens, in particular, citizens that live in one Member State but work across a border in another Member State, or citizens that study or retire to a Member State other than their own.

There are three reasons for doing this. The first is to ensure that government e-services are open, where there is a business need, to users across Europe, and not be restricted only to users in the Member State that provides the service. Secondly, many government services involve the exchange of information between different public administration bodies. This is increasingly done by electronic means. If government e-services are available to users across Europe, there will be a subsequent need to ensure that Europe’s public administrations are able to exchange information with public administrations in other Member States. This is called A2A (administration to administration) business and IDA is the key European Commission programme to achieve the efficient exchange of such information. Finally, there may be some e-services that are better provided a single service at the European level instead of each Member State providing their own version of the service.

Consultation

Before any policy can be developed or recommendations made on government e-services being available to users across Europe, we need to know the views of the users of these services. In this context, the Commission is now seeking the views and recommendations of all relevant stakeholders (both enterprises and citizens) to help it assess policy options under this initiative. Therefore, based on your own experience in dealing electronically with public administrations and your needs for trans-border e-services, you are invited to read a discussion document and answer a series of questions.

The IDA programme of the Enterprise Directorate General of the European Commission has produced this discussion document. It describes government e-services and highlights the issue of trans-border access. This document was drawn up as a first stage in the development of policy on government e-services at the European level. A copy can be found below. Also a document containing some questions on this issue is provided. You are, therefore, invited to go through the attached discussion document, that outlines the first reflections of the IDA Programme on this issue, and to send us your comments. By participating in this consultation you will contribute to the development of EU policy on pan-European Government e-services.

Consultation document  
(Please note: the consultation was closed on 19 July 2002) 

Based on the results of this consultation it is envisaged that a Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on government e-services at the European level will be drawn up in October 2002.

Contact
European Commission
Enterprise Directorate General
IDA (Interchange of Data between Administrations)
B-1049 Brussels

Further information on the IDA programme can be obtained at: http://europa.eu/ispo/ida

Last update: 22/07/2002