A five-year eGovernment Action Plan has just been presented by the European Commission to deliver innovative online public services to citizens and businesses and increase the take-up of these services across Europe (see IP/10/1718 and MEMO/10/680). It sets out concrete actions and priorities to make access to public services more efficient and cost effective. The new Action Plan builds on experience gained with the 2006 European eGovernment Action Plan (see IP/06/523). The availability of online delivery of basic services like company registration and tax filing has so far been a success, going up from 21% in 2000 to 71% in 2009 in EU27. But take-up does not match this trend, with only 42% of the EU population using online public services in the past year. The Commission is committed to supporting Member States in developing eGovernment services based on users' needs. Here are some practical examples of exactly how the measures outlined in the Action Plan stand to benefit citizens and businesses.

The European Commission has outlined an ambitious programme to work with Member States' public authorities to expand and improve the services which they offer via the Internet. The new eGovernment Action Plan foresees forty specific measures over the next five years to enable citizens and businesses to use online facilities to, for example, register a business, apply for and access social security and health benefits, enrol in a university or bid to provide goods and services for public administrations. Promoting eGovernment can help boost Europe's competitiveness and allow public authorities to offer improved services more cost-effectively at a time of budget constraints.
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The European Commission wants to see e-invoicing become the predominant method of invoicing in Europe. In its Communication 'Reaping the benefits of electronic invoicing (e-invoicing) for Europe', presented by Vice-President Tajani and Commissioner Barnier today, the European Commission identifies a set of tangible actions to make the uptake of e-invoices in Europe easier. Providing invoice data electronically and in a format could allow businesses to benefit from shorter payment delays, fewer errors, reduced printing and postage costs. Most importantly, structured e-invoices facilitate business process integration from purchase to payment, meaning that invoices could be sent, received and processed without manual intervention. Currently, exchanging e-invoices is often complex and costly, in particular across borders and for SMEs. The Communication by the Commission addresses these obstacles and is complemented by a Commission Decision to set-up a European multi-stakeholder forum on e-invoicing.

Political leaders, hospitals and IT leaders from across Europe will come together at eHealth Week 2011 in Budapest to advance the continent’s digital health infrastructure. The four-day event will feature educational sessions, an exhibition, workshops and many networking opportunities. For the first time, eHealth Week (co-located with eHealth High level conference and WoHIT conference) will also feature symposia on innovation-rich subjects such as Ambient Assisted Living; Health 2.0 and a leaders in health IT (LHIT) symposium for hospital IT directors.

Buying popular electronic goods like digital cameras and music players on the internet is now much safer following a crackdown on problematic websites. 84% of the websites selling electronics, checked for breach of EU consumer rules, now comply with EU law (compared with only 44% in 2009). The "sweep" investigation was launched in May 2009 and carried out by national authorities in 26 member states, Norway and Iceland. The problems identified included misleading information on consumer rights, incorrect prices and missing contact details of the trader. These sites have now been corrected and penalties have been imposed where necessary. The Commission also announced the initial findings of the 2010 Sweep targeting online sales of tickets for cultural and sporting events.

Our privacy faces new challenges: behavioural advertising can use your internet history to better market products; social networking sites used by 41.7 million Europeans allow personal information like photos to be seen by others; and the 6 billion smart chips used today can trace your movements. The European Commission today – Data Protection Day – warned that data protection rules must be updated to keep abreast of technological change to ensure the right to privacy, legal certainty for industry, and the take-up of new technologies. EU rules say that a person's information can only be used on legitimate grounds, with their prior consent. With the Lisbon Treaty and the Charter of Fundamental Rights now in force, the Commission today said it wants to create a clear, modern set of rules for the whole EU guaranteeing a high level of personal data protection and privacy, starting with a reform of the 1995 EU Data Protection Directive.

In the 27 EU Member States, 65% of households had access to the internet during the first quarter of 2009, compared with 60% during the first quarter of 2008, and 56% had a broadband internet connection in 2009, compared with 49% in 2008. These data published by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, represent only a small part of the results of a survey on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) usage in households and by individuals in the EU27 Member States, the candidate countries, Norway, Iceland and Serbia. As well as internet use and broadband connections, the survey also covers other indicators such as e-shopping, e-government and advanced communication and content related services.

The EU Competitiveness Council meets in Brussels on Thursday 03 and Friday 04 December under the chairmanship of Ms. Ewa Bjorling, Minister for Trade and Ms. Maud Olofsson , Minister for Enterprise and Energy. The European Commission will be represented by Vice President Gunter Verheugen, responsible for Enterprise and Industry and Meglena Kuneva Commissioner for Consumer Protection. On 3 rd December, the European Commission will be represented by Commissioner Poto čnik during the Research part of the Council.

There are widespread problems with refusals of orders for EU consumers trying to purchase goods online in another Member state, according to a new European Commission report on cross border consumer e-commerce published today. An extensive independent mystery shopping exercise was carried out for the Commission where shoppers across the EU tried to purchase a list of 100 popular products –for example cameras, CDs, books, clothes - from a cross border provider. Over 11,000 test orders were carried out. The research found that 60% of cross border transactions could not be completed by consumers because the trader did not ship the product to their country or did not offer adequate means for cross border payment. Latvia, Belgium, Romania and Bulgaria are the countries where consumers are least able to buy cross border (for full list of EU-27 countries ranked see MEMO/09/475 ). But in all but two countries the odds of succeeding in a cross border purchase are lower than 50%. The foregone benefits to citizens are also very clear. In more than half of Member States, 50% or more or the products could be found 10% cheaper (transport costs included) from a website in another country. And 50% of products searched could not be found in national sites and were only offered by another Member State trader. The Communication presents a series of measures to be taken to reduce the complex regulatory environment which is acting as a disincentive for businesses to serve consumers in other Member States. In addition and to boost confidence in online trading, the problems regarding the collection of commercial data and its use to profile and target consumers will be analyzed in a stakeholders forum.

The objective of the consultation is to help prepare a new EU strategy for the information society, as the current i2010 strategy is coming to a close this year. All citizens and organisations are welcome to contribute to this consultation. Closing date of the consultation is 9 October 2009. Please note that you are not obliged to answer all questions; you may focus on the areas of interest to you. You can write your replies in any of the official EU languages.

Last year's Commission Communication on standardisation and innovation (COM(2008) 133 final) announced the main subjects for the revision of ICT standardisation policy, adding that it would seek a broad agreement on its intentions before following up with policy proposals, in particular regarding the possible revision of Council Decision 87/95. In its conclusions on standardisation and innovation, the Competitiveness Council of September 2008 also took the view that it would be helpful for European standardisation bodies to exploit possible synergies with standardisation fora and consortia and endorsed the desire of the Commission to support a better use of standards in matters relating to ICT. As a result of this process, it was decided to prepare the present White Paper to ascertain the degree of consensus on the possible revision of ICT standardisation policy by submitting the results of the work to date to public consultation.

The European Commission will co-finance a project driven by Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, and Poland helping public administrations to improve online services for the service sector. By the end of 2009, each EU Member State will have established points of single contact where companies can complete administrative procedures electronically. While it will allow for example a Belgian service provider to complete all the necessary formalities to open a café in the Netherlands online, the pilot project will work on further enhancing the quality of electronic procedures. More than € 14 million will be invested over three years into the pilot project, half of which will come from the EU's Competitiveness and Innovation Programme.

The European Commission today launched the eYouGuide, a new online tool giving practical advice on the "digital rights" consumers have under EU law. This guide, which responds to a call from the European Parliament in 2007, addresses consumer issues like the rights towards your broadband provider, shopping on the web, downloading music and protecting your personal data online and on social networking sites. Even though 48.5% of EU households have a broadband internet connection, a new Eurobarometer survey shows that a lack of confidence still holds many consumers back from online transactions. Only 12% of EU web users feel safe making transactions on the internet, while 39% of EU internet users have major doubts about safety, and 42% do not dare carry out financial transactions online. 65% of internet users in the EU do not know where to get information and advice about cross-border shopping in the EU. A third of consumers would consider buying online from another country because it is cheaper or better, but only 7% actually do so. Giving consumers clear information about their rights will increase trust and help unlock the full economic potential of Europe's single online market, worth €106 billion in revenues.

Following the adoption of the Commission Communication on mobilising Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to facilitate the transition to an energy-efficient, low-carbon economy, a new Public Consultation is now open to gather information and opinions in order to ensure that the Commission and all stakeholders have the same understanding of the issues to tackle and of the proposed solutions. The results will be used in the elaboration of the above-mentioned Commission Recommendation.

A new report on "Barriers to E-commerce", presented today by EU Consumer Commissioner Meglena Kuneva shows that online shopping is increasingly popular in the EU, but warns that barriers to cross border trade are holding back its development. The report published today presents a detailed analysis of current trends in e-commerce across the EU – including per country, most purchased items and obstacles for consumers and business online. Between 2006 and 2008 the proportion of EU consumers buying at least one item over the internet increased from 27% to 33%. These average figures mask the huge popularity of online shopping in countries like UK, France and Germany where more than 50% of internet users have made online purchases in the last year. In the Nordic countries (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland) the proportion of internet users who bought products and services online was 91% in 2008. Countries like Italy and Spain are also fast growing markets. Against this pattern of fast growing national markets, the extent of online purchasing cross border remains small, at only 7% in 2008 (compared to 6% in 2006). The report warns that numerous obstacles - linguistic, practical and regulatory as well as important trust issues – are holding back the development of online shopping in the EU.

The EU Parliament has voted on a resolution strongly supporting the Commission's Communication on pre-commercial procurement.

In the EU27, 93% of enterprises of ten or more persons employed had access to the internet in January 2008, the same as in January 2007, and 81% of enterprises had a broadband internet connection, up from 77% in January 2007. On average in the EU27, 64% of enterprises had a website in January 2008, compared with 63% in January 2007. These data come from Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, and form part of the results of a community survey conducted at the beginning of 2008 on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in enterprises in the EU27 Member States, Iceland and Norway. Besides the indicators presented, the survey also covers e-commerce, e-government and e-business indicators.

In the EU27, 60% of households had access to the internet during the first quarter of 2008, compared with 54% during the first quarter of 2007, and 48% had a broadband internet connection, compared with 42% in 2007. These data published by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, represent only a small part of the results of a survey on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) usage in households and by individuals in the EU27 Member States, Norway, Iceland and Croatia. As well as internet use and broadband connections, the survey also covers other indicators such as e-shopping, e-government and advanced communication and content related services.

The European Commission has put forward a proposal revising the current rules governing the conditions for issuing electronic money in the EU. The proposal follows extensive consultation which showed that the current rules, dating from 2000, have hindered the take-up of the electronic money market, hampering technological innovation. The revised rules will facilitate market entrance for new providers and contribute to develop an industry whose expected volume could reach up to EUR 10 billion by 2012.

Register before 31 October for the early bird fee. This conference is Europe's largest ICT research event in 2008 and takes place over three days from 25 - 27 November in Lyon, France. The event is organised by the European Commission in cooperation with the French Presidency of the European Union. It will examine EU priorities in ICT research for over €2 billion of funding available in 2009-2010. More than 4000 participants are expected to attend the event.