The European Parliament adopted a resolution in response to the Commission communication on a competitive digital single market – eGovernment as a spearhead.
Recognising the contribution and overarching role of the ISA programme in defining, promoting and supporting the implementation of interoperability solutions and frameworks for European public administrations, the resolution Stresses that the European eGovernment Action Plan 2011-2015 represents a unique opportunity to modernise and reduce the costs of European and national public administrations. It underlines the importance of public-private partnerships and the role of the private sector in providing innovative solutions, applications and services for the development of interoperable e-Government infrastructure in the EU and in leveraging the available resources.
Parliament underlines the importance of R&D and innovation in developing and improving crossborder services and calls for support for ‘light and fast’ access to EU R&D funds for ICT, as well as for an increase in the financial allocations for crossborder eGovernment services and infrastructure for 2014-2020.
(1) eGovernment Action Plan: Parliament welcomes the adoption of the European eGovernment Action Plan 2011-2015, the European Interoperability Strategy (EIS) and the European Interoperability Framework (EIF) for European public services (EPS). It calls on the Member States to take rapid action to align their national strategies to these overarching policies.
The resolution supports the overall targets for increased use of eGovernment services in 2015, i.e. 50 % of citizens (up from 41 %) and 80 % of businesses (up from 75 %), but calls on the Commission and Member States to consider these targets as minimum thresholds. It calls for the special programmes and eGovernment platforms to be developed with the aim of protecting and promoting local, regional, ethnic and linguistic diversity. Parliament underlines that the internet is increasingly used on mobile devices by both citizens and enterprises, and calls for action to ensure that eGovernment services are accessible and adapted to multiple channels of delivery, including call centres and the mobile internet (m-government).
Parliament considers that in order to ensure effective EU-wide crossborder eGovernment services providing two-way and/or automated interaction between administrations and citizens and/or businesses, there needs to be a clear and coherent EU legal framework for the mutual recognition of eAuthentication, eIdentification and eSignatures. It points out that there is still no clear definition of the term ‘public administrative data’ and that, with a view to clarifying its precise meaning, a common understanding must be reached by means of public discussion. It calls for adequate measures to be put in place to ensure data and privacy protection and minimise vulnerability to cyber-attacks.
Member States are called upon to:
Parliament recognises the major potential of cloud computing, for businesses and private citizens alike. However, it stresses that with the increased use of cloud services, supervision of the relocation of IT resources and strict control of access to servers and data are required, inter alia in order to prevent unauthorised commercial use by other parties, and that as a consequence these issues should be dealt with in the reform of the EU data protection rules as proposed by the Commission (COM(2012)0011 and COM(2012)0010).
Recalling the key commitment to reduce both digital literacy gaps and competence gaps by half by 2015, Parliament calls on the Commission and the Member States to launch digital training programmes to promote the full use of eGovernment services, reinforce digital literacy and overcome the e-barriers affecting SMEs and disadvantaged sectors of the population such as older people, persons with disabilities, minorities, immigrants, the unemployed and those living in remote areas of the Union. To this extent, e-learning should be incorporated into national education and training policies.
(2) eProcurement: the resolution emphasises that in the EU-27 public expenditure represents 16 % of GDP, and urges the use of eProcurement for all public procurement by 2015. It calls for the use of eProcurement also for concessions. Members regret the fact that in 2010 only 13 % of EU enterprises used the internet to submit a proposal to public authorities through a public electronic tender system. They call on the Member States to encourage the participation of SMEs in eProcurement.
The Commission is called upon to: (i) submit the White Paper on interconnecting eProcurement capacity in the EU – ‘A strategy for eProcurement’; (ii) introduce an implementation monitoring mechanism to review progress, barriers, corrective action, etc, in the context of the introduction of eProcurement in the Member States; (iii) set an example to all by implementing the eProcurement system in all its organs.
(3) eInvoicing: underlining the substantial benefits offered by eInvoicing, Parliament welcomes the eInvoicing Initiative, which aims to make eInvoicing the predominant method of invoicing in the EU by 2020. It stresses the importance of legal certainty, a clear technical environment and open and interoperable eInvoicing solutions, based on common legal requirements, business processes and technical standards in order to facilitate mass adoption. It invites industry and the European standardisation organisations to continue their efforts to promote convergence towards a common eInvoice data model.
Members underline the importance of ‘one-stop-shops’ for VAT in order to facilitate cross-border e-commerce for SMEs and promote e-invoicing and welcome the new VAT rules as regards eInvoicing, which introduce equal treatment as between paper and eInvoices. They consider that consumers with limited access to the internet or none at all should not be left behind, and that consumers should always be allowed to receive paper invoices.
The Commission called upon to undertake an annual assessment of the goals of the Digital Agenda, especially those related to the eGovernment Action Plan, and to report to Parliament on a yearly basis.