European Initiatives in the Standardisation and e-Business Domains

Antonio ConteEuropean Commission – DG Enterprise and IndustryUnit D3 “ICT for Competitiveness and Industrial Innovation”

UN/CEFACT 18th Session - Geneva, 16 February 2012

Key Points

• Standards are voluntary documents that define technical or quality requirements

• European standards and standardisation are very effective policy tools (Single Market, interoperability, consumer and environmental protection, …)

• Evolution from product standards to process and production standards

• Coordination among the various standard development organisations is key

Global ICT Standardisation scene

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Covered by the European standardisation system of today

Outside of the scope of European standardisation – therefore not available for use

Our typical daily dose of global ICT standards

Browsing the web

Standard Organisation Standard Organisation

802.11 IEEE BGP IETF

URI IETF HTTP IETF

CSS W3C WAI W3C

HTML W3C / ISO MPEG ISO/IEC

XML W3C ADSL ITU

TCP/IP IETF WSDM OASIS

Innovative ICT technologies combine different standards and specifications from all kinds of organisations

Issues • A major part of ICT standardisation is done in global fora

& consortia, outside the scope of the European standardisation system CEN/CENELEC/ETSI

• These specifications are not directly available for referencing in public procurement

However:

• The Digital Agenda underlines the need for interoperability. Fora & consortia specifications are expected to contribute

• Fora and consortia specifications need to be available for Europe

• Proposed Regulation on European Standardisation

[COM(2011) 315 final]

Proposal for Regulation (1)

Consolidated legal basis for European standardisation which:

• Replaces Decisions 1673/2006/EC and 87/95/EC and part of Directive 98/34/EC• Amends several Directives (objections to harmonised standards)

Proposal for Regulation (2)

• Extends definitions and scope to services• Ensures cooperation between NSB on draft

standards and work programmes (Arts. 3-4)• Increases stakeholder participation:

• An obligation for ESOs (Article 5)• Stakeholder organisations criteria in Annex III

Proposal for Regulation (3)

• Recognition of ICT standards for public procurement (+ policies and legislation?)(Articles 9 and 10)• Suggestions from Member States or Commission • Stakeholder platform will give advice: expert

working group with MS, industry, ESOs, Fora & Consortia, SMEs, societal groups

• Criteria: Annex II

Proposal for Regulation (4)

• Proposal to be adopted by EP and Council, following advice of EESC and national Parliaments (ordinary legislative procedure)

• Entry into force on 1st January 2013?

Communication on e-Invoicing[COM(2010) 712 final]

• European Multi-stakeholder Forumon e-Invoicing

[Commission Decision 2010/C 326/07]

The Communication on e-Invoicing

• Mass adoption of e-invoicing within the EU would lead to significant economic benefits BUT most of e-invoicing’s potential is still untapped

• 5 priority domains for action• Invitation addressed to UN/CEFACT:• “UN/CEFACT is invited to pursue the fast development of e-

business messages that are complementary to the e-invoice, and will improve the ability of businesses, trade and administrative organisations to exchange products and relevant services effectively.”

European Multi-stakeholder Forumon e-Invoicing

• Role• Address remaining barriers which prevent the exchange of e-invoices

across EU• Share experiences and good practices• Monitor e-invoicing adoption

• Established for a three-years period, 2 meetings per year (chaired by the Commission)

• Composition (63 members)• 2 representatives per National Forum (54)• European associations from the “user side”: SMEs, large corporate,

and users (6)• European organisations and associations : CEN, ECB, Article 29

Working Party (3)

• Kick-off meeting: 13 September 2011 in Brussels

Activities of the Forum

• Monitoring the e-invoicing uptake at Member States and EU level

Leader: P. Breyne (BE)

• Exchange of experiences and good practicesLeaders: C. Bryant and M. Schizas (UK)

• Propose solutions for cross-border barriersLeader: S. Engel-Flechsig (DE)

• Migration towards a single e-invoice data modelLeader: P. Potgieser (CEN)

National Multi-stakeholder Foraon e-Invoicing

• Role• Raising acceptance of e-invoices• Coordinate initiatives (legal, technical, etc.)

• Composition • Balanced representation of stakeholders (e.g. public

administrations, enterprises, financial organisations, service providers, standardisation bodies, consumers)

• National fora have been formally set up in AT, BE, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, FR, HU, IE, IT, LU, LV, NL, PT, SE, SK, UK

• Digital Supply Chain Projects

Digital Supply Chain Projects

• Industry led projects that aim at facilitating the integration of SMEs in global digital supply chains

• Covered sectors: • fashion (textile, clothing and footwear - pilot completed),

automotive ["Autogration" project], and transport - logistics (pilots to be completed in March)

• tourism, and food supply chain (underway)

• The publicly available results of the demonstration actions and the reference models proposed render the implementation of е-business solutions easier and more affordable and interoperable with benefits for both SMEs and large players alike

StandardisationInformation and Contact

Web sites:http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/european-standards/standardisation-policy/index_en.htmhttp://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/ict/standards/index_en.htm

e-Mail:entr-ict-for-comp-and-innovation@ec.europa.eu

http://www.youtube.com/euenterprise

@EU_enterprise

EU Enterprise

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