report · network and information systems across the union, – having regard to the commission...

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EN United in diversity EN

European Parliament 2014-2019

Plenary sitting

A8-0178/2017

2.5.2017

REPORT

on the EU eGovernment Action Plan 2016-2020

(2016/2273(INI))

Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection

Rapporteur: Sabine Verheyen

Rapporteurs for the opinion (*):

Angelika Mlinar, Committee on Industry, Research and Energy

Pavel Svoboda, Committee on Legal Affairs

(*) Associated committees – Rule 54 of the Rules of Procedure

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PR_INI

CONTENTS

Page

MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION ............................................ 3

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT ............................................................................................ 14

OPINION OF THE COMMITTEE ON INDUSTRY, RESEARCH AND ENERGY ............ 19

OPINION OF THE COMMITTEE ON LEGAL AFFAIRS ................................................... 24

INFORMATION ON ADOPTION IN COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE ................................ 29

FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL IN COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE .................................... 30

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MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION


(2016/2273(INI))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to the G8 Open Data Charter,

– having regard to the Commission communication entitled ‘The European eGovernment

Action Plan 2011-2015 – Harnessing ICT to promote smart, sustainable and innovative

Government’ (COM(2010)0743),

– having regard to its resolution of 20 April 2012 on ‘A competitive digital single market

– eGovernment as a spearhead’1,

– having regard to the Commission communication entitled ‘EU eGovernment Action

Plan 2016-2020. Accelerating the digital transformation of government’

(COM(2016)0179),

– having regard to the Commission’s eGovernment Benchmark Report 2016,

– having regard to the Commission communication entitled ‘A Digital Single Market

Strategy for Europe’ (COM(2015)0192) and to the accompanying Commission staff

working document (SWD(2015)0100),

– having regard to its resolution of 19 January 2016 entitled ‘Towards a Digital Single

Market Act’2,

– having regard to Decision (EU) 2015/2240 of the European Parliament and of the

Council of 25 November 2015 establishing a programme on interoperability solutions

and common frameworks for European public administrations, businesses and citizens

(ISA2 programme) as a means for modernising the public sector,

– having regard to the Commission communication of 1 June 2016 entitled ‘European

standards for the 21st century’ (COM(2016)0358),

– having regard to the Commission communication of 31 March 2011 entitled ‘Critical

Information Infrastructure Protection – Achievements and next steps: towards global

cyber-security’ (COM(2011)0163),

– having regard to Directive (EU) 2016/1148 of the European Parliament and of the

Council of 6 July 2016 concerning measures for a high common level of security of

network and information systems across the Union,

– having regard to the Commission communication of 2 July 2014 entitled ‘Towards a

thriving data-driven economy’ (COM(2014)0442),

1 OJ C 258E, 7.9.2013, p. 64. 2 Texts adopted, P8_TA(2016)0009.

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– having regard to its resolution of 10 March 2016 on ‘Towards a thriving data-driven

economy’1,

– having regard to Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the

Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the

processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing

Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation),

– having regard to Regulation (EU) No 1316/2013 of the European Parliament and of the

Council of 11 December 2013 establishing the Connecting Europe Facility, amending

Regulation (EU) No 913/2010 and repealing Regulations (EC) No 680/2007 and (EC)

No 67/2010,

– having regard to the Commission communication to the European Parliament, the

Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the

Regions entitled ‘Connectivity for a Competitive Digital Single Market – Towards a

European Gigabit Society’ (COM(2016)0587) and to the accompanying Commission

staff working document (SWD(2016)0300),

– having regard to the Commission proposal for a directive of the European Parliament

and of the Council establishing the European Electronic Communications Code (recast)

(COM(2016)0590) and to its Annexes 1 to 11 – Impact Assessment (SWD(2016)0303),

Executive Summary of the Impact Assessment (SWD(2016)0304), and Evaluation and

Executive Summary (SWD(2016)0305),

– having regard to the Commission proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament

and of the Council amending Regulations (EU) No 1316/2013 and (EU) No 283/2014 as

regards the promotion of Internet connectivity in local communities (COM(2016)0589),

– having regard to Regulation (EU) 2015/2120 of the European Parliament and of the

Council of 25 November 2015 laying down measures concerning open internet access

and amending Directive 2002/22/EC on universal service and users’ rights relating to

electronic communications networks and services and Regulation (EU) No 531/2012 on

roaming on public mobile communications networks within the Union,

– having regard to Directive (EU) 2016/2102 of the European Parliament and of the

Council of 26 October 2016 on the accessibility of the websites and mobile applications

of public sector bodies,

– having regard to Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the

Council of 23 July 2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic

transactions in the internal market and repealing Directive 1999/93/EC,

– having regard to Directive 2013/37/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council

of 27 June 2013 on re-use of public sector information (PSI Directive),

– having regard to the Commission proposal of 10 January 2017 for a regulation of the

European Parliament and of the Council introducing a European services e-card and

1 Texts adopted, P8_TA(2016)0089.

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related administrative facilities (COM(2016)0824),

– having regard to the Commission communication of 10 January 2017 entitled

‘Exchanging and Protecting Personal Data in a Globalised World’ (COM(2017)0007),

– having regard to the Commission communication of 10 January 2017 entitled ‘Building

a European Data Economy’ (COM(2017)0009),

– having regard to the Commission proposal of 10 January 2017 for a regulation

concerning the respect for private life and the protection of personal data in electronic

communications and repealing Directive 2002/58/EC (Regulation on Privacy and

Electronic Communications) (COM(2017)0010),

– having regard to the Commission proposal of 10 January 2017 for a regulation on the

protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union

institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and

repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC

(COM(2017)0008),

– having regard to Directive 96/9/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of

11 March 1996 on the legal protection of databases,

– having regard to the Commission communication of 19 April 2016 entitled ‘European

Cloud Initiative – Building a competitive data and knowledge economy in Europe’

(COM(2016)0178),


of 26 February 2014 on public procurement and repealing Directive 2004/18/EC,


of 16 April 2014 on electronic invoicing in public procurement,

– having regard to the Commission communication of 10 June 2016 on ‘A New Skills

Agenda for Europe’ (COM(2016)0381/2),

– having regard to Rule 52 of its Rules of Procedure,

– having regard to the report of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer

Protection and the opinions of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy and the

Committee on Legal Affairs (A8-0178/2017),

A. whereas the modernisation strategies of public administrations must be adapted to a

changing environment enabling the transformation to digital government;

B. whereas the digitalisation of government services should help to achieve the full

potential of the single market, promote better exercise of citizenship, improve quality of

life for citizens and the social and economic development of the regions, enhance

citizens’ understanding of and involvement in public services and improve their

efficiency and cost effectiveness, and strengthen political participation by enhancing

citizens’ dialogue with public authorities and increasing transparency; whereas the EU

should encourage the exchange of best practices and technologies between Member

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States;

C. whereas the ICT sector is called on to assist this transformation process by providing

customised solutions for public administrations;

D. whereas the transformation to digital government must be initiated at Union, Member

State, regional and local level;

E. whereas the full potential of a digital public administration can only be achieved if

citizens and businesses can fully trust the services offered;

F. whereas the EU e-Justice Portal is an essential tool for access to information and to

justice, and constitutes an important step in achieving the modernisation of EU public

administration;

G. whereas better access to information and the increased use of improved digital tools for

company-law-related formalities throughout the lifecycle of companies should increase

legal certainty and reduce company expenses;

H. whereas efforts are ongoing to interconnect electronic business and insolvency registers

across the Union, which is important for transparency and legal certainty in the internal

market;

I. whereas single access to these registers through the e-Justice Portal is not yet possible

because of differences in the technical standards used by Member States; whereas

further efforts are needed to achieve accessible, interoperable, user-friendly

eGovernment tools available to the EU public; whereas a degree of data security and

protection in data processing is a basic prerequisite for using e-Justice, given the nature

of the data involved in judicial work;

1. Believes that the development of eGovernment is a key element of the Digital Single

Market, and calls on the Commission to identify specific, measurable targets for the

Action Plan based on performance indicators, and to monitor and report annually to

Parliament on the progress that has been made in its implementation; stresses that the

eGovernment Action Plan 2011-2015 produced positive results both at EU and Member

State level; encourages the Commission and the Member States to also assess the needs

of consumers to increase the level of use of e-services;

Public administrations going digital

2. Is of the opinion that public administrations should be open, transparent, efficient and

inclusive, providing borderless, personalised, user-friendly, accessible and end-to-end

digital public services to citizens and businesses by 2022, thereby reducing costs,

barriers and administrative burdens for citizens and businesses, in particular SMEs, and

thus reaping all the benefits of the digital revolution; considers, however, that this

should be compatible with fair restructuring in public administration;

3. Supports the plan to base future initiatives on the ‘digital by default’ principle, and

stresses the importance of implementing the ‘once-only’ principle, which will make

interaction with public administrations easier for citizens and businesses by avoiding

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unnecessarily time-consuming administrative processes and make it easier for

information previously supplied to be reused for other applications; highlights that, in

fact, according to the Commission’s studies, the implementation of the once-only

principle’ approach at EU level is expected to save around EUR 5 billion per year by

2017; calls on the Commission to report to Parliament on the results of the once-only

large-scale pilot for businesses and to launch by the end of 2017 a once-only large-scale

pilot for citizens;

4. Welcomes the Commission’s intention to establish as early as possible a single digital

gateway that would provide citizens and businesses with a linked-up, coherent package

of online single-market services at both national and EU level, covering information

about the EU and national rules, as well as assistance services, and to complete the most

important procedures for citizens and businesses in cross-border situations and help

implement the once-only principle in the EU; calls on the Commission and the Member

States to ensure its rapid and full implementation and to take all necessary measures to

guarantee its efficient functioning and interoperability, so as to unlock its full potential

and benefits; stresses that existing best practices already in use in some Member States

should be promoted; believes that this initiative should ensure that all Member States

have a single official e-service portal providing access to all their online services and

the available EU interoperable services; urges the Member States to ensure rapid and

full implementation of the ‘Points of Single Contact’ portals;

5. Calls on the Commission to consider further ways to promote digital solutions for

formalities throughout a company’s lifecycle, the electronic filing of company

documents and the provision of cross-border and other information for business

registers; notes that in this field legislation may be the only way to create an appropriate

legal framework for EU-wide digital solutions;

6. Considers that work on the electronic interconnection of Member States’ business and

insolvency registers should be stepped up, and stresses the importance of this

interconnection for the internal market; stresses that any information to be provided

should follow a common European template or framework;

7. Highlights the importance of inclusiveness, accessibility and general access to digital

public services, an essential factor underpinning the design and delivery of policies

promoting competitiveness, growth and jobs, and calls on the Member States to fully

implement and apply the new directive on the accessibility of websites and mobile

applications of public sector bodies, which will benefit people with disabilities and

elderly people;

8. Stresses the importance of ‘open data’, whereby certain public-sector information is

freely available for use and reuse, including by third parties, within and between public

administrations; stresses the need for safeguards that ensure respect for copyright and

data protection; reiterates that open and inclusive free flow of data would allow the

further development and creation of new innovative solutions, boosting efficiency as

well as transparency; stresses that that kind of data and public information should

therefore be made available where possible with a view to fostering new opportunities

for knowledge and contributing to the development and strengthening of an open

society; recalls that public administrations should, to the extent possible, make

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information available, especially when the volume of data generated is very large, such

as in the case of the INSPIRE programme; considers that more efforts should be made

to implement coordinated data strategies in both the EU institutions and the Member

States, including increasing and speeding up the release of data into the public domain,

ensuring better quality of data and easy access to data and providing eLegislation in

machine-readable formats;

9. Highlights the benefits of eParticipation and stresses that Member States should make

more use of eConsultation, eInformation and eDecision-making; stresses that, in order

to avoid abuse of the systems, eParticipation, and especially with regard to eDecision-

making, must be in line with Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 on electronic identification

and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market, to ensure

accountability and transparency;

10. Welcomes the initiatives taken by all the EU institutions to enhance eParticipation

mechanisms at EU and Member State level, and asks the Commission to further develop

and promote digital tools, such as electronic voting systems and e-petitions, which aim

at enhancing and encouraging the participation of citizens and businesses in the EU

policy-making process;

11. Notes that use of mobile devices has increased significantly over the past five years,

while only one third of public websites are mobile-friendly; calls, therefore, on the

Member States to assess the possibilities of developing mobile solutions for

eGovernment services, and to ensure their user-friendliness and accessibility for all;

stresses that in order to future-proof the accessibility of eGovernment services, public

administration websites and instruments must be kept up to date with modern

technology and the ever-evolving cyber security requirements;

12. Calls on the Member States to promote and use eProcurement when buying supplies and

services or tendering public works, thus making public spending more transparent and

efficient and leading to reduced costs and less bureaucracy; calls on the Member States

also to increase the use of contract registers and interoperable e-signatures in their

public sectors; calls on the Commission and the Member States to take the necessary

steps to ensure that public procurement procedures are transparent and that information

is available in real time to all participants therein; calls on the Commission, in this

regard, to facilitate the exchange of best practices on the use of the innovation criteria in

public tenders, in particular by making sure that tenders do not pre-empt solutions but

rather leave room for tenderers to propose innovative, open solutions; calls on the

Commission to continue its work on eInvoicing standards, eSubmission and

eNotification, and to encourage the use of electronic identification in public

administrations’ internal systems in order to improve accountability and traceability in

respect of all operations in such systems;

13. Emphasises the importance of developing safe, reliable, interoperable cross-border

public services, avoiding further fragmentation and supporting mobility; stresses that

interoperability and standardisation are among the key elements for implementing

eGovernment structures, and therefore welcomes the Commission communication

entitled ‘European standards for the 21st century’ and also in this regard the revision of

the European Interoperability Framework; highlights that the use of open standards is

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fundamental for EU citizens to be able to participate in government platforms, and

stresses that standards must serve the interests of society at large by being inclusive, fair

and future-proof, and be developed in an open and transparent way; calls on the

Commission and the Member States therefore to promote open standards when

developing public digital solutions and to give greater attention to interoperability and

the potential benefits of using digital technology effectively;

14. Regrets that only 28 % of European households in rural areas had a fixed fast internet

connection in 2015 and that the average coverage of 4G in the EU, despite being 86 %

in the EU overall, is only 36 % in rural areas, and draws attention to the urgent need for

continuous support for broadband expansion, especially in rural areas, since access to a

high-speed broadband connection is indispensable for using and benefiting from

eGovernment services; calls on the Commission and the Member States therefore to

continue providing adequate funding for broadband expansion, digital service

infrastructure and cross-border interaction of public administration after 2020, within

the scope of the Connecting Europe Facility or other suitable EU programmes, thereby

ensuring long-term sustainability; calls on operators in this regard to invest more in

infrastructure to improve connectivity in rural areas and to ensure that rural areas will

also benefit from very high-capacity networks in the form of 5G, since this will be a key

building block of our digital society;

15. Stresses that the full deployment of safe, adequate, resilient, reliable and high-

performance infrastructure, such as ultrafast broadband and telecommunications

networks, is essential for the functioning of eGovernment services; calls, therefore, for

the swift adoption of the European Electronic Communications Code (EECC) to

achieve European strategic objectives; considers it crucial that public authorities are

kept up to date with technological developments and have sufficient capacity to adopt

innovative technologies, such as big data and the internet of things, or the uptake of

mobile services, such as 5G, that are able to meet users’ needs;

16. Considers the re-use of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) technical building blocks

across the public and private sector to be vital for the functioning of the digital service

infrastructure; underlines the need to guarantee the long-term sustainability of CEF

technical building blocks, as well as the results of large-scale pilot projects and ISA2

beyond 2020; highlights the potential offered by the Wifi4EU initiative in promoting

universal access to high-speed networks; calls therefore on the Commission, together

with the Member States, to develop a long-term governance structure with a view to

attaining the goals of the Digital Single Market, the priority of which should be to

respond to the needs of citizens and businesses, and which should, wherever possible,

promote the use of common standards;

17. Notes that the uptake of innovative solutions for data-intensive public services, such as

the use of cloud services, is still slow and fragmented; recalls that services such as

INSPIRE generate large volumes of data, which require higher computing capacity;

welcomes in this regard the Commission’s ‘European Cloud Initiative’ and considers

that the user base of the European Open Science Cloud should be extended to the public

sector;

18. Calls on the Commission to raise awareness of the importance of the e-Justice Portal

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and its uses, and to make it a one-stop shop for all the relevant legal information and for

access to justice in the Member States; notes, however, that not all parties to

proceedings have equal access and the necessary skills to use information and

communications technology, which could mean that their access to justice is limited;

stresses that particular attention should be paid to giving people with disabilities access

to the e-Justice Portal;

19. Welcomes the introduction of e-CODEX, allowing direct communications between

citizens and courts in all Member States, as a major step to facilitate cross-border access

to public services;

20. Congratulates the Council and the Commission on their work in introducing the

European Case Law Identifier (ECLI), which is highly useful for legal research and

judicial dialogue, and welcomes the creation of the ECLI search engine, which should

facilitate access to legal information across the Union;

21. Reiterates the need to improve the digital skills of administrative staff, as well as of all

citizens and businesses, by developing and supporting training activities at national,

regional and local level in order to minimise the risk of digital exclusion, and to

introduce specialised training courses on eGovernment services for civil servants and

decision-makers; stresses that digital skills are an absolute prerequisite for participating

in eGovernment; encourages the development of eLearning curricula that are recognised

in the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) system; considers

that a key element of the development of eGovernment is continual growth in the

development of digital skills; stresses the need to tackle and prevent digital divides

between geographical areas, between people from different socioeconomic levels, and

between generations; calls on the Member States to take up the suggestions in the

eGovernment Action Plan for enabling young people, in particular, to deal with

administrative bodies in ways that reflect their communication habits in other areas of

their lives, and further underlines that teaching digital skills is of particular importance

in the case of elderly people, who often lack skills or confidence when using e-services;

considers that the Member States should promote life-long learning and facilitate

communication and educational campaigns, including the creation of networks for

media literacy teaching, so that EU citizens may make full use of the capacities offered

by the new eGovernment portals and services;

22. Stresses the need for an inclusive online and offline dual approach, so as to avoid

exclusion, given the current rate of digital illiteracy and the fact that more than 22 % of

Europeans, especially elderly people, prefer not to use online services when dealing

with public administrations; stresses that there are multiple reasons and barriers for

refusal to use online services that must be addressed or removed, such as unawareness,

lack of skills, lack of trust and misperceptions; believes that, in order to avoid digital

exclusion or a deeper digital divide, access and the quality of eGovernment services for

citizens who live in rural, mountainous or remote areas must be ensured;

23. Stresses that going digital can bring cost savings for public authorities; understands that

digitalisation and other challenges stemming from modernisation packages are often

tackled in a context of budgetary constraints, and that, in particular, regional and local

authorities still have an immense workload ahead of them in the coming years that will

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therefore require not only the adoption of digital solutions based on open standards,

thereby reducing maintenance costs and increasing innovation, but also the promotion

of public-private partnerships; emphasises that cost-effectiveness will appear with time

because investment in digitalisation will help to reduce administrative costs in the

future; underlines that in the meantime the need for an online and offline approach

remains inevitable;

24. Points out that, in considering the digitalisation of individual administrative procedures,

account must be taken of objections based on overriding public interest;

Cross-border eGovernment at all administrative levels

25. Emphasises the importance of creating a sustainable cross-border eGovernment

infrastructure with a view to simplifying access to and exercise of the four fundamental

freedoms;

26. Highlights the importance of cross-border eGovernment services for citizens in their

daily life, and stresses the benefits of further developing the Electronic Exchange of

Social Security Information (EESSI) and the EURES European Job Mobility portal, as

well as the cross-border eHealth services;

27. Welcomes the various Commission initiatives to develop cross-border digital

prescriptions, in particular with regard to interoperability and standardisation; stresses,

however, that the uptake of these solutions is far too slow given the value and

importance of such services for EU citizens; calls on the Commission to ensure that the

right framework is in place to foster trust between Member States and accelerate the

development of cross-border digital prescriptions, from data protection and security of

data exchanges to the deployment of necessary digital infrastructure and services;

28. Asks the Commission to further develop and promote the use of the EURES European

Job Mobility portal, through closer integration and collaboration between public

employment services’ systems and the EURES portal, in order to facilitate and increase

the mobility of employers and job seekers in the European Union;

29. Underlines that eHealth can significantly improve the quality of life of citizens by

providing more accessible, cost-effective and efficient healthcare to patients;

30. Considers that, for the full functioning of cross-border eGovernment services, language

barriers must be addressed, and that public administrations, especially in border regions,

should make their information and services available in the languages of their Member

States but also in other relevant European languages;

31. Highlights the importance of an exchange of best practices, examples and project

experience between all levels of administration, both within and between Member

States; recognises that EU-funded large-scale pilots such as eSENSE, eCODEX and

TOOP significantly contribute to enhancing cross-border services in Europe;

32. Is of the opinion that comprehensive monitoring of eGovernment performance in the

Member States should ensure that the performance methodology takes national

specificities adequately into account; highlights the benefits of reliably measured

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performance in Member States to policy makers and public opinion;

33. Points out that interoperability, open standards and open data are not only fundamental

in a cross-border context but also needed at the national, regional and local

administrative levels in each Member State, while also taking into account the need for

data protection in the transfer of information;

34. Calls on the Commission and the other EU institutions to set an example in the area of

eGovernment and to offer a transparent user-friendly gateway for citizens and

businesses, as well as end-to end digital services, in particular for the application for EU

funding and public procurement, and calls on the Commission also to accelerate its

efforts in translating its websites into all the EU official languages and in highlighting

best practices;

Data protection and security

35. Emphasises that citizens’ trust in the protection of personal data is fundamental to

securing the success of the eGovernment Action Plan 2016-2020, and underlines that

public administrations must handle personal data securely and fully in line with the

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the EU Rules on Privacy, thereby

boosting trust in digital services;

36. Emphasises that an eHealth plan should also be considered in the context of the

eGovernment Action Plan, as this is an important part of it; considers that the gathering

and transfer of data should be improved and that cross-border data transfer should be

possible if needed in certain cases, as this will facilitate the provision of health services

for all EU citizens;

37. Points out that, at the same time, data protection legislation should not be conceived as

an obstacle but rather as a starting point for the development of innovative

eGovernment solutions, and therefore stresses the need for effective guidance on the

application of the GDPR, as well as for a continuous exchange with stakeholders;

38. Notes that only 15 % of Europeans declare that they have a sense of complete control

over the use of their personal data; considers it important to further explore the principle

of data ownership, and trusts that future measures will be able to build on the

Commission communication ‘Building a European data economy’ and other related

proposals;

39. Urges the Member States to ensure the fast and complete implementation of the eIDAS

Regulation, as eSignature, eIdentification and eAuthentification are the underlying

building blocks of cross-border digital public services; stresses the importance of

encouraging the uptake of notified eID schemes under the eIDAS Regulation by

citizens, businesses and public administration; stresses in this respect that the adoption

of these key enablers should be priorities of both the private and the public sector in the

development of digital services; calls on the Commission therefore to take action to

facilitate and promote public-private cooperation in the cross-border and cross-sector

use of digital identification and signatures; welcomes as well the ISA2 programme,

which covers all EU policies requiring interoperability of systems’ functioning at EU

and national level;

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40. Emphasises that measures to protect public authorities from cyber-attacks and to enable

them to withstand such attacks are extremely important and need to be developed;

stresses the need for a European-level approach in this regard, particularly given that the

once-only principle, which is a component of the eGovernment Action Plan 2016-2020,

depends on the exchange of citizens’ data between European administrative bodies;

41. Stresses that security of data must be taken into account as early as the design phase of

applications, which must be modern and easy to handle, and of administrative

processes, which must be efficient, (‘security by design’) in order to enable citizens and

businesses to fully benefit from modern technologies;

°

° °

42. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission.

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EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

The rapporteur welcomes the eGovernment Action Plan presented by the European

Commission, which sets ambitious targets to be achieved in the coming years. Unlike the

Action Plan for the period 2011-2015, the current measures are set in a wider context and

form part of the Digital Market Strategy of the Commission. In doing so the Commission

acknowledges that digital barriers resulting in the fragmentation of the Digital Single Market

exist not only in the private but also in the public sector.

Indeed, all sectors are facing significant challenges posed by the transformation into a digital

society. Not only the pace of this transformation is astonishing, but also the technological

means at hand or on the verge to be implementable seem to offer unknown possibilities.

Public administrations must be ready to actively participate in this transformation process and

render their services fit for the future.

Public Administration Going Digital

Public administration must be put into a position to make best use of the potential of

digitalisation. Such potential is attached to both the internal and external workflow of the

administration as employees expect to work and citizens and businesses expect to participate

in an up-to-date digital environment.

A digitalised administration must be open, efficient and inclusive, providing borderless,

personalised, user-friendly, end-to-end digital public services to citizens and businesses. As a

precondition, public services must be provided digitally wherever possible (digital by

default). At the same time, citizens and business should not be required to provide identical

information several times (once-only principle). Multiple provision of identical information

would not only put additional burdens on all parties involved but would at the same time

indicate that the public administration is not making good use of the potential of digital

solutions and is, consequently, unnecessarily multiplying internal processes.

But future strategies are not only about the provision of data but also about accessibility.

From a Union perspective, this concerns first and foremost Single Market related information

as the Commission is correctly pointing out. The creation of a Single Digital Gateway should

certainly facilitate access to information for citizens as well as businesses.

But the Union has already achieved other milestones when it comes to accessibility: With the

new Directive on Accessibility of websites and mobile applications1 the EU legislators have

strengthened the accessibility of online public services. Member States are now under the

obligation to make websites more user friendly not only for persons with disabilities but

ultimately for all users.

In this context it must be noted that today more than 83% of European households have

internet access and the trend to more and more deploy mobile devices continues. At the same

time only one third of public websites are mobile-friendly. This diagnosis leads to the

conclusion that there is significant potential to increase mobile eGovernment services

1 Directive (EU) 2016/2102 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 October 2016 on the

accessibility of the websites and mobile applications of public sector bodies, OJ L 327, 2.12.2016, p. 1.

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solutions.

Users can also benefit from open data. Both public and private data can be considered as the

new resource of the 21st century. It is important that open data strategies enable citizens and

businesses to use public sector information freely. Allowing the free use of such data would

foster innovative solutions, boost efficiency as well as transparency and finally assist the

change to a real knowledge-based society. Some Member States like Estonia with its open

data portal (opendata.riik.ee) are further advanced than others. Another example is Germany,

where the federal government is currently running a pilot project under govdata.de. Member

States are asked to exchange relevant information where possible in order to advance in this

area.

Accessibility again is the precondition for participation in the public opinion-making.

eParticipation enables citizens to easily and actively engage in the policy making and Member

States should make more use of eConsultation, eInformation and eDecision.

The Commission rightly announces further support for Member States for the transition to the

full employment of eProcurement, including work on eInvoicing standards, eSubmission and

eNotification. The timetable set is ambitious (2018: electronic bids, 2019: acceptance of

eInvoicing) but can be achieved if the Commission and the Member States closely work

together in the coming two years.

Both the public and the private transformation process are taking place against the backdrop

of too high illiteracy rates in Europe1 and the resistance of parts of the population, including

the elderly, to use online services when dealing with public administrations. However, for the

public sector it is even more true than for the private sector: No citizen must be left behind.

The rapporteur therefore sees the need for a combination of online and offline initiatives

offering high quality services to the citizens and businesses and avoiding exclusion of parts of

society.

Successful transition into the digital future must be supported by state-of-the-art standards not

only providing a predictable and stable investment framework but paving the way for

improving quality, safety, transparency and interoperability of goods and services. The IMCO

committee is currently working on its own initiative report2 in reply to the Commission

Communication on ‘European standards for the 21st century’3. Equally important are other

initiatives launched or to be launched by the Commission, including the Commission’s

intention to revise the European Interoperability Framework.

Without proper connectivity, eGovernment solutions run risk of remaining unnoticed. Besides

other measures such as the 5G coverage etc., broadband expansion is crucial to create access

to digital public services in particular rural areas. Without appropriate public funding by the

European Commission and Member States broadband expansion will not be realised. It is

therefore paramount that investments are supported by the Connecting Europe Facility or

other suitable EU programmes.

More money is also needed for the proper training of administrative staff, citizens and

1 See for instance the Final Report of the EU High Level Group of Experts on Literacy, September 2012. 2 2016/2274(INI) European standards - implementation of Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012. 3 COM (2016) 358, 16.2016.

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businesses. Again, co-funding from Union and Member State level will be needed in order to

develop ambitious training programmes aimed to minimize the risk of digital exclusion.

However, despite all optimism the rapporteur acknowledges that digitalisation has its limits.

For the vast part of public services digitalisation has indeed the potential to improve quality

and efficiency. But some services will still need to be delivered by staff trained for and on the

job. For instance, modern technologies can certainly bring benefits for the public oversight of

the economy when it comes to regulating financial markets. However, there are limitations to

efficiency gains when it comes to verifying hygienic standards in restaurants, where on the

spot inspections are currently still indispensable.

Consequently, modernisation measures must not solely be driven by solutions of information

technology or by business considerations but by the need of public administrations to provide

efficient, effective and citizen-friendly services provided by well-trained staff that continue to

be available at front desks to correspond to citizens inquiries.

Cross-Border eGovernment At All Administrative Levels

All Member States and the Union as well as all administrative levels are affected by

digitalisation. It is indeed the Union administration which should lead the transformation

process by example. To give a simple example: Many citizens are complaining that it is not

always easy to find relevant information on the Commission’s websites. Open and transparent

access to information is not only important to promote European integration, it also forms part

of a service mentality of a modern administration.

The momentum must be used to enhance cross-border services when digitizing public

administration. This is foremost important with a view to animate the four fundamental

freedoms of the Internal Market (e.g. assisting and enhancing mobility of citizens and

businesses). We must also accept for the public sector: Citizens and business throughout

Europe expect to enjoy the benefits of digital technology in other Member States than their

Member State of residence or establishment. This is why it is pivotal to further develop the

Electronic Exchange of Social Security Information, the EURES European Job Mobility

portal as well as the cross-border eHealth services.

In particular, in border regions the importance of language barriers becomes apparent. We

cannot only ask our citizens to improve their language skills but must lead by example and

offer services wherever possible in one or more additional languages than the language of the

Member State of residence/establishment where there is a real demand for such a language.

Data Protection and Security

Data protection and security is a very fine area where public administration can lead by

example demonstrating to the private sector how to respect such fundamental principles when

developing a new technological architecture.

Data Protection is a fundamental right and the Union has only recently updated its laws with a

new Regulation on Data Protection (GDPR)1, which will apply from May 2018. The

1 Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of

natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and

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Commission has also just presented its alignment of the ePrivacy Directive and the EU rules

on data protection with the GDPR when processed by the EU institutions1, and a Proposal for

a Regulation concerning the respect for private life and the protection of personal data in

electronic communications (Regulation on Privacy and Electronic Communications)2. With

the new package the Union serves as a role model regarding the secure handling of personal

data. However, national public administrations, in particular the local level, will need

effective guidance on the application of the GDPR. Such guidance should be provided both

from EU and Member State level, and being updated when necessary. It will be in particular

exchange of views with stakeholders which will provide important insight in how to strike the

right balance between respecting the fundament right of data protection and assist the

development of innovative eGovernment solutions.

Such solutions should also address the question of data ownership. Relevant discussions in

particular concerning the private sector were just launched by the Commission in its

Communication on ‘Building a European data economy’3. The measures anticipated therein

concerning data ownership and other measures such as access to and transfer of data will also

play an important role in building the right policy framework for the public administration.

The accompanying staff working document provides greater details on how this issue could

be tackled in the future4.

Security and trust are two supplementary pillars of modern eGovernmental strategies. All

initiatives must build on secure measures which again will foster trust of citizens and

businesses necessary to accept and apply digital offers by the public administration. With

regard to security, Union measures are already on the table ready to be taken up. For instance,

the eIDAS Regulation already provides a regulatory environment for public authorities,

citizens and businesses to conduct secure electronic interactions via electronic identification

schemes. eSignature, eIdentification and eAuthentification are important trust services to be

employed by public administration in the future.

Finally, security by design must be a principle of any digitisation strategy, including

eGovernement. Unfortunately, it was Member States which blocked the inclusion of the

public administration in the so-called NIS Directive on cybersecurity5. The Commission has

further laid down its policy principles on cyber security in its 2016 Communication on

strengthening Europe’s Cyber Resilience System and Fostering a Competitive and Innovative

Cybersecurity Industry (COM(2016)0410, 5.7.2016) where security by design was promoted

for all major infrastructure investments. It is now time to ensure that security by design must

repealing Directive 95/46/EC, OJ L 119, 4.52016, p.1. 1 Commission Proposal for a Regulation on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of

personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and

repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC. 2 Commission Proposal of 10 January 2017 for a Regulation concerning the respect for private life and the

protection of personal data in electronic communications and repealing Directive 2002/58/EC (Regulation on

Privacy and Electronic Communications) (COM(2017)0010 final) 2017/0003(COD). 3 Commission Communication of 10 January 2017 on ‘Building a European Data Economy’

(COM(2017)0009 final). 4 Commission Staff Working Document on the free flow of data and emerging issues of the European data

economy Accompanying the document Communication Building a European data economy

(SWD(2017)0002 final) 5 Directive (EU) 2016/1148 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 2016 concerning measures

for a high common level of security of network and information systems across the Union, OJ L 194, 19.7.2016,

p. 1.

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be respected in the design phase of all initiatives for eGovernment.

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28.2.2017

OPINION OF THE COMMITTEE ON INDUSTRY, RESEARCH AND ENERGY

for the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection


(2016/2273(INI))

Rapporteur (*): Angelika Mlinar

(*) Associated committee – Rule 54 of the Rules of Procedure

SUGGESTIONS

The Committee on Industry, Research and Energy calls on the Committee on the Internal

Market and Consumer Protection, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following

suggestions into its motion for a resolution:

1. Believes that the development of eGovernment is a key element of the Digital Single

Market; welcomes the Commission communication entitled ‘EU eGovernment Action

Plan 2016-2020’; supports the underlying principles of the Action Plan, which will make

public administrations more consistent and inclusive, trustworthy, efficient and

transparent, providing open, interoperable and interlinked, user-oriented digital services,

therefore empowering citizens; welcomes the fact that administrative burdens and costs

will be reduced by adopting the once-only principle; recalls that implementing the once-

only principle could generate an annual net saving at EU level of EUR 5 billion per year;

welcomes the launch of the Once-Only Principle Project (TOOP) on the implementation

of the once-only principle in a cross-border context and asks the Commission to involve

the local authorities of border regions in this project;

2. Emphasises that inclusive and accessible digital public services are an essential factor

underpinning the design and delivery of policies promoting competitiveness, growth and

jobs; stresses that the potential of digital technologies should be exploited in order to

achieve a better-performing, more efficient public sector while reducing administrative

burdens increasing the use of participatory tools and taking advantage of the efficient

feedback available in the case of digital platforms to make eGovernment fit for the

purposes of an evolving society; notes that digital developments can, inter alia, reduce

delays in payments to suppliers, improve tax collection and healthcare systems and

increase the efficiency of judicial systems by, for example, interconnecting business

registers and insolvency registers; calls on the Commission to provide support for

industrial research with a view to developing products, services and processes not yet

available on the market that can provide innovative solutions meeting performance and

functionality needs in the public sector;

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3. Encourages the Commission to minimise burdens attached to cross-border e-commerce

arising from different VAT regimes, following the Mini One Stop Shop (MOSS)

experience, in order to ensure better compliance and a level playing field for European

business;

4. Underlines the importance of raising awareness among citizens regarding available e-

government tools and services; believes that in order to avoid digital exclusion or a deeper

digital divide, access and quality of e-government services for citizens who live in rural,

mountainous and remote areas has to be ensured; calls for the promotion of an inclusive

approach when developing the eGovernment Action Plan towards elderly citizens and

disadvantaged groups and those who have limited skills or have an impairment that

hinders their ability to use generally available systems or interfaces; calls therefore on the

Commission and the Member States to adopt a global and comprehensive approach to e-

government to ensure smooth coordination between online and offline administrative

services;

5. Highlights that citizens without digital skills or tools should have access to all public

services using the standard forms and methods, including personal attendance at the public

services;

6. Underlines the importance of the EU eGovernment Action Plan for cross-border regions

to ease the everyday lives of citizens and SMEs that habitually work across borders;

7. Calls for the swift establishment of the Electronic Exchange of Social Security

Information to strengthen the protection and the monitoring of the social security rights of

mobile citizens;

8. Stresses the need for secure access to and exchange of data; emphasises that eGovernment

services should be designed to guarantee information security and the protection of

personal data in line with European legislation; if necessary, new and innovative

technologies should be developed in order to ensure that cyber security is incorporated

into the design of these services; points out that fulfilment of these conditions will

increase trust in, and the use of, digital services;

9. Stresses that the full deployment of safe, adequate, resilient, reliable and high-

performance infrastructure, such as ultrafast broadband and telecommunications networks,

is essential for the functioning of eGovernment services; calls, therefore, for the swift

adoption of the EECC to achieve European strategic objectives; considers it crucial that

public authorities are kept up to date with technological developments and have sufficient

capacity to adopt innovative technologies, such as big data and the internet of things or the

uptake of mobile services, such as 5G, that are able to meet users’ needs;

10. Welcomes the dynamic and flexible approach of the Action Plan; calls on the Steering

Board to continuously identify specific, realistic and measurable targets based on

performance indicators to boost innovation and to monitor and report on their fulfilment;

takes the view that the benefits of eGovernment will be all the greater if as much

information on the efficiency of services as possible is shared, boosting public trust in its

use;

11. Emphasises the importance of developing safe, reliable, and interoperable cross-border

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public services, avoiding further fragmentation and supporting mobility within the single

market by means of the full deployment of key enablers such as highly secure eID and e-

signatures; notes that there is still a lack of interoperability of different public services

between Member States at EU, national and local level; welcomes in this regard the

revision of the European Interoperability Strategy and Framework, recommends support

for best practices, such as the use of open standards and open source software and calls for

the swift implementation of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 (eIDAS); calls in particular on

the Commission to work with Member States and the private sector on the development of

cross-border and end-to-end digital services based on notified eIDs and digital signatures

in order to ensure the take-up of both digital services and digital identities by the time the

eIDAS Regulation is fully implemented;

12. Welcomes the ISA2 programme, which covers all EU policies requiring interoperability of

systems functioning at EU and national level and will therefore make it possible to

provide pan-European e-services for citizens, companies and national administrations;

13. Considers the re-use of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) technical building blocks

across the public and private sector to be vital for the functioning of the Digital Service

Infrastructure; underlines the need to guarantee the long-term sustainability of CEF

technical building blocks as well as the results from ‘Large-Scale Pilot’ projects and ISA2

beyond 2020; highlights the potential offered by the Wifi4EU initiative in promoting

universal access to high-speed networks; calls therefore on the Commission together with

the Member States to develop a long-term governance structure with a view to attaining

the goals of the Single Digital Market, whose priority should be to respond to the needs of

citizens and businesses and that should wherever possible promote the use of common

standards;

14. Recalls that public administrations should, as far as possible, have open data by default

especially when the volume of data generated is very large, such as in the case of the

INSPIRE programme; stresses the importance of the secure availability and storage of

data for re-use through third parties, while adhering to the legislative framework of the EU

and the Member States; highlights the vital role that public-private partnerships and the

private sector can play in developing new and innovative services and solutions;

15. Notes that the uptake of innovative solutions for data-intensive public services, such as the

use of cloud services, is still slow and fragmented; recalls that services like INSPIRE

generate large volumes of data, which require higher computing capacity; welcomes in

this regard the Commission’s ‘European Cloud Initiative’ and considers that the user base

of the European Open Science Cloud should be extended to the public sector;

16. Stresses that the openness of public data and the opportunity for such data to be freely

used is the basis of modern eGovernment and contributes to the development and

strengthening of an open society;

17. Invites the Commission and the Members States to ensure training policies are in place for

public servants to acquire the necessary e-skills and to ensure the existence of information

campaigns for citizens and businesses on the use and availability of new e-services;

18. Believes the Commission can play a leading role in creating a more open and inclusive

eGovernment approach built around citizens and their needs; therefore calls for the

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Commission to accelerate its efforts in leading by example, especially in translating its

websites into the EU’s languages and in highlighting best practices, from fully recognising

notified eIDs and digital signatures in accordance with the eIDAS Regulation, to

implementing digital-by-default procedures particularly as regards applications for EU

funding and public procurement, and for other European institutions to follow swiftly;

believes that adoption by the Commission of the provisions of the CEF building blocks

could facilitate trust and a cultural shift towards the uptake of digital public services;

19. Considers that a key element of the development of eGovernment is continual growth in

the development of digital skills, which multiplies demand for various types of digital

services;

20. Calls on the Commission and Member States to encourage spill-over effects and the

dissemination of e-government solutions to the private sector.

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RESULT OF FINAL VOTE IN COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION

Date adopted 28.2.2017

Result of final vote +:

–:

0:

43

1

6

Members present for the final vote Nicolas Bay, Bendt Bendtsen, Xabier Benito Ziluaga, José Blanco

López, Cristian-Silviu Buşoi, Reinhard Bütikofer, Angelo Ciocca,

Edward Czesak, Jakop Dalunde, Fredrick Federley, Ashley Fox, Adam

Gierek, Theresa Griffin, Hans-Olaf Henkel, Kaja Kallas, Krišjānis

Kariņš, Seán Kelly, Jeppe Kofod, Jaromír Kohlíček, Peter

Kouroumbashev, Zdzisław Krasnodębski, Miapetra Kumpula-Natri,

Janusz Lewandowski, Paloma López Bermejo, Edouard Martin,

Angelika Mlinar, Nadine Morano, Dan Nica, Angelika Niebler, Morten

Helveg Petersen, Miroslav Poche, Michel Reimon, Herbert Reul, Paul

Rübig, Massimiliano Salini, Algirdas Saudargas, Neoklis Sylikiotis,

Dario Tamburrano, Patrizia Toia, Vladimir Urutchev, Kathleen Van

Brempt, Martina Werner, Lieve Wierinck, Anna Záborská, Flavio

Zanonato, Carlos Zorrinho

Substitutes present for the final vote Olle Ludvigsson, Notis Marias, Anne Sander, Maria Spyraki

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2.3.2017

OPINION OF THE COMMITTEE ON LEGAL AFFAIRS

for the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection

on the EU eGovernment action plan 2016-2020

(2016/2273(INI))

Rapporteur (*): Pavel Svoboda

(*) Associated committee – Rule 54 of the Rules of Procedure

SUGGESTIONS

The Committee on Legal Affairs calls on the Committee on the Internal Market and

Consumer Protection, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following suggestions

into its motion for a resolution:

A. whereas the EU e-Justice Portal is an essential tool for access to information and to

justice, and constitutes an important step in achieving the modernisation of EU public

administration;

B. whereas better access to information and the increased use of improved digital tools for

company-law-related formalities throughout the lifecycle of companies should increase

legal certainty and reduce company expenses;

C. whereas efforts are ongoing to interconnect electronic business and insolvency registers

across the Union, which is important for transparency and legal certainty in the internal

market;

D. whereas single access to these registers through the e-Justice Portal is not yet possible

because of differences in the technical standards used by Member States; whereas further

efforts are needed to achieve accessible, interoperable, user-friendly eGovernment tools

available to the public in the EU; whereas a degree of data security and protection in data

processing is a basic prerequisite for using e-Justice, given the nature of the data involved

in judicial work;

E. whereas continuing efforts are being made to improve cooperation between Member

States’ administrations through the simplification and digitalisation of certain

administrative services;

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F. whereas the use of open standards is fundamental in order to allow EU citizens to

participate in governmental platforms, and in order not to force citizens to use vendor-

specific programs for the purposes of communicating with their government;

G. whereas key digital enabling technologies should underpin all efforts to modernise and

streamline public services, so as to provide fast, high-quality services to enhance citizens’

mobility and create cross-border public administrative structures for businesses, thereby

helping to increase competitiveness and thus make the EU a more attractive place in

which to invest and live;

H. whereas efforts are under way to support the Member States’ transition towards full

e-procurement and the use of contract registers and interoperable e-signatures in their

public sectors;

1. Calls on the Commission to raise awareness of the importance of the e-Justice Portal and

its uses, and to make it a one-stop shop for all the relevant legal information and for

access to justice in the Member States; notes, however, that not all parties to proceedings

have equal access and the necessary skills to use information and communications

technology, which could mean that their access to justice is limited; stresses that particular

attention should be paid to giving people with disabilities access to the e-Justice Portal;

2. Calls on the Commission to promote and further develop the e-Justice Portal and the use

of digital technology for business purposes and the public sector as a whole so as to

accelerate the cross-border and cross-sector use of electronic identification (eID),

including mobile identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal

market (esignature and other eIDAS1 services, website authentication and electronic

registered delivery services);

3. Stresses the need to maintain a human dimension where services are upgraded to

electronic format, in order to enable citizens to benefit from personalised guidance and

solutions;

4. Welcomes the introduction of e-CODEX, allowing direct communications between

citizens and courts in all Member States, as a major step to facilitate cross-border access

to public services; calls, in addition, for interconnected databases at EU level to further

facilitate interoperability between legal authorities within the EU; recalls, however, that

the security of documents and of identity, as well as network security, remain a major

concern; recalls the importance of respecting the protection of private data and the

principles enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, such as

the right to privacy, when implementing such digital services;

5. Congratulates the Council and the Commission on their work in introducing the European

Case Law Identifier (ECLI), which is very useful for legal research and judicial dialogue,

and welcomes the creation of the ECLI search engine, which should facilitate access to

legal information across the Union;

1 A set of standards for electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the European

single market. It was established in Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council

of 23 July 2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market

and repealing Directive 1999/93/EC.

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6. Calls on the Commission to consider further ways to promote digital solutions for

formalities throughout a company’s lifecycle, the electronic filing of company documents

and the provision of cross-border and other information for business registers; notes that

in this field legislation may be the only way to create an appropriate legal framework for

EU-wide digital solutions;

7. Stresses that e-governance is particularly important for small and medium-sized

companies, which are limited in terms of workforce size and available funds;

8. Calls for coordination at EU level of the purchasing and implementation of e-government

solutions in order to further facilitate data exchanges;

9. Considers that, for the smooth implementation of the action plan, clear deadlines are

needed, along with clear measures designed to reduce bureaucracy;

10. Considers that, in order to enable the timely pan-European implementation of the action

plan, Member States should introduce specialised training courses on e-government

services for civil servants and decision-makers;

11. Considers that the Member States should facilitate communication and educational

campaigns so that EU citizens may make full use of the capacities offered by the new

e-government portals and services;

12. Calls on the Commission to support Member States in putting in place automated

centralised mechanisms which facilitate the timely identification of any natural or legal

persons holding or controlling land and buildings within their territory, in order to prevent

the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing;

considers that this information should be directly accessible, at national level, to financial

intelligence units (FIUs) and competent authorities, and should be accessible and

searchable through the centralised mechanisms by the FIUs of other Member States;

13. Considers that work on the electronic interconnection of Member States’ business and

insolvency registers should be stepped up, and stresses the importance of this

interconnection for the internal market; stresses that any information to be provided

should follow a common European template or framework;

14. Encourages the opening up of public sector data and services with a view to fostering new

opportunities for knowledge, growth and jobs; calls on the Commission and the Member

States to promote open standards when developing public digital solutions;

15. Calls on the Commission to initiate and implement a set of measures that will give

businesses the opportunity to bid for public procurement contracts electronically

throughout the EU, with the emphasis on the development of national electronic public

procurement systems, the European single procurement document, e-Certis and

e-invoicing;

16. Considers it essential, in this context, that the Commission and Member States cooperate

in the development of a prototype European catalogue of ICT procurement standards to

facilitate interoperability in the acquisition of digital solutions by encouraging reference to

common sets of ICT public procurement standards and profiles;

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17. Calls on the Commission, when conducting its regulatory fitness and performance

programme (REFIT), to give greater attention to interoperability and the potential benefits

of effective digital technology utilisation when it comes to reviewing the existing internal

market acquis and drafting fresh proposals.

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RESULT OF FINAL VOTE IN COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION



–:

0:

19

2

2

Members present for the final vote Max Andersson, Joëlle Bergeron, Marie-Christine Boutonnet, Jean-

Marie Cavada, Kostas Chrysogonos, Therese Comodini Cachia, Mady

Delvaux, Laura Ferrara, Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann, Gilles Lebreton,

António Marinho e Pinto, Jiří Maštálka, Emil Radev, Julia Reda,

Evelyn Regner, Pavel Svoboda, Axel Voss, Tadeusz Zwiefka

Substitutes present for the final vote Daniel Buda, Evelyne Gebhardt, Virginie Rozière, Tiemo Wölken

Substitutes under Rule 200(2) present

for the final vote

Pál Csáky

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INFORMATION ON ADOPTION IN COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE



–:

0:

32

2

3

Members present for the final vote Dita Charanzová, Carlos Coelho, Sergio Gaetano Cofferati, Anna Maria

Corazza Bildt, Daniel Dalton, Nicola Danti, Dennis de Jong, Pascal

Durand, Evelyne Gebhardt, Maria Grapini, Robert Jarosław

Iwaszkiewicz, Liisa Jaakonsaari, Morten Løkkegaard, Eva Maydell,

Marlene Mizzi, Marcus Pretzell, Virginie Rozière, Christel

Schaldemose, Andreas Schwab, Olga Sehnalová, Jasenko Selimovic,

Igor Šoltes, Ivan Štefanec, Catherine Stihler, Róża Gräfin von Thun und

Hohenstein, Anneleen Van Bossuyt, Marco Zullo

Substitutes present for the final vote Pascal Arimont, Lidia Joanna Geringer de Oedenberg, Antanas Guoga,

Franz Obermayr, Ulrike Trebesius, Sabine Verheyen

Substitutes under Rule 200(2) present

for the final vote

David Coburn, Pál Csáky, Andor Deli, Dieter-Lebrecht Koch

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FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL IN COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE

32 +

ALDE Dita Charanzová, Morten Løkkegaard, Jasenko Selimovic

ECR Daniel Dalton, Ulrike Trebesius, Anneleen Van Bossuyt

EFDD Marco Zullo

PPE Pascal Arimont, Carlos Coelho, Anna Maria Corazza Bildt, Pál Csáky, Andor Deli, Antanas Guoga, Dieter-

Lebrecht Koch, Eva Maydell, Andreas Schwab, Ivan Štefanec, Róża Gräfin von Thun und Hohenstein, Sabine

Verheyen

S&D Sergio Gaetano Cofferati, Nicola Danti, Evelyne Gebhardt, Lidia Joanna Geringer de Oedenberg, Maria

Grapini, Liisa Jaakonsaari, Marlene Mizzi, Virginie Rozière, Christel Schaldemose, Olga Sehnalová,

Catherine Stihler

VERTS/ALE Pascal Durand, Igor Šoltes

2 -

EFDD David Coburn

GUE/NGL Dennis de Jong

3 0

EFDD Robert Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz

ENF Franz Obermayr, Marcus Pretzell

Key to symbols:

+ : in favour

- : against

0 : abstention

report · network and information systems across the union, – having regard to the commission...

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