Council Resolution

of 9 December 2004

on Looking into the future of Information Communication Technologies (ICT)

(2005/C 62/01)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Welcoming the Commission Communication on Challenges for the European Information Society beyond 2005 and the Commission Communication on Mobile Broadband Services,

Recalling

1. the Presidency conclusions of the Lisbon European Council of 23- 24 March 2000;

2. the Presidency Conclusions of the June 2002 European Council endorsing the objectives of the eEurope 2005 Action Plan;

3. the Council Resolution of 18 February 2003 on the implementation of eEurope Action Plan;

4. the Presidency Conclusions of the 2003 Spring European Council inviting EU-15 Member States to put national broadband strategies in place by the end of 2003;

5. the Council Conclusions of 20 November 2003 on the Role of e-Government for Europe's Future;

6. the Presidency Conclusions of the 2004 Spring European Council highlighting the need for new strategies in the area of electronic communications;

7. the Council conclusions of 8 March 2004 on recent developments in the electronic communications sector in Europe confirming the importance of ICT for growth and competitiveness;

8. the Council conclusions of 8 March 2004 on the mid-term review of the eEurope 2005 Action Plan, confirming the validity of the eEurope 2005 targets in the context of enlargement;

9. the Council conclusions of 10 June 2004 on the revision of eEurope 2005 Action Plan and the National Broadband Strategies;

10. the Presidency Conclusions of the European Council of 4- 5 November 2004 welcoming the Report by the High Level Group chaired by Mr Kok;

11. the orientations of the High-Level Meeting of 29- 30 September 2004 on Looking into the future of the ICT,

Acknowledging

1. that, to help achieve the Lisbon goals of March 2000, there is clear need at European and national level to review and, where necessary, improve policies in order to increase the take-up and deployment of ICT across society as a whole;

2. that the ICT sector is a major economic sector in its own right, including information technology, electronic communications and audio-visual industries, with considerable potential for future growth and having impact on nearly all other economic activities;

3. that the use of ICT has a direct and substantial impact on the productivity and competitiveness of the European economy;

4. that ICT is a valuable tool to stimulate social and geographical cohesion as well as citizenship in an inclusive Europe, to foster cultural identities, social integration and multilingualism, and to increase transparency and participation in society;

5. that comprehensive and holistic ICT policies can strongly contribute to EU growth, productivity and competitiveness objectives by creating high-quality jobs, improving overall economic performance and by modernising public services and encouraging modernized business processes both in the public and the private sector;

6. that the policies should be developed in a continuing dialogue among public authorities, private sector and other stakeholders in order to be able to address new developments in the field of ICT;

7. that the EU would benefit from an innovative and competitive ICT sector in rapidly expanding and increasingly competitive global markets,

CONSIDERS that for comprehensive and holistic ICT policies the following issues are relevant:

An excellent ICT sector and innovative businesses

- to continue investing in a solid R&D area for ICT, both in the public and the private sector, reinforcing European excellence in R&D, through the creation of a favourable scientific, financial and entrepreneurial environment;

- to promote a supportive environment which stimulates the free movement of knowledge and innovation and where research results are translated into value-added applications and products;

- to encourage, especially within SMEs, the effective take up of new e-business processes and the adoption of new business models to exploit the potential of ICT.

ICT for Citizens and ICT skills

- To promote access to and the availability of ICT services for all, inter alia through increased understanding of the potential benefits of ICT and by encouraging continuous improvement of user-friendly technologies thus, inter alia, continuing to address the digital divide;

- to encourage measures, such as e-Learning, to further develop e-skills for all, in particular with respect to the ageing population, genders and people of all ethnic and social origins, in order to allow them to fully benefit from the opportunities presented by the Information Society;

- to further integrate ICT in the workplace in ways that raise productivity and quality of work as well as to strengthen the ICT component during training processes;

- to find strategic responses to job migration, including through promoting adaptability of workers and enterprises and flexibility combined with security in the labour market.

ICT for public services

- to agree and implement, where appropriate at European level, integrated approaches in the use of e-Government applications, in particular by stimulating cooperation and exchange of best practices;

- to develop a comprehensive approach, taking into account the need for organizational adaptation, to exploit the potential of ICT in order to achieve a better performing and more efficient public sector while tailoring on-line services to the needs of businesses and citizens and reducing administrative burden notably taking into account the need for trans-border European services;

- to develop European-wide services in the field of e-Health giving particular attention to the issues of standardisation and interoperability in order to optimize the provision of patient treatment and care.

Content and development of products and services

- to promote the development and distribution of rich and creative content, e.g. through encouraging the re-use of public sector information;

- to remove, where appropriate, barriers for the availability of content on different platforms by for instance, encouraging the search for practical solutions in the field of digital rights management;

- to support the emergence of new services in the enlarged Internal Market by enhancing an enabling regulatory environment which takes account of new developments, such as technical innovation;

- to create, in answer to the growing amount of ICT based applications, a favourable environment for industry and the public sector to develop, both in Europe and globally, effective and interoperable solutions, in particular for electronic payments, authentication, identity management as well as security.

Development of networks

- to ensure a consistent and effective regulatory environment for electronic communications stimulating competition, investment and innovation;

- to support the development and use of open standards and to enhance interoperability of networks and services;

- to support, taking into account the principle of technological neutrality, the wider use and availability of broadband in particular by promoting competing platforms and interoperable networks;

- to continue assessing different spectrum management models with a view to a more flexible and efficient use of spectrum at European and global level, taking into account the development of new and innovative technologies as well as the methodologies which make use of market mechanisms.

Trust and security

- To develop a coherent approach addressing all relevant trust-related issues, to further enhance the culture of network and information security in order to promote reliable and effective electronic communications and contributing to the development of secure trans-European services;

- to devise measures for combating illegal, harmful and unsolicited content in the Internet, in particular where children are concerned, as well as "spam", in cooperation with all relevant stakeholders including at international level;

- to ensure an appropriate level of network and information security for the uptake and usage of new services and the proper functioning of other infrastructures dependent on ICT taking into account trust and privacy aspects.

INVITES THE MEMBER STATES to actively review and enhance their strategic orientations and implementation efforts in order to contribute to a new Agenda for the Information Society towards 2010.

INVITES THE COMMISSION

1. to continue monitoring the regulatory framework in the light of current and future technological and market developments, and put forward, where needed, proposals to keep the appropriate regulatory environment that facilitates efficient competition and that is conducive to more investment, more innovation, new services and lower prices;

2. to analyse the competitiveness of the ICT sector and to start the preparatory work, taking into account the impact of ICTs on the European economy, for the follow-up of the eEurope 2005 Action plan as an important part of the new Agenda for the Information Society beyond 2005;

3. to recognise the importance of ICT in the coming proposal for the next research Framework Programme.

INVITES INDUSTRY to continue to feed the market with innovative new ICT applications and services and produce attractive new content, inter alia benefiting from the European cultural diversity and multilingualism.

INVITES ALL STAKEHOLDERS to further integrate ICT in their respective activities in order to reap the full benefits of ICT.

SUBMITS the present Resolution as a contribution to the debate on the mid-term review of the Lisbon strategy by the Spring European Council 2005.

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