Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2001)742-2 - Proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council revising Annex I of Decision No 1336/97/EC on a series of guidelines for trans-European telecommunications networks - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2001)742-2 - Proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council revising Annex I of Decision No 1336/97/EC on a ... |
|---|---|
| source | COM(2001)742  |
| date | 10-12-2001 |
The same article requires that a report evaluating the results achieved be submitted to the European Parliament, the Council, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. That report [COM(2001)nnn] drew on an external evaluation of the TEN-Telecom programme, and took into account the Court of Auditors special report 9/2000.
The main orientations from the Court of Auditors special report and the external evaluation, with implications for the revision of Annex I, are as follows:
Main recommendations from Court of Auditors special report 9/2000
* The Commission's replies to the Court of Auditors report agreed to give greater emphasis to the trans-European dimension of the Programme (p.20, 10(v)).
* The Court of Auditors report stressed the need to avoid undue overlap with the Information Society Technologies programme and other sources of Community funding.
* The Commission's replies to the Court of Auditors report stressed the need to focus the Program. In particular, the list of areas in Annex I was felt to be too large and complex. The Commission suggested that the Programme could be focused toward the priorities of the eEurope initiative.
Main conclusions from the external evaluation
* the external evaluation found that the TEN-Telecom programme continues to be relevant particularly with respect to the objectives of eEurope.
* the relatively large number of areas of interest may prevent significant gains being achieved.
* the trans-European dimension of TEN-Telecom is an important added value.
Implications for the revision of Annex I
Based on these orientations, current significant technological developments and experience gained from running the Programme, the following proposals have been put forward for the revision of Annex I.
* Greater emphasis will be given to the trans-European dimension by an explicit definition in Annex I.
* Annex I will distinguish TEN-Telecom from the Information Society Technologies programme. The revised Annex I will emphasise the market position of TEN-Telecom to encourage the submission of proposals implementing innovative services in the public interest. Annex I will reflect a drive to provide more support for services used by public administrations. Services will be provided by the public sector or public-private sector partnerships.
* Annex I will focus the Programme around the strategic priorities of the eEurope initiative. The list of areas has been revised on the basis of experience of the Programme so far and taking into account the recommendations of the external evaluation.
Increased focus
The list of areas will be reduced. The new list of areas takes account of the priorities of eEurope and the potential overlap between TEN-Telecom and the Information Society Technologies programme. In this respect, support for research infrastructures will be withdrawn as will support for generic content services (translation, speech recognition, etc) as these will be covered by the eContent programme.
Emphasis on public services
There will be more focus on the deployment of public services. In this respect, TEN-Telecom will promote eGovernment and eAdministration on a local, regional and national level for services in areas of significant trans-European value including education and the environment. Support will also be provided for integration of services.
Focused support interoperation and interconnection of networks
The current Annex I specifies a variety of areas for basic networks. The revised Annex I will provide support for the interconnection and interoperability of networks underpinning the operation of a specific application or service. There will be no further support for specific technologies such as Euro-ISDN and ATM.
New area for mobile services
Support will be provided for advanced mobile technologies to meet the objectives of the European Union on third generation mobile communications. Future generation mobile communication has the potential to expand the Internet on a massive scale contributing to a more inclusive information society. This expansion will have significant implications in terms of the development of mobile commerce and the introduction of new high quality multimedia services of common interest. In the present uncertain financial climate, TEN-Telecom will provide support for future generation mobile services.
New area for network security
In line with the Commission policy on network security, following from the conclusion of the Stockholm European Council, TEN-Telecom will support trust and confidence services enhancing network security and the co-ordination of national initiatives on a European level.
In support of national efforts to strengthen CERT systems, TEN-Telecom will provide support for strengthening co-operation within the European Union including concrete proposals for effective networking.
Financial Implications
In order to encourage more deployment projects it shall be necessary to increase the financial incentives up to 20% of the total investment costs in areas of public interest where there are intrinsic barriers caused by differing administrative systems, languages and cultures. These incentives will be targeted at Applications and certain Generic Services facing such difficulties. The financial implications will be dealt with in the context of the proposal for an amendment of the TEN financial regulation.
Adjustment of Comitology procedures conformant to Council Decision no 1999/468/EC
In line with the Council and Commission statement (statement no 2 of Declarations on Council Decision 1999/468/EC i), Article 8 i is amended to introduce the regulatory procedure.
In the light of the above mentioned considerations, the Commission proposes that the European Parliament and the Council revise the identification of projects of common interest set out in Annex 1 to the Decision by adopting this decision.