Brussels, 18/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - At the beginning of June the European Commission approved the 2002 Interchange of Data Between Administrations workplan (IDA) with a budget of EUR 23.6 million. The workplan for 2002 focuses on projects working towards eEurope and EU enlargement goals. This marks a change of direction from its previous focus on linking up governments' 'back offices'. Funding has been allocated to 70 different projects - 39 projects of common interest (PCIs) in support of EU policies and 31 horizontal actions and measures (HAMs). Once IDA II has been endorsed by Parliament and Council (see EUROPE of 15 June, p.13), 2002 should also mark the start of large-scale involvement in the IDA programme by the candidate countries that were involved in the preparation of the 2002 work programme.
Projects of Common Interest which have been allocated funding include six dealing with health and consumer protection, five with access to the internal market, and three with environmental policies. The SOLVIT project helps to resolve problems caused by the misapplication of EU law on the internal market. Another project will help with the mutual recognition of diplomas in the healthcare sector. Several new projects deal with public safety, reflecting the fact this is a policy priority for the EU.
A growing number of national government services are now being made available online and to ensure these services can work together when necessary, funding has been given to IDA projects providing an interoperability framework for pan-European e-services. Interoperability will also be addressed in specific IDA actions on directory services, electronic certificates and smart cards for e-government services. Citizens and businesses will have direct access to the portal of the EU Administration, which will provide access to public information and services related to personal and business life events with cross-border implications. The IDA communication platform (TESTA II) for data exchanges between European public authorities is also being upgraded, to improve reliability and data security. New actions are being undertaken to improve access to information distributed across Europe's public administrations.
Finally, the IDA work programme includes the inauguration of the e-Government Observatory which will assess eGovernment initiatives and emerging trends in software, R&D technologies and commercial solutions. This should link European-level activities more closely to developments in national, regional and local governments.