Brussels, 09/12/2002 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has adopted a communication establishing a series of quality criteria applicable to websites on health. The six criteria adopted concern transparency and honesty, a reference obligation, data protection and private life, the updating of information, responsibility and accessibility. The communication invites the Member States and the national and regional health authorities to implement quality criteria, launch information campaigns, adapt information available, and exchange information on means of implementation. The implementation of criteria will be controlled by the Commission in the context of the eEUROPE 2005 action plan. In the context of the activities of the information society and the implementation of the European Union's public health programme, the Commission will study the possibility of creating a system of Community quality labels that are identifiable, allowing sites approved by the European Union to be designated. The communication was drafted further to a workshop involving sixty representatives of national administrations, from the private sector and NGOs, as well as public on-line consultation.
Commissioner Erkki Liikanen (information society) specified: "Europeans have access to over 100,000 websites devoted to health, and these sites are among those most consulted. It is therefore imperative for these websites and the services that they provide to answer to high quality norms. I hope that the norms we are recommending will be welcomed in a positive light and supported not only by the companies of the sector but also by web users in Europe". Commissioner David Byrne, responsible for health, said that the internet can be a great ally for public health: - it can strengthen patients' rights and help citizens to make choices for healthy living. The main thing, he said, is to ensure a distinction is made between the valid on-line information, which is appropriate and useful, and that which is doubtful or quite simply wrong. Today's initiative is a step towards achieving this aim, he continued.