PESTLE analysis

Political factors
Relevant ICT-related policies: technology, trade, research and innovation
policies
Specific ICT strategies do not exist across all countries. ICT is often captured
as a horizontal issue among e.g.
lifelong learning and skills, support of entrepreneurship, improvement
of the business environment and
extroversion of the economies. Specific ICT strategies hold for Romania
(electronic communications,
broadband, eGov), Greece (Digital strategy), Austria (ICT and quality of
life).In innovation terms, the main
common policies common in the region mainly relate to: increase of support
towards research-relevant actors,
development of innovative infrastructure, centers of excellence,
technology transfer, support to SMEs and
Entrepreneurship, participation of the private sector in R&D activities. The
situation is different in the case of
Serbia and Montenegro where the innovation system is not harmonized with
the EU innovation guidelines. The
most common STI policy priorities relate to the support and
improvement of scientific research and
infrastructure, the support of innovation activities in SMEs as well as of the
economic competitiveness of each
country. In addition, the promotion of entrepreneurship and increasing
of productivity levels are further
common points.
The Electronic South Eastern Europe Initiative (eSEE Initiative) was
founded as a coordinated effort to better
integrate the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe countries into the
global, knowledge -based economy by
regionally supporting the development of Information Society. One of the
most important documents proposed
is the eSEE Agenda+ for the development of Information Society in SEE
2007-2012. The Agenda
1
states three
region-specific priority areas for the Information Society development:
the development of a Single SEE
Information Space (high-speed broadband, rich online content,
interoperability framerwork, harmonisation of
rules fo Information Society and Media), strengthening innovation and
investment in ICT R&D ( curriculum for
ICT skills, vocational training in ICT, inclusion of I CT research among
domestic research priorities, National
Academic and Research Networks for regional interconnection) and achieving
an inclusive Information Society (
access to technology, ICT -enabled public services and e-Government, e-
Business, digital libraries and eParticipation.
Since its adoption, all eSEE governments reported significant progress
towards the agreed. A cabinet-level body
is already established in most SEE countries for the development of an
Information Society; a central
coordination body is a condition sine qua non thus, it is rather encouraging
for the whole region.
Overall funding patterns for ICT R&D and R&D/innovation and ICT
innovation
In a number of SEE countries, the Structural Funds are largely the
determining source for R&D and innovation,
1
The eSEE Agenda+ is signed by Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Croatia, FYROM, Moldova, Montenegro,
Romania, Serbia, and the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo on
behalf of Kosovo (in accordance
with UNSCR 1244). A copy of the signed agenda is available on the
URL
http://www.eseeinitiative.org/images/stories/esee_agenda_plus_files/eSEE
_Agenda_Plus_signed.pdf [last
access 2012-09-21].
WP4 Activity 4. PESLE & SWOT Analysis 6
although there has not been much change in funding levels between 2009
and mid 2011. The dependence on
the European Community Funds appears to be very strong in the case of
Greece and important for others such
as Slovenia and Romania. In other EU associated countries, such as
Montenegro and Serbia total R&D and
innovation funding is far below that of the EU average. Regarding the
contribution of the private sector in RTDI
funding there seems to be a big gap with countries in which its co ntribution
is insignificant (such as Bulgaria and
Greece) on the one hand and countries in which its contribution is
increasing (such as Romania, Austria,
Hungary and Slovenia). Public funding appears to be of high significance
especially for Bulgaria, Romania, and
Greece. Tax incentives assist RTDI only in certain countries. Business
Expenditures for R&D in ICT specifically is
quite notable in the case of Hungary and Romania (only recently-about 20%)
while it is less than 10% for the
rest of the countries. The share of public funding of ICT R&D in GDP
(as an indicator of ICT R&D funding
intensity) exceeds EU average in Austria and Slovenia (0.08%), while in the
rest of the countries it falls below
0.04%. In more general terms, Gross Domestic Expenditure and Business R&D
expenditure of R&D as % of GDP
is significant for Austria and Slovenia (1.5-2%) while in the rest of the
countries in falls under 1% (less than 0.5%
in the case of business expenditure).
Relevant to eGovernment, ICT is a conduit for structural reforms and
solutions to societal challenges. An
eProcurement strategy has been adopted to help modernise online public
services. Member States have not yet
agreed on the list of cross-border public services, originally scheduled for the
end of 2011.
Overall R&D and innovation cooperation patterns and for ICT RTDI
2
.
On a national scale, cooperation patterns are indicated through
participation in EC funding programmes.
Greece and Austria rank very high (over 3.5% each) while the rest of the
countries participation rate reaches
2.5% of the EU funding. On a national innovation level, most of the
countries suffer from a rather weak
collaboration of the research triangle. In more specific terms, the
University-industry collaboration in R&D
3
indicator classifies Austria and Slovenia in considerable global rankings (18th
and 37th respectively), which is
distinctively different from the rest of the countries. Hungary and
Montenegro score in medium terms,
however Greece, Bulgaria and Romania are classified among the last ranks
globally (112th, 110th and 102nd)
indicating severe structural inefficiencies within their systems. On a
business level, cooperation patterns in
innovation point towards in cooperation patterns with local partners in
other countries
4
, market testing in
other countries and outsourcing activities. The public sector is not the
preferred partner in the development of
projects for innovative firms, but suppliers of equipment, clients or
customers, other enterprises within the
company group and consultants are the more frequently selected
cooperative partners. Universities also have
an important role and are at the same level as consultants and commercial
laboratories. In overall, knowledge
flows in the region is considered a key disadvantage.
Some further notes on the importance of these activities are shortly
referenced, especially in relation to
Montenegro and Serbia. In these two countries, total R&D and innovation
funding is far below that of the EU
average and awareness-raising about the importance of innovation
activities is still a challenge. (ProInno
Europe, 2011). Average spending for research and science represents
0.3% of GDP on national level. This
implies poor budget allocations for RTD which brings to conclusion that state
and oth er institutions (budget
recipients) involved in ICT RTD need to reallocate their resources in the
future and put an emphasis on specific
tasks and priorities in the future. In addition, Bulgaria has still
remained the country with the lowest
investments in research and innovation. In Greece, the only sources for
funding of research for the period
2007-2009 were institutional funding, FP7 and a diminishing number of
projects from the previous
programming period. It has to be noted that the funding for promoting
innovation is based on the OPs which
are co-funded by structural funds, meaning that innovation policy is heavily
dependent on external sources of
2
Non available data for Serbia and Montenegro
3
According to the Global Competitiveness report
4
specific survey in the context of the EU innovation scoreboard
WP4 Activity 4. PESLE & SWOT Analysis 7
finance. At an aggregated level, just over one third (35 %) of all industrial
enterprises with innovati on activity
received some form of public funding, while the corresponding proportion
for services was 19 %. European
Union funding of innovation activities reached approximately half the
number of enterprises compared to
these by local, regional or central governments, some 8 % of those
enterprises with innovation activity in the
industrial sector and 5 % within the services sector (CIS3, 2004).
Regarding the contribution of the private
sector in RTDI funding there seems to be a big gap with countries in which its
contribution is insignificant (such
as Bulgaria and Greece) on the one hand and countries in which its
contribution is increasing (such as Romania,
Austria, Hungary and Slovenia). Nevertheless, the issue of registries of
RTDI activities should not be
undermined in this classification.
Figure 1: R&D expenditure by source of funds.
5
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Austria
Bulgaria
Greece
Hungary
Romania
Serbia
Slovenia
GERD by Abroad %
GERD by Private non-profit %
GERD - by Higher education %
GERD financed by Government %
GERD by Business enterprise %
(Source: UNESCO, 2009, 2007; source for Greece: Eurostat)
Other political factors.
eGovernment strategies are duly discussed in the SWOT section. However,
short references are provided here
to familiarise readers with the generic framework conditions for the
development of eGovernment. The
generic framework for EU economic development based on knowledge and
innovation is covered by 'Europe
2020 - A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth' strategy,
which sets rests on three interlocking
and mutually reinforcing priority areas: smart Growth, sustainable Growth,;
and inclusive Growth. In specific
the Digital Agenda for Europe programme constitutes a flagship initiative for
recovering from the financial and
economic crisis, and for lifting up the EU economy in the next decade by
making the best use of Information
and Communication Technologies (ICT). The list below recapitulates the main
initiatives:
directions related to eGovernment
in particular and aims at the creation of a new digital Single Market
with simpler regulations and
management and at reinforcing greater interoperability for the ICT products
and services.
2
CSD, 2010
3
FORSEE, Bulgarian National PESTLE and SWOT Analysis (available at
www..forsee.eu)
WP4 Activity 4. PESLE & SWOT Analysis 8
-2015 the provision of a new
generation of eGovernment services
for businesses and citizens, resting upon certain priorities, such as the
empowerment of citizens and
businesses, mobility in the internal Market, achieving a mass of technical and
legal preconditions to
enhance eGovernment services.
endorsing the need for a more
open, flexible and collaborative delivery of public services across Europe, the
important dynamics of
eGovernment as an enabler to deliver policy goals across different
sectors and the promotion of a
common culture of collaboration and interoperability. The priorities set
to be achieved by 2015
involve a set of measures, such as the empowerment of user-centric needs,
increased access to public
information, mobility in the Single Market, efficiency to reduce
administrative burdens and the put in
place of the appropriate legal and technical preconditions.
In general, there are strong political and economic reasons for European
collaboration in eGovernment. Joint
action and knowledge sharing at EU level contributes to overcoming the
current economic crisis, by using
public resources more efficiently.







Economic factors
General Economic Indicators
Most of the countries under investigation currently face some critical
challenges both in terms of an emerging
economy which does not perfectly correspond to the new realities and of
an industrial sector that needs to
transit to a knowledge-intensive reality. The external balance in ICT trade is
negative in most of the countries
with the notable exception of Hungary, where ICT trade (exports)
represent about to 1/5th of its national
trade. The data are sufficiently captured in the following table:
Table 1: Major Economic factors in the area
Austria Bulgaria Hungary Greece Romania Slovenia Serbia Montenegro
Employment
Growth (%)
1% -5.9% 0.2% -2.1% -1.8% -2.2% 1%
(2008)
Jobless
growth
Unemployment
rate
4.4% 10.2% 11.2% 12.6% 7.3% 7.3% 20% n/a
(17.6 for
2007)
M= 4.6% 10.9% 11.6% 9.9% 7.9% 7.5% 19.2% n/a
F= 4.2% 9.5% 10.7% 16.2% 6.5% 7.1% 21% n/a
GDP (100 base
value)
139 20 40 83 23 72 n/a 41
WP4 Activity 4. PESLE & SWOT Analysis 9
Trade balance
(2009)
0.10% -2.6% 3% -3.9% -2.6% -2% n/a
ICT goods
exports (% of
total), 2009
5.49% 3.58% 24.62% 2.99% 8.36% 3.79% 2.22% n/a
ICT goods
imports , 2009
7% 6.4% 78.83% 5.87% 9.4% 5.6% 5.36% n/a
ICT service
exports , 2009
6.54% 5.61% 8.26% 2.17% 18.93% 7.16% 6.69% n/a
High-tech
exports (% of
manufacturing
exports, 2009
11.48% 8.2% 24% 11.25% 10% 6.5% n/a n/a
Source: Forsee synthesis report
Access to capital in general and for ICT RTDI
Available data do not discriminate between access to capital in general and
in the case of ICT R&D, therefore
only generic information is provided.
In the EU-15 almost 80% of venture capital was allocated to buyouts,
followed by 17% to the expansion and
replacement stage and 3% to early-stage development. Venture capital
investment as a share of GDP is minimal.
In specific, VCI (Venture Capital Investments) at early stage is less than
0.01% for Austria, for Hungary and
Romania and 0% for Greece. No further information is provided for the
rest of the countries. VCI at the
expansion stage is less than 0.06% for the same set of countries. Loans
remain the most important finance
type, and high-growth firms will likely need more loans than equity finance in
coming years. Banks and leasing
companies need to be prepared to be addressed as financiers for SMEs
between 2011 and 2013. SMEs in
specific used bank products are in the range of 45-53% in the region.
The preferred type of external funding of SMEs in the region is as follows
6
:
.6% in Serbia to 66% in Austria and 82% in
Slovenia)
-22%
of SMEs in the region use
loans from other sources, with the exception of Slovenia and Serbia (less
than 4%)
tment (including venture capital and business angels). The
market is quite underdeveloped
in the region with less than 10% of SMEs participating. Equity
investment appears to be higher
paradoxically, in Montenegro and Serbia (15-20% of SMEs)
These schemes are notable in
Greece, Montenegro and Serbia (25-60%) while in the rest of the region the
percentage falls under 3%.
Other economic factors (the economic crisis)
SEE countries responded differently to the crisis. Although in general, the
trends indicate a decline in demand,
capital and liquidity problems, limited access to funding, falling
innovation expenditures and decreasing
employment rates, some countries such as Austria have increased funding for
research and innovation, while in
others it remained balanced. Cost cutting has been very widespread in
Greece, due to the specific political and
6
Source: Synthesis report and The Survey on the Access to Finance of
Small and Medium-sized Enterprises
(SAFE), 2011. European Commission and ECB data
WP4 Activity 4. PESLE & SWOT Analysis 10
economic circumstances that may have undermined business and market
confidence in the country. Bulgaria
and Romania responded with unprecedented cuts. In Hungary, there was a
disruption in funding, and in many
countries, funding provided to innovation agencies and departments has
been maintained whilst in others,
institutional budgets have been cut. Reallocations and consolidati ons
between different government
departments or agencies can also be observed. The ICT sector experienced a
decline during the past years and
therefore ICT policies need refinement in the crisis for quick recovery.
On a European level, differentiation
strategies, the optimisation of assets and the fuelling of the national systems
with young researchers have been
proposed alleviate countries on the long-term. It is also recommended
that structural reforms need to be
oriented to supporting employment and improving flexibility and
reducing administrative and regulatory
burden on businesses, promoting entrepreneurship and enhance access
to finance for businesses (loan
subsidies, guarantees, start-ups and micro-enterprises).
In particular to eGovernment, global recession might raise austerity
measures and restrictive public spending.
Spending cuts are expected in the administration. The reforms
necessary for the implementation of
eGovernment instruments will inevitably lead to a reduction of the
costs for administrative services to the
citizens and business. Greece is among the countries where the
responsiveness of R&D to the business cycle
entail a response in R&D expenditure 1.5 to 3.5 times the change in GDP,
meaning that the current crisis could
lead to significant drops in R&D intensity after 2009. Economic
projections for the subsequent years (2010-2013) show a slow recovery,
based on the ongoing developments in the global economy as well as new
fiscal
policies adopted by the Serbian Government. According to the Ministry of
Finance of Montenegro, during 2010
and 2011 it achieved a slight economic growth (2.5% on annual level).
Even though there have been
implemented significant changes in the economic policy it can be stated that
Montenegro is quite vulnerabl e
regarding external economic turbulences and challenges.
1.3 Social, Cultural and Demographic factors
Empowering citizens to be active and confident in the new digital
society, which must deliver sustainable
economic and social benefits, is of prime importance to Europe. EU
Information Society Ministers are adamant
in the Granada Declaration
7
that electronic identity (eID) will be a key driver of economic recovery in
Europe.
The number of identity-based transactions, both on and off the Internet, has
grown significantly and will most
likely continue to do so. This trend is linked to the increasing prevalence and
multiplicity of eID systems that
feed on such data, channelling personal identity data into identification,
authentication and access to goods,
services and resources. Though eID systems and processes have been
developing over decades, they are still
not particularly trusted or fit for the many activities that European citizens
expect to conduct in their everyday
digital lifestyles.
Human resources for ICT and ICT use
Digital literacy is generally high in the region. There are however indications
of scarcity of talent in RTDI (apart
from Romania and Austria) and medium to low index of Human Resources in
Research and Technology. M ost
countries suffer from high levels of unemployment in RTD personnel,
despite satisfactory levels of tertiary
education attainment. The educational structures of all countries serve a long
-lasting tradition in science and
therefore provide skilled workforce, especially in IT. In most of the countries
the innovation RTDI systems are
not yet well-structured and mature to enable absorption of researchers
and highly skilled personnel to
stimulate research careers, as shown by HSRT in total employment. This
generates a skill gap that must be
addressed and further reduce brain drain outside the area .On-the-job
training and quality of education consist
long-lasting challenges in most of the countries (apart from Austria and
Slovenia).
7
EU Telecoms Ministers. Granada Ministerial Declaration on the European
Digital Agenda. Granada, 19 Apri l
2010: Informal Meeting of Telecommunications and IS Ministers, 2010.
Available from
http://www.eu2010.es/export/sites/presidencia/comun/descargas/Minister
ios/en_declaracion_granada.pdf
WP4 Activity 4. PESLE & SWOT Analysis 11
The links between education and RTDI can be better reflected in the
percentages of employment in
Knowledge-Intensive high technology services as well as R&D personnel.
The percentage of employment in
knowledge-intensive activities in high technology represents a fraction
between 1.5 -3% on a country level. The
development of e-skills is placed high on the political agenda, but
without specific ICT national curricula.
Scientists and engineers in total Human Resources in Science and
Technology fluctuate around 20%, except
from Austria (10%). R&D personnel is higher in Austria and Greece (1.5-2% of
total workforce) while in the rest
of the countries less than 1.5%. The number or researchers in the area in
general falls between 15.000-25.000
researchers per country, but the percentages are incomparable to the EUs
innovation leaders. In general, the
annual growth in business researchers in the EU-27 has been higher than that
of business R&D expenditure,
but no country-level data can confirm this statement for the region.
2005 Eurostat data illustrate that in
Science and Engineering, tertiary graduates have been growing at about
5% in region (high extreme for
Romania and low extreme for Hungary). Doctorate candidates in
'science, mathematics and computing',
awarded in EU-27 increased by 2.8 % per annum.
Statistics on ICT use.
According to the Digital Agenda Observatory, the percentage of citizens
buying online is about 16.5% in
average, highest in Austria and lowest in Romania and Bulgaria. Citizens
buying online cross-border average is
8% (highest in Austria, lower in Romania and Bulgaria). SMEs buying
online reach about 13.6%, while SMEs
selling online reach 7.5% accordingly. Regular internet use reaches 51% in
the area (33% in Romania though)
while general internet use reaches 53.6% (highest in Austria, lowest in
Bulgaria). eGovernment use by citizens is
about 22.3% (with extremely low percentages for Bulgaria). Austria,
Hungary , and Slovenia are more wellprepared markets with an
advanced level of maturity in internet use and eGovernment use. The
level of
absorption of enabled broadband technologies does not appear to benefit
Greece, Bulgaria, and Romania, as
these indicators fall behind. In e-Commerce however and buying online
behavior, all countries except Austria
are lagging behind the targets set. Cross-border online commerce
remains underdeveloped again with the
exception of Austria.
ICT for societal challenges
ICT for societal challenges is included in the Digital Agenda for Europe,
one amongst the flagship initiatives
under the Europe 2020 strategy for growth. Some of the priority areas are
targeted to concrete issues faced by
citizens and society as a whole, such as ageing, health, digital skills and
climate change. The priorities are
articulated as better and personalised healthcare, achieving at the same
time relevant cost savings for patients
and the society at large. Effective online public services for citizens and
business interactions with public
authorities are expected to be integrated and effective, including cross-
border services. Independent, active
and safe living for older people addresses the ageing population and
disadvantaged groups Last but not least,
ICT will help tackling environmental issues, such as energy saving, in the
perspective of a sustainable growth.
Other international organizations, such as the OECD place innovation
strategy in a framework that addresses
global and social challenges. The organization outlines new challenges for STI
policy priorities in line with grand
societal challenges which mainly evolve around green technology and
innovation e.g. carbon pricing, taxation ,
regulation that reduce environmental externalities, encouraging green
inventions, as well as technology to
manage disasters.
1.4 Technological factors
ICT infrastructure
As new challenges arise, new communication technologies enable
increasing connectivity through wired and
wireless communication. The internet of services enables accessing services
and service partnerships across EU
trade boundaries. In addition, smart devices play a very important role in e
nergy savings. The Internet of Things
WP4 Activity 4. PESLE & SWOT Analysis 12
enables addressing societal challenges efficiently and augments the
potential of future internet to provide
useful services. SEE countries on average dedicate 3-4% of their GDP to
communications expenditure.
Broadband penetration rate varies from about 15% in Bulgaria, Romania
and Greece to just over 20% in
Hungary, Slovenia and Austria. Romania, Bulgaria and Greece mark the
lowest percentage of households using a
broadband connection (from 20-30%), nevertheless these countries have
placed broadband and connectivity
policies as instruments to foster economic growth. in the same countries, DSL
national and rural coverage rates
are quite different. Still, most of the countries have developed R&D
infrastructure, such as national RTD
networks, portals of public administration, MANs and supercomputing and
eScience centers to accommodate
their future R&D needs. Some efforts are put in developing hard R&D
infrastructures in the area, lead by
Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Greece and Romania, mainly in the area of
communication networks (GEANT).
GANT uses innovative hybrid IP/optical networking technology and directly
connects to the National Research
and Educational Networks (NRENs) in 36 partner countries and enables data
transfer speeds of up to 10 Gbps
across 50,000 km of network infrastructure and over 12,000 km of lit
fibre. The network presently serves
around 30 million users in over 3500 universities and research centres in
36 partner countries. GANT is cofunded by the European Commission and
Europe's NRENs.
In South Eastern Europe strong increase in broadband development and good
internet use can be noticed. The
Digital Agenda Scoreboard Indicators such as New entrants' share in
fixed broadband lines; Share of fixed
broadband lines equal to or above 2 Mbps and Share of fixed broadband
lines equal to or above 10 Mbps
positioned Bulgaria among the countries with the highest values in the EU. 1
Bulgaria claimed the third highest
speed of Internet - 1,611KBps8 (Pando Networks, 2011). The Bulgarian
Internet providers have used innovative
approach in providing broadband Internet through public LAN.
3
Table 2: eGovernment development in Southern Europe
The Distributed Computing Infrastructures are relevant for the level of
development of ICT Infrastructions at the
1
EC, 2011
8
Countries with higher Internet speed than Bulgaria were South Korea and
Romania
3
FORSEE, Bulgarian National PESTLE and SWOT Analysis
WP4 Activity 4. PESLE & SWOT Analysis 13
EU and SEE levels. The European Grid Initiative (EGI) brings together
resource providers and users from more
than 140 institutions in 50 countries world-wide (including all SEE
countries) to provide a seamless grid
infrastructure that is available 24 hours-a-day. Its operation and
maintenance is supported by the European
project EGI_InSPIRE and by National Grid Initiatives. The overall
contribution of the FORSEE countries to the
EGI.eu infrastructure consists of 6753 physical CPUs (corresponding to
18700 logical CPUs). Other two
operational infrastructures at the EU level are DEISA and PRACE in the field of
High Performance Computing.
The SEE involvement of this infrastructure is limited and the coordination of
its development is supported by
the EU funded HP-SEE project.
1.5 Legal factors
Currently, the newly formulated action plan is focused on two major
topics. The first is concerned with
elimination of the common challenges, which inhibit the optimal utilization
of ICTs. The second revolves around
identifying and preventing future problems in the long run. To achieve
these goals, in the framework of the
Digital Agenda the European Union has set and undertaken a number of key
legislative actions.
The key actions are focused on creating a vibrant digital single market,
allowing the easy exchange of
commercial and cultural content and services between countries. To
achieve this, the European community
strives to remove the regulatory obstacles and to facilitate transactions
and processes such as electronic
payments and invoicing. Furthermore, issues related to customer trust and
dispute resolution present another
major concern.
Consumer and competition laws are quite harmonized on an EU level
and articulated to strengthen the
intrernal market and the free circulation of goods and services.
According to eGovernance and ICT Usage Report for South East Europe
(2nd edition, 2010) prepared by the
eSEE Initiative , the legal infrastructure of the non-EU SEE countries has
become appropriate for the
development of an information society. Almost all these countries have
adopted all of the major laws and
related regulations and the next logical steps would be the harmonization
with EC directives.
The pan-European fragmented legal system on intellectual property rights
protection results in low patenting
rates; the associated costs to file a patent in so many countries is
prohibitively high and the market size at each
SEE country is discouraging such investments. Still, some inequalities exist:
Serbia and Hungary create revenues
in their economies from patents (Austria and Romania in a lesser degree
too), while Greece and Bulgaria create
marginal ones.
Data protection laws and regulations:
Directive 95/ 46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 24
October 1995, on the protection of
individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free
movement of such data To remove
obstacles to free movement of data without diminishing the protection of
personal data, Directive 95/46/EC (the
data protection Directive) was developed to harmonise national provisions in
this field and to ensure that all
citizens have equivalent protection across the Union. Directive 97/66/EC of
the European Parliament and of the
Council, of 15 December 1997, on the processing of personal data and
the protection of privacy in the
telecommunications sector Directive 97/66/EC specifically deals with the
protection of privacy in
telecommunications. Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and
of the Council, of 8 June 2000, on
certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic
commerce, in the Internal Market
(Directive on electronic commerce) Promoting the development of
electronic commerce is one of the key
factors in the effort to make the European Union the most competitive and
dynamic knowledge -based economy
in the world. Directive 2000/31/EC sets up the basic legal framework for
electronic commerce in the internal
market.
The electronic communications regulatory framework consists of one
Framework Directive (Directive
2002/21/EC, of 7 March 2002) on a common regulatory framework for
electronic communications networks and
services and four specific Directives. This framework has been supplemented
by the 'Telecoms Reform',
Directive 1999/93/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 13
December 1999, on a Community
framework for electronic signatures. This Directive establishes the legal
framework at European level for
WP4 Activity 4. PESLE & SWOT Analysis 14
electronic signatures and certification services. The aim is to make electronic
signatures easier to use and to
help them become legally recognised within the Member States.
Directive 2003/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, of
17 November 2003, on the reuse of
public sector information The term Public Sector Information (PSI) refers to
documents, databases and other
information produced, collected and stored by public sector bodies. Thanks
to the aid of ICTs, PSI can now be
processed in an efficient, effective and user friendly manner, creating a
variety of new opportunities for its
exploitation
One of the most important issues of the eGovernment development on EU
level is the interoperability between
the systems and services. In order to address this issue the European
Commission has defined European
Interoperability Framework (EIF) for European public services. The
purpose of the European Interoperability
Framework (EIF) is:
fostering cross-border and crosssectoral interoperability;
lic administrations in their work to provide European
public services to businesses and
citizens;
Frameworks (NIFs) at European
level.
The EIF is maintained under the ISA programme, in close cooperation
between the Member States and the
Commission
The key actions are focused on creating a vibrant digital single market,
allowing the easy exchange of
commercial and cultural content and services between countries. To
achieve this, the European community
strives to remove the regulatory obstacles and to facilitate transactions
and processes such as electronic
payments and invoicing. Furthermore, issues related to customer trust and
dispute resolution present another
major concern.
A proposal for a Regulation "on electronic identification and trusted services
for electronic transactions in the
internal market" was adopted by the Commission on 4th June 2012
(COM(2012) 238 final). The initiative is the
result of extensive consultations on a review of the current legal
framework on electronic signatures in the
course of which the Commission gathered feedback from Member States, the
European Parliament and other
stakeholders.
In line with its Better Regulation policy, the Commission conducted an
impact assessment of policy
alternatives. Three sets of policy options were assessed, dealing
respectively with (1) the scope of the new
framework, (2) the legal instrument and (3) the level of supervision
required. The preferred policy option
proved to be enhancing legal certainty, boosting coordination of
national supervision, ensuring mutual
recognition and acceptance of electronic identification schemes and
incorporating essential related trust
services. The impact assessment concluded that doing this would lead to
considerable improvements to legal
certainty, security and trust in terms of cross-border electronic transactions,
resulting in less fragmentation of
the market.
1.6 Environmental factors
Scientific activities are increasingly undertaken through global
collaboration on the internet, using very large
data collections, huge computing resources and high-performance
visualisation. e-science (research enabled by
e-infrastructure/ICT) is essential for meeting the challenges of the 21st
century in scientific discovery and
learning.
Data management is also essential for tackling environmental
challenges. Examples are the processing of
energy consumption patterns to improve energy efficiency or of pollution
data in traffic management. Informed
policy decisions in the areas of transport, land use and climate change
depend increasingly on analysis of the
WP4 Activity 4. PESLE & SWOT Analysis 15
available data
9
.
Nevertheless the ICT sector has to adopt common measurement
methodologies for the sector's own energy
performance and greenhouse gas emissions and propose legal measures if
appropriate;
Considering the relevantly significant amount of carbon emissions the ICT
sector itself produces, the ecological
issues need to be addressed. In this context, the Commission is encouraging
the ICT sector to come up with a
framework with which to measure its own energy and environmental
impact and adopt and implement
common methodologies to diminish the negative effects.
9
Open data - An engine for innovation, growth and transparent governance,
COM(2011) 882 final
WP4 Activity 4. PESLE & SWOT Analysis 16


Euro Area GDP Growth Rate 1995-2014 | Data | Chart | Calendar | Forecast
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the Euro Area stagnated in the second quarter of 2014 over the previous
quarter. GDP Growth Rate in the Euro Area averaged 0.35 Percent from 1995 until 2014, reaching an all time
high of 1.30 Percent in the second quarter of 1997 and a record low of -2.80 Percent in the first quarter of 2009.
GDP Growth Rate in the Euro Area is reported by the Eurostat.
The Euro Area is an economic and monetary union of 18 European Union countries that adopted the euro as
their currency. The countries it comprises are: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany,
Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain. The Euro
Area is the second largest economy in the world and if it was a country it would be the fourth most populous with
330 million inhabitants. France, Germany, Italy and Spain are the most important economies accounting for over
74 percent of the Unions GDP. The current economic crisis affecting some of the Euro Zone peripheral countries
has been raising doubts over the euros future and is the major obstacle to growth. This page provides - Euro
Area GDP Growth Rate - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.
Content for - Euro Area GDP Growth Rate - was last refreshed on Thursday, September 25, 2014.