[FYI] Results of the Telecom Council of Ministers, Brussels on 27 March 2003

["Axel H Horns" <axel.h.horns@gmx.net>]

<http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&; 
doc=MEMO/03/75|0|RAPID&lg=EN&display=>  

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Results of the Telecom Council of Ministers, Brussels on 27 March 2003

                              DN: MEMO/03/75     Date: 28/03/2003


                                  TXT: EN
                                  PDF: EN
                                  DOC: EN

                             MEMO/03/75 

                             Brussels, 28 March 2003 

Results of the Telecom Council of Ministers, Brussels on 27 March 
2003  

The following points were discussed at the Council:  

The Council took positively note of the presentation by Commissioner 
Erkki Liikanen of the proposal for a European Parliament and Council 
regulation for the establishment of a 'Network and Information 
Security Agency'.  

Re-use and commercial exploitation of public sector documents.  The 
Council reached unanimous political agreement on a future common 
position on the proposal for a Directive on re-use and commercial 
exploitation of public sector documents.  

Multi-annual programme (2003-2005) for monitoring eEurope, 
dissemination of good practices and the improvement of network and 
information security (MODINIS)  This item was adopted.  The MODINIS 
programme, adopted by the Commission on 26 July 2002, provides for 
financial support to accompany the Member States' actions 
transforming the EU into a knowledge based economy. MODINIS followed 
on from the PROMISE programme, which expired at the end of last year. 
MODINIS will equally finance activities for the preparatory work for 
the creation of the future Network and Information security Agency.  
The following declaration was included in the Council's minutes: "The 
Commission reaffirms its intention to set up a temporary 
interdisciplinary working group in close co-operation with, and 
composed of, Member States representatives to conduct preparatory 
actions with a view to the establishment of a network and information 
Security Agency. The work of this group will start on 1st July 2003 
at the latest and end at the end of the year 2003, which is the 
target date for the creation of this Agency".  

Electronic communications: the Road to the Knowledge Economy  
Followed by a presentation of Commissioner Erkki Liikanen and the 
Greek Presidency on the situation of electronic communications in 
Europe, the Telecommunications Ministers were invited to intervene on 
the following three issues: "the timely implementation of the new 
regulatory framework"; "broadband strategies"; deployment and use of 
3G mobile communications".   This was a good and focused debate 
during which all Member States expressed their appreciation of the 
recent Communication of the Commission on this issue (see IP/03/418). 
  In this context, the Presidency announced three major meetings that 
will offer opportunity to conduct further discussions on  

eHealth   22 - 23 May 2003 Brussels (see IP/03/425)  

eGovernance  2 - 3 May 2003 Athens  

eInclusion  11 - 12 April 2003 Heraklion (Crete)   Also the 
eGovernment Ministerial Conference of 7-8 July, jointly organised by 
the forthcoming Italian Presidency and the European Commission was 
mentioned.  After the debate, Commissioner Erkki Liikanen made a 
brief comment on the availability of broadband access in rural and 
remote regions. As a recent study by Commissioner Michel Barnier 
shows, structural funds make a major contribution to promoting the 
information society (see IP/03/396).  

UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)  The first UN World 
Summit on the Information Society is scheduled to take place in 
Europe. The first session takes place in Geneva, 10 to 12 December 
2003, a few days before the European Summit in Brussels. Commissioner 
Erkki Liikanen gave the key message that because of the impact of EU 
Information Society policies world-wide the EU should be present in 
Geneva at the levels of Heads of State and Government, accompanied by 
Chief Executive Officers (CEO's) of the EU industry, and the leaders 
of civil societies in Europe. The EU can contribute with its 
experiences, in particular with eEurope and the new electronic 
communications regulatory framework.  Finally the Greek Presidency 
suggested organising a debate on the future Communication of the 
Commission related to the subject. The debate shall take place at the 
General Affairs, Transport & Telecom Council, 16-17 June 2003.  

World Radio Conference 2003 (WRC-03)  The International 
Telecommunication Union (ITU) 'World Radio Communication Conference' 
will be held from 9 June to 4 July 2003 in Geneva and will seek a 
global agreement on how radio frequencies are used. The Commission 
will come forward with a Communication to Council and the European 
Parliament on WRC-03. The Commission would like to encourage Council 
to study the Communication and to support its line so that a clear 
political message issued in time before the start of the WRC-03.  

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