Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-09-24-Speech-3-277"
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"en.20030924.8.3-277"2
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"Mr President, I wish to thank my colleague, Mr van Velzen, for his commendable work and his energy in the negotiations he had with representatives of the Council when drafting the compromise amendments. Furthermore, at the very start I also want to thank the Commission and Commissioner Liikanen for his expertise and contribution, which made it possible to bring this Directive into existence.
I support the compromise proposals reached by the rapporteur in conjunction with the Council, because that way we would be spared the laborious and always risky Conciliation Committee debate. The European Parliament wants the Member States to implement this directive swiftly, as, when they do, its benefits for the public and business will be indisputable. Genuine free mobility in Europe will not come about until its citizens and companies have clear ideas about what documents are available where and at what cost. Harmonisation is needed in this area too.
The compromise amendments take a stand on
the availability of public documents, where possible through electronic means. I agree with Mr van Velzen that it would be a lot more logical and realistic to speak about public information rather than documents. Not all documents are printed exclusively on paper anymore. Various electronic publishing formats are rapidly becoming more common and records are being kept in electronic format more than before.
It is very important that the public sector sets a good example as we journey towards the information society. Many public documents consist
of that intelligent and meaningful content which is so much spoken about, especially in connection with wireless services. The various forms have to be available on the Internet. Users will therefore definitely come along for different applications, for 3G, 4G or 5G, when there is meaningful content. I, at least, can no longer get enthusiastic about ordering merely amusing images for my cell phone.
Another controversial issue has been how much public agencies can charge for their services, or whether they can demand money at all. Right from the outset I have promoted the policy whereby public documents are of universal use and belong to everyone. Agencies and institutions paid for out of taxes are obliged to do the job they were originally set up to do, which is to provide a service for those who own and finance them, the taxpayers. For basic services, materials and data, however, specialist organisations must be able to recover their costs and make a reasonable charge.
The question of whether a charge should be made takes on a new aspect when we start talking about customised services produced for individual customers or, in this case, ordinary citizens. These are typical chargeable services, for which the public sector also has to be able to demand payment. A customised service could include design and preparation work to produce a map, for example, perhaps for a car orienteering competition, as the Commissioner mentioned.
Compiling basic data the way an individual customer wants it, the compilation of statistics for example, is a customised service. In such a case it is only reasonable that the official body undertaking the specialist work should charge for services rendered in accordance with normal market economy legislation. The upkeep of specialist organisation know-how, development work and developing new technology must be made possible out of revenue either on taxes or these chargeable services – customised tasks. In many Member States many kinds of specialist know-how are in the hands of public institutions, for historical or cultural reasons, for example.
A final word: this is an area which will take us on towards the implementation of the Lisbon strategy. In which year that will happen none of us know, but this is one small step in that direction."@en1
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