Posts Tagged ‘member state’
Broadband access is increasing
In the EU27, 93% of enterprises of ten or more persons employed had access to the internet in January 2008, the same as in January 2007, and 81% of enterprises had a broadband internet connection, up from 77% in January 2007. On average in the EU27, 64% of enterprises had a website in January 2008, compared with 63% in January 2007. These data2 come from Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, and form part of the results of a community survey conducted at the beginning of 2008 on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in enterprises in the EU27 Member States, Iceland and Norway. Besides the indicators presented, the survey also covers e-commerce, e-government and e-business indicators.
Almost all enterprises in the Netherlands and Finland have internet access
In January 2008, the highest proportions of enterprises with internet access in the EU27 were recorded in the Netherlands and Finland (both 99%), Denmark (98%) and Belgium, Austria and Slovenia (97% each). The percentage was less than 90% in only five Member States: Romania (67%), Bulgaria (83%), Hungary (86%), Latvia (88%) and Cyprus (89%).
The proportion of enterprises with a broadband connection in January 2008 was above 90% in Spain, France and Finland (92% each) and in Belgium (91%). Only in Romania (44%), Lithuania (56%) and Poland (59%) did less than 60% of enterprises have a broadband connection.
The data show that while internet access appears to be approaching saturation in nearly all Member States, the level of broadband internet access is still increasing.
Below you can view the outcome of the survey:
Source: Eurostat
Nearly 30% of individuals use internet banking, 60% of households have internet access.
In the EU27, 60% of households had access to the internet during the first quarter of 2008, compared with 54% during the first quarter of 2007, and 48% had a broadband internet connection, compared with 42% in 2007.
These data published by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, represent only a small part of the results of a survey on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) usage in households and by individuals in the EU27 Member States plus Norway, Iceland and Croatia. As well as internet use and broadband connections, the survey also covers other indicators such as e-shopping, e-government and advanced communication and content related services.
Household internet access ranges from 25% in Bulgaria to 86% in the Netherlands
In 2008, the proportion of households with internet access was three quarters or more in the Netherlands (86%), Sweden (84%), Denmark (82%), Luxembourg (80%) and Germany (75%). The lowest levels were registered in Bulgaria (25%), Romania (30%) and Greece (31%).
The proportion of households with a broadband connection in 2008 was also highest in the Netherlands and Denmark (both 74%) and Sweden (71%).
One third of individuals in the EU27 use travel related internet services
In the second quarter of 2008, individuals aged 16-74 in the EU Member States were asked which activities they had carried out on the internet in the previous three months. In the EU27, nearly a third of all individuals had used internet for travel and accommodation services. Around 30% had used internet banking, interacted with public authorities or searched for health-related information. About a quarter had read online news or ordered goods or services. Around 15% had looked for jobs or sent applications by internet.
The Member States which had the highest proportions of individuals performing these internet activities were the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Luxembourg.
Here you are able to view the entire data overview per country:
Source: Eurostat
The European Commission has put forward a proposal revising the current rules governing the conditions for issuing electronic money in the EU. The proposal follows extensive consultation (see IP/05/930) which showed that the current rules, dating from 2000, have hindered the take-up of the electronic money market, hampering technological innovation. The revised rules will facilitate market entrance for new providers and contribute to develop an industry whose expected volume could reach up to EUR 10 billion by 2012.
Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy said: “The e-money industry has significant untapped growth potential. I believe that the new rules will accelerate the up-take of electronic money in Europe. These modern rules will foster competition and innovation, while ensuring market confidence and a high level of protection for consumers. This will be an important contribution to our broad objective of creating a Single Market for electronic payments.”
Proposed new rules for issuing e-money
The proposal provides for a modern and coherent legal framework for issuing electronic money, with the aim of promoting the emergence of a true single market for electronic money services in the European Union. The main innovations proposed are as follows:
a technologically neutral and simpler definition of “electronic money”, covering all situations where the payment service provider (an e-money institution or a credit institution) issues a prepaid stored value in exchange of funds. Electronic money is therefore defined as monetary value stored electronically on receipt of funds and which is used for making payment transactions. This definition covers e-money held on payment devices in the holder’s possession (pre-paid cards or electronic purse) or stored remotely at a server (network or software money).
a new prudential regime, ensuring greater consistency between prudential requirements of electronic money institutions and payment institutions under the Payment Services Directive 2007/64/CE (IP/07/1914). The new prudential requirements include an initial capital of EUR 125.000 enabling market entrance for smaller players and a new formula to determine ongoing capital. The waiver regime, according to which small entities can obtain derogation for some of the authorisation requirements, is aligned with that of payment institutions under the Payments Services Directive, and anti-money laundering requirements are updated.
a clarification of the application of redemption requirements, with special reference to their application to mobile telecommunications. Consumers would have the right to claim back their electronic money at any moment, under conditions laid down by the new rules.
Background
The E-Money Directive (2000/46/EC) sought to facilitate access by non-credit institutions to the business of e-money issuance. However, electronic money is still far from delivering the full potential benefits that were expected at the time of its adoption and is not yet considered a credible alternative to cash. Figures on the limited number of fully licensed electronic money institutions or on the low volume of electronic money issued demonstrate that electronic money has not yet really taken off in most of the Member States. The evaluation of the application of this Directive has shown that some of its provisions seem to have hindered the take-up of the electronic money market, hampering technological innovation.
The proposal aims at enabling new, innovative and secure electronic money services to be designed, providing market access to new players and fostering real and effective competition between all market participants. As all provisions have been amended and the structure was revised, it is proposed to repeal the existing E-Money Directive and replace it by a new directive. The proposal now passes to the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers for consideration.
The proposal is available here
After the completion of the first CEN/ISSS eInvoicing Workshop in 2006, a second phase of activities was launched at the kick-off meeting on 7 May 2007.
CEN/ISSS
CEN/ISSS published in 2003 - upon request of the European Commission – a report on the standardization aspects of the VAT Directive (“the eInvoicing Focus Group”), and, the Commission subsequently issued standardization mandate M/339 “in support of interoperability of electronic invoicing in the Community”. In support of the recommendations of the Focus Group, a CEN/ISSS Workshop was created.
CEN Workshop Agreements
This first established a work programme in response to the first phase of the mandate, then in a second phase developed consensus documents for publication as CEN Workshop Agreements. The published CWAs are available at: www.cenorm.be/isss and at: http://www.e-invoice-gateway.net/knowledgebase/
CEN/ISSS eInvoice Phase II
The general objective of Phase II is to stimulate further standardisation in the domain of electronic invoicing accross Europe. The aim is to support the following processes:
- the compliance of electronic invoice implementations to Council Directive 2001/115/EC and the national
legislation with regard to e-invoicing;
- the effective implementation of compliant electronic invoice systems in using emerging technologies
and business processes, in business-to-business as well as in business-to-government scenarios and;
- the emerging network infrastructure of invoice operators throughout Europe.
You will find more information about the CEN ws on e-invoicing here:
http://www.cen.eu/CENORM/BusinessDomains/BusinessDomains/isss/activity/einvoicing_2.asp
CEN ISSS eInvoice Gateway
Phase II of the eInvoice workshop has been broken down into five seperate projects. One of these projects, called ‘enhanced adoption of electronic invoicing in business processes in Europe’ has led to the CEN/ISSS eInvoice Gateway.
The aim of the eInvoice Gateway is to identify the most appropriate national legal practices in the relevant fields of e-business, in order to contribute to the simplification and improvement of the administrative and regulatory framework for enterprises in e-business in the field of accounting.
eInvoice Gateway and the Country Information Managers (CIM’s)
Apart from standard functions on the eInvoice Gateway, such as calendar and documents related to the CEN/ISSS eInvoice Phase II Workshop (CWA’s), the focal lies at the Country Information Managers.
Country Information Managers, in short: CIM’s, are persons with a leading position in the area of e-invoicing in a specific country in Europe. The CIM’s should ensure that it is possible for native speakers of a country to transfer knowledge and share information for that specific country. Therefore promoting the participation of country representatives to the objective of the eInvoice Gateway, the CEN eInvoice Workshop and off course e-invoicing in general.
Each Member State of the European Union has the opportunity to deliver a CIM. The tasks of the CIM are:
- identifying activities/companies/organizations in the field of e-invoicing in the own country and
informing these parties about this European-wide non-commercial activity;
- informing about the platform’s mission (native speakers for requests of the respective country) in case
someone wants more information about this CEN activity
- mentorship (in terms of usability engineering aspects and continuous improvement process aspects).
The number of working days per year needed to carry out a CIM’s tasks is very limited due to the fact that the platform offers easy-to-handle self-enlisting functionalities and easy-to-use search options. The CIM’s role therefore is only to act as a mentor for their own country.
In its Action Programme for Reducing Administrative Burden, the European Commission proposes actions in order to reduce the cost stemming from EC and national regulations by 25% until 2012. The cost for businesses for filling forms and reporting according to obligatory regulations is estimated to add up to 3% of the GDP in the EU. Reducing unnecessary obligations could therefore save costs and increase productivity and competitiveness.The Commission is not only concerned with reducing unnecessary EU regulations, but also with accelerating the sharing between national simplification programmes which in many member states already exist. Necessary elements of such programmes are methods for measuring and reducing the administrative burden such as the Standard Cost Model (SCM) and principles, which includes procedural simplification and integrates different reporting processes into one single filing provision.
OBJECTIVES of the workshop
- Discuss and look at how eGovernment can be an effective tool in the reduction of administrative burden for public administration, business and citizens.
- Inform about the present activities of the European Commission by speakers from DG Enterprise and DG Infosoc including the latest call within the ICT PSP Work Programme 2008;
- Provide an up to date overview of the latest activities of the SCM Network;
- Present good practice cases from Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany, among others, showing how administrative burden is being reduced for business, citizens and government;
- Provide participants an opportunity to raise questions and discuss these good practice examples with the case presenters in three parallel working groups.
More informations you can find on the website of ePractice.eu.
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