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MINISTERIAL DECLARATION

approved unanimously in Lisbon, Portugalon 19 September 2007

Meeting in Lisbon on the occasion of the Ministerial eGovernment Conference“

Reaping the Benefits of eGovernment

” of the Portuguese Presidency of theEuropean Council and of the European Commission, Ministers of European Union (EU)Member States, Accession States, Candidate Countries and Ministers of the EuropeanFree Trade Area (EFTA) Countries, responsible for eGovernment policy, under thechairmanship of Minister Pedro Silva Pereira, representing the Presidency of theEuropean Council, and in the presence of European Commission's Vice President MrSiim Kallas.

MINISTERS RECALL THAT:1.

The European Council of March 2005 called upon the Commission, the Council and theMember States to re-launch the Lisbon Strategy by refocusing on growth and employmentin Europe. The Lisbon Partnership for Growth and Jobs is being pursued across the EU andshall remain the central policy focus in the transformation of public services, contributingdecisively to the delivery of better and innovative services to citizens and businesses.2.

The i2010 initiative “A European Information Society for growth and employment” is a keyelement of the renewed Lisbon Partnership for Growth and Jobs. It was adopted by theEuropean Commission in June 2005.3.

The eGovernment Ministerial Declaration was issued in Manchester in November 2005under the UK Presidency of the Council of the European Union, setting ambitious targets for2010 and creating vigorous momentum in Europe.4.

The i2010 eGovernment Action Plan was adopted by the Council in June 2006 aligning itsobjectives with the Manchester Declaration and supporting the achievement of its targets.The Manchester Declaration and the Action Plan play an instrumental role in buildingsynergies between Member States.5.

The implementation of European Directives, such as the Services Directive, increasinglyrelies on Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) as an enabler intransforming administrative processes for citizens and businesses, across Europe.MINISTERS RECOGNISE THAT:6.

The ways in which citizens interact with government services continue to evolve.Technology and society continue to change the way citizens and businesses interact withgovernment, and increasingly what they expect from these services. Across Europe, largeinvestments are being made in ICT-enabled government services. It is imperative forgovernments to ensure citizens and businesses benefit from these investments.Understanding and recognising the importance of citizen-focused services and the reductionof administrative burden is therefore crucial to success.

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Good progress has been made towards the aims of the Manchester Ministerial Declarationand the objectives of the eGovernment Action Plan. European countries are well advancedin their eGovernment initiatives, making a significant contribution to the Lisbon Agenda forGrowth and Jobs. A large majority of countries have developed national policies alignedwith the Manchester Declaration and the Action Plan aiming at reaching the targets set for2010. Common roadmaps have been developed and agreed among Member States forelectronic identification (eID), eProcurement and inclusive eGovernment.8.

eGovernment is becoming mainstream as most policies at EU or national level require anICT solution in their implementation. For example, the Services Directive whose article 8calls for the use of electronic means and generally requires broad cross-borderinteroperable ICT solutions.9.

In order to meet the need to exchange information across borders, such as those arisingfrom the obligations of the Services Directive, Member States shall intensify efforts toachieve cross-border interoperability, the importance of which has already been highlightedin the electronic Identity and eProcurement areas. The objective of achievinginteroperability applies equally to the implementation of Article 8 of the Services Directivewhich will generally requires interoperable and mutually authenticated electronic identitiesand electronic documents. An intelligent use of ICT will contribute strongly to thereinforcement of the Internal Market, which generally requires broad interoperabilitybetween and within national systems to ensure an Internal Market without electronicbarriers.10.

To achieve the ambitious i2010 Manchester targets and Action Plan objectives, MemberStates shall also keep-up the momentum in the following policy priorities:10.1.

The common EU policy objective to reinforce cross-border interoperability and reduceadministrative burdens requires Member States to identify services and actions whichcan transform and simplify the way citizens access public services.10.2.

To ensure that all citizens can benefit from ICT-enabled administrations, inclusiveeGovernment policies shall address how best to combine online services togetherwith other channels, such as human intermediaries who need to be equipped withstate-of-the-art ICT tools.10.3.

The use of ICT tools as part of transparency and democratic engagement policieshave been successful in many national, regional and local initiatives. Sharing theseexperiences and those of the eParticipation actions initiated by the EuropeanParliament and launched by the Commission in 2006, shall contribute to gainingvaluable experience.11.

Continued cooperation is needed to build on the successful work of the i2010 eGovernmentSubgroup which has pursued the 2010 Manchester targets and Action Plan objectives. It isalso clear that the new ICT Policy Support Programme (ICT PSP) of the Competitivenessand Innovation Framework Programme (CIP), along with complementary programmes andpolicies, play an important catalytic role that leverages eGovernment related investmentsmade by individual Member States.12.

Transforming Europe into an environment-sensitive, energy-efficient and low greenhouse-gas-emitting economy is a political priority and the potential contribution of eGovernmentto this transformation should be further explored.

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13.

There are many areas of public service where transformational change, enabled bytechnology, can dramatically improve outcomes and impacts by redesigning processesaround service delivery, policy formulation and administration, along with the organisationsthat support or operate these processes. Transformational change requires strongleadership to harness the value of modern technologies and to link that value to themanagement of change.MINISTERS AGREE ON THE FOLLOWING PRIORITY POLICY ACTIONS:1.

Cross-border Interoperability

Reinforce the cooperation among Member States, notably through the high-impact large-scale ICT PSP Pilots on cross-border eProcurement and mutual recognition of nationaleIDs. Continuous attention shall be given to the definition and openness of technicalstandards and publicly available specifications.Identify the areas in which Member States would cooperate and determine, with theEuropean Commission, the appropriate

modus operandi

to define, develop, implement andmonitor broad cross-border interoperability generally required for the implementation of the Services Directive.In support of these goals, the eID for citizen and business and eProcurement activitiesshould be accelerated as building blocks contributing to the implementation of high impactservices.

By the end of 2008 Members States shall establish a list of new priority areas forhigh impact services, which can be further developed at the pan-European levelwith the support of EU programmes.2.

Reduction of administrative burdens

Use eGovernment as a lever to contribute to the achievement of the objective of reducingadministrative burdens for citizen and business in Europe. Use internationally recognisedmethodologies (e.g. Standard Cost Model) to measure eGovernment services, focusing onthe realisation of ICT enabled benefits and impact of public services. Make use of thepossibilities for re-use of information with due respect to the legal frameworks, in particulardata protection legislation. Moreover, pay special attention to small and mediumenterprises (SMEs) as priority beneficiaries of burden reduction and streamlined publicservices.Deliver eGovernment services that are easier to use and of benefit to all citizens byincreasing user centricity, improving accessibility, convenience and user experience.

By the end of 2008 Member States shall report on the achievements of theirflagship eGovernment services which have delivered significant contribution toreduction of administrative burden. They shall endeavour to identify and prioritisefor future development, eGovernment projects which, over the following yearswill contribute most to the reduction of administrative burdens, especially forSMEs.