EU wants to ensure smooth data exchange between governments The European Parliament and Council have adopted the second phase of the Interchange of Data between Administrations (IDA) programme, covering guidelines for trans-European networks, as well as a series of actions and measures aimed at ensuring the interoperability of, and acc... The European Parliament and Council have adopted the second phase of the Interchange of Data between Administrations (IDA) programme, covering guidelines for trans-European networks, as well as a series of actions and measures aimed at ensuring the interoperability of, and access to, trans-European networks for the electronic interchange of data between administrations in the EU. Among the measures will be support for economic and monetary union in the EU, leading to a common telematic interface between EU and Member States' administrations in this field. To achieve this, measures will be implemented through horizontal actions, which will be written into the IDA work programme. These will include feasibility studies and demonstrations, and the establishment of expert working groups. A total of 33.1 million euro will be allocated to these measures between 1998 and 2000. The renewed guidelines include the identification of projects of common interest for the trans-European networks for the IDA programme. The guidelines also outline the rules for allocation of EU funding and interaction with other networks. They allocate a budget of 38.5 million euro to work in this area between 1998 and 2000. These activities of the IDA programme will also be open to countries from the European Economic Area (Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein), and the associated countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Cyprus, depending on each country's individual agreements with the EU. Further information on the IDA programme may be found on the Web, at: http://www.ispo.cec.be/ida/ida.html
