TAMIC investigates the feasibility and requirements of natural interfaces meant to greatly facilitate the access to administrative information, in particular when this information is heterogeneous and/or held at geographically dispersed sites. The project scenario envisages an information desk staffed by a clerk who is able to access multiple information sources, and with whom the end-user interacts. The clerk would then translate the user's enquiries into a form understood by the system. This approach would help overcome two major problems in current methods of accessing information handled by public services and utilities, namely fragmentation (different helpdesks deal with different domains) and lack of transparency (the relevant information can be difficult to retrieve through menu-based inquiries). State-of-the-art language technology can be adapted for use in such a human- and technology-mediated context. Moreover, users who are trained in relevant domains will be able to interact directly with the system, either from home or from the workplace. Potential users, that is administrations and public utilities, will be involved in each stage of the project, and the interest group set up within the project will allow different bureaucratic cultures and languages across Europe to be taken into account. Software houses and research centres make up the consortium.