Parliamentary Assembly: Recommendation on Information and Communications Technologies

IRIS 1997-7:1/1

Isabel Schnitzer

European Audiovisual Observatory

On 23 June 1997, the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly adopted a recommendation on the scientific and technological aspects of the new information and communications technologies.

The Assembly stresses the necessity to bridge the gap it considers to be existing between "the high level of development of the new information and communication technologies and the society's readiness for them". In order to do so, it recommends the Committee of Ministers to analyse its work programme, thereby taking into account the changes brought about by the new information and communication technologies (ICT). Moreover, it encourages the Committee to support the work of the European Ministerial Conference on Mass Media Policy to be held in Thessaloniki on 11 - 12 December with regard to ICT as well as to devote efforts to the harmonisation of the relevant legislation on a European and international level.

The recommendation includes measures aimed at facilitating general access to all ICT-services. Amongst these range the Assembly's suggestion to implement fiscal measures, to foster interoperability between networks by striving for international cooperation with regard to standardisation and to encourage the development of digital technologies and broadband networks.

The Assembly furthermore dedicates a substantial part of its recommendation to measures aimed at encouraging research in the field of ICT. These include research activities intended to develop specific technologies for protecting privacy (which is of particular importance with respect to encrypted services), as well as research activities in the field of real-time, large-scale simulation and visualisation technologies, virtual presence technologies and super-intelligent networks.