European Commission: Communication on the Information Society and Development

IRIS 1997-9:1/1

Ad van Loon

European Audiovisual Observatory

On 30 June 1997, the European Commission published a Communication to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the role of the European Union in regard to The Information Society and Development.

In the document, the Commission proposes to take up a position that is strongly conducive to the development of the information society in the developing countries of the world and to include this dimension in its general co-operation policy with these countries.

The actions proposed involve the existing co-operation mechanisms which will, where appropriate, be applied to the dialogue, awareness campaigns, the definition of appropriate policies, the development and interconnection of information infrastructures, the provision of training, the distribution of applications and the development of their contents. These activities will be managed under regional action plans which will ensure the coherence of Community action and synergy with action by the Member States, and provide a basis for concertation with international organisations.

With this approach, the Commission believes to provide the framework within which the EU and its Member States can play an active role as a bridge between the industrialised countries and the developing countries, contribute to translating into practice the participation of the developing countries in the emerging information society and shape it in such a way that each one of them can participate in it.