Trans-European networks for the electronic interchange of data between administrations IDA II: guidelines and projects

The Council common position retains all or part of the 10 amendments proposed by the European Parliament at first reading. These amendments provide a clearer rationale of the decision, a better definition of the scope, a refinement of the political priorities, an improvement to both the structural and technical coherence of the IDA programme and increased transparency. The common position, while remaining in line with the objectives and content of the Commission proposal, makes changes which seek to respond to: - the need to ensure coordination between the IDA programme and the administrative sectors which it supports and between Community and national administrations, both at the level of the programme and at sectoral level; - the need to ensure technical and economic efficiency. The main changes made by the Council affect the following areas: - scope: the Council considered it useful to specify that any new measures should take into account work already under way in the existing Community or Member State programmes; a new recital was also inserted relating to the convergence of networks towards a common telematic interface; - definitions: the Council extended the definition of ?sectoral network? to include a set of services and applications; - projects of common interest: the Council deleted reference to the financial, technical and management resources needed for implementing projects, considering it unnecessary; - priorities: overall priority was given to projects which enhanced the economic viability of public administrations, EC institutions, Member States and the regions; - broad lines: a number of changes were made in order to clarify the conditions relating to the implementation of IDA projects and in particular to strengthen the role of the sectoral committees. The Council inserted a reference to anticipated costs and benefits and specified that the post-implementation review would include a cost-benefit analysis; - Community financial contribution: the Council specified that the Community should only contribute to the costs of IDA projects by direct grants in exceptional circumstances and that any funding after completion of the implementation phase should be in accordance with the comitology procedure in the proposed decision. It also stated that projects which are already funded by the Community should not benefit from financial resources provided for by the IDA programme. Finally, Member States should bear the cost incurred by their own implementation of IDA projects and services; - implementation: it was specified that the IDA work programme includes a breakdown of expenditure by project for the previous years; - other sectoral networks: with a view to ensuring consistency of other sectoral networks with IDA projects, the Council has made provision for a detailed yearly report on the implementation of this provision, including information on any user requirements that prevent other sectoral networks from making use of generic services; - committee procedure: the Council has replaced the IIa committee procedure proposed by the Commission by a IIb committee procedure. - review and evaluation: the evaluation period has been set at two years; - entry into force: the duration of the decision is limited to five years from its entry into force; - Annex: the Annex has been reworded and projects of common interest are clearly defined.�