§ Mr. MacleanTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the measures currently planned to be taken, pursuant to the enactment of Common Position (EC) 8/1999 (1999/c 55/01), with particular reference to(a) recitals 8 and 16, (b) their costs and (c) data privacy. [75709]
§ Mr. KilfoyleI have been asked to reply.
The Common position is that adopted by the Telecommunications Council on 21 December 1998 on a series of guidelines, including the identification of projects of common interest, for trans-European networks for the electronic Interchange of Data between Administrations (IDA). IDA aims to achieve the most efficient and cost effective means of data interchange in support of European Community policies.
The Common position relates to a second phase of IDA that will run for five years from the point of adoption. The first phase ran from 1995–1997 and supported Community policies by the development of networks for the exchange of data related to subjects including agriculture, fisheries, health, statistics, employment and customs matters. The second phase is likely to continue work in some of these areas and other areas where Member States and the European Community identify the need for data interchange.
At this stage, there are no specific proposals on exchange of information related to Recitals 8 and 16 of the Common position text. The proposed budget for the IDA guidelines proposal is estimated as euro 38.5 million for the first three years of the programme.
Any work carried forward under IDA, will take full account of the sensitivity of the data to be passed across a network and the relevant data protection legislation. Appropriate security measures will be taken to protect sensitive data.