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Report of the Austrian Federal Government Working Group

Vienna, April 1997

Table of contents

 1 Executive Summary 

1.1.1 The economic and social developments of recent years have been very closely bound up with the utilisation of (new) information and communications technologies. Our continued progression from an industrial to an information society that attaches ever greater importance to the existing scope for obtaining, storing, processing, transmitting and using information will require us to perceive the opportunities and the hazards and to play an active part in fashioning developments by seizing the appropriate political initiative. By setting up the Information Society Working Group, composed of more than 350 experts in the fields of state administration, business and science, the Austrian Federal Government has acquired valuable insights that will help it to formulate an Austrian approach to the information society. The present Report outlines fundamental objectives and terms of reference and elucidates steps to which priority has been accorded. The next stages of the process must include deepening the social dialogue at every level and supplementing the planned measures drawn up by the individual ministries in an overall Action Plan. 

1.2.1 The term "information society" denotes a process by which information and communications in changing guises are permeating every area of working and private life. The acceleration of technical developments in the telecommunications field necessitates several fundamental decisions for the future, notably in such fields as telework. Access to information and the dependable provision of basic telecommunications services as a means of safeguarding regional development and addressing the vital communications needs of every social group are gaining in importance. This poses the question: "What does Universal Service mean?" Telecommunications policy itself emerges as a key policy area within which certain reforms are called for. Every member state of the European Union (EU) is thus amending its telecommunications laws. This becomes all the more understandable when we consider a selection of EU directives on telecommunications. 

1.2.2 Scientific research makes a pioneering contribution to social developments. This is evident in the use of new services and applications made possible by information and communications technologies - one instance would be the generic link between Internet and Aconet. However, the technological aspect also comes to the fore in the diffusion of new technologies as exemplified by the simplifications in business communications brought about by electronic data interchange (EDI). That different areas are affected by endeavours in the field of innovation and technology policy is demonstrated in the context of information and mobility and more specifically the related implications for transport and environment policy. It is in education that the key decisions are being made on how sustainable and socially equitable the coming social developments will prove; so that networks for schools and education will have a specially significant part to play. The public sector administration - in the narrow sense - is another key area for new technological applications. This is apparent in the already implemented applications such as the IT systems in the judicial field, and in the initial steps towards "Electronically Assisted Democracy". That the public sector - in the broader sense - has a key role to play is evident in the services and applications that i.e. new forms of communications in the medical field make possible. Several facets of the issue of security through encryption illustrate the extent to which access to information and the provision of the requisite conditions for this access determine social and economic developments. 

1.3.1 Austria's business environment underwent radical changes in the wake of the opening of Eastern Europe and this country's accession to the European Union. These changes harbour both opportunities and risks. An increase in international competition on the product markets and new forms of the division of labour and of partnership are making it necessary to adapt - in many cases even to reformulate - economic policy strategies if we are to safeguard longterm jobs and enhance Austria's attractiveness as a business location. Telecommunications and the use of information and communications technologies will assume ever more decisive importance in social and economic developments. This means, however, that telecommunications as the key infrastructural aspect of the information society are increasingly becoming the focus of the location issue. The principal targets here are: (i) to realise the growth potential of the telecommunications sector (in the narrower sense) and of upstream and downstream sectors; (ii) to boost the role of the telecommunications sector as a factor in the attractiveness of an industrial and service location; and (iii) to detect the opportunities and risks of the wider use of information and communications technologies in terms of social development. The primary objectives of the Federal Government therefore include: 

1.4.1 Telecommunications are emerging more and more as a key technology in economic and social development. Telecommunications networks and services provide the fundamental infrastructure for information and communications, for the provision of commodities and services, and for the performance of transactions and the consumption of information. A modernday telecommunications policy will focus on enlarging the availability, lowering the prices and enhancing the quality of this fundamental infrastructure. At the international level, it has become apparent that there are national economic advantages to be gained from the transition from a largely monopolistic structure to a competitive situation on the telecommunications markets. It is only logical, then, that the liberalisation of market access (deregulation) constitutes an important element in telecommunications policy. Moreover, liberalisation also caters to the enormous advances that technology is making in this field. Conversely, however, regulatory measures are necessary to counteract various areas in which market forces fail to work efficiently in the process of deregulation. The Federal Government's primary objectives in the formulation of its telecommunications policy are therefore: 

1.5.1 In the field of research and university education, the complexity of the development and application of new, multimedia forms of information and communications is apparent in a number of challenges. Scientific research, defined as an attempt to obtain knowledge through systematic and methodical approaches, has notably dynamic ties with social and economic developments. The acquisition of new knowledge depends on these dynamic ties and becomes apparent not least in the selection and intensity of the treatment of research topics. However, scientists in a wide variety of disciplines also assume the role of pioneers where the development of new knowledge and technologies and their immediate utilisation - often in "laboratory conditions" - are concerned. Moreover, the research sector as a repository of technological expertise and as a transmitter of scientific knowledge and skills fulfils important social functions by providing intersectoral problemsolving capacities and university education. It is therefore necessary to bring the Federal Government's scientific and university policy into line with the implications posed by the emergence of the information society as they relate to the (public) research sector. In terms of the Federal Government's objectives, the following conclusions may be drawn: 

1.6.1 Safeguarding the innovative capacity of enterprises operating in Austria and utilising innovative products and services are the pillars of an economic policy that, in seeking to maintain its options for the future, sets its sights on enhancing the performance of the country's economy, improving the outlook for employment, and strengthening the country's competitive standing as a business location. Innovation and technology policy with its various avenues thus needs to be implemented as a means of improving the prevailing conditions for adequate  companybased research and development, paying due regard to the specifics of the Austrian economy. Information and communications technologies and the related services and applications are notable for their aboveaverage innovation rates and growth potentials on the one hand, and on the other hand for the fact that their utilisation by commercial users in every industrial and service sector is becoming an increasingly important competitive  factor. Furthermore, the use of information and communications technologies in the public administration sector (in the context of sustainable budgetary consolidation) assumes a double function in affording greater efficiency in the handling of administrative tasks and in providing improved "customeroriented" public-sector services gauged to the real needs of the general public. The Federal Government's objectives within the context of its innovation and technology policy will include: 

1.7.1 Where the education system is concerned, the ever wider utilisation of information and communications technologies in every area of working and private life poses a substantial challenge in several respects. The definition and the implementation of the general syllabus must be modified to take account of the need to convey new knowledge and skills. The technical rudiments of handling information and communications technologies are increasingly emerging as a fourth aspect of "cultural literacy" alongside reading, writing and arithmetic. Dealing with the new media on an emancipated basis presupposes a comprehensive understanding of the media. The public education system will, however, also have to cater to the new background conditions for education and further education by providing life-long learning. Moreover, the future use of information and communications technologies and new media in the educational field is a special challenge in itself. Most particularly, the targeted utilisation of new teaching aids like learning programmes or specific telematics applications will necessitate the modification of the existing principles governing the transmission of knowledge and will alter the role of the teacher and the applicable qualification requirements. At the same time, the use of the new media and technologies in the classroom will substantially depend on the availability of the appropriate basic equipment (hardware and software, local network systems and network access). In the context of libraries and archives, educational considerations are supplemented by considerations of democratic and cultural policy (for instance: libraries as facilities providing access to the cultural heritage; the longterm archiving of traditional published material and electronic publications). With a view to ensuring a sustainable and socially equitable development, the Federal Government sees the most urgent objectives as: 

1.8.1 Characteristic features of several functions of the state administration are: informationintensive procedures, growing quantities of information needing to be processed, and a high degree of division of labour. In view of the above, it is evident that the use of information and communications technologies is a key factor in the supply of efficient and effective services on the part of the state administration. Ever greater importance also attaches to the wider use of information and communications technologies to assist administrative tasks as a means of achieving sustainable consolidation of the federal budget. New telecommunications services and applications afford wider scope for greater efficiency and productivity in complex organisational procedures and must therefore be viewed as key factors in an administrative reform programme. Electronic communications within the state administration are steadily advancing from being an exception to being the rule. Moreover, modern telecommunications can also facilitate communications and access to information and hence interaction between the administration (public authorities) on the one hand and the public sector (enterprises and private individuals) on the other hand. Information and communications technologies, then, help to improve the service aspects of public-sector functions. The Federal Government's primary objectives therefore include: 

1.9.1 Apart from the public administration in the strict sense of the term, public social services constitute an appropriate area for employing information and communications technologies. For reasons of social and economic considerations, special priority attaches here to improving standards with regard to (i) customer orientation, (ii) transparency of performance, and (iii) the effective utilisation of the available resources. The complexity of task allocation amongst the various bodies involved and the steadily growing volume of information needing to be processed have in recent years necessitated wider use of information and communications technologies in such areas as public health, the employment service, and the social insurance schemes. As this process continues, it raises a number of issues with regard to the transition to the information society. The most notable of these is as follows: the wider use of technology must be justifiable as an approach to increasing cost-effectiveness within a given public authority and as a means of enhancing the availability and quality of the services and commodities provided (from the customer's point of view). The fundamental political decisions must take account first and foremost of staff (re)training needs, the exploitation of rationalisation benefits, and specific data protection requirements. In view of this, the Federal Government's primary objectives include: 

1.10.1 Precisely because information and communications technologies and new multimedia networks and applications are spreading ever more rapidly, the issue of the relationship between technology and law needs to be examined from at least two viewpoints. On the one hand, technological advances pose the question of the need to amend or enlarge the pertinent legal provisions. On the other hand, new information and communications technologies often serve as an aid to (improving) the enforcement of the law. If the vision of the information society is to encompass the development of society towards greater openness and democratic strength, then we must take advantage of the scope for improvement that exists in both the technological and the judicial fields. Information and communications technologies that are being utilised ever more frequently at present or will be utilised in the foreseeable future will probably necessitate legal amendments in the medium term, especially in judicial fields in which information plays a key role. We will thus have to rethink not only the provisions relating to access to information (via new media) and to the use of information (data protection and protection of privacy, exploitation of copyright material, prosecution for offences under the media law etc.) but also to (commercial) transactions carried out via multimedia networks (in terms of, for instance, consumer protection). The Federal Government will pursue the following principal objectives: 

2.1.1 Information and communications technologies have made it possible for new forms of information and communication progressively to permeate every area of working and private life. This has marked the onset of social and economic changes that have been the subject of debate in political, scientific and public circles since the fifties under such headings as the information age, postindustrial society and the information society. This repertoire of designations reflects the current transition from the industrial to the information society. Depending on the time frame and the perceived impact, this transition tends to be viewed as being either evolutionary or revolutionary. In the light of the rapid increase in the use of information and communications technologies as a means of obtaining, storing, processing, transmitting, disseminating and utilising information, this development will tend to appear more revolutionary than evolutionary - particularly if we confine our selves to the technological advances of the last decade. It is, therefore, all the more important that we perceive the opportunities and the hazards that the information society entails, but also that we take full advantage of the scope for fashioning the future by implementing the appropriate political decisions. 

2.1.2 There are numerous programmes for establishing comprehensive information structures and developing new applications whose goal is to make an active contribution to the transition to the information society. Such programmes have been drawn up by individual countries but also under the auspices of joint international initiatives. In Austria too various parties have seized the initiative and accepted the challenge of the information society, not least because the new technologies and media are conducive to a decentralised approach. By establishing a working group on the information society, the Federal Government set out to confront the pressing issues of the opportunities and risks intrinsic to the information society, the scope for channelling developments, and the modification of the prevailing background conditions. Composed of more than 350 experts from the fields of business, science and administration, the working group compiled key perceptions for an Austrian strategy on the information society. 

2.1.3 The present report of the Austrian Federal Government's Working Group on the Information Society pursues two fundamental objectives: 

First, the report brings together in a single publication the results of the ten consultative groups which were convened in the summer of 1995; and on the basis of the expert meetings it draws conclusions on an Austrian strategy for entering the information society. It focuses here on formulating fundamental objectives and terms of reference for strategic (longterm) decisionmaking on the part of the Federal Government. However, it also lists urgent measures that have been or are about to be implemented. To supplement the lists of measures that have already been drawn up by individual ministries, the Federal Government will issue a detailed action plan.    

Second, this report sets out to convey the complexity of the topic "information society" within the specifically Austrian context. The individual expert meetings repeatedly stressed that both the opportunities and the hazards inherent in the increasing use of information and communications technologies necessitate a dialogue at every level of society. This dialogue should not simply point to the chances and possibilities but should also quite frankly discuss the intrinsic problems. It is only on the strength of the transparency of a candid public debate going beyond the scope of an expert meeting that we can ensure that the available options and scope for action are actually utilised as Austria enters the information society. 

2.2.1 The report has been structured as follows: 

Chapter 3 ("Business Location and Social Security") deals with changes in the economic background conditions, the progressive spread of information and communications technologies, and the increasing significance of a modern telecommunications infrastructure as a factor in economic and social development. The chapter also focuses on the topics Teleworking [Special Topic: The Future of (Tele)Work] and Universal Service [Special Topic: The Meaning of Universal Service]. Finally, some general conclusions for economic and social policy are drawn.  

Chapter 4 ("Telecommunications: Linchpin of the Information Society") examines the changing requirements for telecommunications policy in an environment determined by increasing competition. International developments necessitate reforms [Special Topic: Selected EU Directives on Telecommunications]. The deregulation of market access calls for new forms of regulation which will ultimately require amendments to the applicable legislation. 

Chapter 5 ("Scientific Research and Universities") is devoted to the (public) research sector. The information society itself constitutes an interdisciplinary research topic, and public research institutes have a pioneering role to play in the utilisation of new technologies, for instance with regard to research networks [Special Topic: Internet and Aconet]. Universities and specialised colleges as repositories of technical expertise and as training facilities have a key role to play in the future development of society. 

Chapter 6 ("Innovation and Technology") points to the need for the Federal Government's technology policy to take action with regard both to the development (innovation) and to the diffusion of information and communications technologies. This chapter also elucidates the spread of modern communications services [Special Topic: EDI Simplifies Business Communications] in the context of greater competition and new applications in transport [Special Topic: Information and Mobility] in terms of transport and environment policy. 

Chapter 7 ("Education") examines the enlargement of educational targets with a view to conveying new knowledge and skills as the prerequisite for the information society. It goes beyond this, however, by explaining the requirements for using the new media and technologies in the educational sector [Special Topic: Networks for Schools and Education] and the adjustment of the entire education system to accommodate the needs of lifelong learning. 

Chapter 8 ("State Administration") enumerates the opportunities for using information and communications technologies to enhance standards of efficiency in the way complex administrative procedures are organised and carried out. Modern telecommunications are one component in an administrative reform programme designed to assist the consolidation of the federal budget. At the same time, standards of "customer orientation" can be improved by facilitating access to information and devising new forms of interaction between the private sector and the administration [Special Topic IT Applications in the Judicial Field]. The new electronic media also have a certain role to play in the development of democratic procedures [Special Topic: Democracy and Electronics]. 

Chapter 9 ("Health and Public Social Services") goes beyond the scope of information and communications technologies utilisation and administrative functions in the strict sense. The public health system is an important area for the utilisation of information and communications technologies because its work is communication-intensive and because social and economic policy considerations attach priority to innovation [Special Topic: Communications in the Health Sector]. For public social services in general it is true to say that the use of information and communications technologies helps to achieve rationalisation targets and at the same time improves consulting services and provides customers with wider access to information, thus raising standards of customer orientation. 

Finally, Chapter 10 ("The Law and (Multimedia) Networks") is devoted to legal topics directly related to the provisions governing the use of information and new forms of communication (media, protection of privacy, protection of intellectual property, consumer protection, diffusion of material liable to prosecution). In the context of international developments and technological changes, jurisdiction and jurisprudence are faced with special challenges [Special Topic: Encryption for Security].  

A Lists of the established working groups and of basic written contributions and reports can be found in Annexes 1 and 2.

3.1.1 In recent years it has become apparent that Austria's business environment has undergone radical changes in the wake of the opening of Eastern Europe and this country's accession to the European Union. These changes entail both opportunities and risks. An increase in international competition on the product markets, new forms of the division of labour and of partnership, and to some extent the transfer of some economic policy decisions to EU bodies are making it necessary to adapt - in many cases even to reformulate - economic policy strategies if we are to safeguard long-term jobs and enhance Austria's attractiveness as a business location. Telecommunications and the use of information and communications technologies will assume ever more decisive importance as factors in social and economic developments. This means, however, that telecommunications as the key infrastructural aspect of the information society is increasingly becoming the focus of the location issue. The principal targets here are:

3.1.2 The importance of the information and communication sector in Austria is reflected in its market volume. Information processing reports sales in excess of 60 billion Schillings, telecommunications has a turnover in the same order. The telecommunications sector alone directly employs between 33,000 and 42,000 persons - depending on how it is delineated. The principal employers here are traditionally the Post Administration (PTA) as a telecommunications supplier (with approximately 19,000 employees) and the telecommunications industry (approximately 12,000 to 14,000 employees). New suppliers have hitherto gained a share of no more than about 6% (in terms of both sales and employees) but dependably record above-average growth figures. If we apply a broad definition of the term "information service" to include various media like radio and television, then this sector employed approximately 122,000 persons in 1991 (3.9% of the national workforce). Given the above-average growth rates in this sector, the information services (as defined above) are likely to be employing 158,000 persons by the year 2001 (4.8% of the workforce). Source: Austrian Academy of Sciences, Institute for the Assessment of the Impact of Technology. 

3.1.3 In attempting to estimate the impact of the wider use of information and communications technologies in the creation (and/or supply) of commodities and services, we are dealing with a large number of uncertain factors. These can result in divergent assessments. Broadly speaking, we can assume that the use of information and communications technologies triggers process innovations which in turn lead to higher productivity. Substitution effects between old and new products can also arise. This can lead to a short term drop in the employment level. In the medium term a new product range can open up new areas of employment. Most notably in the wake of new information-related services (business and legal services, travel agencies, training facilities, and multimedia production, marketing, maintenance and consulting), employment can be expected to rise by 3% per annum in this sector. It is not possible reliably to assess whether this growth in employment will in the medium term offset the jobs lost through rationalisation measures in other sectors of the economy. Another factor which must be considered is that telecommunications make it easier to move both tasks and results across national borders. The wide divergences in wage levels and statutory working conditions are creating ever greater incentives for enterprises to farm out work in this way. 

3.1.4 Given international developments in individual market segments and the specific conditions pertaining to Austria, it will take concerted endeavours in the coming years to make good the existing structural backlog in the telecommunications field if the available growth potential is to be exploited. The most important generator of momentum, not only in this sector, is currently the PTA (public telephone company), which invests some 18 billion Schillings annually. A new competitive context is already perceptible internationally, and with new suppliers and operators gaining access to the market, the situation is also likely to change in Austria (see also Chapter 4 in particular). The main thrust of the reform concerns the reorganisation and/or restructuring of the public network operators and the liberalisation of market access, from terminal units, systems and equipment to services and networks. Simultaneously with the advent of competitive conditions, the supply side is undergoing a process of internationalisation, and we are seeing partnerships and alliances between public network operators and enterprises which have hitherto not been involved in the telecommunications sector (media, energy supply companies, banks etc.). Safeguarding the country's future as a business location therefore also means ensuring dependable conditions for planning new investments and seizing the available development opportunities in such growth segments as mobile communications, telematic services, telecommunications software and hardware, and information content for multimedia applications. 

3.1.5 The more widely telecommunications services and products are used in the production of commodities and services, the more important the quality of the telecommunications infrastructure becomes as a business location factor. Telecommunications serve as a management tool in the organisation of procurement systems and production, in the monitoring of markets, in the acquisition and processing of information, and in marketing and distribution. Thus, the utilisation of modern telecommunications services ranks as a production factor that triggers product and process innovations and distinguishes one company's goods and services from those of the competition. If telecommunications services are widely available at low prices - to name but the two most important features - they could help to offset the structural backlog with which Austria's business sector has to contend; this is all the more the case because the utilisation of telecommunications is one way to make good technological arrears faster, to improve the range of product-related services, partially to counteract the drawbacks of the Austrian industrial sector's medium-size enterprise structure, and to facilitate Vienna's emergence as a pivotal base for Austrian and multinational enterprises. 

3.1.6 Large areas of the range of telecommunications services in Austria are currently being provided by the PTA. With the advent of competitive conditions - and this trend is becoming apparent at the international level - it is probable that innovative telecommunications services will become more widely available. Provided that the appropriate regulatory measures are implemented, competitive conditions can result in a drop in price levels and the modification of the pricing structure (variable and fixed price components) to meet certain cost and demand conditions. The quality of the services supplied becomes a competitive factor not least because the suppliers are seeking, by enhancing the quality of their services, to encourage consumer loyalty. This implies a further requirement of a modern business location policy: restraint in the transition from monopoly to competition. The background conditions should leave a certain amount of scope for determining individual factors, and this should be used to provide the requisite diversity and quality of traditional and innovative telecommunications services and their low cost. 

3.1.7 The availability of a wider range of innovative telecommunications infrastructures and services is the prerequisite for new applications whose great importance extends beyond purely business considerations. For example, whole new forms of work become possible (cf. Special Topic: The Future of (Tele)Work). Just one of the implications is that companies need to adjust their organisational structures accordingly (e.g. organisational decentralisation and transition to flatter hierarchies). Over and above this, there is a large number of social and labour issues to be considered and dealt with to prevent a deterioration of the situation of employees - the erosion of employee rights in conjunction with telework. This does not necessarily mean that a whole body of new regulations needs to be drawn up specifically to cover telework. It would suffice to modify individual legal provisions and add these to company contracts or collective agreements. Certainly, a number of fundamental issues relating to the legal provisions governing telework needs to be clarified - for instance, the implications of transforming employment in the main company site into telework, right of retirement, coverage of costs, expenditure in connection with telework, required equipment for telework locations etc. 

3.1.8 The structural changes triggered by the wider utilisation of information and communications technologies in business also affect the area of professional qualifications and will thus necessitate the appropriate political decisions on training and further training (cf. Chapter 7). On the one hand it appears likely that the use of information and communications technologies and (indirectly) the impact of rationalisation will make several routine and auxiliary jobs redundant. Those affected must be given the appropriate opportunities for retraining with the goal of acquiring higher qualifications. On the other hand, new professional profiles are created for information and consulting staff in connection with the generating, structuring and management of information. Certain technical business qualifications and information and media-related qualifications will be in greater demand both as specialist qualifications in their own right and in conjunction with existing job profiles. This too will require fundamental decisions in the field of education policy. Where more sweeping changes occur in required qualifications, knowledge and skills, it will be necessary to supplement the available facilities by providing scope for permanent retraining and further training on the lines of life-long learning (cf. particularly Chapter 7.1.3). 

3.1.9 The technological changes triggered by the new information and communications technologies are closely linked with social developments. As access to information and the opportunity to make use of the new technologies become increasingly important factors, politicians are called upon to take account of the needs of a wide range of social groups and groupings. Several issues related specifically to women arise here, for instance. Broadly speaking, women are underrepresented in innovative technological fields as in scientific areas as a whole, and there are palpable gender-specific discrepancies in choice of profession and training. It will be necessary to make a closer study of the correlations between the individual contributory factors and to examine possible strategies for reducing these disparities. Especially for women, new forms of work (such as home-based telework) entail both special opportunities and special hazards. Here as elsewhere, technology is far from gender-unspecific, and those implications of telework which relate specially to women must be taken into account. The field of qualification, training and further training as a whole constitutes one of the key avenues to development towards the information society. Long-term social strategies will have to take this as their starting-point if they are to promote trends which address the needs of all social groups. 

3.1.10 The utilisation of information and communications technologies and the availability of the requisite infrastructures and services as elements of a business location policy also raise issues relating to regional development. Making a relatively advanced telecommunications infrastructure available in urban agglomerations but at the same time neglecting less populous peripheral regions would exacerbate the disparity between town and country and would therefore also accelerate the rural depopulation process. Moreover, the proximity of educational and research centres and good travel connections are not the sole considerations in the choice of investment locations. The availability of telecommunications and communications costs are becoming increasingly important criteria. The concept of the universal service (cf. Special Topic: The Meaning of Universal Service) takes account not only of the social but also of the regional implications of a basic telecommunications infrastructure. On the supply side, after all, regional disparities are reflected in divergences in the cost-effectiveness of the services provided principally in terms of purchasing power and utilisation rate, population density or the existence of major consumers. In the light of the above, we cannot assume that management decisions on supply and price structure for infrastructure and communications services take adequate account of regional and social considerations. Political action is thus called for here. 

3.2.1 In the next few years Austria's transition to the information society will require fundamental decisions that, in formulating a modern, socially equitable location policy, unequivocally attach priority to the maintenance of existing jobs and the creation of new jobs. In this sense, then, the term information society can come to mean seizing the opportunities (and avoiding the hazards) that will help us to meet the challenges of the opening of Eastern Europe and Austria's accession to the European Union. The transition to the information society also entails structural changes that are not confined to economic and technological aspects. Political decision-making in this field must take account of the impact of technology on employment levels and qualification requirements in order to safeguard social security. 

3.2.2 The Federal Government is aware of the most important areas for action within the scope of social and economic policy and intends to pursue the following objectives in the measures which it adopts: 

 Even in the competitive conditions which will prevail in the future, Austrian suppliers of telecommunications services and networks should generate momentum for upstream and downstream sectors. Specially favourable background conditions will pertain in high-growth segments of the information and communications market, so that it is still possible to achieve increases both in the number of enterprises active in Austria and in the employment level (as a ratio of the national workforce). 

Where the availability and quality of traditional and innovative telecommunications service are concerned, Austria should boast an above-average level by comparison with the other European Union member states. A substantially low price level would enable information and communication services to permeate all areas of the economy.  

Despite wider utilisation of information and communications technologies and the market-oriented supply of telecommunications services, social security needs to be safeguarded. In particular, the scope for determining the manner in which the new technologies are made available should be used to maintain and/or improve working conditions. The spread of telework should also not be permitted to have a detrimental impact on specific working situations. Modifications to the existing facilities for training and further training and the supply of modern telecommunications services not only in urban agglomerations but also in rural and peripheral regions should have a beneficial effect on economic and social developments. 

3.2.3 Telecommunications have a specially significant role to play in the context of the information society and business location development. It is therefore logical that an effective and efficient location development strategy will be closely bound up with telecommunications policy (cf. Chapter 4). Formulating, monitoring and fine-tuning the background conditions on the markets will create the necessary prerequisites for investments and employment in this sector and will serve to improve the conditions for utilising new technologies and services. The effectiveness of the selected strategies and measures will depend on the degree to which they have been dovetailed with other policy areas, most notably research policy, technology policy and education policy in a broad sense (cf. Chapters 5, 6 and 7). The Federal Government's strategy takes account of the dynamic growth on the telecommunications markets and the social and economic opportunities and hazards inherent in the (consequent) utilisation of information and communications technologies. Under the auspices of a partnership arrangement between the public administration and private enterprise, the former will concentrate on creating market-oriented background conditions and the application of the requisite regulatory measures to the competitive situation, while private investments - as an adjunct to the investments by the publicly-owned PTA - should have the benefit of predictable planning conditions. 

3.2.4 Safeguarding social security will mean that the growth prospects for enterprises active on the Austrian market in high-growth segments like mobile communications, innovative telematics services, telecommunications hardware and software, information content for multimedia applications etc. must also imply growth on the employment front. At the same time it will be important to take advantage of the political scope for avoiding the social hazards entailed in the use of new technologies. The creation of the appropriate facilities for training and further training will be just as important as ensuring the availability of a basic communications infrastructure and service range on a regionally and socially equitable footing. 

3.3.1 Growth prospects within the Austrian information and communications sector, and hence the outlook for employment in this sector, depend to a substantial degree on investments in a modern telecommunications infrastructure and the range of related telecommunications services. In recent years the PTA has played a leading role as an infrastructure supplier, and its investment decisions have generated valuable momentum for Austrian industry. However, it has also become apparent that an enterprise which is organisationally part and parcel of the state administration is not wholly susceptible to being run on modern management lines. The new Postal Structure Act has split the old OPTV off from the federal budget and reorganised it as the PTA, which has given its management greater scope to make strategic decisions in such areas as partnerships, the refinancing of investments, improved earnings and new fields of business. Under the auspices of the Federal Government's telecommunications policy, major decisions will be made concerning (i) the liberalisation of market access, (ii) regulatory measures governing the creation of a competitive market, and (iii) regulatory measures to avoid the undesirable social and economic consequences of existing market structures and of foreseeable competitive conditions (cf. Chapter 4.3). 

3.3.2 The enlargement and expansion of the telecommunications infrastructure will and should in future be supplemented by private investments. The existing legislative provisions governing the supply of telecommunications networks and services leave too little scope for wider private involvement, although the tenders for a second GSM network have shown that Austrian and foreign companies are interested in supplying new services and products. For reasons of location policy, priority must be attached to drawing up new legislative provisions for the telecommunications sector (cf. Chapter 4.3.2). Ensuring fair competition between several suppliers will be one of the principal functions of a regulatory authority which is to be established (cf. Chapter 4.3.3). The exploitation of employment potential in the information and communications sector will be facilitated by the licensing and encouragement of new investments in the telecommunications infrastructure - for example, by the forthcoming granting of further licences in the field of mobile communications - and also by actions as provided for in the Federal Government's research and technology policies (cf. Chapters 5.3 and 6.3).  

3.3.3 Given the great and increasing importance of the availability, quality and cost of communications services as a location factor for industrial production and services, priority must be attached to steps to improve the range and utilisation conditions of telecommunications services and applications. Besides the appropriate adjustments and measures aimed at the (general) improvement of the background conditions for the establishing (or location) of innovative enterprises, telecommunications policy again constitutes the most important approach to widening the range and enlarging the utilisation of information and communications technologies. Over and above this, technological changes will necessitate modifications to the applicable legal provisions governing the utilisation of information (cf. Chapter 10). Thus, developments on the information services and multimedia markets depend on the copyright situation; while the legal provisions governing data protection and data security have an impact on the utilisation of new communications media for business transactions and the public response thereto. 

3.3.4 In the context of the Federal Government's business location policy, action in the fields of telecommunications and market regulation are major factors in maintaining and improving the prospects for regional  and social development. Proceeding from the concept of a universal service, a geographically and socially balanced basic telecommunications infrastructure and telecommunications services need to be made available. To this end and to ensure the sustained development of the universal service, the necessary prerequisites in social and other terms need to be ensured in the light of the increasing demand for information and communication in the information society (cf. Chapter 4). Money from the innovation and technology promotion scheme should be provided for research & development and for pilot projects likely to lower the costs of basic communications supplies where these are not profitable. Special account needs to be taken here of the implications for the user, notably in the course of technology impact assessment. 

3.3.5 In the case of new information and communication technology applications as they relate to the working world - most notably telework - it will be necessary to make a close study of developments and examine the spread of new forms of work and any shift in the balance of interests of the parties concerned. Where necessary, steps will have to be taken to safeguard the legitimate protective needs of teleworkers and to avoid a distortion of the competitive situation (resulting from the deprival of teleworkers' rights as enshrined in social and labour legislation) by amending the applicable legal basis. At present telework - where it does not exclusively relate to home telework - appears to have distinct advantages for both employers and employees. As far as it is possible to judge at the moment, telework also appears to bring distinct benefits in the fields of social, transport and environment policy. Pilot projects and more extensive studies will make it possible to reach a more reliable assessment. Solutions for general sociopolitical problems arising in connection with quasi-employment status (problems not peculiar to telework) have been devised.

4.1.1 Telecommunications - in the purely technical sense as the relaying of information over distances by means of transmission technologies - is playing an ever more important role as a key technological factor in economic and social development (cf. Chapter 3). Telecommunications networks and services are assuming increasing significance as  the underlying infrastructure for information and communication; all the more so in view of the growing importance of numerous   telecommunications services and applications in the provision of commodities and services, the performance of transactions and the utilisation of information resources. The thrust of a modern telecommunications policy will focus on enlarging the scope of availability, lowering prices and enhancing the quality of this infrastructure. Inevitably, this process will imply key steps in the transition to the information society. 

4.1.2 Since the eighties there has been a growing awareness that the transition from a preponderantly monopoly-based situation to a competitive situation in the telecommunications sector offers benefits in national economic terms (enhanced efficiency standards, location assets etc.). The liberalisation of market access (deregulation) is thus an important component in telecommunications policy, taking into account as it does the rapid technological advances which have contributed to necessitating adjustments in the level and structure of telecommunications costs and facilitating market access for other suppliers. For instance: the advent of digital technology has simplified network management; new transmission media and technologies (glass fibre, satellite links, ATM etc.) make transmission costs less directly dependent on distance and transmission capacity; mobile radio access technologies and wireless local loops and the technical upgrading of wide-band cable networks (cable TV) give new suppliers improved cost and competitive conditions even where subscriber connections are concerned. These technological developments mean that it is in principle possible for new telecommunications suppliers to break into the market, which relativises arguments in favour of a "natural monopoly" in the field of telecommunications networks and services. 

4.1.3 The abolition of the monopoly situation (for reasons of economic policy) and the deregulation of market access (for an interim period at least, until true competitive conditions have started to make themselves felt) will require the enlargement of regulatory measures gauged to the specific conditions pertaining to this sector. Analogous situations abroad have shown, for instance, that a substantial period of time elapses between the formal introduction of market competition and the emergence of truly competitive conditions. During this interim period, the drop in price levels and the enlargement of the available product range are confined to partial aspects of the telecommunications sector and do not necessarily correspond to the objectives pursued by the declared telecommunications policy. Most notably in the infrastructure field, enterprises which formerly held a monopoly position tend to hang on to their dominance of the market to the extent that, irrespective of the advent of other suppliers, they can more or less unilaterally dictate both prices and the product range. At the same time, equitable competitive conditions can be seriously impaired if, for instance, the conditions established for network interconnection are discriminatory. In many cases it will be necessary to introduce regulatory checks through prices and applicable conditions in order to prevent this market domination being exercised at the expense of the consumer and new competitors. 

4.1.4 Some degree of sector-specific regulation will, however, have to be retained even in advanced competitive conditions. This regulation will also assume new functions. For example, an increase in the number of suppliers on the market will account for a number of new regulatory functions. The allocation and definition and the monitoring of utilisation rights of scarce resources like frequencies are increasingly complex tasks requiring regulation. In the allocation of frequencies, for instance, it is important to take account of the fact that some forms of utilisation (wireless local loop, cordless telephones, mass communication services, certain forms of mobile communication like telephone, data services, paging systems etc.) may be in competition, while a large number of potential service suppliers calls for transparent and non-discriminatory allocation. In the same way, the foreseeable enlargement of the number of telephone service suppliers will necessitate drawing up national number plans, the non-discriminatory allocation of subscriber numbers, and steps to ensure simple access to the relevant directories. 

4.1.5 At all events, whether one supplier (or more) dominates the market or whether completely free competition prevails, a certain degree of sector-specific regulation is called for. The purpose of such regulatory measures will be: on the one hand to fulfil the above-mentioned functions in terms of managing frequencies and numbers, and defining, licensing and monitoring compliance with technical standards (e.g. permits and model licences for telecommunications systems and terminal units); and on the other hand to prevent individual suppliers from distorting the competitive balance but over and above this to implement such measures as will ensure the availability of at least those telecommunications services and networks as are deemed desirable by regional and social policy decisions (cf. Chapter 3.1.6f.). A forward-looking telecommunications policy will go beyond the scope of a fundamental definition of "universal service" in taking into account the related financing problems, most notably where the provision of a universal service is not profitable. For instance, (dominant) suppliers could be required to fulfil special obligations, while compensation could be provided for the performance of unprofitable services in a manner that does not impair the competitive balance (for example from a fund maintained by payments within the sector). 

4.1.6 International developments have a substantial impact on a country's national telecommunications policy. This is especially true of the member states of the European Union. The realisation of the European single market for commodities and services is the premise and the primary objective of an active European telecommunications policy, which envisages the gradual opening of the individual market segments (for instance through regulation and technical standards). Since the publication of a Green Paper on telecommunications in 1987, first telecommunications terminal units and then the other segments have been opened to competition. The privileged rights enjoyed by public network operators in the services sector are confined to voice telephony via fixed networks (to January 1, 1998). Where (physical) networks are concerned, the new deadline of July 1, 1998 has been set for alternative network operators (first and foremost energy supply companies and railways) to be granted access to the market. The key steps towards harmonisation and deregulation are enshrined in a number of directives and recommendations (cf. Special Topic: Selected EU Directives on Telecommunications). At the same time the individual member  states of the EU will have to carry out (in part sweeping) amendments to the applicable legislation. 

4.1.7 Substantial changes to the prevailing legislative conditions will also be necessary in Austria, although the 1993 Telecommunications Act (Fernmeldegesetz 1993, FG 93) implemented a number of important initial reforms (the organisational separation of the network operator and the telecommunications authority). Nevertheless, the FG 93 enshrined several privileges for the PTA as the public network operator in connection with the provisions governing the erection and operation of transmission lines / networks. Certain exceptions - broadly speaking, internal networks operated by federal and provincial authorities, by the railways, by energy supply enterprises, and networks within the bounds of private property - and the imposition of permit requirements limit the number of network operators. The cable radio and television networks constitute a further exception. However, these are purely distribution networks for radio and television transmission and are governed by the regulations applicable to broadcasting. Moreover, public speech transmission for third parties in real time (voice telephony) is a reserved service, and the FG 93 again allows suppliers other than the PTA only in exceptions (mobile telephone systems). 

4.1.8 As a consequence of the applicable legislative provisions, the telecommunications infrastructure in Austria is to all intents and purposes confined to the PTA. However, several enterprises meet some of the key criteria for gaining rapid access to the market in that they have at their disposal their own telecommunications networks for internal use and/or have acquired the property or rights for erecting and operating telecommunications networks. These enterprises are mainly railway systems (Austrian Federal Railways, private railway companies, municipal transport companies), road management systems, energy supply enterprises (National Grid and special energy generation companies, provincial and municipal energy utilities), operators of cable television networks, and enterprises operating other forms of network infrastructure (district heating networks, gas and water supply systems, pipelines etc.). The constraints applicable to any widening of the range of suppliers are in part technical. For example, the operators of cable television networks have access to the consumers, but their networks are not interactive (which is a pre-requisite for voice telephony systems and data transmission services), and their local networks are not linked. Conversely, energy supply enterprises and the Austrian Federal Railways, for instance, have extensive interconnected networks which would in principle meet the requirements for rental transmission lines, but these networks are not linked up with individual households and companies. The most important constraints for the above-mentioned (potential) suppliers of telecommunications infrastructures are enshrined in the existing telecommunications regulations, and these need deregulating. At the same time the whole sector should be newly regulated, particularly to prevent cross-subsidisation (between company divisions), which distorts competitive conditions. 

4.1.9 The planned enlargement of the range of available services and the introduction of a competitive market are not the only factors that necessitate a reform of the legal provisions governing the telecommunications sector. But they are factors that illustrate the problem particularly clearly - in such issues as, for instance, allocating property rights in a non-discriminatory manner, merging networks on an equitable basis, or ensuring comprehensive basic services. It will moreover be necessary to bring such regulations into line with other policy areas and legal fields (cf. Chapter 10). For example, the advent of multimedia services via Internet, cable television networks or other channels blurs the distinctions between individual communications (telecommunications) and mass communications (media). If radio frequencies are required for broadcasting purposes, the assignment of these frequencies has implications not only for telecommunications policy but also for media policy. To encourage competition in telecommunications market segments that have hitherto been dominated by monopoly structures, the sector's technical specifics mean that it will no longer be enough merely to apply the general competitive regulations. The conditions of use and of access as applicable to telecommunications infrastructure need to be regulated in such a way as to enable (multimedia) information and communications services to be enlarged and their range to be extended. Furthermore, given the ever increasing degree of interactivity between the parties concerned, more and more importance attaches to the regulations protecting individual privacy (data protection). These regulations must be incorporated in the legal provisions for the telecommunications sector. 

4.2.1 Telecommunications policy makes a significant contribution to paving the way for the information society. Technological and international developments have necessitated amendments to the legislation pertaining to the telecommunications field. The focus here is on facilitating and encouraging the transition from a monopoly to competitive conditions where the fundamental infrastructure is concerned and on safeguarding a broad and diverse range of services and applications based on this infrastructure. Nevertheless, deregulation of the market means that - especially during the transitional stage - new forms and channels of sector-specific regulation will be needed. In principle, though, this regulation should be kept to a practicable minimum.  

4.2.2 The Federal Government, perceiving the principal challenges to its telecommunications policy, is gauging its activities to the following objectives:  

The construction and enlargement of the network infrastructure and the services based on it should in future be carried out in conditions of equitable competition among existing and new tendering companies. Statutory licensing procedures and special regulations should comply with the principle of confinement to the bare minimum required for effective and efficient regulation of the market, and they should not be discriminatory. In particular, the allocation of limited resources (e.g. frequencies) must be carried out in such a way that it is transparent and competitively neutral. 

Sector-specific regulation is required to prevent dominant suppliers from controlling the market and to prevent companies from cross-subsidising at the expense of competitors, upstream or downstream service suppliers, and consumers. Regulation will primarily relate to the prices, terms and quality of the products and services supplied and will seek to bring about low price levels and a wide range of telecommunications services and applications. 

It is important to ensure a geographically and socially balanced supply, with a minimum telecommunications infrastructure and services available throughout the country (universal service). A competitively neutral solution needs to be found for issues relating to the special obligations devolving upon suppliers of universal services and the financing of universal services. 

4.2.3 Generally speaking, the Federal Government's telecommunications policy pursues a strategy of encouraging competition in the various segments of the telecommunications market. Lower prices and a widening of the available infrastructures (notably network related services like telephone and line rental services) will come about in the long term as a result of increasing competition, in the short term through the appropriate regulatory measures. This will stimulate a wider range of services in upstream areas (multimedia information and communication services) and enhance the practical benefit for private and commercial final users. 

4.3.1 In recent years technological advances and the internationalisation of telecommunications policy have placed substantially higher demands on this policy area. To achieve a large degree of liberalisation of access to all segments of the telecommunications market, it will be necessary to go beyond the scope of the initial reforms (1993 telecommunications legislation, granting of a second GSM licence in 1995, structural reform of the Post Office in 1996) and to implement farreaching changes in the legal and institutional background conditions. 

4.3.2 Top priority has been attached to a revision of telecommunications regulations in a Telecommunications Act ("Telekommunikationsgesetz"), which is currently being drafted. The most important objectives of the Federal Government's telecommunications policy covered in this Act include the following: 

4.3.3 Given that the field covered by telecommunications policy and the channels for its implementation are likely to widen, an efficient and effective regulation of the market will necessitate first and foremost: (i) access to such information as regulatory procedures require (e.g. for the prevention of cross-subsidisation etc.); (ii) greater independence in a number of decision-making processes ("arbitration function"); and (iii) the requisite human and financial resources (generated, for instance, by financing channels within the sector concerned as a means of covering regulation costs). At the same time as the background conditions are defined in the new Telecommunications Act, it will be necessary to provide for the institutional and organisational changes needed to institute the regulatory measures on a sector-specific basis. 

5.1.1 In the context of research and university education, the complexity of the development and application of new multimedia forms of information and communication is manifested in a number of challenges. There is a dynamic correlation between scientific research, defined as the quest for knowledge by means of systematic, methodical inquiry, and social and economic developments. This dynamic correlation is the basis for the acquisition of new knowledge, which manifests itself not least in the choice of research topics and the intensity with which they are treated. Scientists from a wide range of disciplines, however, assume the role of pioneers when the objective is to develop new insights and technologies and - often in laboratory conditions - to define their direct application. Moreover, the research sector as the repository of scientific knowledge and skills fulfils important social functions by providing the capacity for intersectoral solutions and skills and by supplying university education. It is therefore necessary to attune science policy to the implications which the advent of the information society has for (publicsector) research. 

5.1.2 The confrontation with the information society and the development and application of information and communication technologies have permeated virtually every scientific and technical discipline, affecting aspects of both basic and applied research. In recent years Austria's university and extramural research centres have stepped up their efforts in this field. Increasing involvement in projects being carried out under the auspices of international programmes is evidence of the successful acquisition and exchange of relevant scientific results. Notably the Federal Ministry of Science and Transport has lent its support - in connection with research contracts or research promotion schemes - to a number of plans and projects exemplifying many different approaches. These include: the use of the WorldWideWeb (WWW) for scientific documentation, the planning of a modern history information system, an online archive for telecommunications art, technology impact assessment on the digital hospital, strategies for EDP applications in museums, and multimedia document processing on CD ROM. 

5.1.3 As a direct research topic, information and communication technologies are a prerogative of faculties and institutes with a scientific and technological thrust (cf. 5.1.6), but the increasing application of these technologies requires a more comprehensive scientific approach. The solution of technical problems often turns out to boil down to "merely" (key) aspects or starting-points for the application of new technologies and media. For instance, the use of multimedia in education requires new substantive and pedagogic approaches which differ from conventional teaching methods (cf. Chapter 7). The transfer of multimedia documents containing (sensitive) personal data - such as x-ray pictures or diagnoses transmitted within a tele-medical context - calls not only for technical solutions for problems of data security and data protection but also raises fundamental legal issues which may even entail the use of encryption techniques (cf. Chapter 10). The increasing use of new media and channels of communication poses a wide range of questions relating to the fields of economics (e.g. technology as a competitive factor at company and at national economic levels), media policy (e.g. changes in the media landscape), psychosociology (e.g. the impact of the media on the consumer), socioeconomics (e.g. social segmentation processes), architecture and regional planning (e.g. the use of telematics and environmental construction) etc. In the face of the demonstrable problems, politicians are increasingly realising the need for action. Now it is up to scientific research to face up to the multidimensional challenges of the information society. 

5.1.4 The information and communication technologies illustrate especially vividly the pioneering role which the research sector is playing in the development and application of new technologies. In the scientific world, the development and pioneering application of information networks and new media often occur long before these advances become commercially available. For example, publicly financed research networks - like the National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET) established in the United States in the late eighties, or the WorldWideWeb (WWW) developed at the European nuclear research centre CERN near Geneva - covered much of the groundwork for public use of the Internet. Applications like email were originated and initially used as a communications channel between research scientists. In Austria too, the scientific network ACOnet (Austrian Academic Computer Network) provides both the technical basis for links between the Austrian and the international research communities and the original core element for the utilisation of the Internet (cf. Special Topic: Internet and ACOnet). This is possible because the parties concerned - notably in the universities - are constantly taking the initiative, and because the Science Ministry provides financial support (by helping when ACOnet switched to the Internet protocol in 1992, for example, or by covering the cost of data lines to neighbouring countries in Eastern Europe). 

5.1.5 The use of information technology in a (university) research context of course entails more than just making powerful networks available. The incipient utilisation of the Internet for publishing current research results in the form of pre-prints - often years ahead of their publication in specialised periodicals - and for gaining online access to "virtual" libraries of research documentation, teaching aids and specialised data bases demonstrates that today's universities not only serve as pioneer users but also constitute a significant factor in the emergence of the information society. The evolutionary development towards the "virtual university" is happening within the experimental environment of the universities themselves. This development depends on the utilisation of the new media in the establishing of a grid linking individual research centres and in the creation of interfaces with students and involved entities outside the sector. 

5.1.6 In some specific areas of information and communication technologies, research and development at Austrian university and extramural research centres has reached an internationally acclaimed level. The few examples below have been selected to illustrate the sheer thematic diversity of these activities (for a detailed list, see "Priority Report 1996 Information Technologies"): 

Generally speaking, the universities and other research centres have an important role to play as project partners and as vehicles of technological expertise. This is reflected in the participation in the EU programme ESPRIT (information technologies), for instance. As of the end of 1995, no less than 21% of the 73 Austrian project partners came from the university sector and another 7% from other research bodies. University research centres keep abreast of international developments, but they are also a key factor in the transfer of scientific knowledge to industry (cf. Chapter 6). It is thus of decisive importance to ensure the availability of specialised knowhow and cooperation within the research sector and between research and industry. 

5.1.7 One of the key functions of the university sector is teaching (cf. Chapter 7). Where the emergence of the information society requires the enlargement of skills in handling new technologies and media, the way can be paved by utilising the appropriate technologies in the day-to-day teaching environment at university and by making the requisite modifications to the university syllabus. Electronic communications between students and university administrations are only just beginning to emerge but could in future contribute to enhancing the level of computer and new media literacy among students in every field of study. The Internet, for example, is a suitable and effective medium for providing information on available courses, scholarships, exchange programmes, nostrification procedures, examination dates and so on. Moreover, a certain degree of communication can help to reduce administrative tasks for both parties concerned - by facilitating electronic inquiries (and answers), registration for study courses or examinations, access to teaching aids, and submission of course papers. Some of the technological prerequisites are already being installed at Austrian universities, like e-mail accounts for each student, the necessary equipment and facilities at campuses, and the processing and updating of information. 

5.1.8 If the utilisation of the Internet helps to secure the basic qualifications for the students' handling of new media, then the specifics of the syllabus will focus on special skills and knowledge which graduates will need in the future. The planned specialised college courses in the multimedia field will effectively supplement the existing range of university courses. The college course "Telecommunications Technology and Systems" has already started in Salzburg. Further courses are planned at Dornbirn (Communications), Salzburg (MultiMediaArt), St. Polten (Telecommunications and Media), and Hagenberg (Media Technology and Design). These courses place the emphasis variously on artistic design, technology and business. They also focus to differing degrees on technology and the media (computer science / software engineering, mass media, multimedia applications). The introduction of specialised college courses provides a special opportunity to enlarge the available range of academic studies, particularly since the new courses can be gauged to demand without having to take account of the dividing lines between the various disciplines involved. 

5.2.1 As Austria progresses along the path to the information society, it will have to take a number of decisive active steps in the fields of research and science policy. The bodies involved in the public research sector (universities and specialised colleges, extramural research bodies) constitute a central component in Austria's innovation system. The information society as a vision and a social learning process will require all the parties involved to take the initiative and embark on institutional learning. It will also take the form of a comprehensive scientific and academic approach to "new" research topics, the development and direct application of technologies and media, the creation of problemsolving capacities, and the provision of the requisite academic educational programmes. Furthermore, it will be important to ensure that the fundamental prerequisites for cooperation between scientific research and industry are available to facilitate the transfer of scientific results to the business sector (cf. Chapter 6). 

5.2.2 The Federal Government is aware of the major challenges in the research field and is continuing its ongoing activities in accordance with the following objectives: 

The issues related to the topics information society, information and communication technologies, and new media need to be dealt with comprehensively both within the individual scientific and technical disciplines and on an interdisciplinary basis. Those involved in the work of the scientific and research sectors should assume the role of pioneer users by developing and applying new technologies and media. The ACOnet needs to be steadily enlarged and improved to turn it into an efficient, inter-sectoral research network, while innovative applications in the university sector should help to widen the range of available knowledge on the opportunities and hazards entailed by the use of the new technologies. 

As a key component in the national innovation system, the public research sector should improve Austria's innovative capacity in the field of information and communication technology by building up specialised knowledge and skills, participating in international programmes, and transferring scientific results to the business sector. 

Future academic requirements should be met not only by implementing innovative applications in teaching (to handle administrative tasks and assist in scientific research) but also by modifying syllabi. Especially specialised college courses can contribute to the adaptation and enlargement of interdisciplinary syllabi. 

5.2.3 The strategic orientation of the measures to be adopted in the research field will generally speaking depend on the pioneering role assumed by the scientific and research sectors in social developments. Specific accentuations in terms of, for instance, the selection and treatment of research topics or in terms of the available range of academic courses take account of the specific strengths and the initiative of the parties involved in the scientific system. In the university sector important insights can be gained with regard to a number of applications like teleeducation or telemedicine. These insights will ultimately serve to help assess the opportunities and hazards entailed in the new technologies and duly to take account of them in formulating the conditions for their wider application. 

5.3.1 Both the Science Ministry and the other bodies concerned in the public research sector will have to adopt measures and take increased action to achieve the declared targets: 

(i) Dealing with specific research topics related to the information society,  (ii) Safeguarding the pioneering role played by the research sector and the universities as users of the new technologies,  (iii) Strengthening the role of the research sector as the provider of expertise for the country's industry,  (iv) Transferring general and specific knowledge and skills through academic education. 

5.3.2 In some areas, implementation measures will not be definable until the social and political learning process on the path to the information society has commenced. Nevertheless, the Federal Government is immediately embarking on a number of measures to which top priority has been accorded: 

Public research subsidisation will have to focus more strongly on the themes information society and development and application of information and communication technologies in addition to the existing priority areas. Special attention should be devoted to interdisciplinary approaches, technology impact assessment and the evaluation of technology application in innovative application projects. 

The public research sector's function as an experimental field needs to be safeguarded and broadened. Supporting measures for planned research and development projects relate to the enlargement of the research  network ACOnet (notably with regard to its national and international transfer capacity). At the same time support for concrete, practical applications within the information and communication technologies and the new media should be made available on the university syllabus. Use of the new media should facilitate direct access to research results, for instance. An initial step has been taken with the provision of online access to the results of projects promoted by the Science Ministry and to scientific publications (especially dissertations and theses) on topics related to the information society and telecommunications. 

The universities are constantly modifying their courses to provide new qualifications and convey new areas of knowledge. Over and above this, the Science Ministry is taking decisive steps in creating new study courses at the specialised colleges. The aim is to ensure an interdisciplinary range of courses embracing artistic, technical and business topics. 

All university graduates regardless of their fields of study should possess greater skills in handling the new media. A study is being made to establish the foundations for wider use of communications applications in administrative contacts between the universities and the students. The scope for using the new media as channels of communication between the Science Ministry and the university sector is being explored. The aim is to cut administrative costs for both parties. 

6.1.1 Safeguarding the innovative potential of companies manufacturing in Austria and utilising innovative products and services are cornerstones of an economic policy which aims to promote a higher economic output and the enhancement of employment opportunities and the international competitiveness of Austria as an industrial location. This will also entail using innovation and technology policy as a means to improve conditions for sufficient company-based research and development activities. This is all the more urgent because several specific factors peculiar to the Austrian economy - such as the predominance of small and medium-size enterprises, or the high proportion of raw materials-intensive and resource-intensive manufacturing processes - will make themselves felt as structural hindrances to Austria's innovative development.  

6.1.2 Information and communication technologies and the related services and applications have a higher-than-average innovation rate and growth potential, while at the same time their utilisation by commercial users in every branch of the industrial and services sectors is becoming an increasingly important competitive factor (cf. Chapter 3). Moreover, in the context of the public administration the use of information and communication technologies (as a means of achieving a sustainable consolidation of the federal budget) has a twin effect: it enhances the efficiency with which administrative tasks can be performed, and it allows the state to gauge its services to the needs and interests of the public (cf. Chapters 8 and 9). Innovation and technology policy will then need to (i) increase the innovative potential of Austrian developers of information and communication technologies, and (ii) allow the faster permeation of all sectors of the economy (including the public sector) with modern information and communications products and services. 

6.1.3 The conditions in which some Austrian companies in the information and communication technologies sector carry out their research and development activities do not substantially differ from the conditions prevailing in other sectors. Given the small and medium-size enterprise structure in the software field, rising development costs and shrinking product life cycles (notably for hardware), Austrian developers have failed to reach a level commensurate with this country's economic standing - although some developers have carved out market niches for themselves and have scored notable international successes. Developers can exploit their strengths primarily when customers' specific requirements are the decisive factors in a product's development and sizeable production quantities, the existence of large manufacturing capacities and international marketing channels, or the availability of product-related services are of secondary importance. Consequently, application-related segments of information and communication technologies have a relatively high growth potential. At the same time, Austria's technology policy must focus on providing for measures that will surmount the drawbacks of the existing small and medium-size enterprise structure (insufficient company-based RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT capacities, the absence of specialised expertise etc.). 

6.1.4 That Austrian companies and research centres active in the field of information and communication technologies have both a strong commitment and considerable development potential is indicated by the degree of their involvement in the specific areas of the European Union's 4th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development. Up to April 1996, in the programme areas Information Technologies (ESPRIT), Communication Technologies (ACTS) and TELEMATIK more than 250 projects with Austrian participation had been submitted and no fewer than 64 had been approved for support. Thus, the level of participation of Austrian companies and research centres in the EU's information and communication technologies programmes came to 10.88%, only marginally lower than the average participation level for all areas, and it could well reach a higher level - as in the case of transport technology (20.72%). This would, however, require technology policy measures encouraging specialised  expertise in view of the EU's 5th Framework Programme.     

6.1.5 The success of innovation activities ultimately depends on the prospects for dissemination of products and services that have been or will be developed. In view of the exceptionally high growth potential in the information and communication technologies field and the strategic importance of the related services and applications in the business sector, special attention must be paid to the obstacles to dissemination. One group of such obstacles to dissemination applies equally to traditional and to new applications in communications, information acquisition and business transactions (cf. Special Topic: EDI Simplifies Business Communications). While the amount and the structure of pure communications costs and the availability of basic services (telephone, ISDN, narrow and wideband rental lines, ATM links) point to the need for telecommunications policy to take the necessary steps, innovation and technology policy should concentrate on specific aspects of the technologies and of economic structure. An important factor in the limited dissemination rate is the shortage of information on the part of users (scope for applications, standards and interoperability, cost effectiveness, reorganisation and training needs in connection with  the use of new technologies etc.), which is then reflected in the lack of response to such technologies and the low level of their utilisation. Then again, communication services often make sense only when there is a "critical mass" of users. In many cases the prevailing economic structure weighted towards small and medium-size enterprises means that there are too few pioneer users for specific communications services to be viable. 

6.1.6 There are other obstacles to innovation and dissemination that occur only when new services and applications have been developed. These will have to be taken into account in the formulation of technology policy. For instance, the development and use of (multimedia) telematics systems opens up a wide range of possible applications which extends to virtually every aspect of working and private life. The quantitative and qualitative enhancement of Austria's RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT activities and the related pilot and demonstration projects will necessitate the acquisition of specialised expertise, the transfer of expertise and cooperation among a variety of participants in the process (hardware and software developers, users, universities and research centres), and parallel socio-economic research. Special importance attaches to improving the availability of interesting information contents and their digital processing both because this will promote the dissemination of existing information and communication technologies and because it could improve the competitive standing of (new) Austrian suppliers of multimedia products and (on and offline) information services.  

6.1.7 Stimulation in this field benefits especially small and medium-size enterprises. On the one hand, the relevant action can improve the general background conditions  - for instance by enlarging the range of available educational and training programmes (e.g. specialised college courses [cf. Chapter 5] or by facilitating the procedures for setting up companies. On the other hand, highly specific measures are also called for. These would aim, for example, to (i) improve the scope for utilising public content for commercial processing (museum, archive and library collections etc.), (ii) clarify legal and institutional implications (e.g. copyright restrictions on utilisation), and (iii) increase the public sector's demand for innovative products and services (e.g. wider use of telematic services, learning software etc.).  

6.1.8 In specific areas the state has already assumed the role of an innovative consumer by using information and communication technologies and related services. In this way the state stimulates the RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT activities of Austrian companies and research centres. Thus, the Austrian research sector - linked by means of the ACOnet (cf. Chapter 5) - is an experienced user of powerful data networks. Innovative applications like customs data exchange, electronic company registers and the federal legal information system have been acclaimed internationally. In the public health sector, administrative information systems and medico-technical computer systems (e.g. electronic image management systems with communication, diagnosis and archive functions) are in use (cf. Chapter 9). The labour market (employment) service makes use of client-operated terminals offering job availability and information functions. Nevertheless, the above examples represent only the beginning of computerised information applications in the public administration. 

6.1.9 By making use of information and communication technologies as well as new media and services, the public sector pioneer users play a highly effective role in technology policy. Over and above this, though, the application of technology and the instigation of related projects involving private and public participants also contribute to the achievement of other political objectives. For example, technology can help to main and improve the service character of public facilities and at the same time enhance the standard of their efficiency as a contribution to sustained budgetary consolidation. The focus does not have to be on economic or socio-political objectives. Applications in the transport sector (cf. Special Topic: Information and Mobility), for instance, are obviously primarily gauged to achieving goals defined by transport and environment policy, while technology used in the field of training and further training tends to pursue primarily educational and cultural objectives (cf. Chapter 7). 

6.1.10 The examples cited above illustrate the way in which the state creates a demand for innovative products in specific segments of the information and communication technologies field. On the other hand, though, there is ground to be made up in various areas, partly because of a reluctance to make investments, partly because of the sheer complexity of the organisation and coordination involved (cf. especially Chapters 8 and 9). For instance, state bodies tend to make use of only very simple telecommunications services (public telephone network, rental lines) although many of the administrative areas concerned have a high demand for telecommunications, and solutions available on the open market - of the kind used in comparable circumstances by the private sector (e.g. corporate networks, virtual private networks) - would lower costs and offer greater convenience. In such cases, the Federal Chancellery should make wider use of its channels for coordinating information technology policy to strengthen demand for communication services and promote the development of new applications (cf. especially Chapter 8). 

6.2.1 Formulating Austria's path to the information society will place high demands on this country's innovation and technology policy. Improving the background conditions for adequate company-based research and development activities in every economic sector will prove a prerequisite for safeguarding employment opportunities and competitiveness. Information and communication technologies and the services and applications they generate are notable for their higher-than-average innovation levels and growth potentials, and they afford opportunities for small and medium-size enterprises (including newly established companies), so that they need to be given special priority. At the same time, the utilisation of these new technologies and services is a competitive factor of great strategic importance for commercial users in every area of the industrial and services sectors. There is, then, a need for measures that will promote the dissemination of these technologies (cf. Chapter 3). Moreover, it will be important to improve the conditions for utilising these technologies in the public sector with a view to enhancing standards of efficiency in carrying out administrative tasks and creating public services more closely gauged to public needs - this as a contribution to a sustained consolidation of the budget. 

6.2.2 The Federal Government is mindful of the principal challenges intrinsic to its technology policy and of the scope for action in this field and is continuing to adopt targeted measures gauged to the following objectives: 

Against the background of increasing international competition, the raising of the level of innovation among companies based in Austria is a necessary step towards safeguarding employment. Austrian companies and research centres should become more involved as sought-after partners in major areas of the information and communication technologies. 

The prevailing conditions for the utilisation of services and applications related to the information and communication technologies should facilitate a level of utilisation that is higher than the European average. (Private) Austrian suppliers of information services should provide business users with a strategic edge in the context of international competition. 

The strategic utilisation of information and communication technologies in the public sector should contribute to the enhancement of the efficiency and effectiveness of the public administration. There should be a palpable improvement in services relating to information access and communications. 

6.2.3 Where information and communication technologies are concerned, the strategic thrust of the Federal Government's innovation and technology policy focuses on ways of increasing the level of company-based RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT activities but also on ways of improving the dissemination of innovative applications and services. The predominance of small and medium-size enterprises in Austria's economic structure requires special attention because small and medium-size enterprises pose specific problems here (in terms of, for instance, sufficient RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT capacity and access to external resources of expertise at universities etc.). It is part of the Federal Government's strategy to offer special incentives as a means of encouraging partnerships among individual companies or between companies and universities and thereby to promote the creation of specialised RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT resources within companies and the exchange of information and expertise. With a view to making wider use of the available European subsidisation, this strategy will enhance the attractiveness of Austrian partners. 

6.2.4 The Federal Government's strategy of improving the dissemination of innovative applications and services contains elements that go beyond the scope of a conventional innovation and technology policy. Those measures envisaged by the country's telecommunications policy which help to lower communications costs (cf. Chapter 4) increase use of information and communication technologies, as do research policy measures related to technological and socio-economic issues posed by the information society (cf. Chapters 8 and 9), the coordination of specific fields of application, and measures that serve to disseminate the results of pilot and demonstration projects. 

6.3.1 The approach to the subject of the information society as adopted by this country's innovation and technology policy emerges as a challenge to be met by continuing the thrust of the measures adopted to date. The challenge consists in the fact that, especially from the point of view of economic policy, an increase in company-based research and development activities is a significant factor in the improvement of the employment situation and of Austria's competitiveness as an industrial location. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Science Ministry in particular have in recent years adopted a number of measures as part of their technology policy which are aimed at stimulating company-based research and promoting the dissemination of innovative services and applications. 

The following initiatives merit special mention: 

The Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF) as a channel of direct innovation promotion contributes to raising the technological innovation level of Austria's industrial and commercial sector, intensifying applied research and disseminating and optimising the results of research and development. Launched in the years 1991, 1993 and 1994, the priority areas Flexible computer-integrated production for small and medium-size enterprises (FlexCIM) and Software technology and transport technology screen logistics in Austria are closely related to the information and communication technologies priority areas identified in the EU's 4th Framework Programme.  

Another priority area is the coordination and creation of the organisational prerequisites for the Austrian National Host (ANH). The ANH is an open platform for network operators, hardware and software suppliers, service suppliers, research centres etc. Its purpose is to act as a nationwide laboratory for application-oriented research and development projects, pilot applications and field tests. It is designed to encourage, support and explore the scope of potential uses for modern wide-band communications and multimedia services for Austrian companies and research centres. 

The new ITF priority area Technologies for the Information Society (January 1, 1996 - December 31, 2000) is planned to allow scope for promoting momentum for such aspects as the dissemination of innovative services and applications and the development and testing of (wideband) applications in the field of multimedia telematics. Support for innovative plans and projects is provided under the auspices of specific promotion headings (tourism, "Cultural Heritage Austria", "Virtual Companies", telecooperation etc.). Subsidised projects set out to encourage cooperation between companies and universities, the active, socially compatible moulding of development, and the use of information and communication technologies. 

6.3.2 The expert meetings held under the auspices of the Working Group have shown that the Federal Government should adopt further measures within its technology and innovation policy. These measures should be based on the existing initiatives and comply with the objectives listed. The following initiatives and measures are regarded as priority steps or represent initial stages in implementation: 

In the field of the federal administrative authorities, innovative information technology projects are being promoted and the platform for the requisite inter-ministerial exchange of information is being created as part of the Federal Chancellery's IT coordination programme. Special attention is being devoted to the use of advanced network services. 

The Ministry of Economic Affairs is stepping up its EDI-related activities launched in the summer of 1995. An action programme based on two working groups (UAK-EDI and KIT-FA-EDI) covers such topics as information and PR activities (public awareness of EDI, compilation of information material etc.) and support for cooperation between the bodies concerned. This latter topic includes most notably measures to promote target-group-oriented technology transfer for small and mediumsize enterprises and public administrative authorities, the creation of and support for working groups, user groups, project consortia and pilot projects. The action programme also provides for measures relating to education and further education (further training for users, train-the-trainer courses) and direct support for pilot projects. 

The development and application of information and communication technologies in the fields of transport, traffic and logistics has already been included in the Federal Government's priority programme. The targeted utilisation of technology creates new openings for the environmentally compatible planning of the transport network, for the avoidance of unnecessary traffic, the raising of transport safety standards, and the gauging of charges to real costs.  On the basis of the findings of the subsidiary working group on Mobility, Traffic and Transport, the Ministry of Science and Transport is pursuing new approaches in the planning and installation of integrated transport information systems. A project office has been assigned the task of drawing up the requisite specifications. In the field of freight transport, the Logistics Austria programme is being enlarged to include pilot installations that will study new loading technologies and the extensive use of telematics throughout the (intermodal) transport chain. An interministerial group on road tolls, headed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, is adopting measures related to the development and application of automated road pricing systems for road traffic. 

Measures are being prepared to set up resources of specialised expertise in various telematics fields (tele-work, tele-assisted education programmes, tele-medicine, tele-services for small and medium-size enterprises etc.). The objective is on the one hand to improve Austrian partners' chances of being able to participate in EU programmes and on the other hand to take account of the fact that the information society is a vision of urban and rural development. One of the priority goals is thus to involve existing regional and local initiatives to a wider extent. This will be carried out in cooperation with organisations like the Austrian Platform for Telematics Applications (APTA). The emphasis here will be on regional pilot projects (for instance, the application of telematics in small and medium-size enterprises, tele-work etc.) and on information (e.g. by means of joint events and multimedia information material). 

If the development of telecommunications in Austria is to be stimulated, it will be necessary to implement a number of coordination steps and to improve the flow of information between all the (public and privatesector) bodies involved. Support is being provided for measures to promote the participation of Austrian companies and research centres in EU programmes (e.g. financial support for the Office for International Research and Technology Cooperation, BIT). Individual working groups have suggested setting up a project office on the lines of the European Union's Information Society Project Office, and this proposal is currently being studied. The primary goals of an office of this kind could include public relations work but also and most notably the initiation and acceleration of implementation activities, the formulation of supplementary measures, and the systematic evaluation and preparation of experience gained from international and national studies and projects. 

In the field of Multimedia / Content, supply-stimulating measures are being prepared on the basis of the findings of the subsidiary working group on Content. Improvements (effected by private service enterprises) in the utilisation of available content in the public sector and the enlargement of the supply of information content should highlight the strengths and opportunities of Austrian information suppliers. At the same time, the utilisation of the electronic media should tap the existing creative potential in Austria and pave the way for cultural development and new employment avenues. The action approach INFO2000-Austria, launched under the auspices of the ITF, will adopt measures parallel to the European INFO2000 programme. 

The Ministries of Economic Affairs and of Science and Transport have proposed and are preparing several other initiatives and projects. They include the planning of public access points for communications between members of the public and state authorities, as one aspect of the development of the information society's universal service. The Ministry of Economic Affairs is making a study of the problems entailed by switching computer date fields from two to four digits with the advent of the year 2000. 

7.1.1 The ever wider use of information and communication technologies in every area of working and private life poses several challenges to the education system. The definition and modernisation of the general educational objectives need to be modified to include the teaching of new knowledge and skills. The technical basics of information and communication technologies are increasingly acquiring the status of a "fourth cultural skill" (alongside reading, writing and arithmetic). Media literacy presupposes the individual's ability to use and evaluate media. The public education system will also have to provide the requisite conditions for life-long learning. Moreover, the future use of information and communication technologies and new media in education itself poses a special challenge. The pedagogically productive utilisation of new teaching aids (learning software, specific telematic applications) will require a new approach to conveying knowledge and will alter the role and the job profile of teachers. At the same time, the use of the new media and technologies in education will depend very much on the availability of the necessary basic technical equipment (hardware and software, local networks and network access). 

7.1.2 In future the ability to handle the new technologies and media will have an important bearing on the individual's capacity to make the most out of the opportunities to lead a fulfilled life, to participate in cultural and social life and to take part in the processes by which political opinions are moulded. More than this, though, the ability to handle the new media and technologies will become an essential component of general education, vocational training and further training, and adult education. The introduction of computer science as a school subject in the mid-eighties was a first, important step towards providing a basic education in information and communication technologies in compulsory schooling. Comprehensive media skills, however, go beyond the basic technical requirements of computer literacy, comprising a considered, responsible approach to handling the new media. The enlargement of the education system in the context of the information society, then, will seek to ensure that all young people are in a position to use electronic information and communication tools and competently handle, understand and evaluate data. It follows that the acquisition of media skills cannot be achieved merely by enlarging the computer science syllabus. The revision of the outline curriculum and the integration of the new learning tools (use of the Internet, multimedia learning software etc.) throughout the school syllabus will help to realise a new "educational culture". 

7.1.3 Where the education system is concerned, the advent of the information society will place higher demands on pupils in terms of the individual's ability critically to assess information, select and memorise it. But over and above this, as the borderlines between the different stages of life - education, working life and retirement - begin to disappear, so the institutional organisation of the education system will have to take account of opportunities for life-long learning for all vocational groups. For the individual, the information society will mean the necessity to embark upon a permanent process of training and further training. If the principle of life-long learning is to be realised, it will be essential to ensure that the education system is flexible and adaptable enough to provide access to education  facilities. It will be important to bring school education, adult education and vocational further training closer together by, for instance, widening the scope of cooperation between the institutions concerned. One of the key objectives of further training programmes is to enlarge the scope of educational opportunities for working people, and most notably for those with the poorest employment prospects, so as to enhance their vocational potential.  

7.1.4 The quality of education is a key factor in the country's development towards the information society. Special attention focuses on the teachers as the decisive human factors in the education system. The realisation of new educational objectives, the use of new media and technologies in schools and the implementation of the corresponding didactic approaches will in the long term lead to far-reaching changes in the vocational profile and the professional image of teachers. It will therefore be necessary to attune institutional teacher training and further training to the foreseeable requirements of their job. Awareness of the potential and of the limits of the new technologies and media in a classroom situation and the ability to exploit the scope these innovations afford in day-to-day teaching will be one of the foremost goals pursued by teacher training and further training programmes. Both qualified teachers and those who have yet to receive their training must in future be in a position, for instance, to make use of the available possibilities for acquiring knowledge through information networks and to show pupils how to learn independently. Teacher training and further training programmes must overcome initial apprehensions about the new technologies. One way in which these apprehensions can be allayed is by gathering practical experience with the new media and exchanging views with colleagues. 

7.1.5 The educational field affords a wide range of potential applications for the new media and technologies. This potential can be explored only by the commitment and initiative of the teaching staff and by the support of the Education Ministry and the provincial education authorities. Current pilot projects are focusing on the utilisation of educational software for and in the classroom, the use of new media like CD-i and CD ROM, and the installation of information networks for communication and data exchange between the various parties involved in education. It is only when the pupils have been taught the basic skills through the broad-based introduction of computer science as a school subject, and when the requisite technical equipment is available that it will be possible for specific projects to ascertain the limits and possibilities of computers as teaching aids. The limits become apparent, for example, when personal apprehensions or lack of information exert a substantial influence on the selection and direct application of the new media. One major obstacle to the practical use of computers in schools is the short-age of new, tested didactic and methodical learning tools (notably educational software). The organisational obstacles do not generally become apparent in the course of pilot projects but only when the new technologies are applied on a regular basis (i.e. when the pilot project ends and day-to-day application begins). 

7.1.6 By the same token, though, it is only in the context of practical use that the opportunities afforded by the new technologies become truly apparent, opening up new avenues for making methodical and pedagogic improvements. Computer-based training (CBT), which leaves scope for independent learning, is often combined with the objectives of providing greater flexibility for the pupils and taking some of the strain off the teachers. Then again, hypertext and hypermedia applications with multimedia functions - combinations of text, image, graphics, animation, sound etc. - can make learning material more vivid and more visual. Information and communication networks based on new telecommunications services and applications serve primarily to facilitate the search for and access to teaching-related information and to enlarge the number of people involved in the learning process (distance education, tele-teaching, tele-learning). Provided that the pedagogic approach has been attuned to these goals and that the teachers and pupils are suitably motivated, teaching projects can open up new ways of achieving the general educational objectives efficiently and effectively. If the experience gained in such projects is adequately communicated, it can trigger innovative processes throughout the education system. 

7.1.7 Modern telecommunications open up new possibilities in the field of education for utilising distributed information resources and facilitating communication between the parties involved (cf. Special Topic: Networks for Schools and Education). It would be possible to establish information and communication platforms for everybody involved directly or indirectly in education (school authorities, schools, institutions of further education, libraries, archives, publishers of school textbooks, parents' associations, teachers and pupils). Such platforms would pave the way for a large number of applications. Networks for schools afford electronic access to a wide variety of information such as administrative data, the programmes and activities of individual educational institutions, the  teaching aids being used (and in part developed), reports, best practice etc. The electronic media thus pave the way for networking the entire education system, creating an open, unrestricted educational structure. The essential factors here are the commitment and the initiative of the people involved (notably the teachers and pupils) and the necessary coordination on the part of the authorities (Education Ministry, provincial education authorities). 

7.1.8 In the implementation of innovative projects and the long-term nationwide utilisation of the new media and technologies, the availability of the requisite basic technical equipment plays a decisive role. With innovation cycles growing ever shorter and new hardware and software constantly making older products redundant, it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain the local technical infrastructure at a state-of-the-art level. Educational strategies aiming to make wider use of the new technologies place higher demands on both the local infrastructure available in the educational facilities - from work stations to local area networks (LANs) - and link-ups with regional or national communications networks. Maintaining or improving the existing standard will necessitate enhanced cooperation between the parties concerned and will have to involve industry (hardware and software suppliers, the Post Office, publishers of school text books, multimedia suppliers etc.), academic and cultural institutions (universities, specialised colleges, libraries, museums etc.), provincial telematic initiatives ("provincial data highways") and both existing and future federal initiatives (ACOnet, administrative networks like the Corporate Network Finanz).  

7.1.9 As Austria advances towards the information society, libraries and archives constitute an area of special importance in terms of both democratic and cultural policy. For instance, by enlarging the range of their services libraries can fulfil new functions as places where the general public can go to make inquiries or ask advice, or as "online libraries". This is one way to improve public access to information in the form of an "information society universal service" irrespective of the individual's social or financial standing (cf. Chapter 3.1.10). "Digital libraries" (libraries whose contents have been digitised) serve a new cultural function by facilitating access to the nation's cultural heritage in all its diversity. At the same time, the steady growth in the number of electronic publications presents a new challenge in terms of the long-term archiving of publications. The existing regulations governing the legal deposit of publications originating in Austria need to be critically reviewed. It would be necessary to review the manner in which publications are supplied for archiving. 

7.2.1 The further development of the educational system is of crucial importance in Austria's progress towards the information society. The focus of this development will be the endeavour to enhance the level of maturity with which we approach the new technologies and media. This will be the key to everybody's individual capacity for realising his or her opportunities in life, participating in cultural and social life and taking an active part in the formation of political opinions within the information society. The development of the educational system in terms of the transmission of knowledge and skills, the flexibility of the individual educational institutions in paving the way for lifelong learning, and the use of the new media and technologies to promote learning processes will depend on the initiative and commitment of many of the people involved. 

7.2.2 The Federal Government is mindful of the principal challenges intrinsic to its education policy and is continuing to adopt targeted measures gauged to the following objectives: 

Information and communication technology literacy must go beyond the basic skills to cover the social implications of the ability to handle and evaluate media. The syllabi should include not only the new technologies but also the opportunity to gain direct experience in the use of multimedia educational tools and electronic communications via data networks. 

The programmes offered by the public educational institutions should incorporate wider scope for lifelong learning to bring them into line with the vocational demands being made by rapid technological changes. The general availability of telematic educational programmes would facilitate access to art and culture and help to solve the problems of integration in the employment process. 

The new technologies and media should be used in schools and in further education for the purposes of innovative organisational forms and for new methods of teaching and learning. The requisite educational and further educational schemes for teachers, the enlargement of the necessary technical infrastructure in the individual educational institutions, and the creation of communication platforms should ensure a nationwide educational infrastructure. 

7.2.3 The strategic thrust of educational policy takes into account both the key role of the education system in social and economic progress towards the information society and the budgetary constraints entailed by realising the declared goals. The creation of a nationwide educational infrastructure also involving libraries, museums, archives and national and international educational databases and data networks will proceed in stages. Conceptual planning will be supplemented by the experience gained in existing and new projects. The accumulation of expertise through projects and experimental programmes and the dissemination of the results of specially innovative projects are an essential prerequisite for the further development of the entire education system. 

7.3.1 The findings of the Working Group "Education" (headed by the Education Ministry) show that the objectives 

(i) The transmission of basic technical knowledge and a comprehensive and independent approach to the media  (ii) The creation of the necessary background conditions for lifelong learning and telematics-based educational programmes  (iii) The establishing of a nationwide educational infrastructure utilising the new technologies and media will necessitate a number of coordinated measures. 

Creating a comprehensive Austrian infrastructure for education will be a learning process for everyone involved. It will call for both conceptual work (e.g. devising pedagogic models, drawing up syllabi, making organisational and institutional improvements etc.) and pilot projects affording direct practical experience. 

7.3.2 The outline of an "Educational Campaign New Media" exists in the form of a phased plan. It includes the following features: 

7.3.3 Apart from the measures in the educational field (in the strict sense) as outlined above, action is also being planned in the area of museums and archives. These measures are particularly important from the point of view of cultural policy. They include strategies, projects and legislative measures to improve access to the cultural heritage in the light of the new technologies and to facilitate the long-term archiving of certain electronic publications. 

8.1.1 Information-intensity, the growing volume of information needing processing, and the complex distribution of tasks are features of many aspects of the work of the public administration (cf. Chapter 9). The utilisation of information and communication technologies thus assumes key importance in the provision of efficient and effective services. Against the background of endeavours to consolidate the federal budget on a sustained basis, ever greater significance attaches to the increased use of information and communication technologies in the administrative field. The utilisation of new telecommunications services and applications affords wider scope for enhancing the efficient structure and performance of complex administrative procedures within individual administrative units and can thus be seen as an important factor in the administrative reform process. Electronic communication within the administration is progressively establishing itself as the rule rather than the exception. Modern telecommunications can also facilitate access to information and communication and interaction between administrative units (authorities) on the one hand and the private sector (companies and individual persons) on the other hand. Information and communication technologies thus help to enhance the service image of state bodies. 

8.1.2 Since the mid-eighties information and communication technologies have been utilised in the administration as in the private sector. In the period from 1988 to 1995, for instance, the number of terminals in the federal administration increased from around 22,600 to over 41,000. At the end of 1995 there were approximately sixteen terminals for every one hundred permanent administrative posts. Between 1988 and 1992 the number of staff employed in the computer field rose from 2,579 to 2,852, while the proportion of the total budget for the public administration accounted for by computer costs increased from 1.44% to 1.57% (totalling approximately 4.3 billion Schillings). Technology is being used specifically to deal with the deluge of information. In the central administrative offices alone some 3 million files and other official documentation involving file transfers among about 150 offices are dealt with every year (status: 1995). It will be necessary to install integrated office information and communication systems to improve the efficiency of administrative office procedures (information processing, archiving and information retrieval, information exchange and distribution, public information services etc.). These systems will include document compilation systems (basically word processing), office information systems, electronic file systems and internal and external electronic mailing systems (e-mail) which are being used more and more within the individual ministries. 

8.1.3 There are both technical and organisational considerations to be taken into account if the utilisation of information and communication technologies is to achieve the planned (financial and management) objectives. These include medium-term staff reductions, acceleration of administrative processing times (shortening unproductive waiting  periods, increasing output etc.) and streamlining in every aspect of information acquisition and retrieval. From the technical point of view, it is important to ensure that the various systems and applications are compatible and inter-operable by using open systems, for instance, or complying with international norms for defined interfaces. Insular solutions and the use of self-generated systems should be permitted only to meet special needs so that synergic effects can be exploited and investments are protected (manufacturer independence, upgradability). Such "special needs" must not impair external electronic communications. The individual applications themselves must meet a number of technical criteria. Electronic file systems, for instance, must be capable of carrying out the key functions relating to the paperless handling of administrative tasks within an administrative unit but must also have additional functions allowing external communication. It must be possible to handle incoming documents irrespective of their medium (paper, disk, e-mail). And the system must also allow for verification of authenticity (by electronic signature), electronic storage and retrieval by authorised persons, and electronic dispatch via standardised telecommunications interfaces. 

8.1.4 The effective use of information and communication technologies in the administration necessitates not only meeting technical criteria but also implementing the requisite organisational measures. The offices must be equipped with hardware and software as required and as has proved practically expedient, and the staff must have the appropriate qualifications and training. It will also be necessary to reorganise administrative procedures and redefine the tasks relating to each job. Otherwise the wider use of technology could cause output to stagnate or even drop (productivity paradox of information and communication technologies). In general, the new technologies can be used to create more flexible and dynamic work flows and to promote such administrative objectives as modernisation, efficiency and economy. In terms of organisation and the structuring of administrative procedures, this will mean switching to an approach oriented more to results and less to processes. In this sense, the wider use of information and communication technologies in the administrative field is closely linked with the administrative reform process and can be viewed as an aspect thereof.  

8.1.5 Innovative telematic applications and services based on the local use of information technologies present a special challenge for the administration. In recent years a large number of particularly innovative applications have been introduced in the judicial field (cf. Special Topic: IT Applications in the Judicial Field). Since the early nineties external information processing capacities and online access to databases have been supplemented by new forms of computer-based communication (e-mail, electronic document exchange etc.). The established services include applications provided by the Federal Computer Centre (Bundesrechenzentrum), which provides computing capacity and services for about a thousand administrative units with over 61,000 users (handling 27.5 million official notifications, 28.1 payment transfer forms, 138.3 million bookings etc.). The introduction of detailed cost accounting (in 1993) and service charge invoicing (in 1994) has enhanced cost transparency and creates scope for the enlargement of the range of services as needed. Specialised databases - such as the Federal Legal Information System operated by the Federal Chancellery (with approximately 14,000 users), the Land Registry Database, and the electronic company register - can provide services both within the administration and for external users. 

8.1.6 Targeted measures adopted by the European Union are generating considerable momentum for the utilisation and the development of innovative telematic applications for communications between international, national, regional and local administrative units. Specialised EU databases like BIOREP, CORDIS, EUREKA and EURISTOTE provide access to research-related data (research and development programmes, projects etc.), while EMIRE and CELEX contain information pertaining to labour legislation and applicable EU laws. Specific EU initiatives focus on enlarging the range of information services and communications between administrations. The IDA programme (Interchange of Data between Administrations), for instance, supports plans for creating an information grid between administrations. Under the auspices of this programme, pilot projects and expertise transfer are being used to test the practical utilisation of e-mail and electronic document interchange (on the basis of international standards like X.400 or EDIFACT) for the exchange of administrative information and official documents. Projects being supported under the auspices of the 4th Framework Programme ("Telematics") highlight the wide range of administrative applications. The projects ELPRO (Electronic Public Procurement System for Europe) and EBR II (European Business Register Phase II), in which Austria is involved, deal with the development of a European-wide, fully electronic tender system and comprehensive access to corporate information. 

8.1.7 Telematic applications and access to databases presuppose the availability of adequate telecommunications networks and services. Larger administrative units have already started employing LANs (local area networks) for their communications, using not just the telephone system but in many cases also ISDN or rental lines as links. Corporate networks (CNs) - i.e. communications networks which cover all of an organisation's communications needs at all of its sites - are in many ways a more efficient approach to addressing telecommunications needs. They cut costs (scale economies, improved bargaining position with aggregate demand, optimised utilisation of available scope etc.) and raise standards of service convenience and the diversity of services while ensuring a uniform service platform. However, if the existing technological and economic potential is to be exploited to the full, it will also be necessary to implement the requisite coordination between the parties (ministries, provincial administrative bodies etc.) involved (in terms of, for example, the available services and interfaces) and to take account of changing market conditions, most notably the increased competition on the telecommunications market. The potential suppliers are both public service companies and private service enterprises (classical outsourcing). The considerations involved in the decision for or against  outsourcing include estimated cost reductions, greater cost transparency, enhanced quality, more flexible responses to customer requirements, and fewer human resources but also security considerations and the residual scope for monitoring, regulating and conserving expertise. 

8.1.8 Along with ACOnet, the Corporate Network Finanz (CNF), planned in 1995, represents an initial step towards building up a nationwide telecommunications platform for the public administration. The scope for technical upgrading (from Frame Relay to ATM), enlarging the range of services (data, speech, video, X.400 etc.), modular structure, logically discrete networks for different user groups and the corresponding invoicing functions enable CNF to be progressively enlarged. That means that it will be possible to create a communications platform for all administrative offices beyond the confines of the basic configuration (links between the Finance Ministry, the provincial finance authorities, the tax offices, the customs authorities and the Austrian EU delegation in Brussels). Given its costeffectiveness and power, the CNF could establish itself as an important component in an Austrian administrative network for the various (potential) users (administrative offices, schools, courts of law etc.). Given the appropriate interfaces, it would be possible to lay the foundations for the flow of information and communications not only within administrative bodies but also between the authorities and private individuals. There are special security considerations to be dealt with here. 

8.1.9 Initial steps have been taken - producing encouraging results - in the utilisation of new technologies and media to improve public access to the administrative authorities. The democratic implications of public information access is a specially noteworthy aspect here (cf. Special Topic: "Democracy and Electronics"). Various databases and online information systems like selected environmental data (Environmental Data Catalogue, data supplied by the Federal Office of the Environment) and selected federal standards (legal information system) are already available on the Internet. Some ministries (Federal Chancellery, Foreign Affairs, Health, Environment, Public Industry, Science) provide specific information (structure, contacts, activities etc.) via the Internet. The former Ministry for Public Industry and Transport launched an initiative on the information society in which it gave Internet users the chance to comment and voice opinions. The range of information that could be made accessible to members of the public in electronic form practically covers every field of the administration, from the official calendar and general administrative data to politicians' biographies, information published by the Federal Press Service, parliamentary documents, EU information, and even meteorological data, court verdicts, official statistics etc. If the range of publicly accessible information is to be widened, it will be necessary - for reasons of democratic policy - to consider which information should be made electronically accessible, to what extent private service suppliers should be involved in the process, and how the costs should be apportioned between the public-sector provider and the private user. When data and information are passed on by the public sector to private persons, no exclusive rights should be granted in order to avoid private monopolies. 

8.1.10 In the long term, interactive systems going beyond the scope of simple information retrieval (exchange of submissions, registrations, applications, notifications etc.) are conceivable and desirable. The utilisation of electronic media offers the chance to improve the supplier's service standards (e.g. shorter processing times and faster decision-making) and also helps significantly in cutting administrative costs. Due account must be taken of data protection and data security considerations. It would also make sense to develop a parallel economic and technology strategy, focusing on the stimulation of the information services sector as a growth market or the creation of critical masses of users for certain communication services like EDI (cf. Chapter 7).  

8.2.1 The wide range of possible applications for information and communication technologies in the administrative field, some of them already implemented, shows that the strategic utilisation of these technologies in the administration can make a substantial contribution to Austria's progression towards the information society. With the goal of the comprehensive modernisation of the public sector in mind, the primary objectives of the wider use of technology are the sustained consolidation of the budget, the enhancement of efficiency standards in the public administration, and the strengthening of the administration's service character and response to public needs. Considerations relating to economic and technology policy also play an important part. On the other hand it will be necessary to gauge the use of technology to organisational, institutional and financial requirements. 

8.2.2 The Federal Government is aware that the transition to the information society poses a number of challenges in the field of the public administration. Its response will be gauged to the  following primary objectives:  

Wider use should be made of information and communication technologies in the federal administration as a means of ensuring the more efficient and effective handling of administrative tasks and of improving internal communications. The progressive implementation of integrated office and communications systems must cater to the organisational needs with due regard for the ongoing process of administrative reform.  

The progressive installation and enlargement of an open and secure information and communication infrastructure available to all administrative authorities throughout Austria should facilitate efficient communications between individual administrative units. This should enable the full cost-cutting potential in communications costs to be exploited and the increased demand for communications services to be covered by utilising new services (databases, telematic systems etc.). 

Wider use should be made of the electronic media to enlarge the range of information services for the general public and for companies. To enhance the service image of the administration, wider scope should  be created for interactive communications between the administration and the private sector on the basis of telematics applications and services. 

8.2.3 In the course of the strategic implementation of an action plan aimed at wider use of information and communication technologies in the federal administration, several economic, technical and organisational considerations need to be taken into account. For example, investments in the necessary technical infrastructure (notably equipping offices with hardware and software) make sense only in the medium to long term and only provided that there is a given "critical mass" of users. Primarily for management reasons, it is worth considering drawing on private resources by outsourcing to specialist service suppliers (data processing services, information services etc.) as the range of such private resources grows. This outsourcing would be an alternative or a supplement to the internal provision of the above services. The heterogeneity and divergent level of the existing equipment and rapid technological changes add to the complexity of the choice of technology and call for the installation of open platforms (interfaces and connections complying with international standards) throughout the public administration. 

8.3.1 The Working Group (notably subgroup 9 which studied technology applications in the federal administration) proposed measures designed to (i) enlarge the scope of information and communication technologies utilisation in the federal administration, (ii) create a telecommunications platform that would be available to administrative units throughout Austria, and (iii) enlarge the private individual's access to information and provide for interaction between the administration on the one hand and private individuals and companies on the other hand. Proceeding from existing initiatives in individual administrative areas, the objectives can be achieved by means of both theoretical studies and practical pilot projects to pave the way for broad-based implementation throughout the federal administration. An important factor here would be the experience gained from active participation in international standards bodies and international programmes focusing on administrative issues, like IDA (Interchange of Data between Administrations) and EU outline programmes. This would help in the progressive installation of applications, services and networks which would be either uniform throughout Austria or interoperable on the basis of standardised interfaces. The considerations to be taken into account here are not only technical but also relate to economic feasibility and to organisational and personnel planning. 

8.3.2 Priority is assigned to strategies and action in the following fields: 

Preparations are being made to provide the organisational, training and technical prerequisites for a system by which all the staff and offices of the federal administration are reachable through such applications as e-mail or electronic document interchange. Areas that need to be clarified include identity verification (digital signature), data security and data protection, and the installation of comprehensive electronic directory systems. 

Insular solutions should be avoided in the installation of integrated office information and communication systems. It will be necessary to develop and test solutions for integrated interfaces between electronic information transfer and other media (paper, fax). Activities relating to electronic the archiving and/or storage of data and documents for internal and public use and possible commercial exploitation are being increased. 

In the creation of a telecommunications infrastructure throughout the federal administration, priority will be accorded to coordination measures aimed at exploiting synergic effects (for instance, incorporating existing capacities and networks) by coordinating the information technology, and to solving interface problems. 

Wider use should be made of outsourcing to suppliers of data processing services. It will be important to ensure that the tasks relating to the coordination and strategic planning of information technology, the organisation of applications, information technology auditing, information technology security and the formulation of contracts remain within the purview of the public sector. 

Improvements will be made to the range of publicly accessible information and the use of electronic media (e.g. Internet-compatible interfaces, userfriendly graphic interfaces) as means of access to federal information sources and online databases (ISIS, land register, company register, RIS etc.) and to the elucidation of the administration, its structures and activities. A start will be made with pointers to authorities and offices, subsidisation institutions and projects, EU-related information, electronic fora etc. Cooperation with regional and municipal initiatives will enlarge the range of available information. 

While traditional forms of communication and interaction will continue to exist, wider use will be made of paperless communication between private individuals and the administration (e.g. legal communications through the exchange of electronic forms and documents based on EDI/EDIFACT). Preparations are being made to counteract the obstacles to dissemination (with due regard to issues relating to verification, data security and data protection) and to introduce incentives for electronic communications.  

The utilisation of advanced information and communication technologies will necessitate modifying administrative procedures with regard to private individuals and the industrial and commercial sectors. By concentrating a wide range of services in a single administrative unit (from register office to tax office) and by making administrative procedures available at kiosks erected in public places, it will be possible to give the general public easier access to administrative services. 

8.3.3 In the light of budgetary constraints and the consequent austerity measures implemented by the Federal Government (lower investment levels, cuts in current expenditure, staffing restrictions), special importance attaches to the efficient use of the available resources and the exploitation of synergic benefits. Steps to improve the coordination of information technology taken under the auspices of the federal computerisation plan of 1992 - including setting up a coordination commission for information technology (information and communication technologies) and expert committees - are being modified to cater to the increased need for coordination. The Finance Ministry is splitting off the data processing division of the Federal Computer Centre into a newly established limited company (Bundesrechenzentrum GmbH). The creation of a security-oriented, efficient and high-capacity information technology supplier for the entire public administration will also enable the existing infrastructure (Computer Centre, network, postal services, software solutions) and the available resources of expertise to be used to the full. The creation of a private company will avoid administration hurdles (allowing for flexible personnel management, alternative financing forms like public-private partnerships etc.) and ensure greater flexibility and efficiency. 

9.1.1 Apart from the public administration in the strict sense of the term (cf. Chapter 8), public social services constitute an area for information and communication technology applications in which, for social and economic reasons, great importance attaches to the improvement of (i) the meeting of customer needs, (ii) the transparency of practical procedures, and (iii) the efficient use of the available resources. In recent years the complexity of work processes and the increasing volume of data to be dealt with have necessitated the wider use of information and communication technologies in such areas as public health, the employment market and the social insurance scheme. This trend is continuing, posing a number of questions with regard to Austria's transition to the information society. The wider use of technology must make sense in terms of cost-effectiveness within the service unit concerned and (from the customer's point of view) in terms of the access to and quality of the product supplied. Fundamental  political decisions in this connection must take account of staff (re)training needs, the exploitation of rationalisation effects, and specific data protection requirements (cf. Chapter 10). 

9.1.2 Public social services affect all sections of the public to the same degree. Apart from the public health administration itself, hospitals, doctors and pharmacists play a key role in modern information and communication technologies applications. Given the sheer diversity of applications and the volume of the communications involved, it is evident that the networking of all the parties concerned, with external interfaces, would result in a substantial improvement of information flows (cf. Special Topic: Communications in the Health Sector). For instance, the internally generated and processed information within a 300-bed hospital is equivalent to the transactions carried out by a bank with 150 branches (adapting figures ascertained in the United States to the Austrian context). Of this information total, 60% is accounted for by data-intensive units like operating theatres, intensive care units and laboratories, 28% by medico-surgical units, and 12% by the central finance office and hospital administration. It is barely surprising, then, that hospitals are constantly investing in the modernisation of their computer systems (for example, by installing hospital information systems on a client-server basis) and are making use of new telematics services.

9.1.3 The health authorities, which act as an interface with virtually all the entities involved in the public health system, are a key factor in the dissemination of new telematics services and applications. For instance, every hospital in Austria sends "minimum basic data" on in-patients, along with data on the patient's stay in hospital and medical data, to the Health Ministry. In the wake of the new hospital financing scheme introduced in 1997, a considerable number of these reports also go to the provincial authorities and/or to the social insurance bodies. To date this information has been transmitted only on disks whose type and formatting complies with stringent standards, a requirement which also applies to the data structure and field characteristics. This enables the data, which originate in a wide variety of computer environments, to be merged on a central platform which could well be regarded as one of many possible EDI applications in the public health system. Another instance of the Health Ministry's function as an interface is the role it plays as a drug supervisory authority (licensing and documenting drugs, monitoring their prices, withdrawing them from use and monitoring undesirable side-effects). 

9.1.4 Nationally and internationally, great importance is attached to the introduction of modern health telematics (beyond the scope of purely administrative tasks). This is a direct result of the permanent flow of information within complex facilities like hospitals and of the growing volume of (also routine) information in the form of medical transfers, physicians' reports, prescriptions, the transfer of test and examination results etc. Between specialised units in the public health system. Initial steps towards solving the cost problem in the health sector (auditing, quality management, performance-based financing etc.) create an even higher demand for information (the comparable, structured and detailed description of diagnoses and therapies). Telematics-based medical consultations and cooperation on diagnostic and therapeutic questions could also help to reduce the costs of fixed equipment in health facilities and to avoid duplicated examinations. Moreover, it would be desirable for the health sector to have wider access to up-to-date databases and knowledge banks (for example, to retrieve information about new forms of treatment or even about telematics-based training and further training facilities in the medical field). 

9.1.5 The modernisation of the public health system with the help of information and communication technologies affects every area of the innovation cycle of new services and products. 

9.1.6 More and more practical applications in the field of health telematics have been implemented in recent years, not least as an outcome of EU research and development programmes either in Austria or with Austrian participation. Some hospitals (e.g. SMZ Ost, hospitals run by the Allgemeine Unfallversicherung, Steyr Hospital etc.) already possess the infrastructure for tele-radiology. This technology enables x-ray examinations to be made either on local monitors or by means of telematics, and the digitised images (x-ray, CT or MR) are archived by a Picture Archiving System (PACS). Cooperative systems for telediagnosis such as exists between the Zwettl hospitals and Innsbruck Medical School are designed to demonstrate the advantages to be gained from joint discussion of cases. Other local and regional projects and EU projects in which Austria is involved (in the 4th Outline Programme for instance DIABCARD 3, NDSNET and ORQUEST) are being carried out. The purpose of all these activities is to enhance the efficiency of the public health system by making systematic improvements to communications and data transfer between the service units. Ideally this means that treatment can be administered on the basis of up-to-date, complete and reliable information, patients are spared the inconvenience of duplicated examinations, and the length of waiting periods and treatment is reduced. 

9.1.7 Another key area for the use of information and communication technologies is the employment market. The Austrian employment service (AMS) employs a staff of about 4,000 and has a turnover in excess of 50 billion Schillings, which makes it one of Austria's largest social service enterprises. Information-intensive services like job-finding, vocational consulting, the provision of data on the employment situation and available jobs, and the payment of unemployment benefits could not be handled without the use of information and communication technologies. Hitherto computers have been used primarily for job finding, consulting and information, statistics, monitoring of the labour market and the employment of foreign nationals. The payment of unemployment benefits has been carried out only partially with the help of electronic data processing. One of the largest-scale data processing projects currently being carried out by the public sector, AMS 2000 focuses on the switch to a client-server architecture and the extension of computerisation to new applications. At many sites the employment service also requires telecommunications networks and services (rental lines, LANs, use of MAN between provincial capitals etc.) for data transfer operations. 

9.1.8 Information and communication technologies are being used more widely in the AMS to enhance the quality and scope of its services. For instance, the network of some 130 (as of late 1995) "Samsomats" is being enlarged. The Samsomats are self-operated terminals with user-friendly interfaces (simple user menus, touch screens as user interface) which enable decentralised inquiries to be made at AMS offices or public places and facilities. They already handle 1.2 Millions inquiries per month. Other avenues of providing information by means of other services and media (e.g. teletext, Internet) are being studied in terms of their feasibility and in some cases are being prepared for implementation. To reduce or simplify the handling of paper-based forms, companies have been given the opportunity to use EDI applications in EDIFACT format for registering job vacancies. Initial pilot projects have been launched at AMS offices in which job seekers enter their own data when they receive their unemployment benefit. The purpose is to shorten waiting periods for consulting sessions, to take some of the work load off the staff and to enhance the effectiveness of the personal consulting service.  

9.1.9 The social insurance area occupies a key position in public social services. The social insurance bodies could not possible deal with the quantity of information they have to handle without the use of information and communication technologies. The sheer size of the social insurance scheme's tasks is evident from the fact that it is responsible for the health, pension and accident insurance of 99.8% of the population and also collects premiums for other organisations. Endeavours to improve data transfer within the social insurance system are currently concentrating on the creation of a client-server architecture and the networking of the central insurance body and the individual constituent organisations. There are also plans to make wider use of e-mail as an internal communication medium as a means of reducing communications costs. 

9.1.10 With the goal of a 10% cut in administrative costs in mind, information and communication technologies should be used more widely - for example, by enlarging the scope of electronic communication (not only within the social security system but also in communications with employers, hospitals, doctors, chemists etc.) to save money. The "Datensammelstelle" project, for instance, is testing the online handling of incoming and outgoing registrations and registration alterations. This will make the classical data entering tasks largely redundant and could - given the requisite staff retraining programmes - release personnel resources for highergrade consulting tasks and thus improve customer service standards. Customer service is also the objective of the comprehensive service strategy whereby every branch of the social insurance scheme throughout Austria can accept any inquiry or application and either deal with it directly or, if special problems occur, pass it on to specialists. Within the space of about ten years the two hundred or so branch offices of the social insurance scheme will have been upgraded to the extent that they can handle anything up to 80% of social insurance business and thus become a kind of "social centre" for their regions. 

9.2.1 There are several parallels between the public administration in the narrower sense of the term and the individual areas of the public social services (including the public health sector).  Permanent improvements in cost-effectiveness, transparency of services and customer-orientation are indispensable for economic and social reasons. The wider use of information and communication technologies could play a supporting role here. However, the socially compatible utilisation of technology presupposes that this process does not create technology-related obstacles but on the contrary that technology makes access easier and reduces the administrative complications for both parties. Especially in the field of the social services, the client group should either comprise all sections of the population or clients with specific needs (e.g. disabled people). At the same time the use of technology as a means of providing client-related information should not be regarded as a direct substitute for personal advisory services. 

9.2.2 The Federal Government is mindful of a number of challenges connected with the use of information and communication technologies in the public health and social services sector as Austria enters the information society. It will pursue the following objectives: 

In the field of public social services, information and communication technologies should be used to enhance the efficiency of services, to simplify administrative procedures and to facilitate communications. The resultant productivity increase should be exploited to handle the rising volume of work and thus avoid higher staffing levels. 

The benefits of rationalisation should also contribute to improving the organisations' services as a whole. The level of advisory services should be progressively raised by training and further training measures. 

The new technologies should also simplify access to information and facilitate interaction between the public service organisations, the clients and the other parties involved. New media will generally serve to supplement traditional forms of communication and should be designed and implemented in such a way as to avoid creating obstacles to access or discrimination against sections of the general public. 

9.2.3 Internal and sectoral rationalisation goals are not the only considerations in formulating measures in the field of public services. The role of pioneer user is of great significance for this country's path to the information society. In the context of the public health system, there is scope for achieving important advances in research and development, standards and the widespread utilisation of new information and communication technologies. Special importance attaches to the improvement of service standards. This presupposes that the utilisation of technology is gauged to its effectiveness. 

9.3.1 The Working Group (notably subgroups 6 and 8) put forward proposals that resemble the suggested solutions for the public administration (cf. Chapter 8, especially 8.3.1 ff.). Cases in point are the organisational, legal and technical prerequisites for internal communications (within a given unit), the creation of communications platforms for the parties involved in a given area, the use of electronic media to enlarge the scope of paperless communications and to afford the end user (the client) access to the authority or public service provider concerned. 

9.3.2 In addition to the measures and priorities listed under 8.3.1 ff., priority attaches to strategies and further measures in the following areas:     One of the main problems in the utilisation of information and communication technologies is the frequent heterogeneity of the systems in use and the predominance of one-off solutions. Endeavours are being stepped up in the public health field to integrate services and applications and to make them interoperable and thus ultimately to facilitate communications between the various parties concerned. These measures include the expert group STRING (Standards and Guidelines for Computerisation in the Austrian Public Health Sector), which was set up in 1995 under the auspices of the Healthy Ministry. This group is made up of experts from the fields of research and technical development, standards, information technology development at hospitals, medicine, health insurance and data protection. The group deals on an interdisciplinary basis with questions relating to new applications (e.g. electronic case histories, health networks, digitised medical picture processing, patients' chip cards etc.). 

In the public health sector in particular (but also in the field of other public social services), the utilisation of technology depends on finding a satisfactory solution to the issue of data protection and data security. A resolution adopted by the 'Nationalrat' in November 1996 calls on the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs to make such preparations as lie within his purview by 1998 for the introduction of chip cards in the social insurance field. The resolution stated expressly that the confidentiality of medical data must be safeguarded. 

10.1.1 Precisely because of the growing spread of information and communication technologies and new multimedia networks and applications, it is necessary to consider the relationship between technology and law  in at least two of its aspects. On the one hand, technological developments raise the question of the possible need to modify or modernise the applicable laws. On the other hand, the new information and communication technology applications may serve as an instrument for improving the enforcement of laws.  If the vision of an information society is to encompass an open and democratic approach to social development, the scope for both legislative and technological development must be used. The conditions of access to information (via new media) and the conditions for utilising information (data protection and/or protection of privacy, commercial use of copyrighted material, prosecution for infringements of media content laws) should be subjected to a critical review, as should be the conditions pertaining to (commercial) transactions via multimedia networks (e.g. consumer protection). 

10.1.2 Ideally, the amendment of existing laws should keep abreast of social, economic and technological developments. One prominent feature of the advent of the information society is the higher economic significance that is attached to information (information as a means of production and as a commercial commodity). Other features are universality (in the sense of the permeation of all aspects of life such as work, education and leisure activities) by the new communication technologies, and convergence (the "growing together" of (i) various sectors like the media, computers, home electronics and telecommunications, (ii) the fundamental technological basis like digitised content, hardware and software, and (iii) forms of communication (mass communication and individual communication). As crossborder, decentralised networks and services spread (e.g. through the Internet), so the global character of this trend assumes ever greater importance. 

10.1.3 Technological developments relating to the transmission and archiving of digitised information are creating an urgent need for modifying the legal conditions pertaining to the mass media. Capacity constraints on programme transmission (for radio and television) can be eliminated in the case of both physical transmission channels (for instance by using compression technology) and radio signals (by making better use of frequency ranges, using satellite technology). At the same time the cable TV networks, originally designed purely as distribution networks for mass communications, are becoming interactive, while the telecommunications networks are being modernised to allow interactivity. It would appear that the classical range of radio and television programming can be extended at will in view of the huge number of suppliers and programmes (local and regional stations, specialised special-interest programmes devoted to sports, feature films, music etc.). On the other hand the product range is being enlarged by the advent of interactive elements from "on-demand" services (video on demand, games on demand, music on demand etc.) to interactive television allowing the viewer to determine the action. The classical print media (newspapers, magazines etc.) are also being affected by these developments in that comparable off-line products (e.g. on CD ROM) and on-line products (via electronic networks) are becoming available. This gives rise to a new competitive environment for traditional and new media, with stronger competition for (paying) subscribers and advertising revenue. 

10.1.4 These technological and commercial trends have several implications for media policy and media law. In the field of radio and television, for instance, it will be necessary to ensure that a basic supply of information, on the lines of the universal service in the telecommunications field (cf. Chapters 3 and 4), is generally available. Thus, the foundations for diversity of opinion must be safeguarded for reasons of democratic and educational expediency. Public broadcasting above all can help to (i) provide the requisite diversity of information (supply special-interest programming), and (ii) make broadcasting affordable (access to information virtually irrespective of disposable income). Other implications concern competitive conditions in the media sector. It will be necessary to ensure that diversity of opinion is not jeopardised by the predominance of individual suppliers (media monopolies) and that restrictive practices (for instance, the use of technical or contractual restrictions in the provision of the programme or at the technical interfaces with the subscriber) are prevented. As in the telecommunications field, the licensing procedures need to be transparent and competitively neutral (especially where frequencies are in short supply). 

10.1.5 The spread of interactive, multimedia services raises fundamental questions relating to the modification of the (legal) conditions pertaining to the use of information and communication technologies and new media. Services like the Internet provide not only e-mail functions but also act as an "electronic market-place" (agora function) on which a variety of actions with legal implications can be carried out (e.g. searching for offers, conclusion of contracts, holding of events, dissemination of media products etc.). The use of certain technical means should not divert attention from the contents of the communication and its legal classification. Nevertheless, the technical implications of the utilisation of the new services and networks can jeopardise the balance between the interests of the parties involved that has hitherto been safeguarded by law. Accordingly, parliament should (where necessary) take such action as will ensure that the parties' position is not affected detrimentally by the use of technology. 

10.1.6 In the medium term applications like tele-shopping or purchasing via the Internet are likely to gain ground. For this reason the applicable consumer protection legislation (unconsidered purchases, withdrawal  terms etc.) will need to be amended. Because the media concerned are generally crossborder media, special attention must be paid to the international aspect of the amendment process. In the European context the first, important step will be the implementation of a directive on consumer protection in cases of contractual obligations resulting from tele-shopping. This directive enforces the provision of certain information on the part of the supplier (first and foremost about significant characteristics of the commodity concerned) and a one-week withdrawal term for the purchaser. 

10.1.7 Consumer protection is just one of several important implications raised by the conclusion of contracts via electronic media. Austrian contractual law makes few distinctions from one medium to another, so that the applicable contractual and commercial laws also apply to contracts concluded via computer. Nevertheless, attention must be paid to the need to amend the relevant legislation in the light of technological innovations. Austria must therefore play an active role in international projects like the continuing work of the UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) on "Electronic Data Interchange". A model law on electronic commerce has already been finalised. 

10.1.8 The areas of data protection and data security also call for greater attention in terms of the possible need for bringing the applicable laws into line with technological developments. The underlying tenet here is the fundamental principle of data protection: that data may be collected, processed and computed only to the extent that this is absolutely necessary for the partners in a (legally permissible) relationship in the upholding of their rights and obligations (proceeding from this relationship). In the case of traditional and modern telecommunications services (telephone, Internet access etc.), the supplier acquires transaction generated information (TGI) when the communication is established. This information is required for invoicing purposes but must not be used or stored for other purposes (e.g. the compilation of user profiles for marketing) without the express consent of the user. Although the national telecommunications laws cover this point, data protection problems can occur in areas like crossborder data transfer. The content of data interchanged between sender and recipient is, like registration information, subject to regulations governing the protection of personal privacy and confidentiality (e.g. the law on telephone confidentiality). 

10.1.9 The confidentiality of communication content is just one aspect that needs to be considered in connection with communication and interaction via electronic networks. Whereas laws merely prohibit infringements and prescribe penalties, privacy enhancing technologies can effectively help to prevent contraventions of data protection laws. However, the use of cipher applications shows to what extent the use of technology depends on the legal and institutional background conditions. In Europe, the creation of an organisational and institutional infrastructure for the verification of the identity of communication partners in public networks (by introducing verification services) has only just started. 

10.1.10 The protection of intellectual property is another area in which legal and technical solutions relating to utilisation conditions for information are of prime importance. On the one hand, information is the "raw material" for a number of new products and services and from its initial generation (e.g. raw data, image etc.) to the end product (e.g. CD ROM with multimedia content) passes through several processing stages, each of which entails a certain expenditure. The end product may be compounded of the individual work of many specialised contributors. On the other hand technological advances have made it possible for copyrighted work to be reproduced digitally with relatively simple technological means and to be disseminated via electronic networks. A start has been made internationally on establishing copyright management systems, agency offices and exploitation corporations which meet the increasing need for coordination. Moreover, preparations are being made to harmonise the various national substantive copyright provisions. 

10.1.11 New technologies for the utilisation and dissemination of information also need to be examined from the point of view of criminal law. The principal issues here relate to the definition of criminal offences (forms of computer crime, media offences, the dissemination of neo-Nazi, xenophobic or pornographic material or of material that is unsuitable for children and young people) and to the legal liability of third persons (service suppliers such as telephone network operators or Internet providers). Effective penalties for such offences must be defined, and these should also apply to cross-border networks. Few modifications need to be made to the applicable provisions of substantive criminal law, because the existing definition of conventional offences by and large continues to apply to new media. Only in isolated cases will new provisions be necessary. A service supplier's scope of criminal liability is an issue that is still being discussed. It may arise without the supplier being aware of committing a criminal act merely through the utilisation of the service he offers, broadly as stipulated in § 207a of the Austrian Code of Criminal Law (Strafgesetzbuch) or § 16 of the Telecommunications Act (Fernmeldegesetz). Problems are most likely to arise in tracing the originators of criminal content (especially abroad), notably in identifying them and in establishing the applicability of Austrian law. Over and above this, in the overall context of criminal law - notably where procedural law is concerned - it will be necessary to review the applicability and effectiveness of such standard procedures as search warrants, confiscation of property and phone tapping. By and large it can be said that most of the necessary legal modifications are likely to apply not so much to substantive criminal law as to procedural law. 

10.2.1 The modernisation of the legal context for the handling of information is one of the central prerequisites for the advent of the information society in Austria. The fields of legislation and law enforcement are mutually dependent on social, technological and economic developments that will in future be dominated by the availability, retrieval, exchange and utilisation of information. Digitised information and the spread of new (multimedia) applications, services and networks open up a number of opportunities in connection with the broad availability of information and new forms of electronic communication and interaction. While these trends represent new chances for society and business, they also entail hazards and scope for abuse. Legislation and law enforcement will thus need to respond by creating a stable and secure environment for handling information. This response must take account of rapid technological changes and the international implications  of cross-border information exchange and communication. 

10.2.2 The Federal Government is aware that the process of modifying and modernising the general legal environment as Austria enters the information society will entail a number of challenges. Its action will be  gauged to the following objectives: 

The legal and technical formulation of conditions governing access to information and the use of this information should aim to ensure the greatest possible diversity of opinion, the avoidance of discriminatory conditions, the safeguarding of self-determination with regard to information, the protection of each individual's privacy, and the need for the commercial exploitation of information.     The balance of interests which the law has hitherto upheld should be preserved in the context of new forms of communication. This applies particularly to cases of interaction and transactions via new media and networks which are of significance to the commercial and industrial sectors. The focus is on consumer protection and legal security for all parties involved. 

The law should also be enforceable in the case of cross-border networks. This affects both restrictions on the content and use of information (for instance, the dissemination of criminal content and infringement of data protection or copyright laws) and maintenance of the balance of interests in conducting transactions via cross-border networks. 

10.2.3 The foremost considerations in the formulation of an approach are the speed of technological change and the crossborder nature of many applications. Modifications are being made step by step, are based on a comprehensive social discussion of the new media and technologies, and take account of the recognizable hazards and benefits for the individual and for society as a whole and of international trends in legislation. If the suitable modifications are to be made, it will be necessary to pay due attention to the reciprocal impact of technological advances and economic developments. Legal amendments should therefore incorporate the experience gained in the course of technological and research measures (parallel studies during pilot projects, results of technology impact assessment etc.). 

10.3.1 The Working Group (notably subgroup 1, The Information Society and Law) proposed action designed to help achieve the objectives in the medium to long term, principally in the fields of media, data protection, consumer protection, copyright and criminal law. Issues such as broad-based access to information (diversity of opinion, non-discriminatory access), restrictions (protection of personal privacy or of copyright), the balance of interests in electronic transactions, and criminal offences (e.g. the dissemination of criminal content) relate to a wide range of legal provisions. The focus of deliberations in connection with the modernisation of the legal background conditions for the information society is information as the pivot of social and economic development. 

10.3.2 In the context of the amendment of legal provisions, strategies and modifications in the following areas have priority: 

In the media field, measures are being drawn up to secure a "basic supply" of information, to widen the scope for the whole population to participate, to uphold diversity of opinion and to avoid the emergence of opinion oligopolies. The most urgent issue is the clarification of questions (primarily in media and competitive law) raised by the merging of channels of individual and mass communications. 

Conducting business transactions via electronic (or multimedia) networks requires the maintenance of a balance of the transacting parties' interests.  

Where the protection of personal privacy is concerned, the primary issue is to find an effective way to safeguard the data protection stipulation that data may be used only for expressly stated purposes and not for other purposes. The modification of the legal situation to take account of technological advances must cater to specific circumstances, at one extreme providing for the greatest possible degree of anonymity, at the other extreme allowing for the absolutely dependable verification of both parties' identity. The legal and organisational issues relating to the use of permissible cipher systems in Europe must be clarified. 

Where criminal law is concerned, some modifications will have to be made with regard to criminal offences and procedural law. Special problems occur in tracing the perpetrators of criminal offences, notably when they use cross-border networks and identification was not mandatory. Non-judicial solutions at international level (e.g. an international convention stipulating minimum standards for service suppliers) are preferable to the conventional approach (threatening penalties under criminal law) as a means of imposing the restrictions on available information desirable for social reasons. 

Special: The Future of (Tele)Work 

The advent  of new telecommunications applications and services enables certain work processes to be separated from the main facility in terms of both space and time (telework). By comparison with conventional work forms, telework is more highly computerised and makes wider use of telecommunications services and facilities. The various forms of telework are defined by their location. In the case of (i) home-based telework the work is carried out principally at home, while (ii) alternating telework involves a combination of work at home and on the company premises. Telework can also be performed in offices equipped with special infrastructural features. These fall into two categories: (iii) satellite offices (basically a branch office run by the employer), and (iv) neighbourhood offices (telecentres at which employees of several companies work). Finally, (v) mobile telework involves work carried out at a variety of locations. 

It seems probable for several reasons that telework will spread. The generation, processing and diffusion of information - functions that are becoming increasingly important - can to all intents and purposes be carried out anywhere. As the technical prerequisites (services and infrastructure such as e-mail via Internet, mobile and satellite-based language and data services, ISDN) are more and more widely available, the costs of information and communications technologies are dropping. More and more people have access to and are learning how to use the new technologies on a private basis. Social developments are also encouraging the spread of telework: the growing wish for a greater degree of self-determination in working life and for more flexible working conditions in terms of both time and place, for instance, or the larger role which women are playing in working life. At present telework is practised only sporadically in Austria, and several organisational and technical problems still need to be solved. But (inter)national studies suggest that there is likely to be a substantial growth of telework, at least in the medium term. 

In defining the conditions applicable to telework, it will be necessary to take factors relating to labour legislation and social policy into account in order to avoid social imbalances. It will be important to detect such potential hazards as: telework as a cause of isolation and detrimental effects on family life; the division of employees into those belonging to a secure core staff and those relegated to an insecure, peripheral and poorly paid staff category; and a general deterioration of working conditions. In the quest for solutions to these hazards, it will be useful to run targeted pilot projects taking account of both employee and employer interests, and to carry out the requisite studies. Any adjustments made to the applicable working and social terms will then be gauged to the goal of preserving a balance of interests between the parties involved. 

There is a broad consensus that home telework is a less desirable arrangement than alternating telework or telework at satellite and neighbourhood offices. Steps must be taken to ensure that changes in working conditions - changes are by and large welcome - do not mean that the persons concerned forfeit their employment status or lose their social and labour rights. An amendment to the provisions governing social security enacted in 1996 enlarged the scope of eligibility for social security coverage, and certain categories of teleworkers whose contractual status approximates to regular employment will now be covered by the social security scheme. 

Special: The Meaning of Universal Service 

The international debate on this topic rates the safeguarding of basic telecommunications services as one of the foremost objectives of economic and social policy within the context of national economies. The nationwide supply of such minimum communication services as telephone, basic data services, emergency call services and public telephones ranks as essential in fostering regional development prospects and addressing vital communications needs. From the vantage point of maintaining a socially and geographically balanced supply, the principal features of a universal service are not just its availability but also the structure and amount of the prices (i.e. the affordability) of certain communications services. These considerations are accounted for by the application of the principle of "spatial tariff units" combined with special tariffs for certain sections of the population irrespective of regional or individual disparities in the costs of supplying the services. 

The deregulation of the telecommunications markets would appear to be jeopardising the universal service, not least because companies operating in competitive conditions are not necessarily interested in maintaining a comprehensive supply. In less densely populated regions communications services cannot be operated profitably, and here it will be necessary to devise compensatory measures that will counteract an inadequate supply. It will also be important to ensure that the suppliers continue to offer special tariff levels for low-income groups. This again raises the question of to what extent and by what means compensation can be given for providing a socially and regionally balanced service. 

The transition to the information society involves a reorientation of the universal service in conjunction with its enlargement. Inasmuch as new media, networks and communications channels will in future be utilised to provide the public with information and to facilitate interaction between the public and private sectors, it will be necessary to revise their definitions, terms of use and financing arrangements. The basic objective of an "information society universal service" will pursue the principle that public access to information and the enlarged scope for communication with state authorities, schools and other public bodies must not discriminate against any geographical or social group. It is to this end that, for instance, plans have been made to provide an access junction to the Corporate Network Finance (CNF) in each district administrative centre, so that the individual citizen need not go outside his own administrative district to reach the nearest interface. 

Special: Selected EU Directives on Telecommunications 

(90/388/EEC) SERVICES DIRECTIVE  Commission directive dated June 28, 1990 on competition on the telecommunications services market - the satellite directive version dated October 13, 1994 (94/46/EEC). 

Purpose: Creation of competitive conditions in the provision of telecommunications services; abolition of special and exclusive privileges (monopolies) for the provision of services excluding speech telephone services but including satellite services; abolition of quantitative access limits in the issue of licences for service provision. 

(95/51/EEC) CABLE TELEVISION DIRECTIVE  Commission directive (modification of services directive) dated October 18, 1995 on the abolition of restrictions imposed on the utilisation of cable television networks for the provision of telecommunications services. 

Purpose: Enlargement of competition in the services directive; abolition of the restriction on the utilisation of cable television networks for the provision of deregulated telecommunications services; safeguarding the interconnection of cable television networks with the public telecommunications network for the provision of telecommunications  services. 

(96/2/EEC) MOBILE RADIO COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTIVE  Commission directive (modification of the services directive) dated January 16, 1996 concerning mobile communications and person-to-person communications. 

Purpose: Enlargement of competition in the services directive; extensive deregulation of mobile radio communications.

Special: Internet and ACOnet 

The Internet, the "ultimate network", is a global, decentralised grid of computers (hosts) whose origins go back to US research networks in the late sixties. From the mid-eighties onwards, with the rapid spread of personal computers (PCs) for business and private use, the number of Internet subscribers soared to the present level of over 40 million. E-mail applications, WorldWideWeb (WWW) information services with multimedia capability, and newsgroup discussion fora provide the basis for cross-border electronic communication and access to every conceivable kind of information.  

The Austrian scientific network ACOnet grew out of a research project run by Vienna Technical University. It went into regular operation in 1990, using X.25 links with transfer rates of 9.6 kbps. In 1992 the Austrian backbone network was switched from X.25 to the Internet protocol TCP/IP, and Internet connectivity was subsequently provided by a junction of the backbone provider EBONE. Not least because of the junctions to Eastern and Central European scientific networks, Vienna has emerged as an important European Internet hub. The first commercial Austrian Internet providers were assigned their links to international Internet connections through the Viennese EBONE junction, supervised by Vienna University's computer centre. 

The increasing quantities of data being transmitted via the ACOnet is necessitating the constant increase of national transfer capacity and of international links. Whereas at the end of 1990 only 192 computers in Austria were registered in the Internet, their number has risen to 65,000 (end of April 1996), with 12,000 new hosts registered in the first four months of 1996 alone. To aggravate matters, more than a hundred (mainly public) institutions - such as universities, museums, research institutes, hospitals, local authorities and schools - between Dornbirn in the West and Vienna in the East are directly or indirectly linked via the ACOnet. 

In early 1994 the ACOnet was hooked up to the Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) of the PTA at a transfer rate of 34 Mbps, and the universities acquired a 2 Mbps link, which temporarily relieved the pressure. In March 1996 the busiest locations (Graz, Linz, Vienna) were connected by 4 Mbps ATM links, and Austria is participating in the EU project TEN-34, which is designed to pave the way for wideband links between the European scientific networks (at 34 Mbps). But these are merely intermediate steps. If the volume of data transfer continues to grow as in recent years, then we will need transfer rates in the order of 155 Mbps by the year 2000. 

Special: EDI Simplifies Business Communications 

More and more business-related processes are being transacted through electronic communications systems (electronic commerce, electronic trading). Over and above the scope of telephone, fax and e-mail, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) can transfer structured data both within an organisation and outside it. EDI makes an ideal alternative to the exchange of paper-based documentation in cases of regular communications with business partners and authorities (tenders, orders, delivery schedules, price and product information, test reports, invoices, transport contracts, value added tax submissions, payment orders etc.). EDI has already reached a high utilisation rate and is recording two-digit growth figures. The American market research firm Input, for instance, estimates that in 1995 over 100,000 companies carried out transactions worth around US$ 130 billion by means of EDI. 

The electronic interchange of structured business data via EDI is based on the technical principle of computer-to-computer communication. It offers a number of advantages. It allows companies to tap sizeable rationalisation and cost-cutting resources, for example. The time it takes to carry out operations like sending orders is a fraction of the time taken by the equivalent manual operation. EDI brings not only quantitative but also qualitative improvements: it eliminates error sources (fewer wrong deliveries and complaints), the chance to incorporate updated status information, and abbreviated processing times (shorter order-to-dispatch cycles). Paperless communications can thus constitute part of a strategy for improving competitiveness in the business world and for modernising procedures in the administrative world. 

Despite the foreseeable advantages which EDI brings in terms of enhanced efficiency and responses to market conditions, the use of EDI is at present confined to individual pioneering sectors such as the automobile industry, the consumer goods sector or the public health sector. There are tangible obstacles for small and medium-size enterprises to overcome. Uniform, technically standardised formats have to be introduced for data interchange (on the lines of the international EDIFACT standards, ISO 9735). As is the case with other communications services, a "critical mass" of users is required to make this technology practicable. What is needed is large-scale pioneer users (e.g. market leaders in a sector, or administrative units with a large number of clients) to do the footwork of providing the necessary information and coordination (agreement on a standard, minimum number of customers and suppliers etc.). Moreover, EDI applications can only realise their full potential if they are attuned to the internal procedures and processes. 

Special: Information and Mobility 

The existing transport system is steadily approaching the limits of its capacity. To safeguard mobility on a demand-oriented and sustained basis and in compliance with transport-related, environmental and social considerations, recent plans and technologies have taken wider account of the availability of information and the improvement of information flow systems as key factors. Organisational and company-based measures utilising modern telematic applications have been adopted to achieve such goals as linking public and private transport systems, the rationalisation of traffic flows, diversion to environmentally more compatible transport systems, and the avoidance of unnecessary traffic. Furthermore, telematic applications can contribute to raising levels of traffic safety and gauging travel expenses more closely (if not entirely) to real costs. 

To a large extent, the basic technologies are in place, although numerous technical and organisational solutions are still needed to improve the flow of information. This is true, for instance, in cases in which individual transport systems have built up incompatible, isolated information channels. The issues of accessibility, connectivity, electronic transmission and display have not to date been dealt with systematically. The useroriented acquisition and processing of data and information are another bottleneck. Research also needs to be done in connection with the traffic-related and environmental impact of certain solutions (freight exchanges, traffic guidance systems for motorists etc.). The specific geographical and topographical conditions prevailing in Austria are another challenge to the development and implementation of targeted plans and systems. 

Austria attaches high priority to the application fields (i) traffic data grid and traffic information systems, (ii) logistical management for freight traffic, and (iii) road pricing. 

The development of an information system for (public and private) transport depends on the merging of existing and future information systems (e.g. timetable information, Park & Ride, car-sharing). The ideal structure would be modular, and public access to information should be as simple as possible (telephone, information booths, Internet etc.). Provision should be made for long-term enlargement (e.g. reservations and booking systems, interfaces with the information systems of other sectors such as culture and tourism).    The use of telematics in freight transport is a key avenue to increasing productivity in the transport chain and achieving environmental targets. Technologies allowing the service-oriented linking of transport systems, the transport sector and industry could help to facilitate rapid switching from one means of transport to another and the provision of high-grade services for resource and capacity management across the borders of the various transport systems. A priority here is the integration of environmentally compatible transport systems like rail and ship. 

On-going pilot tests of electronic road pricing systems on Austria's motorways have demonstrated the technical feasibility of this technology. The 1996 Federal Road Financing Act envisages the implementation of a road pricing system for lorries on motorways and expressways as the first stage, to be introduced in 1998/99. Road pricing for cars would follow in 2001. Provision should be made where possible for the system's compatibility (internationally and with the existing eco-points system for lorries) and its coordinated introduction within the EU, the anonymity of users (data protection), and future enlargements of the system to include traffic channeling on the basis of differentiated prices.

Special: Networks for Schools and Education 

For some years now the networking of educational institutions and the development of new communication channels in the educational field have been a priority area in the work of the Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs. Projects in this field aim to reduce the initial obstacles to the use of new information and communication technologies and to test applications in the specific conditions of the school environment. The ultimate goals are to improve the flow of information between everybody involved in the school education system by making use of the new technologies, and to develop new channels of communication. This applies not only to administrative procedures but also to communication and information in the classroom. 

One prerequisite for networking is being met by the Austrian School Network (ASN) project. Its central objective is to set up a technical telecommunications infrastructure linking schools and the schools authorities. Data lines, junctions, networks etc. provide the basis for electronic communication between national and international communication partners and for tapping various information sources. An inter-ministerial working group established in the Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs has taken over responsibility for project planning and evaluation and is currently concentrating on questions relating to cooperation with the ACOnet, financing (data line costs from the junction, junction equipment etc.), junction supervision, and openings for cooperation with industry. A technical-organisational working group is studying questions of implementation. Its main tasks are the planning of the technical junction equipment and its enlargement, but also the coordination of the information resources and the uniform structuring of addresses. 

The Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs' Black*Board project, launched in the 1994/95 academic year, is testing new applications for schools. Initial obstacles for pupils unfamiliar with the related technologies are kept to a minimum. For instance, the software is easy to use and has a user-friendly graphic interface. The software is provided free of charge to anybody involved in education who requests it (teachers, school administrations, parents, schools council representatives etc.). There are junctions in seven federal provinces which allow potential subscribers to register at an e-mail address. Black*Board's media concept covers various forms of electronic communication (text-based dialogues such as discussion fora and on-line chats, access to current ministerial information etc.). This makes it possible to install the communication facilities required by cooperative projects (such as teaching projects involving two or more schools) irrespective of location and to facilitate the exchange of information between, for instance, teachers belonging to working groups on various school-related topics (e.g. on individual school subjects, school network administration, school libraries etc.). 

The ASN and Black*Board projects have to date elicited a lively response and have demonstrated the wide range of possible ways in which the new electronic media can be utilised in education. By the middle of 1996 some 180 schools had joined the ASN: 29% of Pedagogic Institutes, 26% of technical-commercial colleges, and 19% of general secondary schools. By the end of 1996 300 schools were linked via the ASN. The Internet Black*Board mailbox system is being used by 710 schools - one eighth of all Austrian schools. The general secondary schools account for the largest proportion, 60%. Over 5,000 users are exploring the many different ways of using the new electronic media, and these are being enlarged by technical improvements (e.g. the development of WWW-based communication tools in cooperation with the Austrian Academy of Sciences). Apart from providing the essential technical and organisational prerequisites, the main challenge of the years to come will relate to the pedagogic implications. If the available scope is to be used in a meaningful way, the next steps will go beyond testing such projects' feasibility in the classroom and in teaching preparation. They will entail studying the effects of new media and a critical, practical review of the uses of information and communication technologies on the part of teachers and pupils alike. 

Netzwerk Justiz:   The "Netzwerk Justiz" (Judicial Network) originated during the development of large-scale information technology projects in the judicial field. It involves a dedicated line network linking all the work stations operated by the judicial authorities in the federal provinces (217 law courts and 21 State Attorney's offices), by the Ministry of Justice and by the Supreme Court with the Federal Computer Centre ("Bundesrechenzentrum").   

Public registers:   The compilation of the Austrian Land Register ("Osterreichisches Grundbuch") as an advanced database system was successfully completed in the autumn of 1992. This gives Austria's judiciary a modern system of land registry that has been acclaimed both in Austria and abroad. The "ADV-Grundbuch" is part of the Land Registry Database "GDB). The GDB project is being run jointly by the Ministries of Justice and of Economic Affairs. The compilation of the individual Commercial and Co-operatives Registers as an advanced database system, the "ADV Firmenbuch", was successfully completed in the autumn of 1994.   

Automation of Judicial Procedures:   Concurrently with the ADV-Grundbuch project, work began on realising a semiautomated judicial action system which developed into a system for the procedural and administrative automation of the courts of law. Since the judicial action system went into operation at the Bezirksgericht Wien Innere Stadt on January 1, 1986, it has grown into a mass procedure (generally speaking the commencement of civil proceedings at local court level). The summons is first processed electronically. This involves the court registrar's attestation, the ascertainment of the court's competence and several other criteria, the calculation of the court dues, and the formulation of a proposed verdict. This verdict is reviewed by a judge and his findings entered in the system. In most cases the payment demand is automatically printed out and processed. 

The payment demand is printed and processed by the automated postal system in the Federal Computer Centre ("Rechenzentrum"). The data from all proceedings are stored for retrieval in the event of later verdicts and summons in connection with related judicial case. 

This new process brings substantial incidental advantages: the automated compilation of court records right up to the final verdict, the redundancy of all other statistical records and of most reports, easier data scanning thanks to the availability of case histories going back over thirty years, and finally the facilitation of judicial research and the management of human resources. Once the records systems of the local civil courts had been computerised, the same system was applied to other fields of judicial procedure and new features were added (monitoring of deadlines, automatic handling, summons procedures, statistical evaluation etc.). This speeds up the work of the courts, substantially improves the intelligibility of court communications and provides the persons concerned with a wider range of information.   

Electronic Judicial Communications:   The system of electronic legal communications provides for paperless communications between legal parties and courts of law. It was introduced in 1990. Submissions can now be made electronically rather than in writing. In future courts of law will be able to forward their findings to the petitioner by electronic channels rather than sending written notification and duplicates of the petition.  Electronic judicial communications will be introduced for all types of legal proceedings. Up to July 30, 1994 the system was available only to lawyers, notaries public and the Financial Attorney Offices as the representatives of the regional authorities. Since that date bodies under public law and certain legal entities (principally banks and insurance companies) have been incorporated in the system. Since mid-1996 the system has been available for all submissions to courts of law. Return communications (forwarding of judicial findings) by electronic channels will be introduced in 1997. In 1996 legislation was enacted to facilitate the enlargement of the scope of electronic communications between legal representatives and the courts of law. 

Automated Fee Transfer:   Along with the introduction of electronic legal communications, a system of automated booking and transfer was   launched. Lawyers, notaries public and bodies under public law can add to their submissions (both written and  electronic) a notification that the court charges may be automatically withdrawn from their bank accounts. 

Automated Social Insurance Inquiries:   Since 1986 it has been possible for parties to inquire about the social insurance data of liable persons. This has  brought considerable advantages for both the parties concerned and for the law courts. The inquiry is routed via the judicial network to the social insurance computer centre and answered through the same channels. 

Automated Land Register Journal:   The Journal of the Land Register Department has also been converted to computerised form. The conversion was not based on the programme modules of the automated civil proceedings because of the latters' link to the land register database. 

JUTEXT:   This special modular text system was introduced to facilitate the large quantities of written communications that have to be dealt with in the judicial field. It allows judicial personnel from the rank of senior court clerk upwards to compile multiple communications. Wherever this is technically and practically feasible, it incorporates form management in the range of data processing applications. JUTEXT was introduced throughout Austria in September 1991, initially for non-contentious proceedings. Its use has since been extended to property seizure and bankruptcy proceedings and to the work of bailiffs, district magistrates and the distraint offices at provincial courts. 

ADV-Jv in the Justice Ministry:   After an observation period during pilot runs (at the Federal Computer Centre and the Defence Ministry) and work on an office information system (Central Statistical Office and Federal Building Administration) and completion of the requisite preparations, at the beginning of 1993 the Justice Ministry installed an office information system (DB\2 application in the Federal Computer Centre and Finance Ministry, link with AmiPro on the PC which serves as a terminal). Work has begun on the modification of this system for communication with decentralised administrative units. 

IT-assisted Personnel Management:   Human resources are stretched to their limit in the judicial field, as elsewhere. It is therefore necessary to ensure that the work load is shared more or less equally among the staff. With this goal in mind the Ministry of Justice, in collaboration with representatives of the judiciary and the non-judiciary court staff as well as a distinguished management consultancy firm, reviewed the staffing of the courts in terms of staff levels, payment and effectiveness. The increasing use of information technology in conjunction with the Judicial Operational Information System (providing data on current court cases and their status) and the Personnel Information System (containing data on the allocation of staff to individual departments) have supplied an extremely efficient information basis. The new Personnel Requirements System adapts a technique used in private industry for calculating work loads to assess the time required for certain tasks and infrastructural functions in the various departments. The judicial sector will thus have at its disposal a personnel management system of a standard seldom achieved even in the private sector. 

Special: Democracy and Electronics 

New information and communication technologies will in future play a larger role in the formation of political opinions. The electronic media will initially help to improve the general public's access to politically relevant information and to enhance the transparency of political opinion-forming and decision-making. The new media here supplement the conventional mass media. In the long term it is conceivable that the technical possibilities for interaction intrinsic to the new media could give rise to new forms of communication, increasing the individual's opportunities for political participation. 

We should not neglect the limits of a "tele-democracy" that does not discriminate against particular sections of the population. Improved access to information and new openings for communication - via Internet, for instance - depend on a number of prerequisites relating to the individual user. The public discussion generally focuses on the issue of costs (the costs of the necessary technical equipment, devices, communications services etc.) and basic technical skills (PC skills, ability to handle the media and their concomitant abundance of information etc.). Moreover, the whole of the general public does not necessarily welcome the new technologies, so that the group of active users is not entirely representative of the population as a whole. It would appear to be necessary to launch educational programmes, implement an enlarged "information society universal service" and draw up a strategy for providing access to information in public institutions. There is currently little scope for electronic voting, not only because individual voters do not have the same basic opportunities but also because manipulation and infringements of the secret ballot cannot be ruled out. 

In the short to medium term considerations of democratic policy would make it desirable to enlarge public access to information through electronic media even if this access is limited to a given circle of users. This approach would still reach a larger section of the general public than that which now enjoys "privileged access" to politically relevant information (i.e. journalists and academics). The current measures to widen access to politically relevant information in Austria include action being taken by the federal ministries, the Federal Chancellery and the parliamentary steering committee. The Federal Press Service has established its own WWW server which will allow electronic access to information relating to the Federal Government's priority programmes, responsibilities and functions. This server encompasses a number of links to more detailed information sources (e.g. the federal legal information system). The parliament Administration's PARLINKOM project is an important factor in the process of lending greater transparency to the political opinion-forming process. PARLINKOM's range of information is being progressively widened. It currently includes a self-presentation of the Austrian Parliament, its organisation and its deputies but also updated information on the distribution of parliamentary seats, the agenda and list of speakers for individual sessions of Parliament, and a large amount of material dealing with parliamentary business (draft legislation, tabled motions, inquiries, information on parliamentary debates, voting etc.). 

Special: Communications in the Health Sector

The public health sector is an area in which, given the complexity of work processes involving a large number of participants, the efficient exchange of information is an indispensable factor in the effective provision of services and in the cost accounting system. For example, Austria’s 320 or so hospitals record more than 1.9 million in-patients every year, accounting for almost 20 million bed-nights. The general hospitals alone with their approximately 57,000 registered beds account for 16 million bed-nights and 1.75 released in-patients per annum. Out-patients total more than 15 million. About two thirds of the doctors with practices (approximately 6,000 general practitioners, 6,000 specialists and 3,000 dentists) have contractual arrangements with the social insurance scheme and accept about 40 million treatment entitlement vouchers ("Krankenscheine") a year. The best part of a thousand pharmacists handle around 40 million prescriptions a year. These figures reflect the demand for communications within the public health sector as a means of dealing with administrative procedures and co-ordinating individual medical tasks relating to case histories, diagnosis and therapy.

The utilisation of information and communication technologies simplifies the exchange of information. Hospitals, for instance, are relatively complex service units with a wide variety of facilities (out-patients’ departments, pharmacies, blood banks, diagnosis and therapy facilities, institutes, operating theatres, personnel and material management departments, wards etc.) dealing with a large number of tasks and generating a vast quantity of information. It is barely surprising, then, that the level of computerisation in hosptials is virtually 100%. However, the focus of computer use in hospitals is administration, while medical, nursing and communications functions tend to play a secondary role. Comprehensive strategies and solutions for such functions as case histories, medical transfers or the archiving of health-related information are not generally available. Electronic networks for data transfer tend to be the exception, although in some areas at least disks are used for the transfer of certain administrative data.

Ever greater importance also attaches to specific information and communication technology applications for doctors and pharmacists. Between 30% and 40% of all doctors´ surgeries are equipped with computers, and about 24% of doctors under contract with the health insurance scheme use disks for their accounting, whereby the social insurance organisation dictates the disk format. About 70% of pharmacists are equipped with computers and use primarily commercial and abministrative systems (for stock management and ordering) but also information systems (on pharmaceutical specialities and specific topics like emergencies and travel medication). Pharmacists and wholesale suppliers already communicate principally via modem and remote data transmission, while the early warning system for banned drugs uses fax. The pharmaceutical service provides disks containing lists of monthly changes in licensed drugs.

All in all, then, more and more of the parties involved in the public health system possess the necessary basic equipment for using information and communication technologies, while communications via electronic networks is just beginning. The possible applications here would go beyond the exchange of primarily administrative data. Medical telematics applications like tele-radiology or transfer of examination findings are still at the development stage or are being installed as pilot projects. Their future use will enhance the efficiency of the entire public health system, for instance by providing access to complete and up-to-date information and shortening the length of treatment periods.

Special: Encryption for Security

In the case of communication via networks and systems with a large number of access points and junctions and a virtually unlimited number of subscribers (such as Internet), several security-related issues pose a special challenge. Safeguards are needed for (i) the confidentiality of content (only the sender and the authorised recipient of the message have access to its content), (ii) the integrity of the content (information cannot be tampered with unnoticed during or after transmission), and (iii) the verification of the partners` identity (the partner`s identity can be firmly established as an authorised sender or recipient).

The scope for abuse of the system must be restricted, especially where highly sensitive material (e.g. patient data in the public health system) is being transmitted or business transactions are carried out (the sale or order of goods or services) via electronic networks. Technical solutions must therefore meet legal requirements, such as data protection provisions for the transmission of personal data, and provide legal guaranty in business transactions (electronically transmitted statements of intent as traceable binding documents).

Encryption processes developed in recent years have helped to enhance security in electronic networks. There are basically two types of processes: symmetrical (private-key) and asymmetrical (public-key) encryption systems. The former require only one key for the encyphering and decyphering of information, this key being used by both the sender and the recipient. Asymmetrical systems entail two related keys: the recipient provides the sender with one key (public key) for encyphering the information, which the recipient then deciphers with the other key (private key), to which only he has access.

Asymmetrical encryption systems like the RSA process developed at MIT by the mathematicians Rivest, Shamir and Adleman not only safeguard the confidentiality of transmitted information but also form the basis of digital signatures, whose purpose is to ensure document integrity. A document is "signed" using a private key, while a matching public key is used to open it. A document signed in this way can be encyphered   a second time with the recipient`s public key - as described above - and deciphered by the recipient after transmission. Any alterations made to the document during or after transmission can be detected.

Reliable authentication of the communication partners presupposes (i) the indisputable linkage between communication partner and related documents, and (ii) a reliable means of verification. This requires a certification service, which can be provided by a trusted third party (TPP). This service is similar to that provided by a notary public. It can be carried out by either a public or a private organisation.

List of Working Groups

Authors; Title 

Aichholzer, Georg / Kirschner, Andrea / Peissl, Walter; Telematik fur soziale Dienste.Nutzungsperspektiven u. Handlungsoptionen. Wien: OAW, Inst. f. Technikfolgenabschatzung 

Aiginger, Karl; Telekommunikation und wirtschaftliche Standortentwicklung. Wien: WIFO.  

BKA; Informationsgesellschaft und Offentlichkeitsarbeit. Wien: BKA. 

BKA; Informations- und Telekommunikationsinfrastruktur der Bundesverwaltung: Bericht des Arbeitskreises Anwendungen in der Verwaltung". Ohler, Fritz, Seibersdorf. FZS.  

BMAS; Informationsgesellschaft und Sozialpolitik: Abschlu?bericht des Arbeitskreises. Wien: BMAS 

BMGK; Gesundheitswesen. Bericht der Arbeitsgruppe. Wien: BMGK. 

BMJ/BKA-VD; Informationsgesellschaft und Recht: Bericht der Arbeitsgruppe. Wien: BKA/BMJ. 

BMUK; Informationsgesellschaft - Neue Medien: Strategien fur die Aus- und Weiterbildung. Wien: BMUK. 

BMwA; Initiative des Bundesministeriums fur wirtschaftliche Angelegenheiten [Zusammenfassung der Ma?nahmen]. Wien: BMwA. 

BMWV; Information und Kommunikation. Schlu?bericht des Bundesministers fur Wissenschaft, Verkehr und Kunst im Rahmen der Initiative der Bundesregierung Osterreichs Weg in die Informationsgesellschaft". Wien: BMWV 

Hummel, Roman; Chancen und Gefahren der globalen Vernetzung und der Telekommunikation. BMWV: Wien. 

Ohler, Fritz; Telekommunikations-Anwendungen: Forschung und Entwicklung, Pilot- und Demonstrationsvorhaben. Seibersdorf: FZS. 

Ohler, Fritz/ Jaburek, Walter/ Haacker, Dieter; Expertenbericht: Zusammenfassung der Diskussionen und Empfehlungen auf Grundlage des unter Federfuhrung des BMWA stehenden Arbeitskreises Informations- und Telekommunikationstechnologien (ITK) und Wirtschaft". Wien: BMwA. 

Schrocker, Doris / Ohler, Fritz; Telematikanwendungen im Verkehr. Seibersdorf: OFZS.  

Stabentheiner, Johannes, BMJ; Straf- und zivillegislativer Handlungsbedarf durch Datenhighway und Internet? ecolex 1996, 748 

Participants of the Working Groups 

Name : Institution