Annexes to COM(2013)329 - Guidelines for trans-European telecommunications networks - Main contents
Please note
This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2013)329 - Guidelines for trans-European telecommunications networks. |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2013)329  |
| date | May 28, 2013 |
PROJECTS OF COMMON INTEREST
Section 1. Digital Service Infrastructures
Interventions in the area of digital service infrastructure generally rely on a two-layer architecture approach: core service platforms and generic services. As the core service platform is a pre-condition for establishing a digital service infrastructure, the support to core service platforms and their common building blocks shall take priority over generic services.
The core service platforms and their common building blocks address interoperability and security needs of projects of common interest. They are intended to enable digital interactions between public authorities and citizens, public authorities and businesses and organisations, or among public authorities of different Member States through standardised, cross-border, and user-friendly interaction platforms. Building block digital service infrastructures shall take priority over other digital service infrastructures, since the former are a pre-condition for the latter. The generic services provide the connection to the core service platforms and enable the national added value services to use the core service platforms. They provide gateways between national services and core service platforms and allow national public authorities and organisations, businesses and/or citizens to access the core service platform for their cross-border transactions. The quality of the services and the support for stakeholders involved in cross-border transactions shall be assured. They shall support and stimulate take-up of core service platforms.
The focus shall not be entirely on the creation of digital service infrastructures and related services but also on the governance relating to the operation of such platforms.
New core service platforms shall mainly be based on existing platforms and their building blocks and/or, when possible, shall add new building blocks.
1. Building blocks digital service infrastructures a priori identified to be included in the work programmes in accordance with Articles 6.1 and 6.2:
(a) Electronic identification and authentication: this refers to services to enable cross border recognition and validation of e-identification and e-signature.
(b) Electronic delivery of documents: this refers to services for the secured, traceable cross border transmission of electronic documents.
(c) Automated translation: this refers to machine translation engine and specialised language resources including the necessary tools and programming interfaces needed to operate the pan-European digital services in a multilingual environment.
(d) Critical digital infrastructures support: this refers to communication channels and platforms intended to enhance the EU-wide capability for preparedness, information sharing, coordination and response to cyber threats.
(e) Electronic invoicing: this refers to services enabling electronic exchange of invoices.
2. Other digital service infrastructures a priori identified as eligible in accordance with Article 6.1:
(a) Interoperable cross-border electronic procurement services: This refers to a set of services, which can be used by public and private-sector e-Procurement services providers to set up cross-border e-Procurement platforms. This infrastructure will enable any company in the EU to respond to public procurement procedures from any contracting authority or entity in any Member State covering pre-award and post-award electronic procurement activities, including functionalities such as electronic submission of offers, virtual company dossier, eCatalogues, eOrders and eInvoicing.
(b) Interoperable cross border eHealth services: This refers to a platform, which enables the interaction between citizens/patients and health care providers, institution-to-institution and organization-to-organization transmission of data, or peer-to-peer communication between citizens/patients and/or health professionals and institutions. The services shall comprise cross border access to electronic health records and electronic prescription services as well as remote health/assisted living teleservices, etc.
(c) European Platform for the interconnection of European business registers: This refers to a platform, which provides a set of central tools and services enabling business registers in all Member States to exchange information on registered businesses, their branches, mergers and wind-ups. It shall also provide a multi-country and multilingual search service for users using a Central Access Point accessible via the e-Justice portal.
(d) Access to re-usable public sector information: This refers to a platform for the single access point to multilingual (EU official languages) datasets held by public bodies in the EU at European, national, regional and local levels; query and visualisation tools of the data sets; assurance that the available datasets are properly anonymised, licensed and where applicable priced to be published, redistributed and reused, including a data provenance audit trail.
(e) Electronic procedures for setting up and running a business in another European country: This service will allow the dealing of all necessary administrative procedures electronically across borders through Points of Single Contact. This service is a requirement in the Directive 2006/123/EC on services in the internal market.
(f) Access to digital resources of European heritage: This refers to the core service platform based on the current Europeana portal. The platform will provide a single access point to European cultural heritage content at item level, a set of interface specifications to interact with the infrastructure (search for data, download data), support for the metadata adaptation and ingestion of new content, as well as information on conditions for reuse of the content accessible through the infrastructure.
(g) Safer internet service infrastructure: This refers to the platform for acquiring, operating and maintaining shared computing facilities, databases and software tools for the Safer Internet Centres (SICs) in the Member States. Back-office operations to handle reporting of sex abuse content are also included as well as the link with police authorities including international organisations such as Interpol, and when appropriate, the handling of the take down of this content by the relevant web sites. This will be supported by common databases.
(h) Interoperable cross-border online services. This refers to platforms, which shall facilitate interoperability and cooperation between Member States in areas of common interest, particularly with a view to improving the functioning of the Single Market, such as eJustice, which will enable the online cross-border access of citizens, businesses, organisations and legal practitioners to legal means/documents and judicial procedures, Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) which will enable online resolution of cross-border disputes between consumers and merchants and Electronic Exchange of Social Security Information (EESSI) which will help social security bodies across the EU exchange information more rapidly and securely.
Section 2. Broadband networks
1. The scope of actions
Actions shall consist in particular of one or more of the following components:
(a) The deployment of passive physical infrastructure, active physical infrastructure or the combination of the two and ancillary infrastructure elements, complete with services necessary to operate such infrastructure;
(b) Associated facilities and associated services, such as building wiring, antennae, towers and other supporting constructions, ducts, conduits, masts, manholes, and cabinets;
(c) Exploitation of potential synergies between the roll-out of broadband networks and other utilities networks (energy, transport, water, sewerage, etc.), in particular those related to smart electricity distribution.
2. Contribution to the achievement of the targets of the Digital Agenda for Europe.
All projects financially supported under this Regulation shall significantly contribute to the achievement of the targets of the Digital Agenda for Europe.
(a) Actions funded directly by the Union shall:
(a) be based on state-of-the art technology, either wired or wireless, capable of delivering very high-speed broadband services, thus meeting demand for applications which require high bandwidth, or
(b) be based on innovative business models and/or attract new categories of project promoters or new categories of investors, or
(c) have a high potential for replicability, thus allowing achieving broader impact on the market due to their demonstration effect.
(b) Actions funded from additional ring-fenced contributions provided in accordance with Article 15.2 of Regulation (EU) No xxxx/2012 [CEF regulation] shall bring significant new capabilities to the market in terms of broadband service availability, speeds and capacity. Projects which provide speeds of data transmission of less than 30 Mbps should ensure the increase of speeds to at least 30 Mbps over time.
3. Project assessment to establish optimal funding structures
The implementation of actions shall be based on a comprehensive project assessment. Such a project assessment shall cover, inter alia, market conditions including information on existing and/or planned infrastructure, regulatory obligations on project promoters, as well as commercial and marketing strategies. In particular, the project assessment shall establish whether the programme:
(a) is necessary to address market imperfections or sub-optimal investment situations,
(b) does not lead to market distortions and crowding out of private investment.
These criteria shall be established primarily on the basis of the revenue potential and the level of risk associated with a project and the type of geographical area covered by an action.
4. Modalities for funding
(a) Projects of common interest in the field of broadband shall be funded through financial instruments. The budget allocated to these instruments shall be sufficient, but shall not exceed, the amount which is necessary to establish a fully operational intervention and to achieve a minimum efficient instrument size.
(b) Subject to the rules of the Financial Regulation, Regulation (EU) No xxxx/2012 [CEF regulation] and Regulations (EU) No xxxx (2013) [all the ESIF regulations], the financial instruments mentioned in point (a) may be combined with additional contributions from:
(a) other parts of the Connecting Europe Facility,
(b) other instruments, programmes and budget lines in the Union budget;
(c) Member States, including regional and local authorities, that decide to contribute own resources or resources available from ESIF. ESIF contributions will be geographically ring-fenced to ensure that they are spent within a Member State or a region which provides a contribution.
(d) any other investors, including private investors.
(c) Financial instruments mentioned in points (a) to (b) may also be combined with grants by Member States, including regional and local authorities, that wish to contribute own resources or resources available from ESIF, provided that:
(a) an action in question meets all criteria for funding under this Regulation, and
(b) relevant state-aid clearance has been obtained.
Section 3. Horizontal actions
The deployment of trans-European telecommunications networks that will help to remove the bottlenecks existing in the digital single market shall be accompanied by studies and programme support actions. These actions may consist of:
(a) Technical assistance to prepare or support implementation actions in their deployment, governance and addressing existing or emerging implementation problems.
(b) Actions to stimulate existing demand or create new demand for digital service Infrastructures.
(c) Coordination of Union support under this Regulation with the support from all other available sources, while avoiding duplication of infrastructure and preventing the displacement of private investments.
The projects of common interest shall aim for the removal of bottlenecks which hinder the completion of the Single Market i.e. providing connectivity to the network and access, including across borders, to digital service infrastructures.
The deployment and enhancement of trans-European telecommunication networks (broadband networks and digital service infrastructures) shall contribute to fostering economic growth, creating jobs and achieving a vibrant digital single market. In particular, their deployment will grant faster access to the internet, bring about information technology-enabled improvements in daily life for citizens, including children and young persons, businesses and governments, increase interoperability and facilitate the alignment or convergence to commonly agreed standards.
Section 1. Horizontal priorities
The deployment of trans-European telecommunication networks that will help to remove the bottlenecks existing in the digital single market shall be accompanied by studies and programme support actions. They are:
(a) Innovative management, mapping & services. Technical assistance measures, where necessary for deployment and governance, shall include project and investment planning and feasibility studies, in support of investment measures and financial instruments. Mapping of pan-European broadband infrastructure will develop an on-going detailed physical surveying and documentation of relevant sites, analysis of rights of way, assessments of potential for upgrading existing facilities, etc. It should follow the principles of the Directive 2007/2/EC (INSPIRE Directive) and related standardisation activities. Technical assistance measures may also support replication of successful investment and deployment models. These actions may also include climate proofing to assess the climate related risks and ensure disaster resilience of infrastructure, in compliance with relevant requirements set out in EU or national legislation.
(b) Support actions and other technical support measures. These actions are needed to prepare or support the implementation of projects of common interest or accelerate their take-up. In the field of digital services, support actions shall also stimulate and promote the take-up of new digital service infrastructures that may become necessary or useful based on technological developments, changes in the relevant markets or emerging political priorities.
Section 2. Broadband networks
All broadband investments within the territory of the Union expand the network capacity and bring about benefits to all the potential users, including those in Member States other than the country of the investment. Investment in these networks will bring about more competition and more innovation in the economy, will deliver more efficient and effective public services, contribute to the EU goals on a low carbon economy and to the overall EU competitiveness and productivity.
Investment in broadband infrastructure has been undertaken predominantly by private investors and it is expected that this will remain the case. However, the achievement of the Digital Agenda targets will require investment in areas for which there is not a clear business case or where a business case may need to be enhanced within the time frame of the targets. The following types of areas can be characterized on the basis of the likely investment:
Sub-urban/medium density areas are typically served with medium speed connections but tend to lack higher speeds. Where it is demonstrated that the business case for investments in advanced technologies is insufficient for private investors in the short run, financial support could generate profitable investment over the longer term by closing the viability gap and stimulate competition.
Rural and low density areas are typically served with low speed connections and in some cases even not served at all. The business case for investment is unlikely to be viable and the European targets are unlikely to be reached by 2020. Investment in these areas needs higher financial support, provided by grants, possibly in combination with financial instruments. Such areas will include remote and sparsely populated regions where investment costs are either very high or where income is low. The support from the Connecting Europe Facility in these areas is likely to complement available cohesion funds or rural development and other direct public support.
High density/urban areas – with the exception of some low income regions - are typically well served with medium to fast speed connections, often provided by competitive offerings of cable and telecom operators. Yet because of this relatively satisfactory situation the market incentives to invest in very high speed networks such as fibre to the home are limited. Thus financial support may be also envisaged to investments in urban areas with dense populations which do not attract sufficient investment despite societal benefits it would generate, provided that it is in full compliance with Articles 101, 102 and 106 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, as well as, if relevant, with the Community Guidelines for the application of state aid rules in relation to rapid deployment of broadband networks.
In less developed regions, the support to the deployment of broadband networks should be provided primarily through the instruments of Structural and Cohesion funds. Grants and / or financial instruments from the Connecting Europe Facility may complement such support where necessary to achieve the objectives of this Regulation. The achievement of synergies between the CEF actions in those regions and the support from the Structural and Cohesion Funds may be reinforced by using an appropriate coordination mechanism.[21]
The classification of regions to the above categories is indicatively provided by the map below.
Actions contributing to the project of common interest in the field of broadband networks shall constitute a balanced portfolio including actions contributing to both the 30Mbps and the 100Mbps Digital Agenda targets, covering suburban and rural areas in particular, as well as areas across the European Union.
Actions contributing to the project of common interest in the area of broadband networks, irrespective of the technology used, shall:
(a) Support investments in broadband networks capable of achieving the Digital Agenda 2020 target of universal coverage at 30Mbps; or
(b) Support investments in broadband networks capable of achieving the Digital Agenda 2020 target and of having at least 50% of households subscribing to speeds above 100Mbps;
(c) Comply with applicable law, in particular with competition law
and shall consist in particular of one or more of the following actions:
(a) The deployment of passive physical infrastructure or the deployment of combined passive and active physical infrastructure and ancillary infrastructure elements, complete with services necessary to operate such infrastructure;
(b) Associated facilities and associated services, such as building wiring, antennae, towers and other supporting constructions, ducts, conduits, masts, manholes, and cabinets;
(c) Exploitation of potential synergies between the roll-out of broadband networks and other utilities networks (energy, transport, water, sewerage, etc), in particular those related to smart electricity distribution.
The deployment of broadband networks to connect island, landlocked and peripheral regions with central regions of the Union, including where necessary submarine cables, will be supported where it is essential to ensure access by isolated communities to broadband at 30 Mbps and above. This support should complement other funds, whether EU or national, available for this purpose.
For the avoidance of doubt, services providing, or exercising editorial control over, content transmitted using electronic communications networks and services and information society services as defined in Article 1 of Directive 98/34/EC, which do not consist wholly or mainly in the conveyance of signals on electronic communications networks, are not covered by the scope of the actions contributing to the project of common interest in the field of broadband networks.
Beneficiaries of EU support for the project of common interest in the area of broadband include, but are not limited to:
(a) Telecom operators (incumbent, whether investing directly or through a subsidiary or new-entrant) launching investments in fast and ultra fast broadband networks.
(b) Utility companies (e.g. water, sewage, energy, transport), which are expected to invest in passive broadband networks, either alone or in partnership with operators.
(c) Regional decision makers, including municipalities, who may establish concessions for broadband infrastructures. Equipment providers may be interested in such an arrangement, via the creation of a special purpose company.
(d) Partnerships between several operators active in wired and wireless markets to build new generation of infrastructures.
In building the portfolio due account shall be taken of Member States' investment needs in terms of the number of households to be connected with the support of the Connecting Europe Facility.
In addition, high speed connections to public internet access points, notably in public facilities, such as schools, hospitals, local government offices and libraries, shall also be supported.
Section3. Digital Service Infrastructures
The implementation of digital service infrastructures shall contribute to the realisation of digital single market by removing existing bottlenecks in terms of service deployment. This will be achieved through the creation and/or enhancement of interoperable digital service infrastructure platforms, accompanied by essential basic digital service infrastructures. It shall rely on a two-layer approach:
(1) Core service platforms are the central element(s) or hub(s) of the digital service infrastructures essential to ensure trans-European connectivity, access and interoperability. This may also encompass physical equipment, such as servers, dedicated networks and software tools. Core service platforms are open to entities in all Member States.
(2) Generic services provide the functionality and content of digital service infrastructures. They may be interconnected through a core service platform.
The projects of common interest in the field of digital service infrastructures are the following:
Trans-European high-speed backbone connections for public administrations
A public trans-European backbone service infrastructure will provide very high speed and connectivity between public institutions of the EU in areas such as public administration, culture, education and health. This backbone infrastructure will support public services of European value through controlled quality of services and secure access. It will therefore guarantee a digital continuum of public service provisioning for the greater benefit of citizens, businesses and administrations. It will allow demand aggregation for connectivity, reaching critical mass and reducing costs.
Core service platform:
The infrastructure will be based on the existing Internet backbone and where necessary new networks will be deployed. Connections will be made directly or through regionally- or nationally-managed infrastructures. In particular it will provide connectivity for other trans-European services inter alia those mentioned in this Annex. This infrastructure will be fully integrated in the Internet as a key capacity for trans-European public service and will support the adoption of emerging standards (e.g. Internet protocols such as IPv6[22]). Dedicated underlying infrastructure for connecting public administrations may be considered if necessary for security reasons.
Generic services:
The integration of the core platform into the European public services will be facilitated by the deployment of generic services: authorisation, authentication, inter-domain security and bandwidth on demand, federation of services, mobility management, quality control and performance control, integration of national infrastructures.
Interoperable 'cloud computing' service will provide the backbone infrastructure functionality on which clouds for trans-European public services can be offered. This includes network-type of trans-European services such as video-conference, virtualised storage and supporting computing-intensive applications, including those related to other projects of common interest.
Cross-border delivery of eGovernment services
eGovernment refers to the digital interaction between public authorities and citizens, public authorities and businesses and organisations, and among public authorities of different countries. Standardised, cross-border, and user-friendly interaction platforms will generate efficiency gains both throughout the economy and in the public sector and will contribute to the Single Market.
Core service platform:
Interoperable electronic identification and authentication across Europe. A set of connected and secured authentication servers and protocols that ensure interoperability of the variety of authentication and identification and authorization systems that exist in Europe will be deployed. This platform will enable citizens and businesses to access online services when needed for example to study, work, travel, get health care or do business abroad. It will constitute the core layer for all those digital services for which electronic identification and authentication are needed: e.g. electronic procurement, online health services, standardised business reporting, electronic exchange of judicial information, trans-European online company registration, e-Government services for businesses, including communication between business registers relating to cross-border mergers and foreign branches. This platform may also use resources and tools of the multilingual core platform.
Generic services:
(a) Electronic procedures for setting up and running a business in another European country: This service will allow dealing with all necessary administrative procedures electronically across borders through Points of Single Contact. This service is also a requirement the Directive 2006/123/EC on services in the internal market.
(b) Interoperable cross-border electronic procurement services: This service will enable any company in the EU to respond to European public tenders from any Member State covering pre-award and post-award electronic procurement activities, integrating activities such as Electronic Submission of offers, Virtual Company Dossier, eCatalogues, eOrders and eInvoices.
(c) Interoperable cross-border e-Justice services: This service will enable the online cross-border access of citizens, businesses, organisations and legal practitioners to legal means/documents and judicial procedures. It will enable the online cross border interaction (via online data and document exchange) between legal authorities in different Member States and improve with this the ability to process cross border legal cases more efficiently;
(d) Interoperable cross border eHealth services: These services will enable the interaction between citizens/patients and health care providers, institution-to-institution and organization-to-organization transmission of data, or peer-to-peer communication between citizens/patients and/or health professionals and institutions. The infrastructure to be deployed will comply with the principles of data protection as set out, in particular, in Directives 95/46/EC and 2002/58/EC, as well as with international and national ethical rules related to the use of patient health records and other personal data. The services will comprise cross border access to electronic health records and electronic prescription services as well as remote health/assisted living tele-services, cross border multi lingual semantic services linked to the multilingual core platform, access to social security information building on the EESSI (Electronic Exchange of Social Security Information) infrastructure, etc.
(e) European Platform for the interconnection of European business registers: This facility will provide a set of central tools and services enabling business registers in all Member States to exchange information on registered businesses, their branches, mergers and wind-ups. It will also provide a multi-country and multilingual search service for users using a Central Access Point accessible via the e-Justice portal.
Enabling access to public sector information and multilingual services
Access to digital resources of European heritage
The objective of this infrastructure is to make available large collections of European cultural resources in digital form and foster their re-use by third parties, in full compliance with copyright and related rights.
Core service platform:
The development of the core service platform will build on the current Europeana portal. The platform – which requires the development, operations and administration of distributed computing, data storage facilities and software - will provide a single access point to European cultural heritage content at item level, a set of interface specifications to interact with the infrastructure (search for data, download data), support for the metadata adaptation and ingestion of new content, as well as information on conditions for reuse of the content accessible through the infrastructure.
It will also provide the means for establishing an interaction with content providers, users (citizens accessing the portal) and re-users (creative industries), for the promotion of the platform, coordination of related networks and information exchange.
Generic services:
(a) Aggregation of content held by cultural institutions and private content holders in the Member States
(b) Crowd-sourcing facilities encouraging interactivity and enabling users to make an active contribution to the site
(c) User-friendly services for the portal addressing issues such as search and browsing improvements as well as cross-language access
(d) Exchange of rights information and licensing infrastructures;
(e) Competence centres on digitisation and preservation of digital cultural heritage
(f) Content repositories for cultural institutions and user-generated content and their long-term preservation
Access to re-usable public sector information
This digital service infrastructure will enable access for re-use to disclosable information held by the public sector in the EU.
Core service platform:
Distributed computing, data storage and software facilities will provide: single access point to multilingual (all EU official languages) datasets held by public bodies in the EU at European, national, regional and local level; query and visualisation tools of the data sets; assurance that the available datasets are licensed to be published and re-distributed, including a data provenance audit trail; a set of application programming interfaces for software clients to interact with the infrastructure (search for data, gather statistics, download data) for the development of third-party applications. It shall also allow for collection and publication of statistics about the operation of the portal, the availability of data and applications and the way in which they are used.
Generic services:
Gradual extension of the access to all datasets held and made public by virtually all public administrations within the EU, including multilingual search, which will be achieved by the following:
(a) aggregation of international/EU/national/regional/local datasets;
(b) interoperability of datasets, including legal and licensing issues, to enable better re-use;
(c) interface to open data infrastructures in third countries;
(d) data repositories and long-term preservation services.
Multilingual access to online services
This service infrastructure will enable any current and future online service providers to offer their content and services in the widest range of EU languages in the most cost-effective way.
Core service platform:
The platform will enable acquiring, maintaining and making available large collections of live language data and reusable language processing tools. It will cover all EU languages and will comply with the relevant standards and agreed service and legal requirements. The platform will allow for flexible addition, curation and refinement of language data and tools by contributors, and ensure easy, fair and secure access and repurposing of such resources by organisations offering or developing language-enabled services. The platform will also support cooperation and interworking with similar initiatives and data centres, existing or forthcoming, within and outside the EU.
Generic services:
The platform will be populated with a broad range of reusable data and software resources, covering all EU languages. It shall assemble, harmonise and integrate such data and software elements within a distributed service infrastructure. It shall make available and in some areas develop or extend data and software resources to be used as building blocks to develop, customise and deliver multilingual services or multilingual gateways to online services.
Safety and security
Safer internet service infrastructure
The support will provide integrated and interoperable services at European level, based on shared awareness, resources, tools and practices and aimed at empowering children, their parents and carers, and teachers to make the best use of the Internet.
Core service platform:
The core service platform will allow for acquiring, operating and maintaining shared computing facilities, databases and software tools for the Safer Internet Centres (SICs) in the Member States, as well as back-office operations to handle the reporting on sex abuse content including the link with policy authorities including international organisations such as Interpol, and when appropriate, the handling of the take down of this content by the relevant web sites. This will be supported by common databases.
Generic services:
(a) Help-lines for children, parents and carers on the best means for kids to use the Internet avoiding threats from harmful and illegal contents and behaviours, and the supporting back-office infrastructure.
(b) Hotlines for reporting on illegal child sex-abuse content on the Internet
(c) Tools to ensure access to age-appropriate content and services,
(d) Software that allows easy and fast reporting of illegal content and its takedown, as well as reporting of grooming and bullying.
(e) software systems that allow better identification of (not reported) child sexual abuse content on the internet as well as technologies to support police investigations, especially with a view to identifying child victims, perpetrators and commercial trading of such content.
Critical Information Infrastructures
Communication channels and platforms will be developed and deployed in order to enhance the EU-wide capability for preparedness, information sharing, coordination and response.
Core service platform:
The core service platform will consist of a network of National/Governmental Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) based on a minimum set of baseline capabilities. The network will provide the backbone of a European Information Sharing and Alert System (EISAS) for EU citizens and SMEs.
Generic services:
(a) Proactive services – technology watch and dissemination and sharing of security-related information; security assessments; providing guidelines on security configuration; providing intrusion detection services;
(b) Reactive services – incident handling and response; issuing alerts and warnings; vulnerability analysis and handling, artefact handling (proving high-quality alerts on new malware and other artefacts).
Deployment of information and communication technology solutions for intelligent energy networks and for the provision of Smart Energy Services
Smart energy services use modern information and communication technologies to meet the needs of citizens (who can be producers as well as consumers of energy), energy providers and public authorities. Smart energy services cover the interaction between citizens and energy providers, organization-to-organization data transmission, and peer-to-peer communication between citizens. They open up opportunities for existing and new actors in both the telecoms and the energy markets (e.g. Energy Service Companies ESCOs). They can also enable companies and citizens to trace the greenhouse gas emissions of their purchase decisions.
Core Service Platforms
Communications infrastructure, typically deployed by utilities in partnership with telecom operators, as well as the necessary IT hardware to be embedded in energy components (e.g. substations). They also include the core services that enable monitoring of assets, control for power management, automation and data management and communication between the different actors (service providers, network operators and other utilities, consumers, etc).
Generic Services:
Generic Services will be typically delivered by a wide range of new and innovative actors, such as energy service providers, ESCOs, energy aggregators facilitating especially the entry of different types of local SMEs and preventing monopolisation of the retail market.
They will make available the functionality for customers to manage their energy demand, their renewable energy sources and their storage capacity, with the aim of optimising their energy use, reducing energy bills and greenhouse emissions, while ensuring data privacy and security.
(a) Smart metering infrastructure to measure and communicate information on energy consumption. Generic Services also include customer premises energy management equipment, i.e. IT hardware devices associated to home area networks that are connected to the smart meter
(b) Software agents able to decide when to buy/sell energy, when to switch on/off appliances in function of price signals from the energy provider, weather forecast information, data management and communication, control and automation devices and their networked solutions.
[1] COM(2010) 2020.
[2] COM(2010) 245.
[3] COM(2011) 500/I final and COM(2011) 500/II final (Policy Fiches).
[4] OJ C […], […], p. […].
[5] Figures are provided in constant 2011 prices.
[6] OJ C […], […], p. […].
[7] OJ C […], […], p. […].
[8] COM(2010) 245 final/2.
[9] OJ […], […], p. […].
[10] Annex II of COM(2011) 744final
[11] Decision No 922/2009/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on interoperability solutions for European public administrations (ISA); OJ L 260, 3.10.2009, p. 20.
[12] 2013/C 33 E/09
[13] COM(2010) 245 final/2.
[14] COM(2010) 472.
[15] COM(2011) 500 final.
[16] OJ […], […], p. […].
[17] L 251, 25.9.2010, p. 35.
[18] OJ L 260, 3.10.2009, p. 20.
[19] OJ L 88, 4.4.2011, p. 45.
[20] OJ L 183, 11.7.1997, p. 12.
[21] As set out in Article 11 (e) of the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund covered by the Common Strategic Framework and laying down general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006. COM(2011) 615 final
[22] Reference to ipv6 communication: COM(2008)313 advancing the Internet, action plan for the deployment of Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) in Europe.