No L 183/12 Official Journal of the European Communities 11. 7. 97 DECISION No 1336/97/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 17 June 1997 on a series of guidelines for trans-European telecommunications networks THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular the first paragraph of Article 129d thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ('), Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (), Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions (), Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 189b of the Treaty (‘) in the light of the joint text approved on 16 April 1997 by the Conciliation Committee, (1) Whereas the establishment and development of trans-European telecommunications networks aim at ensuring the circulation and exchange of information across the Community; whereas this outlay in equip- ment is a precondition to enable citizens and industry — especially SMEs — in the Community to derive full benefit from the potential of telecom- munications so as to make possible the establish- ment of the ‘information society’, in which the de- velopment of applications, services and telecommun- ications networks will be of crucial importance with a view to ensuring the availability for each citizen, company or public authority, including in the less developed or peripheral regions, of any type or quantity of information they may need; (2) Whereas, in its White Paper on ‘Growth, Competit- iveness and Employment’, the Commission stressed the importance of establishing the information society, which, by introducing new forms of economic, political and social relations, will help the Union to face the new challenges of the next century, including the challenge of employment (") OJ No C 302, 14. 11. 1995, p. 23 and 0] No C 175, 18. 6. 1996, p. 4. () OJ No C 39, 12. 2. 1996, p. 20. () OJ No C 129, 2. 5. 1996, p. 32. {*) Opinion of the European Parliament of 1 February 1996 (O] No C 47, 19. 2. 1996, p. 15), Council Common Position of 21 March 1996 (O] No C 134, 6. 5. 1996, p. 18) and Decision of the Buropean Parliament of 17 July 1996 (O] No C 261, 9. 9. 1996, p. 59). Decision of the European Parliament of 14 May 1997 and Council Decision of 26 May 1997. creation; whereas this was recognized by the Brussels European Council of December 1993; (3) Whereas the internal market constitutes ‘an area without borders, within which the free movement of goods, persons, capital and services has to be ensured, and where Community measures already adopted or in the process of being adopted require significant exchange of information between indi- viduals, economic operators and administrations; whereas the fact of possessing efficient means of exchanging information is of vital importance for improving the competitiveness of undertakings; whereas these exchanges of information can be ensured by trans-European telecommunications networks; whereas the availability of trans-European networks will strengthen social and economic cohe- sion in the Community; (4) Whereas establishment and development of trans- European telecommunications networks must enable information to be freely exchanged between indi- viduals, economic operators and administrations, while respecting individuals’ rights to privacy and intellectual and industrial property rights; (5) Whereas, in June 1994, in their report on ‘Europe and the global information society’, which they prepared for the Corfu European Council of 24 and 25 June 1994, the members of a group of prominent representatives of industry recommended the imple- mentation of trans-European telecommunications networks and the securing of their interconnectivity with all European networks; whereas the report iden- tified mobile communications as a pillar of the infor- mation society whose potential should be strength- ened; whereas the Corfu European Council gave its general approval to that recommendation; (6) Whereas those recommendations were followed by the Commission in its communication to the Euro- pean Parliament and the Council entitled ‘Europe’s way to the information society: an action plan’; whereas the conclusions of the Council meeting on 28 September 1994 on this action plan stressed the fact that the fast development of high-performance information infrastructures is essential for the Community on the basis of a global, coherent and balanced approach; (7) Whereas Article 129c of the Treaty requires the Community to establish a series of guidelines covering the objectives, priorities and broad lines of