3.8.1999 Official Journal of the European Communities L 203/9 DECISION No 1720/1999/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 12 July 1999 adopting a series of actions and measures in order to ensure interoperability of and access to trans-European networks for the electronic interchange of data between administrations (IDA) THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 156 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 (3), Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (%), (1)  Whereas the Council, in its resolution of 20 June 1994 (°), emphasised the need for coordination with regard to information exchange between administra- tions; (2)  Whereas the Council, in its resolution of 21 November 1996 (%), established new policy priorities regarding the information society; (3)  Whereas the Commission, in its communication of 19 July 1994, proposed an action plan for the information society; (4)  Whereas the Commission has proposed an action plan for the single market; (5)  Whereas the European Parliament, in its resolution of 12 June 1997 ('), invited the European Union and the Member States to take action with regard to the develop- ment and application of new information and communi- cation technologies (ICT) in the next decade; (6)  Whereas the European Parliament and the Council, in Decision No 2717/95/EC (%), adopted a series of guide- lines for the development of Euro-ISDN as a trans-Euro- pean network; (7)  Whereas the European Parliament and the Council, in Decision No 1336/97/EC (%), adopted a series of guide- lines for trans-European telecommunication networks; (8)  Whereas the Council, in its recommendation of 7 April 1995 on common information technology security evaluation criteria (ITSEC) ('%), recommended the use of 0] C 54, 21.2.1998, p. 12 and OJ C 10, 14.1.1999, p. 8. 0] C 214, 10.7.1998, p. 33. 0 1998 (O] C 55, 25.2.1999, p. 15) and Decision of the European Parliament of 13 April 1999 (O] C 219, 30.7.1999). Council Deci- sion of 21 June 1999. O] C 181, 2.7.1994, p. 1. ] C 376, 12.12.1996, p. 1. ] C 200, 30.6.1997, p. 196. ] L 282, 24.11.1995, p. 16. ] L 183, 11.7.1997, p. 12. ] L 93, 26.4.1995, p. 27. o (10) (15) (16) (17) (18) security evaluation criteria within evaluation and certi- fication schemes; Whereas, in order to establish economic and monetary union, to implement Community policies and activities and to support communication between the Community institutions and bodies, there is a need to establish inte- grated data communications systems between adminis- trations, hereinafter referred to as ‘telematic networks’; Whereas such networks must link the information systems, both existing and future, of the Member State administrations and the Community across Europe and are, therefore, trans-European telecommunication networks for administrations; Whereas the effective linkage of such information systems requires a maximum degree of interoperability between the various systems and their components; Whereas it is essential to maximise the use of standards, publicly available specifications and public domain applications to ensure seamless interoperability in order to achieve economies of scale and to increase the bene- fits of such networks; Whereas an enhanced interface with public administra- tions will encourage citizens of the European Union to reap the benefits of the information society; Whereas the elimination of obstacles to communication between public administrations and the private sector is an important factor for the prosperity and competitive- ness of Community industry; Whereas the Community is a user or a beneficiary of those telematic networks which support Community policies and activities, interinstitutional communication and economic and monetary union; Whereas the task of establishing such networks is incumbent on both the Community and the Member States; Whereas, in order to make efficient use of the Commu- nity's financial resources, it is necessary to avoid need- less proliferation of equipment, repetition of investiga- tions and diversity of approach; Whereas common tools and techniques for sectoral network applications can, inter alia, be related to docu- ment management and dissemination, data gathering, multilingual user interfaces and security of electronic communication;