Brussels, 09 January 2002
The European Commission's Information Society DG has published a prior information notice of open calls for tenders in 2002.
During the course of 2002, the Information Society DG intends to launch calls for tenders for studies on some or all of the following issues, for which a maximum budget of 10 million euro is envisaged:
Telecommunications regulatory framework, in particular studies related to:
- assessment of barriers to competition in EU markets for electronic communications infrastructures and services;
- public policy treatment of digital terrestrial television in communications markets;
- spectrum requirements for broadcasting;
- regulatory treatment of interactive television
- regulation of broadcasting issues under the new regulatory framework;
- market definitions in the context of ex-ante regulatory obligations in electronic communications markets;
- remedies choice of sector specific obligations imposed on SMP operators;
- co-regulation in the new regulatory package;
Developments in the telecommunications and information technology industry and markets, in particular studies related to:
- standards and interoperability in electronic communications networks and services;
- IP voice and associated convergent services;
- wide screen TV
- telecommunications tariffs basket monitoring 2003 to 2005
- report on tariff trends for public voice telephony, leased lines and mobile services in the EU;
- broadband wireless access over unlicensed spectrum: market and need for harmonisation of spectrum usage and licensing conditions;
- spectrum refarming and migration 2G to 3G in the 900 MHz, 1800MHz and 2500 MHz bands;
- conditions and options on introducing secondary trading of spectrum in the Community;
- information on the use of the radio spectrum - international, European and national availability;
- European market situation in security solutions;
Impact of information and communications technologies and general information society issues, in particular studies related to:
- regulatory reform and regional cooperation in electronic communications in Africa in order to enhance access
- communications services regulatory observatory in the Balkans, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova and China;
Analysis of the development of the Internet, in particular studies related to:
- Internet management and technical coordination, scope and future role of ICANN (Internet corporation for assigned names and numbers);
- study on speculative and abusive registration of domain names and on the legislative and non-legislative responses already implemented in relation to existing top level domains;
Multimedia content, tools and markets, in particular studies related to:
- future of electronic publishing;
- social and economic inclusiveness: role of cultural and memory organisations;
- intermediate evaluation of e-content programme;
- final evaluation of the Internet action plan;
- impact assessment (objective, performance of IST projects within E and T applications area);
- quality facts in technology and support learning;
Research related issues, in particular studies related to:
- media audit: survey of awareness and opinions on IST;
- a comparative study of best practices to break gender barriers in the ICTs area;
- input for 2002 IST conference;
- Trans-European deployment potential, sustainability and exploitation models in public administrations;
- evaluation study-formative support for programme performance management;
- first study on the impact of the IST programme;
eEurope follow up and benchmarking, particular studies related to:
- information society penetration at European regional level. Focus on eEurope indicators relevant in structural fund support for Member States in objective 1 regions;
- development of broadband access platforms in Europe;
- study on legal and market aspects of electronic signatures related services including a guide of best practices;
- study on regulatory change and employment in the EU telecommunications industry, 2001 data update;
- use of ICT and Internet in schools;
- exchange of best practices in the EU countries;
- measurement of quality of online public services offered by governments and local, regional or federal authorities;
- best practices in back-office reorganisation (eGovernment)
- availability of electronic public procurement in the Member States, Norway and Iceland;
- final evaluation of Promise;
Issues related to the information related technologies RTD programme, in particular studies related to:
- techno-legal issues related to privacy and data protection, digital rights management (DRM) and combating cybercrime;
- market prospects, industrial needs and technological trends for smart organisations;
- market prospects, business needs and technological trends for business knowledge management
- eMarkets requirements study on likely viable technologies, interoperability specifications and non technical rules;
- handbook of legislative procedures of computer and network misuse in EU countries;
- basic and long term research in IST: mechanisms and quantification of impact;
- studies supporting the next five years assessment (1999 to 2003) of the IST programme.
Remarks: The provisional date for initiating award procedures is between March and September 2002.
Before contacting the Commission, tenderers are strongly advised to consult the original call text in the Official Journal of the European Communities at the reference below.
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CORDIS RTD-NEWS/© European Communities, 2001