The report, which was presented by the Vice President of Territorial Policy, examines the development of online service delivery to citizens since the adoption of the Law on Citizens' Electronic Access to Public Services (eGovernment Law) in 2007. In this regard, it stresses Spain's strong momentum in recent years to position itself among the ten most advanced countries in this area and the fifth at the European level, according to the latest UN and the EU benchmark measurements.
The Government's objectives are to strengthen eGovernment commitment among autonomous communities and local authorities and to improve coordination mechanisms between various levels of government in providing eServices for citizens.
More than 2 300 General State Administration (Central Government) procedures and services are compliant with the eGovernment Law and can already be performed by electronic means, thus representing approximately 90 % of all eServices and 99 % of the overall procedures carried out on a yearly basis. An important step, as indicated by the report, is to ensure that the autonomous communities and municipalities become fully aligned with the law.
The report underlines Spain's leading position in the development of eSignature: by late-2010 two million certificates had been issued to natural persons and 400 000 to legal entities, although eSignature use is much more widespread among large enterprises than among SMEs, the self-employed and citizens in general. Moreover, there are currently more than 24 million national eID cards and the forecast is to reach the entire population by 2015.
The Tax Administration Agency and the Directorate for Traffic and Social Security already use eNotification, which provides savings of €100 million per year, among other benefits. One in two income tax declarations were submitted via electronic means in 2011, a 15 % increase over 2010. As for the '060' service, either in its electronic form (virtual one-stop shops) or through its dedicated phone helpline, it is increasing its activity.
According to the latest Eurostat statistics, the take-up of eGovernment services in Spain is at the EU average, while young people are positioned above the aggregate. The challenge is to improve on these results, and to implement measures and campaigns to promote awareness and use of eGovernment for citizens and businesses.
Cooperation between the various levels of government is also a key element in the future development of eGovernment. This includes the shared use of communication infrastructure developed by the government, such as: the SARA Network (which interconnects the respective networks of the autonomous communities, universities and 3 000 municipalities), the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) system, a payment gateway and a common electronic register. To facilitate both regional and local governments' access to these infrastructure elements, collaboration agreements were signed with all autonomous communities in 2010, and similar agreements are being signed with local government entities.
Aid from the Spanish Plan for Economic Stimulus and Employment (Plan Espanol para el Estimulo de la Economia y el Empleo, in Spanish) has contributed to the development of eGovernment in local authorities, with projects representing €218 million.
Further information:
- Original news article - eGovernment portal (in Spanish)
- Law on Citizens' Electronic Access to Public Services
- Background information - ePractice eGovernment Factsheet for Spain
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Quelle/Source: epractice, 13.10.2011
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