IfG.CC - The Potsdam eGovernment Competence Center

On-line filings increase fourfold in UK | Brussels calls eEurope 2002 Action Plan a "major success" On-line filings increase fourfold in UK: Self-employed people, small businesses people and other groups are getting accustomed to filing their taxes on-line, according to new figures released by the Inland Revenue. The numbers show that 324,710 sent in their returns by way of the Inland Revenue Web site before the 31 January deadline, up 425 percent on the previous year. The increase in numbers will be seen as an important national vote of confidence in the service, which was famously suspended in May 2002 after users reported they could see details of other people's tax affairs when they logged in. That hole was fixed, but the service had a series of other problems, including an inability to cope with traffic, which forced Inland Revenue to request that users avoid the service between 7pm and 11pm. Inland Revenue is aiming to achieve 50 percent take-up of its on-line services in 2005.

Stockholm Challenge awards open: The 6th Stockholm Challenge Award has opened for entries. The awards allow Web site owners to submit entries in a number of categories, including e-government. E-government entries are expected from national, local and regional bodies and councils, covering topics including on-line services, on-line discussions between the public and politicians, and cyber-voting. Last year's overall winner in the e-government category was "The eCitizen Portal. Government Services A Click Away," from Singapore. To enter, projects must be fully implemented and in use, or piloted in a realistic setting for at least three months. The competition is open to private, public and academic contestants and project applications are accepted until 1 November 2003. More information is available from the Stockholm Challenge Web site.

E-government helps spur on-line banking in UAE: The United Arab Emirates had more than three million on-line banking users by the end of 2002, according to a report by the Albassera Project. On-line transactions now represent 19 percent of all banking transactions in the region, according to Gulf News, and penetration of e-banking is approaching 40 percent in some areas, giving the UAE one of the highest adoption rates in the world for on-line banking. Corporate banking customers are particularly keen to adopt on-line delivery, the paper said, and banks are also being urged on by e-government projects in the region, as well as their own use of e-procurement.

Brussels calls eEurope 2002 Action Plan a success: Erkki Liikanen, European Commissioner responsible for Enterprise and Information Society, has said that the eEurope 2002 Action Plan has been a "major success." Launched in 2000, the plan has made progress in a number of categories: the number of households connected has more than doubled, nearly all schools and businesses are now on-line, and 43 percent of Europe's households are now connected to the Internet. The plan also generated considerable political momentum which spawned a new legal framework for e-commerce and electronic communications, designed to reinforce competition and delivering more competitive prices. The framework was adopted last year and comes into force for member states this summer. The priority of the EU now, Liikanen said, is to focus on how broadband can be made generally available to Europeans.

Top US e-gov projects take awards: The Defense Department, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Navy, the Transportation Department, and the US Postal Service have all received excellence awards for notable e-government projects. Winning projects included an initiative to centralise and give authorised agencies access to employment information to help track down parents who owe child support payments. Another multi-agency effort that was recognised was TranStats (www.transtats.bts.gov), which gives access to transportation data managed by multiple agencies. An e-voting project from the Defense Department was also recognised; the department has been trialling a system to let personnel based overseas use the Internet to cast absentee votes. A full list of winning projects is at www.iaconline.org

Quelle: Electricnews