Government of Romania Ministry of Communications and Information Society

Romanian ICT Sector- Focus on Interoperability –

GIF 2010, Rio de Janeiro, 4-6 May

Maria SALVETIUCounselor for European Affairs

Short Facts about Romania

It is situated at the crossroads of Central and South-eastern Europe, at North of the Balkan Peninsula, bordering on the Black Sea.

Member of the European Union since January 1st, 2007.

The 9th largest territory and the 7th largest population (with 21.5 million people) among the EU Member States.

Its capital and largest city is Bucharest, with 1.9 million people.

Romania joined NATO in March 2004, it is a member of the Latin Union, of Francophonie, of the OSCE and of the United Nations. It is also an associated member of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries.

Information Society in Romania – Factsheet

The information society is at early stages of development in Romania. The use of eProcurement, an important development for this country, is progressing at a good pace. In November 2008 it was published its eGovernement strategy which aims at improving the performance of the public administration at the service of citizens. This is complemented by the eStore Portal for the promotion of electronic commerce and the business networks and by initiatives aiming at enhancing digital inclusion to reduce the rural-urban digital divide, stimulate the use of ICTs in schools as well as facilitating the interaction between citizens and administration.

Broadband penetration is growing slowly and now stands 11.7%, the third lowest in the EU. Broadband coverage is still limited, translating into low take up of broadband by both households and enterprises. On the positive side, one third of all broadband subscriptions are fast (+2MB/s), suggesting good basis for future leapfrogging of traditional broadband access.

(Source: Europe's Digital Competitiveness Report: i2010 - ICT Country Profiles by European Commission 2009)

Information Society in Romania – Factsheet

Internet Usage

Despite a gradual increase over the past few years, Romania records the lowest rates of regular and frequent internet use in the EU. On the whole, most internet services are used to a significantly lesser degree than on average in the EU.

Although the take up of eGovernment services by citizens and enterprises is one of the weakest in Europe, the availability of online public services for enterprises exceeds the EU27 average, as does use of e-procurement. ICTs in the Economy.

Levels of eCommerce and eBusiness are still low. The eSkills base is also relatively weak.

The ICT industry is nevertheless somewhat important for the Romanian economy: although it contributes little to total GDP (3.6%) and employment (1.5%), it is responsible for 5.3% of total exports.

Source: Europe's Digital Competitiveness Report: i2010 - ICT Country Profiles by European Commission 2009)

Romanian electronic communications market Snapshot in figures

Penetration rates/100 - the main electronic communications

services and infrastructures

* Broadband includes fixed and mobile access of at least 128 kbps speed

49.8%53.6% 53.7%

112.4%

133.0%133.5%

23.0%

30.4%

32.1%

48.3%47.7% 46.7%

0.0%

20.0%

40.0%

60.0%

80.0%

100.0%

120.0%

140.0%

Fixed Mobile Internet access Cable

31.12.2007 31.12.2008 31.12.2009

15% broadband*

Population: 21.5 million Territory: 238,391 sq kmPopulation urban/rural: 55.2/44.8% Households: 7,320,202

1 2

Romanian GIF

Who’s who

Who’s Who

Who’s Who

Ministry of Communications and Information Society (MCIS)

Responsibilities: ensures strategic planning and defines the strategic and

tactic objectives in the field of electronic communications, postal services, information technology, information society services and knowledge based economy services

defines, implements, monitors and evaluates the policies required to achieve such objectives

encourages efficient investments in infrastructure promotes and stimulates the research, innovation and

technology transfer in the field of electronic communications, postal services, information technology, information society services and knowledge based economy

Relevant subordinated institutions: National Center “Digital Romania” National Center for Management of Information Society Institute for Research in Informatics

Who’s Who

Ministry of Communications and Information Society (MCIS)

Priorities:

implementation of the National Strategy “eRomania 2010-2013”

implementation of the Government Strategy regarding the development of the broadband communications in Romania 2009-2015

Implementation of the National Strategy regarding the deployment of universal service in the electronic communications field

Strategy on the digital switchover (transition from terrestrial analogue to digital television)

Who’s Who

National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM)

= an autonomous public institution with legal personality, subordinated to the Parliament, fully financed from its own revenuesResponsibilities:

enforcing the national policy in the fields of electronic communications, audio-visual communications and postal services, including through market regulation and technical regulation in these fields economy services;

administrates and manages the limited resources in the filed of electronic communications, including, among others, the radio frequency spectrum, the numbering resources and other associated technical resources, and monitors the radio frequency bands with non-governmental use;

controls the fulfilment of the requirements regarding electromagnetic compatibility, of the obligations regarding the efficient use of the radio frequency spectrum with non-governmental use, controls the fulfilment of the obligations on the use of the numbering resources.

Romanian GIF

Romanian objectives in the interoperability field

Interoperability is a key goal of MCSI, allowing local authorities

to develop various levels of digital city, to implement their own

services at regional, county or town level. E-government at

local level integrated in the e-government systems at central

level, and conducted in accordance with specific needs and

requirements of each local authority is one of priority

directions taking into consideration the need for

decentralization.

Different systems will also be able to communicate with each

other. Therefore, the solutions eGovernment will be designed

according to internationally recognized open standards and

interfaces.

The Interoperability framework in Romania will be partly

funded by European structural funds.

National Interoperability Framework (NIF) Law

NIF Law includes policies and technical specifications to achieve interoperability between systems, products, software, application or service accessible through the National Electronic System (NES)

NIF Law sets minimum conditions for facilitating

communication, security, data and information exchange between administration, citizens and the private sector standards

National Interoperability Framework (NIF) Law

systems

products

softwareapplications

services

NIF Law

NES

INTEROPERABILITY

citizens

private sector

publicadministration

Principles

1. increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of information systems which provide electronic public services

2. increasing efficiency in the use of public funds

3. raising the citizens’ comfort

4. safer systems of local and central public administration

5. reuse of resources involved in the computer systems

6. improving collaboration between public administration institutions

7. increasing maturity, support and popularity in the market

8. promoting web accessibility

9. facilitating cooperation at European and international level

Legal Framework and Technical Standards

a) use of electronic public services directly from its own interface to the National Electronic System (NES)

b) exchange of information between two or more systems of public administration through a central node

c) accessing data and information stored in the national registers

d) the framework and technical standards will refer to relevant international standards

Objectives for Developing and Implementing the National Interoperability Framework (I)

1. Providing standardized and accessible web interface for accessing and providing public information and electronic services

2. Standardization, promotion and adoption of XML as the

current standard for data exchange between electronic public services

3. Standardization, adoption, use and refining models used to structure data (metadata), as needed, according to international ISO standards, open or public

4. Alignment of standards and specifications used in the Internet, developed by specialized organizations and supported at European level (W3C, ISSS, OASIS, IETF, etc.) alignment tracking systems to provide electronic public services to those standards or specifications

Objectives for Developing and Implementing the National Interoperability Framework (II)

5. Adopt, support and use of "open" standards and widely used specifications, supported by the private market, to reduce overall costs for maintenance and development of electronic public services

6. Promoting the benefits arising from the use of open technologies

7. Review of policies, standards and specifications already implemented in existing systems for providing electronic public services in order to align their existing European level in the IT industry and widely supported by large technology platforms, software and applications, most used in industry public.

Functional Considerations

1. Single authentication implementation in the public administration systems

2. Unified access to electronic public services

3. Defining the primary database and how to interconnect them

4. Defining mechanisms of collaboration between public administration systems

5. Interoperability with similar systems in Europe

6. Defining security standards for the public administration systems

Conclusions

- The Law on Interoperability is under the final stage of adoption

- Its methodological norms are under elaboration by MCIS

- It complies with the European legislation on Interoperability Frameworks

- Romania being part of the Interoperability Expert Group, under ISA (Interoperability solutions for public administrations) Programme of European Commission

www.mcsi.ro

Thank You !