European Interoperability Framework for Pan-European eGovernment Services

IDABC

12/02/2008
(Original Publish Date: 1/2/2002)

In June 2002, European heads of state adopted the eEurope Action Plan 2005 at the Seville summit. It calls on the European Commission “to issue an agreed interoperability framework to support the delivery of pan-European eGovernment services to citizens and enterprises”. This framework would address information content and recommend technical policies and specifications to help connect public administration information systems across the EU. The Action Plan also stipulated that the Framework would “be based on open standards and encourage the use of open source software”. The present document establishes the European Interoperability Framework (EIF) to support the pan-European delivery of electronic government services. In particular, it will be the reference document on interoperability for the IDABC programme2.The document represents the highest-ranking module of a comprehensive methodological tool kit for implementing pan-European eGovernment services. It will be further developed parallel to the progress and the emerging requirements of pan-European infrastructures and services.