STRATEGIC DOCUMENTS OF THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA ON INFORMATION SOCIETY
The Government of the Republic of Slovenia has adopted the following strategic documents relating to the development of information society to 2020:
- Public Administration Development Strategy 2015-2020 (SJU 2020)
- Information Society Development Strategy to 2020 – DIGITAL SLOVENIA 2020
- Next-Generation Broadband Network Development Plan to 2020
- Cyber Security Strategy of the Republic of Slovenia - DIGITAL SLOVENIA 2020
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY 2015-2020 (SJU 2020)
Basic aims of the Public Administration Development Strategy 2015-2020 (SJU 2020) focus on the quality and efficiency, transparency and responsibility of public administration. We are aware that efficient and effective public administration is the backbone for the development of the economy and social prosperity. By achieving the aims set by this Strategy, the improvements of the business environment for the development of the economy and boost of competitiveness are already visible. Consequently, Slovenia’s international rankings are improving as well.
Strategy’s objectives:
- rational organisation of public administration,
- programme-oriented budget and reinforcement of internal control mechanisms for public finances,
- effective management of human resources,
- professional qualification of civil servants,
- transparent and efficient public procurement,
- regulated physical assets of the State,
- better regulations and effective administrative procedures,
- reinforcement of transparency and integrity,
- establishing a quality system in public administration,
- reformed inspections,
- digitalisation of public administration.
INFORMATION SOCIETY DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY TO 2020
According to this year’s Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI 2016), the Republic of Slovenia ranked 18th in the European Union. This presents a considerable challenge for the Government of the Republic of Slovenia, as it aims to rank significantly higher in the future. In accordance with the adopted strategies the Government will accelerate the development activities and collaboration, and in the next period reduce the development gap to the most developed countries.
At the beginning of 2016, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia has adopted a long term strategy on the development of information society, the objectives of which are targeted at a secure digital future. The detailed objectives of the strategy are:
- raising general awareness of the importance of information and communications technologies (ICT) and the Internet for the development of society;
- sustainable, systematic and targeted investment in the development of a digital society;
- general digitalisation according to the “Digital by Default” principle;
- competitive digital entrepreneurship and digital industry for digital growth;
- intensive and innovative use of ICT and the Internet in all segments of society;
- high speed access to open internet for all;
- inclusive digital society;
- secure cyberspace;
- trust and confidence in cyberspace and the protection of human rights;
- Slovenia – reference environment for the deployment of innovative approaches in the use of digital technologies.
The vision of the strategy is for Slovenia to, by accelerated progress of the digital society, take advantage of the development opportunities of ICT and the Internet, thus becoming an advanced digital society and reference environment for the deployment of innovative approaches in the use of digital technologies on a systemic level. At the same time, high level protection of personal data and communication privacy in a digital society of ubiquitous internet would be ensured. This would create trust and confidence in digitalisation and cyberspace.
The Government of the Republic of Slovenia, therefore, favours investments in the digitalisation of entrepreneurship, innovative data-driven economy, and the development and use of the Internet, smart communities, cities and homes. Within these limits it favours research and technology development of “the Internet of things”, cloud computing, Big Data and mobile technologies. Because the Government of the Republic of Slovenia wishes to enable equal integration into the single European digital area for Slovenian stakeholders, it innovatively uses ICT and the Internet in all developmental areas. In the future it will invest in education for the digital society.
In order to digitalise the economy and society, to raise greater general awareness on the developmental importance of ICT and the Internet, to improve digital literacy, for the economically active to develop better e-skills, and to create a larger number of skilled ICT professionals, we connect all stakeholders of Slovenia’s digitalisation, not only the industry, but non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders as well. For this reason, the Slovenian Digital Coalition will be established.
NEXT-GENERATION BROADBAND NETWORK DEVELOPMENT PLAN TO 2020
In a modern digital society the economic, as well as overall development are directly linked to the high-quality broadband infrastructure, which serves as the basis for the development and use of the Internet.
By co-financing, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia will provide the inhabitants of rural areas with access to modern communication infrastructure and very fast internet access. This will also create conditions for the preservation of countryside and for continuous balanced development of this kind of infrastructure in all regions of Slovenia.
In light of less developed broadband infrastructure in Slovenian countryside (according to DESI 2016), the Government of the Republic of Slovenia adopted the “Next-Generation Broadband Network Development Plan To 2020”. The objective of the Plan is to ensure equal standing of rural, urban and suburban population in Slovenia in this area.
The Plan establishes strategic guidelines for co-financing the construction of broadband infrastructure through public resources, especially in rural areas. The objective of the guidelines is, by 2020, to provide most households with broadband internet access with 100Mb/s, and other households with at least 30 Mb/s.
CYBER SECURITY STRATEGY
Cyber Security Strategy sets up measures for the establishment of an integrated national system to ensure cyber security on a high level. The Republic of Slovenia will provide an open, safe and secure cyberspace, which will serve as a basis for smooth functioning of the infrastructure relevant for the functioning of state agencies and the economy, as well as the lives of all citizens.
On one hand, more rapid development of information and communication technologies in modern society is beneficial; but on the other hand, it affects the emergence of new and technologically more sophisticated cyber threats. There is a growing trend in using ICT for political, economic and military predominance. Cyber-attacks are also a major security threat to the contemporary world. This has helped to ensure that cyber security, some time ago, became an important integral part of the countries’ national security.
By 2020 Slovenia will have set up an effective system for ensuring cyber security in preventing and addressing the consequences of security incidents. To achieve this objective, a set of measures will have been taken in the following areas:
- reinforcement and organisation of the regulatory framework of the national cyber security system;
- citizen security in cyberspace;
- cyber security in the economy;
- ensuring the functioning of critical infrastructure in the sector for information and communication support;
- ensuring cyber security in the field of public security and combating cybercrime;
- ensuring safe functioning and availability of key information and communication systems in the event of major natural and other disasters.
An essential objective of the strategy is the regulatory framework organisation at strategic level for ensuring cyber security. Therefore, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia foresees the creation of a national authority for cyber security. The authority will, at strategic level, coordinate activities and resources for ensuring high level cyber security in the Republic of Slovenia:
- development of cyber defence capabilities;
- reinforcement of national cyber security through international co-operation.
DIGITALISATION OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Modernisation of public administration is one of the priorities of the Government of Slovenia. ICT will play the key role in achieving all planned strategic objectives. Therefore, the Government has developed and intensified the execution of several projects with the intention of improving efficiency of public administration and creating a favourable environment for the development of the economy.
COUNCIL FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF IT IN THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
The Government of the Republic of Slovenia established, by Decision No. 01301-1/2015/20 on 12 March 2015, the Council for the Development of IT in the Public Administration. The Council guides the development of ICT systems of the public administration and the management of their financial sources.
By establishing the Council, the Government ensured a unified platform of the operation and adoption of a consensus on a higher level, efficient coordination and intense implementation of activities at an operational level.
Council for the development of IT in Public Administration operates on the basis of adopted rules of procedure, governing the manner and organisation of the Council’s work. The Council consists of:
- Strategic Council,
- Coordinating working group - KDS and
- Operational working group - ODS.
The authorities sent the material to: svet.IT(at)gov.si .
The Council grants approvals to the authorities to carry out public procurements, the value of which exceeds 20.000EUR exclusive of VAT.
COORDINATING WORKING GROUP
Tasks of the Coordinating Working Group are:- Preparing action plans and proposals for the Strategic Council,
- Coordination and provision of conditions for the implementation of measures and activities in IT of the line ministries and government departments,
- Providing technical support to the Strategic Council
OPERATIONAL WORKING GROUP
Tasks of the Operational Working Group are:
- Implementing activities and preparing implementing and other documents based on the action plans,
- Preparing reports on the work which are then sent to the Coordinating Working Group for information and the Strategic Council for review and approval,
- Reviewing good practices and preparing measures for improvements,
- Providing technical assistance to the Strategic Council and the Coordinating Working Group in decision-making
- Participating in the work of other operational working (sub-)groups in IT
- Preparing opinions for the Strategic Council on the projects or public procurements of the authorities which have to acquire approval from the Strategic Council, before establishing every project, procurement, investment management, and upgrade that involves any IT solution.
Meetings of the Operational Working Group can be accessed here.
POLITICAL INTEROPERABILITY
is included in a strategic goals of the Public Administration Developmet Strategy 2015-2020. There is enough political support for awareness and enforcement. There is a set of laws institutionalised on the area of electronic commerce Legal infrastructure / equality paper documents and electronic documents, electronic signatures, administrative procedures and accessibility of public information.
In order to achieve active role in determining the future of EU policies on electronic business of public administration, organisational measures will be organisational implemented. Slovenian public administrations will actively implement the policy within the time limits and policies on electronic business. There are various initiatives to stimulate the common use of policies and semantic methodologies (e.g. XML-schemas, naming and identification principles for data elements and e-documents). There is a vision of using common infrastructure, building blocks, solutions and technical services that will be developed, updated and will be available for use in the entire public administration.
The Public administration developmet Strateg 2015-2020 is following general underlying principles of European public services:
1. Subsidiarity and proportionality
2. User-centricity
3. Inclusion and accessibility
4. Security and privacy
5. Multilingualism
6. Administrative simplification
7. Transparency
8. Preservation of information
9. Openness
10. Reusability
11. Technological neutrality and adaptability
12. Effectiveness and efficiency.
The model promotes the reuse of information, concepts, patterns, solutions, and specifications in Member States and at European level, recognising that European public services which are based on information from various sources located at different levels of administration and combine basic public services constructed independently in particular service orientation and specific way of creating and using business processes, packaged as services, throughout their lifecycle.
The Government of the Republic of Slovenia on April, 29th, 2015, adopted the Public administration developmet strategy 2015 - 2020 and confirmed the Modern Public administration developmet and quality policy.
The Government of the Republic of Slovenia ordered to the Ministry of public administration to prepare the Action plan for years 2015 and 2016 - in cooperation with other ministries in accordance with the Public administration developmet strategy 2015 - 2020 at latest until end of June, 2015.
Public administration development strategy 2015-2020
Two-year action plan for the implementation of the 2015-2020 public administration development strategy for the period 2015-2016
THE VISION OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA is to set upa a modern public administration which respects the PRINCIPLES AND VALUES of:
- legality and the rule of law;
- proficiency and professionalism;
- participation;
- transparency, integrity and prevention of corruption;
- responsiveness and a user-oriented approach;
- a consent- and participation-oriented approach;
- justice;
- innovation, work performance and effective utilisation of funds;
- responsibility.
EUROPEN INTEROPERABILITY UNDERLYING PRINCIPLE TO FOLLOW
The general principles of good administration that are relevant to the process of establishing European public services describe the context in which European public services are decided and implemented. They complement one another regardless of their different natures, e.g. political, legal or technical.
The twelve underlying principles of the EIF can be broken down into three categories:
- The first principle sets the context for EU action on European public services;
- The next group of underlying principles reflect generic user needs and expectations (2-8);
- The last group provides a foundation for cooperation among public administrations (9-12).
Underlying principle 1: Subsidiarity and proportionality
The first underlying principle calls for subsidiarity and proportionality as enshrined in the EU Treaty.
The subsidiarity principle requires EU decisions to be taken as closely as possible to the citizen. In
other words, the EU does not take action unless this is more effective than action taken at national,
regional or local level.
The proportionality principle limits EU action to what is necessary to achieve agreed policy
objectives. This means that the EU will opt for solutions that leave the greatest possible freedom to
Member States.
Subsidiarity and proportionality also apply to the delivery of European public services and therefore to
the exchange of information needed to deliver such services. Exchanging information and the joint
delivery of European public services will either be the result of EU legislation or when public
authorities willingly and proactively participate in coordinated initiatives.
Underlying principle 2: User-centricity
Public services are intended to serve the needs of citizens and businesses. More precisely, those needs
should determine what public services are provided and how public services are delivered.
Generally speaking, citizens and businesses will expect:
- to access user-friendly services in a secure and flexible manner allowing personalisation;
- multichannel delivery, allowing access to services anyhow, anywhere, anytime;
- to access a single contact point, even when multiple administrations have to work together to
- provide the service;
- to provide only the information necessary to obtain the public service and to provide any
- given piece of information only once to administrations;
- administrations to respect privacy.
Underlying principle 3: Inclusion and accessibility
The use of ICT should create equal opportunities for all citizens and businesses through inclusive
services that are publicly accessible without discrimination.
11 http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/einclusion/policy/accessibility/index_en.htm .
Inclusion means allowing everyone to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by new
technologies to overcome social and economic disadvantages and exclusion. Accessibility ensures that
people with disabilities and the elderly can use public services with the same service levels as all other
citizens.
Inclusion and accessibility must be part of the whole development lifecycle of a European public
service in terms of design, information content and delivery, according to e-accessibility specifications
widely recognised at European or international level.12
Inclusion and accessibility usually involve multichannel delivery. Traditional paper-based or face-toface
service delivery may need to co-exist with electronic delivery, giving citizens a choice of access.
Inclusion and accessibility can also be improved by the ability of a system to allow third parties to act
on behalf of citizens who are unable, either permanently or temporarily, to make direct use of public
services.
Recommendation 2. Public administrations should ensure that public services are accessible to all citizens, including persons with disabilities and the elderly, according to e-accessibility specifications widely recognised at European or international level.
Underlying principle 4: Security and privacy
Citizens and businesses must be assured that they interact with public administrations in an
environment of trust and in full compliance with the relevant regulations, e.g. on privacy and data
protection. This means that public administrations must guarantee the privacy of citizens and the
confidentiality of information provided by businesses.
Subject to security constraints, citizens and businesses should have the right to verify the information
that administrations have collected about them and to be consulted whether this information may be
used for purposes other than those for which it was originally supplied.
Recommendation 3. Public administrations should consider the specific needs of each European public service, within the context of a common security and privacy policy.
Underlying principle 5: Multilingualism
Multilingualism needs to be carefully considered when designing European public services.
A balance needs to be found between the expectations of citizens and businesses to be served in their
own language(s) and Member State public administrations’ ability to offer services in all official EU
languages.
Ideally, European public services provided EU-wide should be available in all official EU languages
to ensure that rights and expectations of European citizens are met.
Multilingualism comes into play not just at the level of the user interface, but at all levels in the design
of European public services. For example, choices on data representation may limit the ability to
support different languages.
The multilingual aspect to interoperability again becomes apparent when European public services
require exchanges between ICT systems across linguistic boundaries, as the meaning of the
information exchanged must be preserved. Whenever possible, information should be transferred in a
language-independent format, agreed among all parties involved.
Recommendation 4. Public administrations should use information systems and technical architectures that cater for multilingualism when establishing a European public service.
12 See also EC standardisation mandate No376 on the development of European standards for public
procurement of accessible ICT products and services
(http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/einclusion/archive/deploy/pubproc/esom376/
a_documents/m376_en.pdf ).
Underlying principle 6: Administrative simplification
Businesses compile large amounts of information, often solely due to legal obligations, which is of no
direct benefit to them and not necessary for achieving the objectives of the legislation imposing the
obligations. This creates a considerable administrative burden13, which can be expressed as a cost
incurred by businesses.
For this reason, the European Commission proposed in January 2007 to reduce the administrative
burden on businesses by 25% by 2012. To achieve this target, public authorities across Europe will
have to act together when establishing European public services.
This principle is closely linked to underlying principle 2, user-centricity.
Underlying principle 7: Transparency
Citizens and businesses should be able to understand administrative processes. They should have the
right to track administrative procedures that involve them, and have insight into the rationale behind
decisions that could affect them.
Transparency also allows citizens and businesses to give feedback about the quality of the public
services provided, to contribute to their improvement and to the implementation of new services.
Underlying principle 8: Preservation of information
Records14 and information in electronic form held by administrations for the purpose of documenting
procedures and decisions must be preserved. The goal is to ensure that records and other forms of
information retain their legibility, reliability and integrity and can be accessed as long as needed,
taking into account security and privacy.
In order to guarantee the long-term preservation of electronic records and other kinds of information,
formats should be selected to ensure long-term accessibility, including preservation of associated
electronic signatures and other electronic certifications, such as mandates.
For information sources owned and managed by national administrations, preservation is a purely
national matter. For European public services and for information that is not purely national,
preservation becomes a European issue, requiring an appropriate ‘preservation policy’.
Recommendation 5. Public administrations should formulate together a long-term preservation policy for electronic records relating to European public services.
Underlying principle 9: Openness
In the context of the EIF, openness is the willingness of persons, organisations or other members of a
community of interest to share knowledge and stimulate debate within that community, the ultimate
goal being to advance knowledge and the use of this knowledge to solve problems.
While respecting data protection and privacy, interoperability involves sharing information among
interacting organisations, and hence implies openness.
Applying the principle of openness when jointly developing custom-made software systems, European
public administrations generate results that can be interconnected, reused and shared, which also
improves efficiency.
Therefore, European public administrations should aim for openness, taking into account needs,
priorities, legacy, budget, market situation and a number of other factors.
13 http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/admin-burdens-reduction/faq_en.htm.
14 As defined by the model requirements for the management of electronic records (MOREQ): a record is (a)
document(s) produced or received by a person or organisation in the course of business, and retained by that
person or organisation.
Recommendation 6. Public administrations should aim for openness when working together to establish European public services, while taking into account their priorities and constraints.
Underlying principle 10: Reusability
Reuse means that public administrations confronted with a specific problem seek to benefit from the
work of others by looking at what is available, assessing its usefulness or relevance to the problem at
hand, and deciding to use solutions that have proven their value elsewhere.
This implies that public administrations must be willing to share with others their solutions, concepts,
frameworks, specifications, tools and components. This can be facilitated by applying the principle of
openness, as described above.
Reuse and sharing naturally lead to cooperation using collaborative platforms15, towards mutually
beneficial and agreed common goals.
Reuse is consequently key to the efficient development of European public services.
Recommendation 7. Public administrations are encouraged to reuse and share solutions and to
cooperate on the development of joint solutions when implementing European public services.
Underlying principle 11: Technological neutrality and adaptability
When establishing European public services, public administrations should focus on functional needs
and defer decisions on technology as long as possible in order to avoid imposing specific technologies
or products on their partners and to be able to adapt to the rapidly evolving technological environment.
Public administrations should render access to public services independent of any specific technology
or product.
Recommendation 8. Public administrations should not impose any specific technological solution on
citizens, businesses and other administrations when establishing European public services.
Underlying principle 12: Effectiveness and efficiency
Public administrations should ensure that solutions serve businesses and citizens in the most effective
and efficient way and provide the best value for taxpayer money.
There are many ways to take stock of the value brought by public service solutions, including
considerations such as return on investment, total cost of ownership, increased flexibility and
adaptability, reduced administrative burden, increased efficiency, reduced risk, transparency,
simplification, improved working methods, and recognition of public administration achievements and
competencies.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT ISA²
Official ISA² documents
ISA² work programme 2017
- Summary (23/03/2017)
- Detailed description of the actions, part 1 (23/03/2017)
- Detailed description of the actions, part 2 (23/03/2017)
- Financial overview (23/03/2017)
ISA² work programme 2016
- Summary (22/04/2016)
- Detailed description of the actions (22/04/2016)
- Financial overview (22/04/2016)
Key interoperability documents
- Communication from the European Commission (23/03/2017)
- Annex I: Interoperability Action Plan (23/03/2017)
- Annex II: EIF (23/03/2017)
- Documents in all languages
