Government of Romania
Ministry of Communications and Information Society
Romanian ICT Sector
- Focus on Interoperability –
GIF 2010, Rio de Janeiro, 4-6 May
Maria SALVETIU
Counselor for European Affairs
Short Facts about Romania
It is situated at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern 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
133.0%133.5%
140.0%
112.4%
Population: 21.5 million
Territory: 238,391 sq km
Population urban/rural: 55.2/44.8%
Households: 7,320,202
120.0%
100.0%
15%
broadband*
80.0%
53.6%
60.0%
53.7%
48.3%
49.8%
47.7% 46.7%
30.4%
32.1%
40.0%
23.0%
20.0%
0.0%
Fixed
Mobile
31.12.2007
Internet access
31.12.2008
31.12.2009
* Broadband includes fixed and mobile access of at least 128 kbps speed
Cable
1
Who’s who
2
Romanian
GIF
Who’s Who
Who’s Who
Ministry of Communications
and Information Society (MCIS)
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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:
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implementation of the National Strategy “eRomania 20102013”
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)
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= an autonomous public institution with legal
personality, subordinated to the Parliament, fully financed
from its own revenues
Responsibilities:
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 nongovernmental use;
controls the fulfilment of the requirements regarding
electromagnetic compatibility, of the obligations regarding
the efficient use of the radio frequency spectrum with nongovernmental 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
INTEROPERABILITY
NIF Law
systems
services
applications
products
software
public
administration
citizens
private sector
NES
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
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The Law on Interoperability is under the final stage of
adoption
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Its methodological norms are under elaboration by MCIS
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It complies with the European legislation on Interoperability
Frameworks
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Romania being part of the Interoperability Expert Group,
under
ISA
(Interoperability
solutions
for
public
administrations) Programme of European Commission
www.mcsi.ro
Thank You !