CEOE proposes measures to develop information society

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In February 2002, Spain's CEOE employers' organisation issued a report examining the development of new information and communication technologies in the Spanish and European economies, and proposing measures to develop the 'information society' in the future. This issue, which is of enormous importance to the future of employment and the economy, is only now starting to emerge in Spanish industrial relations.

In February 2002, the Spanish Confederation of Employers' Organisations (Confederación Española de Organizaciones Empresariales, CEOE) published a report - La sociedad de la información. La visión empresarial (The information society. The entrepreneurial vision)- containing a diagnosis of the development of the new information and communication technologies (ICT) in the Spanish and European economies, and proposals for the future. The report is an initiative in line with the Ministry of Science and Technology's INFO XXI Plan (2001-3) for the development of the 'information society' in Spain. For CEOE, the INFO XXI Plan is a major initiative, which represents an opportunity for introducing improvements that respond to employers' interests.

Objectives

CEOE has formed an Employers' Council for the Information Society (Consejo Empresarial para la Sociedad de la Información, CESI), made up of thematic working groups that will monitor the information society in Spain. CESI has set the target for Spain of reaching the EU average level of ICT investment in four to six years. It estimates that this will require an initial investment of about EUR 15.025 billion, 80% provided by the private sector and 20% by the state budget. Once this goal has been achieved, a more ambitious second phase would consist in reaching the level of the three leading EU countries in this field. In the opinion of CEOE, 'an aspect of special relevance for the success and scope of these goals is the definition of a stable and competitive framework, which would control costs in order to avoid reducing profit margins to levels that make investment impossible.'

In order to monitor the achievement of the abovementioned goals, CEOE proposes a set of indicators - a 'balanced scorecard'- which would periodically show the degree of convergence between Spain and the rest of the EU in terms of the information society. These indicators are set out in table 1 below.

Source: Drawn up by author based on CEOE report.

Diagnosis of current situation

According to CEOE, the annual growth in ICT expenditure has been 15% in the last five years, and the population is thus increasingly familiar with ICT. However, only 1.88% of GDP is spent on ICT compared with the EU average of 2.7%.

Just over 50% of Spanish companies are connected to the internet - the EU average is 72%, according to a Eurobarometer survey in March 2000. The Spanish figure falls to 42% for very small companies with under two employees, but in those with over 250 employees it is close to 100%. In sectoral terms, services companies have an internet penetration rate of 75%, while industry also has a high rate, but retail and construction are below the average. By regions, the internet has been most widely introduced in companies in Madrid, the Canary Islands, Catalonia, Valencia and La Rioja, with figures of over 60%. At the other end of this scale are Andalusia, Castilla y León, Galicia, Extremadura and Murcia.

About 15% of employees in Spanish companies have access to the internet, and the size of the company does not have a significant influence on this figure. Some 32% of employees have access to e-mail, and in this case there is a difference between large and small companies, with figures of 46% and 23% respectively.

According to CEOE, the prices of connection to the internet are competitive in relation to those in other Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. At off-peak times, Spain is in eighth place in among the 31 studied in terms of connection costs. At peak times it is in 21st place. The figures are based on purchasing power parities (PPP), ie prices adjusted according to the economic development of the country. If real Spanish prices were used, Spanish price levels would be significantly lower than the EU average.

From the viewpoint of companies, the main barrier to the development and use of internet is said to be the technical complication of its introduction, operation and use, and to a lesser extent the loss of time represented by useless browsing on the web. However, most companies consider that the risk of computer viruses and slow, unstable networks are no obstacle to the development of the network.

'E-commerce' is said to be limited by the lack of familiarity and trust of users, the limited market for companies and the absence of a stable regulatory framework.

The CEOE identifies a number factors that accelerate and delay the development of the information society, set out in table 2 below.

Source: Drawn up by author based on CEOE report

Proposed measures

The CEOE report makes the following recommendations:

• in the field of telecommunications, mass development of broad-band communications in fixed networks and universal mobile telephone services (UMTS, or 'third-generation' mobile telecommunications) networks. This will require a favourable pricing structure, a stable legislative framework and an additional investment of EUR 12.02 billion over four years;
• a communication and information plan;
• fiscal measures, such as subsidies for the purchase of access terminals, elimination or decrease in taxes such as the current 'tax on the use of the public radioelectric domain', and the abolition of limits on the period of amortisation of investments in networks, hardware and software;
• measures relating to public contracts, such as publishing tenders for works and services through the internet and outsourcing public administration services to consultants specialising in ICT;
• electronic government and democracy; and
• liberalisation of infrastructures and services.

Specifically in the field of e-commerce, CEOE proposes:

• subsidies for the purchase of access terminals;
• training campaigns;
• investments in the education system;
• rapid amortisation due to technological obsolescence;
• adaptation of access infrastructures in buildings;
• facilitating the development of the radio infrastructure for the development of the mobile internet;
• promoting 'one-stop electronic shops' and electronic exchange in the public administration;
• progress in electronic health management;
• developing 'electronic signatures' and common digital identification;
• incentives for the development of content; and
• tax deductions for investments in improvement or innovation processes.

Commentary

This report shows Spanish employers' capacity for making proposals in a strategic area - one that has been the subject of less visible debate in the trade unions.

In order to implement EU Directive 2000/31/EC on electronic commerce, the government has developed a draft bill on information society and e-commerce services. The employers have suggested measures for monitoring these developments and for helping employers and citizens to disseminate, instal and use new technologies. Like the trade unions, they question what they see as the ambiguity of the section of the bill enabling the government to intervene to restrict the provision of information society services in certain circumstances, because of its possible effects on freedom of expression and information.

CEOE's report on the information society is of great interest because it reveals a latent debate on economic and technological issues that has not yet been the subject of bargaining, and that will require the involvement of the social partners in the shaping of the new society. (Daniel Albarracín, CIREM Foundation)