Updated Agenda ARMA EU Roundtable

The latest agenda of ARMA's 3rd EU Roundtable on Information Govezrnance and Records Management which will take place in Brussels on 7 November is available here: http://www.arma.org/brusselsroundtable/. To register your participation, please click here: https://www.agsreg.com/arma_international/registration.php?e=1679091c5a880faf6fb5e6087eb1b2dc

This exclusive event will involve key policy makers from the European Union institutions as well as relevant stakeholders and will include presentations by noted experts in the Information Management field, with open dialogue by participants. Issues which will be addressed include:
· Transparency: The review of the Regulation 1049/2001 on access to documents - Access to third party documents and information
· The Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID): Records Management Compliance for multinationals
· E-Health Interoperability - Challenges for records and information management
· The Internet of the Future - The internet of "things" and privacy considerations

ENISA workshop on "Improving the resilience of public eCommunications networks", 12-13 November, Brussels

THe EU Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) is organising a workshop on “Improving Resilience in European e-Communication Networks - Putting the pieces together”. the egenda is now available at http://www.enisa.europa.eu/sta/workshop2008.
The workshop will be held at Brussels on 12-13 November, 2008, and is organised in the
context of ENISA’s Multi-annual Thematic Program (MTP) http://www.enisa.europa.eu/doc/pdf/management_board/decisions/enisa_wp_desig_ver_2008.pdf with the overall aim to evaluate and improve the resilience of public eCommunications networks in Europe.

Legal blow to opponents of data retention bill

The European Court of Justice advocate general on Tuesday (14 October) delivered a blow to member states hoping to overturn an EU law on harmonising telephone and internet data retention rules, saying the case is an internal market matter, not a justice and home affairs issue.
The directive - which was approved by a qualified majority of EU states in February 2006 - sets a time period of six months to two years during which telecom operators are to keep phone and internet data, in the name of fighting terrorism and crime and increasing security.

Irish telecoms operators and internet service providers currently face tougher rules and must keep the data for up to three years, according to the Irish Times. Consequently, Ireland, backed in its position by Slovakia, wanted the rules to be subject to justice and home affairs provisions, rather than to internal market ones.

In the realm of justice and home affairs, a unanimity of member states is needed for directives to be approved, whereas a qualified majority of EU countries is sufficient to pass an internal market one.

But EU advocate general Yves Bot on Tuesday "invite[d] the court to dismiss the action, taking the view that the directive was correctly based on the EC Treaty," a court press release reads.
Mr Bot estimates that the bill "does not contain any provisions liable to come within the notion of 'police and judicial co-operation in criminal matters'," and is primarily an internal market issue.
"As regards Ireland's argument that the sole or main purpose of the directive is the investigation, detection and prosecution of serious crime, the advocate general … considers that the mere fact that the directive refers to such an objective is not sufficient for a finding that it is an act falling within the area covered by police and judicial co-operation in criminal matters," according to the court's press release.

The advocate general's opinion is not binding on the court, but is however adhered to by the ECJ in around 80 percent of all cases. A date for the ECJ's ruling has not been set at this stage.

From www.EUobserver.com

Job posting

Geneva School of Business Administration

Le département Information documentaire cherche: Un-e professeur-e HES en archivistique et en records management ou Un-e chargé-e d'enseignement HES en archivistique et en records management

Taux d'activité: 100%

Mission

• Enseignement dans le domaine de l’archivistique et du records management,selon expérience, et ce, dans les formations de base Bachelor voire Masteret les formations continues (MAS-DAS-CAS) ;
• Responsabilité du volet archivistique et records management de la formation ;• Direction et encadrement de travaux d'étudiants (projets et travaux de find'études) ;
• Tâches de gestion et d'organisation liées au domaine d'enseignement et derecherche ;

Pour le poste de professeur-e HES :

• Conduite de projets de recherche appliquée et de prestations de service pour les milieux professionnels et les entreprises

Profil

• Diplôme d'une haute école en information documentaire (volet archivistiqueou RM) ou titre jugé équivalent, complété par un 2e cycle, 3e cycle souhaité
• Expérience professionnelle de plusieurs années
• Expérience d’enseignement dans le domaine de la formation supérieure
• Capacité d'intégration dans un environnement en pleine mutation
• Motivation à travailler en équipe et à porter une ambition commune
• Facilité de rédaction en français. Si possible, connaissance de l'allemandet/ou de l'anglais

Pour le poste de professeur-e HES :

• Expérience avérée dans la conduite de projets de recherche appliquée et demandats, si possible au niveau international

Délai de candidature
14 novembre 2008

Entrée en fonction
1er février 2009 (à discuter)

La HEG examine les candidatures dans une perspective de parité. Les dossiers de candidature complets sont à adresser à :Mme Magali Dubosson Torbay, directrice – Haute école de gestion de GenèveCampus Battelle – bât. F. – 7, rte de Drize – CH-1227 CarougeRenseignements : Yolande Estermann Wiskott, responsable du département Information documentaire+41 22 388 17 53 yolande.estermann@hesge.ch

Reding: EU to govern Internet of the future

The European Commission will roll out a range of initiatives in the coming months to promote the Internet of the Future, while remaining highly vigilant in protecting citizens and networks, Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding told EurActiv in an interview.

The EU executive identified the following key topics to be addressed by 2009 in to prepare Europe to the new generation of the Internet: the early challenges of the Internet of Things, rolling out Next Generation Access Networks, opening radio spectrum to wireless services, broadband for all, security of critical communication infrastructure, privacy concerns related to the massive deployment of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags and Internet governance.

Speaking at the Internet of Things conference organised by the French EU Presidency in Nice on 6-7 October, Commissioner Reding outlined told EurActiv what she expected would be the main challenges ahead.

First of all, Brussels wants to pave the way for possibly the biggest revolution that the Web has ever seen: the emergence of an Internet of Things, whereby objects have a virtual identity and communicate between each other to provide services of every kind, from healthcare to transport security.

At the end of September, the Commission opened a public debate on the main issues related to the Internet of Things, publishing a position document . In November, a recommendation is expected on the privacy and security risks linked to the deployment of RFID tags, the technology at the core of the Internet of Things. Commissioner Reding wants to maintain a fair balance between the promotion of RFID and the new societal risks posed by society (EurActiv 06/10/08).

In early 2009, the EU executive is due to publish definitve guidelines for the roll-out of Next Generation Access Networks, the key infrastructure for a future Internet based on data-hungry services (EurActiv 19/09/08). A review of radio spectrum is also ongoing, so as to exploit the so-called 'digital dividend' which will result from the switch from analogue to digital TV by 2012. The target is to increase the provision of wireless and mobile Internet services and, as a result, broadband penetration in Europe.

Protection of critical online infrastructure, such as networks or key servers, is also high on the Commission's agenda. To avoid cyber-attacks such as that which hit Estonian public Internet services in 2007, the EU executive will propose concrete action at EU level in a document to be published in 2009 (EurActiv 09/04/08).

The global governance of the Internet and its next developments is also considered crucial by Brussels, with Reding explicitly aiming to challenge US control of many key elements of the Net.
To read the full text of the interview, please click here.

Links
European Union
European Commission: Communication on future actions of the Commission on Internet issues (29 September 2008)
European Commission: Working document on the early challenges regarding the Internet of Things (29 September 2008)
European Commission: Draft recommendation on NGANs (18 September 2008)
EU French Presidency: Conference on the Internet of Things, the Internet of the future (6-7 October 2008) [FR]

From euractiv.com

Public comment period for eHEALTH Standardization

CEN, CENELEC, and ETSI, the three European Standards Organizations (ESOs) announce the launch of a public comment period for the final draft report of the joint project ‘eHEALTH-INTEROP’, which will address the requirements of the European Commission mandate on standardization in the field of e-health. This mandate (M/403) aims to provide a consistent set of standards to address the needs of this rapidly evolving field. The report includes the result of an inventory of existing standards from the many different organizations in the sector, including international formal bodies and industry standards consortia. An analysis of sector needs and recommendations for specific standards development has subsequently been carried out, and a first draft of a work program has been included that reflects the need for coherent, cost-effective, and secure provision of electronic healthcare services.

Currently, public consultation on the draft work programme and final reporting to the European Commission is possible. The draft report is available on the website: www.ehealth-interop.nen.nl
On 7 November, an Open Meeting will be organized in Copenhagen to discuss amendments. The draft agenda is available at www.ehealth-interop.nen.nl/publicaties/2899.

For more information, please contact Ms. Shirin Golyardi, NEN, shirin.golyardi@nen.nl.

EDPS decision on the right of access to and rectification of medical file

On 14 November 2007, an employee of the European Parliament submitted a complaint to the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) claiming that she was denied to exercise her right of access and rectification to her medical file by the Sick Leave Management Unit of the Parliament.

In his legal analysis, the EDPS gave inter alia a non-restrictive interpretation of Article 13 of Regulation (EC) No. 45/2001 (right of access) and held that the complainant did not only have the right of access to her medical file but also the right to obtain a copy or photocopy without any limitation in terms of copies of her own medical data. With regard to the right of rectification of her data, the EDPS stressed that although it is impossible to rectify medical appreciations, the complainant should have the right to keep her medical file up to date by adding other medical opinions. As to the complainant's request to transfer her medical file to the doctor appointed by her, the EDPS considered that the necessity of such transfer was demonstrated by her explicit consent, which also proved that it could not have prejudiced the data subject's legitimate interests.

The EDPS concluded that the Parliament:

• had not respected the 3 month deadline foreseen in Article 13 of the Regulation according to which the complainant should have been granted access to her medical file;
• had refused to allow the complainant to make photocopies of her medical file without a legal basis contrary to Article 13;
• had not granted the complainant the right to rectify her data so that all data in her medical file are complete and kept up to date, in violation of Articles 14 and 4(d); and
• had refused to transfer the complainant's complete medical file to the doctor appointed by her in infringement of Article 8 (transfer of data).

In the light of the above, the EDPS urged the Parliament to ensure that the complainant's rights are fully respected. The EDPS decision on this complaint was of a particular interest for the Parliament's trade union SFIE which sent an e-mail to the staff of the European Parliament citing the EDPS recommendations.

For more, go to http://www.edps.europa.eu/