Austria

E-Government

Executive Summary

The World Bank Group defines e-government as “the use by government agencies of information technologies (such as Wide Area Networks, the Internet, and mobile computing) that have the ability to transform relations with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government.” An e-government program can provide citizens with information faster and more efficiently. Other benefits include: improved government management, a decrease in corruption, revenue growth, and/or cost reductions. This section discusses Austria’s e-Government Act, the Citizen Card and ELAK.

The Austrian e-Government Act

The Austrian e-Government Act promotes electronic communication between citizens and public entities and deals with issues, such as identification and authentication in electronic communications. The Act also encompasses the use of the citizen card functions in the private sector and according legal provisions. By 2005, the government expects that all citizens will be able to participate in electronic transactions with government organizations. The Act is expected to be fully implemented by January 2008, as measured by the compliance of all official Internet sites with international standards for access to the worldwide web (including unhindered access for disabled persons).

Projects related to the Act are the Citizen Card and ELAK (Elektronischer Akt). In 2003, the Citizen Card replaced the Austrian Social Security Card. The card is used for identification and proof of eligibility for health services (it does not contain medical information or other personal data). The electronic signature provides a more coverage than credit cards or other chip cards in the financial sector.

In 2003, ELAK (Elektronischer Akt), an electronic file system, was introduced into seven federal ministries. All ministries will have adopted the system by the end of 2004 and then efforts will be made to implement the system in the entire federal administration. By making its documents electronic, the government aims to make more information available to its citizens.

In 2000, the member states of the European Union (EU) agreed to make all major services of the administration available on the Internet by the end of 2005. Each nation has developed an implementation strategy and is subject to on-going benchmarking by the European Commission. In the benchmarking conducted by the European Commission of twenty basic e-government services in January 2004, Austria ranked fourth out of the eighteen European countries studied. This is an improvement from its previous ranking of eleventh. Austria ranks second in terms of the number of services that can be fully transacted online. It scored a 68 percent (the European average is 45 percent).

The Global Information Technology Report 2003-2004

Rankings on various variables can help to put an issue into perspective. The Global Information Technology Report 2003-2004 (1) uses the Networked Readiness Index as a basis of comparison, scoring countries on a scale of one to seven. This is “a nation’s or community’s degree of preparation to participate in and benefit from information and communication technology (ICT) developments.” It is a comparison of 102 countries in three component areas: Environment, Readiness, and Usage. The Index identifies three stakeholders in ICT: individuals, businesses, and governments. The Readiness Index assesses the capability of the stakeholders of an economy to access and utilize the ICT. Overall Austria, Germany, and Switzerland were very comparably scored in the Readiness Component, ranking 15, 12, and 13 consecutively.

The Government Readiness Sub-index refers to the readiness of government to employ ICT. Policymaking procedures, internal government processes, and the availability of government services online are all factors in Government Readiness. Though Austria offers many services online, its weakness lies in government prioritization and procurement. Overall the country scored 4.85 (score 1-7) in Government Readiness.

	Austria	Switzerland	Germany
Government Prioritization of ICT, 2003	4.34	4.62	4.70
ICT's are an overall priority of the government (1=strongly disagree, 7=strongly agree)
Government Procurement of ICT, 2003	3.78	4.16	4.38
Government purchase decisions for the procurement of advanced technology are (1=based solely on price, 7=based on technology and encourage innovation)
Government online presence, 2003	6.73	4.86	6.99
(1-7 scale)
Source: The Global Information Technology Report 2003-2004

The Usage Index measures the ICT usage rate of the primary stakeholders. Overall Austria was slightly lower than Germany, and Switzerland with a score of 4.07 (score 1-7).

The Government Usage Sub-index refers to the rate of ICT technology use by the government. The “Government Online Services” factor of Government Usage incorporates two indicators from previous years. The first indicator evaluates the presence of national governments on the web, including websites of the chief executive, the judiciary, the main legislative body, ministries, and embassies. The second indicator evaluates the sophistication of information delivery on the websites. The availability and quality of five e-government services were assessed for each country: filing of personal taxes, application for car registration, application for passports, application for business permits and, finally, electronic public procurement. Austria scored 4.73 (score 1-7), which appears low when considering the priority the Austrian government has placed on this initiative. It ranks very highly though, seventh out of 121 countries.

	Austria	Switzerland	Germany
Government Online Services, 2003	4.73	3.13	4.87
Sophistication of government online services (1-7 scale)