Full membership status - consideration of Directors'
recommendation concerning the admission of TA organisations
from Finland, Greece and Italy
MP Markku Markula introduced the Finnish application by reporting on the
present status of parliamentary TA in Finland. Parliamentary TA is
organised by a subcommittee to the Committee for the Future by an
assignment made by the Parliament. One study has already been carried
out (on Gene Technology). Another project is on the Impact of
Tech-nology in Studying and Teaching. Both projects aim at considerations
of policy options at the parlia-mentary level and both are carried out
by outside experts. After finalising these studies, the Parliament
will consider its future organisation of TA-projects.
The Finnish application had been considered by the EPTA Directors, that
recommended full membership status. The council meeting agreed and the
chairman warmly wel-comed Finland as a new full member of EPTA.
Mr. Papadimitrou, the Greek representative, reported on the present status
of the Greek parliamentary TA. A TA committee was set up by the Parliament
in June 1996. It has two objectives: to advice Parliament on the
technological development and to promote dialogues within the Parliament.
The committee is also aimed at encouraging cooperation with other
Parliaments The committee started its work on January 1, 1997 and its modus
operandus was adopted in June 1997. The committee has formed five
subcommittees on the Work Place, the Environment, Agriculture,
Biotechnology and Everyday Life.
The Greek application had been considered by the EPTA Directors, that
recommended a full membership status. The council meeting agreed and
the chairman warmly wel-comed Greece as a new full member of EPTA.
Mr. Giovine, the Italian representative, reported that the Italian
Parliament had establis-hed a TA Committee called VAST, which had been
approved by the Speaker of Parlia-ment. The committee aims at giving advice
to all members of Parliament as well as other committees. It's also an aim
to initiative debates, that will further the public under-standing of
science and technology. Its first operation had had an internal purpose,
which was to implement state of the art ict-technologies in the Italian
Parliament. The Italian position in and legislative reponse to globally
competing market had also been subject of discussion. The statute of the
new committee still has to be adopted by the admini-stration, and in that
context a full membership status in EPTA would be of great help.
The Italian application had been considered by the EPTA Directors, that
recommended a full membership status. The council meeting agreed and
the chairman warmly wel-comed Italy as a new full member of EPTA.
Reports by member organisations and observers
Finland, Greece and Italy reported on their organisation's present status
and workplans (see above).
The Swiss TA-office made four points on their present work: The office
is presently organising its first consensus conference on Future Energy
Policy, and in broader terms the office is very much focused on
methodological development. Secondly, the office works on furthering public
awareness of the existance of the TA-office. Thirdly, the office is
carrying out a number of project under headings such as life science,
information society and energy supply. And finally, the office emphasizes
the need for international cooperation in the field of TA.
Peter Pechan, the Chech representative, reported that the TA-Office has
organised a demonstration project on the information society and its
regional implications in order to draw the Parlia-ments' attention to the
need for TA-studies in the Chech Republic.
The Belgian representative reported on the present workplan, that includes
activities in areas such as work technology, the ageing of the population,
medical technologies, ict-technologies. Historically the Belgian TA-office
has worked with a long-term perspective, but recently the office has worked
on a more fast reponse to the political demand in TA-field. The TA-office
hopes within the next year to gain a more strong relation to the Belgian
Parliament.
Walter Peissl from Austria noted that the ties to the Austrian Parliament
has weakened after the last election. Anyway, the Austrian TA-office is
presently engaged in a number of technological areas: ict, medical
technology, biotechnology, environment and technolo-gy foresight with two
major projects in most fields.
Dick Holdsworth reported from STOA's work: A good deal of projects on the
information society including regional aspects and ethical aspects on the
Internet. Also a project on the Internet and money. The latter report was
presented to the relevant subcommittee in a committee meeting, a still more
used communication tool. Also a number of projects in the field of life
science, including among others a major project on the ageing of the
European population. The full list of STOA=s projects is in the EPTA
Newsletter. STOA is responsible for the EPTA Newsletter and has recently
improved its possibilities of acquiring staff for this task through
scholarships.
Mr. Pompidou, chairman of STOA, commented on the political role of STOA,
where the trend goes towards a stronger link between STOA and the relevant
committees. Also he pointed out the important ethical aspect of technology.
He distinguished between the communication with the public on the one hand,
and a prospective approach to technologi-cal development on the other hand.
Both aims were adressed in a recent conference in the US. Mr. Pompidou also
announced a STOA workshop in Marseille.
Henrik Toft Jensen, chairman of the Danish Board of Technology, reported
that a new law in 1995 on the Danish Board of Technology weakened the
formal links to Parliament. But in reality the direct contacts with
the committees in Parliament have been stregthened a lot. This has
two reason: The new law states that the Danish Board of Technology
should advice both Parliament and Government. And the new law also
obliges the Danish TA-body to stay in direct contact with all
relevant parliamentary committees.
Lars Klüver, director, presented the workplan including projects on
telemedicin, on traffic in Copenhagen, a book on technology and values,
medical technology assessment, ict and democracy, recirculation of waste,
food and technology, organic farming and an energi policy exercise.
The representative from OPECST in France reported on recent changes in
OPECST because of the general election. This had also had major effects on
on-going projects, which include: the future of teletransmission, nuclear
technology, educational aspects of ict, the world of virtual reality, the
asbestos problems in building, highly active military nuclear waste, gene
technology and production of electricity.
The German representatives from TAB reported, that the present
contract with Parliament runs out in 1998, where it has to be renewed
for another five years period. In the year 2000 the German Bundestag
will move from Bonn to Berlin and consequently also TAB. The EPTA
organisation was therefore kindly invited to have their year 2000
conference in Berlin. Reports on recent projects in TAB included areas
like environment and health, transport, new materials and energy
conservation, a study in research policy, agriculture and the
environment, the economic policy of tourism. Also a number of other
tasks such as monitoring of public acceptance of new technologies,
methodological studies, innova-tion research including technology
foresight, gene technology, fuel cells.
The representative of the Rathenau Instituut in Netherlands emphasized the
need for exchange of information, both at a topical and at a methodological
level among the EPTA organisations. The institute has just recently
completed an evaluation of the platform of science and ethics and wishes a
continuation of this activity within the institute. Also the institute is
preparing in many ways for the next evaluation of the Rathenau Institut.
Michael Norton from POST in the UK reported that a vast number of new MP's
have come into the Parliament after the last election, so a lot of
introduction to TA and POST has to be done. Michael Norton did not know in
detail the actual composition of the POST Board. Still, the work goes on in
projects on Technology Foresight, the Millenium problem with computers,
funding of university research, CO2-reduction, food poisoning from
bacteria, an update on BSE, the Gulf War syndrom, disposal of nuclear
waste, electronic government.
Mr. Giovine commented on the rapid change in access to high-speed computers
and their utilisation as means of unlimited communication, for example on
the Internet. A number of executive bodies throughout the world have raised
concern over this anarchistic spread of information and have called for
control through decryption and other measures. But this attitude causes
problems not only for the individual, but also for national security
matters. He therefore called upon a joint attitude towards the emerging
threats against privacy from executive branches, especially in the USA
Mr. David Bowe confirmed the European Parliament's concern for the problems
that mr. Giovine mentioned.
Any other business
The chairman of Teknologirådet, Henrik Toft Jensen, proposed to the Council
to consider if observers that fulfil the notion of being fully
devoted to parliamentary TA, but at the same time are not members of the
European Union, could be labelled as associated members of EPTA.
Henrik Toft Jensen asked the EPTA directors to propose this new form
of membership status before the next council meeting in 1998.
Mr. Pompidou, chairman of STOA, supported this proposal of streghtening the
ties to non EU-membership countries.
Ms. van Eijndhoven pointed out, that adoption of associated members could
have an effect on the organisation of the EPTA Annual Conference.
The chairman concluded that the EPTA directors were asked to propose a
possible associated membership status at the next EPTA Council
Meeting.
Lars Klüver reported on a joint European project called EUROPTA,
which deals with establishing a theoretical framework and doing
case-studies on the issue of participatory technology assessment.
Ms. van Eijndhoven proposed that STOA took a leading role in the
exchange of information on EPTA reports, for example in summaries.
Mr. Dick Holdsworth would consider this proposition and discuss it
at the next EPTA Directors' meeting. Ms. van Eijndhoven also proposed
that the EPTA organisations stregthened their communication through
use of e-mail systems.
Finally she asked of the present status of the ETAN network and
Mr. Pompidou took the obligation to contact the responsible in
the European Commission to get an update on behalf of EPTA.
Mr. Rahbæk Møller concluded the meeting by wishing all
participants a safe travel home.
