The European Parliament,

–  having regard to the Community acquis in the field of the internal market and the information society,

–  having regard to the Commission communication entitled ‘EUROPE 2020 – A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth’ (COM(2010)2020),

–  having regard to the Commission communication entitled ‘A Digital Agenda for Europe’ (COM(2010)0245),

–  having regard to its resolution of 5 May 2010 on a new Digital Agenda for Europe: 2015.eu(1),

–   having regard to its resolution of 21 September 2010 on completing the internal market for e-commerce(2),

–  having regard to the European Council conclusions of 31 May 2010 on a Digital Agenda for Europe,

–  having regard to the European Council conclusions of 17 June 2010 on the Europe 2020 strategy, including the Digital Agenda (point 7),

–  having regard to the Guide for the procurement of standards-based ICT – Elements of Good Practice, published by the Commission on 23 December 2011,

–  having regard to the Commission communication entitled ‘Reaping the benefits of electronic invoicing for Europe’ (COM(2010)0712),

–  having regard to Decision No 922/2009/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009 on interoperability solutions for European public administrations (ISA)(3),

–  having regard to the Commission communication entitled ‘The European eGovernment Action Plan 2011-2015 – Harnessing ICT to promote smart, sustainable & innovative Government’ (COM(2010)0743),

–  having regard to the Commission communication entitled ‘Towards interoperability for European public services – European Interoperability Strategy (EIS) for European public services (Annex 1) and European Interoperability Framework (EIF) for European public services (Annex 2)’ (COM(2010)0744),

–  having regard to the Commission communication entitled ‘i2010 eGovernment Action Plan – Accelerating eGovernment in Europe for the Benefit of All’ (COM(2006)0173),

–  having regard to the Commission communication entitled ‘Single Market Act – Twelve levers to boost growth and strengthen confidence: Working together to create new growth’ (COM(2011)0206),

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 31 March 2011 on ‘Critical Information Infrastructure Protection – Achievements and next steps: towards global cyber-security’ (COM(2011)0163),

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 30 March 2009 on ‘Critical Information Infrastructure Protection – Protecting Europe from large-scale cyber-attacks and disruptions: enhancing preparedness, security and resilience’ (COM(2009)0149),

–  having regard to the Commission's Open Data Package, published in December 2011, consisting of: the Commission communication ‘Open data – An engine for innovation, growth and transparent governance’, the Commission proposal for a directive amending Directive 2003/98/EC on reuse of public sector information (COM(2011)0877), and the Commission decision 2011/833/EU of 12 December 2011 on the reuse of Commission documents,

–  having regard to the study regarding the economic impact of public sector information conducted by the Commission in 2011 (Vickery study),

–  having regard to the Commission proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on a Common European Sales Law (COM(2011)0635),

–  having regard to the Commission communication entitled ‘A coherent framework for building trust in the Digital Single Market for e-commerce and online services’ (COM(2011)0942),

–  having regard to the Commission communication entitled ‘Green Paper – towards an integrated European market for card, Internet and mobile payment’ (COM(2011)0941),

–  having regard to the Digital Agenda for Europe Annual Progress Report 2011, published on 22 December 2011,

–  having regard to the Commission communication entitled ‘Europe's Digital Competitiveness Report – Main achievements of the i2010 strategy 2005-2009’ (COM(2009)0390),

–  having regard to its resolution of 6 July 2011 on European Broadband: investing in digitally driven growth(4),

–  having regard to the Study on the Social Impact of ICT – SMART 2007/0068, published on 30 April 2010,

–  having regard to the Economic Impact of ICT Report – SMART 2007/0020, published in January 2010,

–  having regard to the report prepared for the Commission entitled ‘i2010 eGovernment Action Plan – Progress Study (SMART 2008/0042)’, published in November 2009,

–  having regard to the Swedish Presidency's conclusions of 10 November 2009 from the Visby conference on creating impact for an eUnion 2015,

–  having regard to the Swedish Presidency's report ‘A Green Knowledge Society – An ICT policy agenda to 2015 for Europe's future knowledge society’, published in September 2009,

–  having regard to the Commission report ‘Cloud Computing: Public Consultation Report’, published on 5 December 2011,

–  having regard to the Commission communication entitled ‘Action Plan on e-signatures and e-identification to facilitate the provision of cross-border public services in the Single Market’ (COM(2008)0798),

–  having regard to Directive 2006/123/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 on services in the internal market(5),

–  having regard to Rule 48 of its Rules of Procedure,

–  having regard to the report of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy and the opinions of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, the Committee on Culture and Education and the Committee on Legal Affairs (A7-0083/2012),

A.  whereas information and communications technology (ICT) has a profound direct and indirect impact on the political, economic, social, cultural and everyday life of EU citizens; whereas a competitive digital single market that would eliminate all barriers for cross-border e-services and be free of distortions of competition would benefit EU citizens considerably;

B.  whereas eGovernment brings all technology and use relating to online information, guidance and administrative procedures under one umbrella;

C.  whereas the ICT sector is directly responsible for 5 % of EU GDP, with a market value of EUR 660 billion annually, but contributes far more to overall productivity growth (20 % directly from the ICT sector and 30 % from ICT investment);

D.  whereas there are no uniform rules on electronic invoicing, and for the most part its benefits remain untapped;

E.  whereas ICT can make a significant contribution to the EU 2020 Strategy, particularly with regard to employment, sustainable economic and productivity growth, citizen empowerment, R&D, energy, innovation and the environment, and to tackling the grand societal challenges;

F.  whereas SMEs play a particularly important role in the digital market;

G.  whereas cloud computing is an economic and ecological tool that improves the IT performance of public and private concerns, cuts processing costs and limits storage costs, all of which are clearly benefits, but the connection between user and server is insufficiently secure and the user experiences a certain loss of control;

H.  whereas the Digital Agenda Scoreboard 2011 shows progress, but 26 % of EU citizens have never used the internet and only 48 % of people belonging to disadvantaged groups use it;

I.  whereas the digital divide, whether seen as an internet access divide or an e-skills/digital literacy divide, directly affects eGovernment adoption and is detrimental to citizens' participation in public life and democracy;

J.  whereas a competitive digital single market needs to ensure the successful deployment of ultrafast broadband and telecommunications networks across all EU regions and eliminate disparities between levels of infrastructure development in and between Member States, in order to ensure the demographic sustainability of sparsely populated regions;

1.  Is aware of the major contribution made by the ICT sector to the EU's industrial policy, innovation, growth, competitiveness and the trade balance;

2.  Underlines that users are the key for the digital strategy and that there is a pressing need in the EU to strengthen users' awareness, role, involvement, perspective and trust in relation to security, safety and privacy in the information society, and to develop ICT-related human capital;

3.  Reaffirms that eGovernment empowers European citizens and helps reform and modernise public administration, by making it more transparent and accountable and reducing the costs of public services;

4.  Stresses that the barriers to eGovernment adoption are not necessarily only technological, but also organisational, political, legal and cultural, and that successful solutions and practices are usually highly dependent on local conditions;

5.  Underlines that the creation of a European eGovernment Area has the potential to be an essential part of the Horizon 2020 agenda, boosting the promotion of economic and social growth, stimulating innovation and human capital development, and helping meet the societal and political challenges faced by the EU;

6.  Stresses the need to take account of and combat the digital divide;

7.  Notes that cloud computing enables access to a shared hub of IT resources that can be quickly relayed with a minimum of management effort and service provider interaction, and that the cloud's effectiveness lies in its flexibility, the productivity gains it brings and its role in protecting the environment, but that first and foremost it needs to be technically reliable and robust;

eGovernment Action Plan

8.  Welcomes the adoption of the European eGovernment Action Plan 2011-2015, the European Interoperability Strategy (EIS) and the European Interoperability Framework (EIF) for European public services (EPS); calls on the Member States to take rapid action to align their national strategies to these overarching policies;

9.  Supports the overall targets for increased use of eGovernment services in 2015, i.e. 50 % of citizens (up from 41 %) and 80 % of businesses (up from 75 %), but calls on the Commission and Member States to consider these targets as minimum thresholds;

10.  Calls for special programmes and eGovernment platforms to be developed with the aim of protecting and promoting local, regional, ethnic and linguistic diversity;

11.  Regrets the fact that, according to the Digital Agenda Scoreboard 2011, only 50 % of eGovernment users filled in forms online;

12.  Notes the correlation between GDP and availability of eGovernment services, and calls for appropriate funding for the development of eGovernment, both at national and European level;

13.  Underlines that the internet is increasingly used on mobile devices by both citizens and enterprises, and calls for action to ensure that eGovernment services are accessible and adapted to multiple channels of delivery, including call centres and the mobile internet (m-government);

14.  Points out that successful eGovernment calls for comprehensive integration and optimisation of administrative processes, taking account of the right to local self-government at and across all levels;

15.  Highlights that eGovernment is particularly beneficial for EU citizens and entrepreneurs, particularly SMEs, who now often face insurmountable barriers when operating cross-border within the EU, as it brings reduced administrative costs and burdens, increased productivity, efficiency, competitiveness, transparency, openness, policy effectiveness, accessibility and streamlining of procedures, and as it should facilitate the building of synergies and sharing of resources and capabilities between firms and allow a more collaborative professional environment for SMEs;

16.  Calls on the Member States and the Commission to publish publicly funded data in machine-readable form (and in real time) under open licences, in order to allow the innovative reuse of public-sector information by both academia, including students, and the general public, and for research and business development, thus also enhancing transparency;

17.  Points out that there is still no clear definition of the term ‘public administrative data’ and that, with a view to clarifying its precise meaning, a common understanding must be reached by means of public discussion;

18.  Calls on the Commission to do everything possible to ensure that educational institutions and cultural establishments remain outside the scope of Directive 2003/98/EC;

19.  Notes that the main barriers to crossborder access to e-services of public administrations are related to the use of eIdentification and eSignatures, and that there is a lack of interoperability at EU level;

20.  Considers that in order to ensure effective EU-wide crossborder eGovernment services providing two-way and/or automated interaction between administrations and citizens and/or businesses, there needs to be a clear and coherent EU legal framework for the mutual recognition of eAuthentication, eIdentification and eSignatures;

21.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to continuously inform citizens about the existing EU portals, such as SOLVIT and Your Europe, as the current lack of information is delaying further development of the business environment and consumer protection arrangements, especially in crossborder areas;

22.  Calls on the Commission to keep track of all existing online problem-solving tools and information portals provided by itself and the Member States, and to interlink or consolidate them where possible; recommends that new online portals be developed only when integration into existing solutions is not feasible;

23.  Welcomes the adoption and contribution of the Action Plan on eSignatures and eIdentification as well as of the STORK pilot project, in terms of interoperability of crossborder public services; calls on the Commission to revise the eSignature Directive, and calls for a decision that will ensure the mutual recognition of eIdentification and eAuthentication;

24.  Emphasises that wherever data processing procedures are employed in educational institutions and cultural establishments, personal data must be covered by individual access rights in order to protect them against unauthorised use;

25.  Considers that eSignature interoperability from the eGovernment perspective has legal aspects (eSignature use in the public sector – Article 3.7 of the eSignature Directive; the relationship signature/authentication; the supervision/accreditation dilemma; the national perspective; security levels; signature qualifications) as well as technical aspects (identifiers in certificates; signature type; signature format; signature validation); is of the opinion that for the evolution of applications with a view to a fully interoperable European eSignature service for signature validation purposes, the most significant recommendation should be to set up a Federation of Validation Authorities (FVA) to coordinate Member States' National Validation Authorities (NVAs)(6);

26.  Notes that the Commission has mandated CEN, CENELEC and ETSI to update and rationalise the European eSignature standardisation framework; calls on the Commission to submit a yearly progress report to Parliament, based on the reports submitted twice a year by the European standardisation bodies;

27.  Calls on the Member States to develop open educational software at European educational institutions, to exchange best practice, and to develop online platforms for collaboration on educational materials and resources that are free for students and take due account of data protection and copyright rules;

28.  Underlines that eGovernment applications should be reviewed and, if necessary, modified to ensure they are also open to non-resident users; stresses that interoperability is needed at local, regional and national level and at EU level;

29.  Considers that the interoperability of eGovernment applications requires the interoperability of national Private Key Infrastructures (PKI) through a European Validation Service (European Bridge);

30.  Welcomes the public consultation launched on the subject of draft guidelines on links between ICT standardisation and public procurement, and calls for a proposal on the matter;

31.  Invites the Member States to develop national eGovernment strategies, in line with the objectives and targets of the eGovernment Action Plan and the Digital Agenda, as a means towards developing the European digital single market and the European eGovernance Area;

32.  Points out that, as the European eGovernment Action Plan and infrastructure and services develop, security requirements must be met at all levels and that the best achievable protection of privacy and personal and financial data must be ensured in order to prevent unauthorised monitoring of the latter in any form;

33.  Calls on the Member States to make use of ICT tools to improve transparency, accountability and citizen involvement, increase efficiency and competitiveness, reduce administrative burdens, time and costs, improve administrative processes, reduce carbon emissions, save public resources, and contribute to a more participatory democracy while building up trust and confidence;

34.  Encourages the Member States to oblige public entities to make data available by maintaining repositories and catalogues of public data and ensuring that rules for disclosure and reuse are established, taking due account of copyright law and the law on the protection of databases;

35.  Calls on the Member States to implement ‘one-stop shops’ and make use of intermediary actors, with a view to providing a seamless, integrated and easily accessible system of contact points for users, for both domestic and crossborder eGovernment services;

36.  Underlines that eGovernment can enhance the quality of our democracy and can play an important role in increasing the active participation of citizens - especially the young generations – and businesses alike in public and political life and democratic processes; notes that in this regard, pilot consultations or referendums, particularly at local level, should be encouraged;

37.  Welcomes the launch of OCS (Online Collection Software), developed on the Commission's initiative within the framework of the ISA programme and intended to allow signatories to submit, from 1 April 2012, their support for a proposed citizens' initiative by online means, as well as to be used by the organisers of a petition for managing the collection, storing and submission of signatures; therefore wishes to see the e-government strategies implemented as soon as possible;

38.  Underlines that interoperable crossborder eGovernment services should benefit from innovative architecture and technologies (public cloud services, Service-Oriented Architecture), and calls for the upgrading of IPv6-relevant eGovernment infrastructure and online services of public interest;

39.  Recognises the major potential of cloud computing, for businesses and private citizens alike; however, stresses that with the increased use of cloud services, supervision of the relocation of IT resources and strict control of access to servers and data are required, inter alia in order to prevent unauthorised commercial use by other parties, and that as a consequence these issues should be dealt with in the reform of the EU data protection rules as proposed by the Commission (COM(2012)0011), COM(2012)0010));

40.  Stresses that a secure crossborder eGovernment system is an integral part of the European Critical Infrastructure Protection programme; calls for adequate measures to be put in place to ensure data and privacy protection and minimise vulnerability to cyber-attacks; recognises the important role of ENISA in assisting the EU and the Member States in their efforts to provide secure and robust eGovernment services; calls for the introduction of truly democratic forms of monitoring of data use and of the methods employed;

41.  Welcomes the contribution of the IDA, IDABCD and ISA programmes and CIP large-scale pilots, as well as of the ePractice forum in designing and implementing crossborder interoperable solutions; calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure the long-term sustainability of these actions;

42.  Welcomes and supports the ‘Connecting Europe Facility’ (CEF) proposal, which allocates almost EUR 9,2 billion to support investment in fast and ultrafast broadband networks and pan-European digital services; CEF will provide grants for building the infrastructure needed to roll out e-ID, e-identification, eGovernment, e-procurement, e-health, e-justice and customs-related services, and will serve to ensure interoperability and meet the costs of running the infrastructure at European level, linking up Member States' infrastructures;

43.  Considers that the Europe 2020 Project Bond Initiative will mobilise private financing for targeted investment in the future key EU infrastructures, such as roads, railways, energy grids and pipelines and broadband networks;

44.  Reiterates the importance of future high-speed services that will help deliver the EU's energy efficiency and safety objectives and other communications capabilities (e.g. efficient and intelligent transport systems, person-to-machine communication systems);

45.  Welcomes the adoption of the Open Data Package, and calls on the Member States to support the reuse of public sector information in innovative ways (non-personal information); calls for the better involvement of local and regional authorities as regards access to public-sector information in order to improve the provision of information to the public, business and institutions, and to facilitate the creation of new jobs while boosting development at local and regional level;

46.  Underlines the importance of measurement methodologies (qualitative and quantitative), focused on efficiency and effectiveness in terms of eGovernment and democracy and using SMART(7) targets, which should be in active use across governments;

47.  Regrets that the list of all key crossborder public services to be made available online by 2015 has not yet been agreed by the Member States; calls on the Commission to step up its efforts towards achieving this goal;

48.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to develop and put in place specific ICT tools to facilitate eParticipation - such as common ePetitioning schemes - with the aim of giving EU citizens and representative associations the practical means of exercising their rights under the citizens' initiative provisions laid down in Article 11 TEU;

49.  Recalls the key commitment to reduce both digital literacy gaps and competence gaps by half by 2015, and, in this sense, welcomes the proposals to enhance digital literacy, skills and eInclusion, and especially the proposal to make digital literacy and related components a priority for the European Social Fund regulation (2014-2020); reiterates the need for a ‘no citizen left behind - inclusion by design’ approach, and stresses the need for a user- and citizen-centred design of eGovernment services;

50.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to launch digital training programmes to promote the full use of eGovernment services, reinforce digital literacy and overcome the e-barriers affecting SMEs and disadvantaged sectors of the population such as older people, persons with disabilities, minorities, immigrants, the unemployed and those living in remote areas of the Union; to this extent, e-learning should be incorporated into national education and training policies, including the definition of programmes, the assessment of training outcomes and the professional development of teachers and trainers;

51.  Regrets the delay affecting the legislative proposal aiming to ensure that public-sector websites are fully accessible by 2015; welcomes the Roadmap for digital inclusion, and calls for implementation of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), including Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) for eGovernment portals, as well as available and affordable customised terminals tailored to the needs of disabled persons;

52.  Recommends, with a view to ensuring quality in the provision of these services, that they be brought into line with the international standards, norms and guidelines concerning good practice, such as ISO 27001 on information security or ISO 20000 on quality in IT service management processes;

eProcurement

53.  Stresses that eProcurement enables EU public procurement and maximum choice for public authorities, resulting in the efficient spending of money, transparency, accountability, public trust, and the strengthening of the internal market and competition;

54.  Emphasises that in the EU-27 public expenditure represents 16 % of GDP, and urges the use of eProcurement for all public procurement by 2015; calls for the use of eProcurement also for concessions;

55.  Regrets the fact that in 2010 only 13 % of EU enterprises used the internet to submit a proposal to public authorities through a public electronic tender system; calls on the Member States to encourage the participation of SMEs in eProcurement;

56.  Stresses that eProcurement consists of two phases: pre-awarding(8) and post-awarding(9); calls on the Member States to fully implement and integrate both phases on their eProcurement portals by 2015;

57.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to promote the qualitative level of ICT projects in public administrations, so as to ensure that administrations' strategic objectives for innovation are pursued and that general standards are raised as regards the quality, duration and cost of tenders;

58.  Urges the Commission and the Member States to promote, in central and local public administrations, the pre-commercial procurement (PCP) model, which enables public procurers to share with suppliers the risks and benefits of designing, prototyping and testing new products and services, pool the efforts of several procurers, create the optimum conditions for wide commercialisation and take-up of R&D results, and help keep such projects within the operating budget assigned to them;

59.  Underlines the successful activities of the PEPPOL and e-CERTIS eProcurement large-scale pilot projects;

60.  Stresses that national eProcurement systems need to become more advanced, in order to facilitate crossborder services and fully implement the Services Directive;

61.  Urges the Commission to submit the White Paper on interconnecting eProcurement capacity in the EU – ‘A strategy for eProcurement’;

62.  Calls on the Commission to introduce an implementation monitoring mechanism to review progress, barriers, corrective action, etc, in the context of the introduction of eProcurement in the Member States;

63.  Considers that the Commission, as a leader, should set an example to all by implementing the eProcurement system in all its organs;

eInvoicing

64.  Welcomes the eInvoicing Initiative, which aims to make eInvoicing the predominant method of invoicing in the EU by 2020, and the Commission decision setting up the European Multi-Stakeholder Forum on eInvoicing (EMSFEI);

65.  Underlines the substantial benefits offered by eInvoicing as a tool for the more efficient and less burdensome management of all customer-supplier relationships, in both public and private spheres, by means of shorter payment times, fewer errors, better collection of VAT, reduced printing and postage costs and business process integration; notes also that such a tool allows greater transparency of the information flows and exchanges involved in issuing invoices;

66.  Is aware of market fragmentation due to national rules on eInvoicing; regrets that only 22 % of SMEs receive or send eInvoices;

67.  Welcomes the new VAT rules(10) as regards eInvoicing, which introduce equal treatment as between paper and eInvoices;

68.  Underlines the importance of ‘one-stop-shops’ for VAT in order to facilitate crossborder e-commerce for SMEs and promote e-invoicing;

69.  Stresses the importance of legal certainty, a clear technical environment and open and interoperable eInvoicing solutions, based on common legal requirements, business processes and technical standards in order to facilitate mass adoption;

70.  Invites industry and the European standardisation organisations to continue their efforts to promote convergence towards a common eInvoice data model;

71.  Appreciates the initiatives of Denmark, Finland, Italy, Spain and Sweden to make eInvoicing mandatory for public authorities, and calls for eInvoicing to be made mandatory for all public procurement by 2016;

72.  Notes that eSignature crossborder interoperability problems are slowing down the adoption of crossborder eInvoicing solutions;

73.  Invites the Commission to use the EMSFEI to look into the legal aspects and to coordinate national initiatives; calls on the Commission to report on a yearly basis, and to invite MEPs to participate in the meetings of the EMSFEI;

74.  Encourages Member States to set up National Forums on eInvoicing, with a balanced representation of stakeholders;

75.  Considers that consumers with limited access to the internet or none at all should not be left behind, and that consumers should always be allowed to receive paper invoices;

General remarks

76.  Recognises the added value represented by the 132 projects within the CIP-ICT-PSP strategic priorities, and underlines the importance of R&D and innovation in developing and improving crossborder services; calls for support for ‘light and fast’ access to EU R&D funds for ICT, as well as for an increase in the financial allocations for crossborder eGovernment services and infrastructure for 2014-2020;

77.  Recognises the contribution and overarching role of the ISA programme in defining, promoting and supporting the implementation of interoperability solutions and frameworks for European public administrations, achieving synergies and promoting the reuse of infrastructure, digital services and software solutions, as well as translating public administrations' interoperability requirements into specifications and standards for digital services, and calls for an increase in the financial allocations for interoperability solutions between EU public administrations (ISA programme) for 2014-2020;

78.  Stresses that the European eGovernment Action Plan 2011-2015 represents a unique opportunity to modernise and reduce the costs of European and national public administrations, enabling them to fully exploit the potential of further European integration and foster growth, innovation and mobility for citizens and professional opportunities for businesses, especially SMEs, as well as public participation in policy-making; underlines the importance of public-private partnerships and the role of the private sector in providing innovative solutions, applications and services for the development of interoperable e-Government infrastructure in the EU and in leveraging the available resources;

79.  Calls on the Commission to undertake an annual assessment of the goals of the Digital Agenda, especially those related to the eGovernment Action Plan, and to report to Parliament on a yearly basis;

80.  Welcomes the priority given by the Swedish, Spanish, Polish and Danish Council presidencies to eGovernment and digital market issues, and underlines the positive contribution of the Malmo, Poznan and Madrid eGovernment conferences; considers that 2012-2013 is a crucial period for the crossborder interoperability of eGovernment services, and therefore looks forward with interest to the proceedings and conclusions of the Copenhagen eGovernment Conference, to be held in March 2012;

o
o   o

81.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission.

(1) OJ C 81 E, 15.3.2011, p. 45. (2) OJ C 50 E, 21.2.2012, p. 1. (3) OJ L 260, 3.10.2009, p. 20. (4) Texts adopted, P7_TA(2011)0322. (5) OJ L 376, 27.12.2006, p. 36. (6) IDABC- Preliminary Study on Mutual Recognition of eSignatures for eGovernment applications, 2007. (7) SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timed. (8) e-Notice, e-Tendering, e-Submission, acceptance of e-Signatures. (9) e-Ordering, e-Invoicing, e-Payments, use of e-Signatures. (10) Directive 2010/45/EU.