One in Three Citizens of Europe Use E-Services, where does Serbia stand?
A round table on Examples of Good Practices and the Future of Electronic Business in Serbia organized in Belgrade.
With the complete adoption and use of e-documents, e-stamps and signatures, e-delivery and storage of documents, all conditions for automatization would be met, so as to enable significantly increased efficiency of the state and businesses and reduce operating costs. This was the conclusion made by participants at the round table Examples of Good Practices and the Future of Electronic Business in Serbia that gathered representatives of the Office for IT and eGovernment, Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunication, Archive of Serbia, experts, business community representatives and NALED.
The participants agreed that the digitalization of public administration stands as the Government’s priority, with active efforts being taken towards developing the infrastructure and services that would make this possible.
Currently, 12 bylaws to the Law on eGovernment are being developed aimed at cutting the red tape and facilitating communication between state departments by cutting legal obstacles, while business and public sector will work together during this year on the eGovernment Development Strategy for 2019 to 2022, including an action plan. The first meta-database that will contain basic data on registers and databases in e-form is also currently being developed, said Mihailo Jovanović, director of the Government’s Office for IT and eGovernment.
Boris Damjanović, member of NALED’s eGovernment Alliance, claims that the legal recognition of qualified trust services will open possibilities for expanding the business of IT companies and all others whose business is based on advanced IT solutions.
Storing, i.e. archiving documents in e-form, conversion of analogue documents into e-form, e-delivery of documents and managing e-certificates represent a great opportunity for economic development, but they also stand as a challenge, since it is necessary to harmonize the existing business systems with modern business methods – added Damjanović.
Lithuanian expert Justas Urbonas, an active participant in the introduction of e-business in the Baltic, referred to research showing that nearly a third of European citizens use e-services, with 75% of users claiming that digitalization has had a positive impact on the economy. Two out of three citizens say they feel a better quality of life, while 64% claim that the entire society profited thanks to digitalization*. According to Urbonas’ evaluation, Serbia’s lag compared to digitally advanced countries may have a positive effect if Serbia learns from their experiences and avoids mistakes that other countries made.
Serbia is building foundations for a digital society that has been fostered through various individual initiatives over the past decade, but without a common point of reference and all-encompassing view on eGovernment and the digital environment. However, cooperation has been established in the public and private sector through successful activities of NGOs, such as NALED, that created a significant and positive impact on the implementation of technological solutions. Serbia’s success can be significant if focus is placed on standards that are already prepared by the EU and if you learn from other member states’ experience and mistakes – added Justas Urbonas.
The round table was held as part of the project Towards a Paperless Administration, implemented in cooperation with Good Governance Fund of the UK Government. The project deals with providing support in the development of 12 bylaws of the Law on eDocument, e-Identification and Trust Service in e-Business that will regulate in more detail the e-archiving of documents, authentication schemes, qualified e-signatures in the cloud and other trust services.
*Research results conducted by Eurobarometer in March 2018 on public opinion on digitalization made on a sample of 27,901 EU citizens