ent" that emphasized an urgent need to develop a European-wide information infrastructure to help restore economic growth and competitiveness, open up new markets and create jobs. Acting on the White Paper's recommendations, the European Commission called on a high-level group of information industry representatives to produce a report recommending practical measures for implementation. This report, entitled "Europe and the Global Information Society" urged the European Union to trust market forces and private sector initiatives, but noted that spending on education, health and research may have to be retargeted toward new priorities, and a new form of public/private sector partnership would be needed to implement the group's recommended action plan. It recommended: Accelerated liberalization of the telecommunications industry; Identification of the degree of regulation required; Interconnection of networks and interoperability of services to avoid fragmentation of information infrastructure; Reduction in tariffs, to bring them in line with those of other advanced industrialized regions; Review of the standardization process to increase its speed and responsiveness to the market. In response, the European Commission has set out a detailed work program in four key areas: regulation, applications, social and societal aspects, and the promotion of the information society. The European Union has taken a major step toward liberalization by opening the telecommunications markets of member countries to competition as of January 1998. It also approved $3.8 billion under its Fourth Framework Program to support research and development in communications technologies and development of applications in distance education, health care and other social services. Canada also has plans to build a network of networks linking Canadian communities, businesses, government agencies and institutions. The Canadian government sees the information highway as a ...
