Europaudvalget 2005-06, Miljø- og Planlægningsudvalget 2005-06
EUU Alm.del Bilag 141, MPU Alm.del Bilag 231
Offentligt
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Stockholm 24 January 2006
Invitation
EU Interparliamentary Conference on the INSPIRE Directive,
2-4 April 2006, Gävle, Sweden
Dear Madam Speaker/Mr Speaker,
The proposed INSPIRE Directive (Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe)
creates a legal framework for the establishment and operation of an infrastructure for
spatial information in Europe for the purpose of formulating, implementing,
monitoring and evaluating Community policies in Member States at all levels and
providing public information. INSPIRE focuses on environmental policy, but is open
for use by and future extension to other sectors such as agriculture, transport and
energy.
The Swedish Parliament and its Committee on Housing will be hosting a conference
on INSPIRE on 2-4 April 2006 in Gävle
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. On 15 November 2005, a letter of
invitation was sent to you from the Speaker of the Swedish Parliament.
The proposed Directive will be of great importance and lays down the general rules
for the establishment of an infrastructure for spatial information in the Union. It will
also have an impact on the development of national spatial data infrastructures within
the Member States. It should be noted, however, that part of the work is already dealt
with at international level.
The main objective of the conference is to share expectations on the consequences of
an increased access to high-quality harmonised spatial information, taking into
account both developments in individual Member States and the Union as such, and
comprising different sectors of society. It is also important to note that the Directive
will affect not only the public administration but also the private sector e.g. in the
development of new services. In the light of this, focus will be given to how the
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The conference will be held in Gävle, a one hour’s train-journey from Stockholm Airport (Arlanda).
Gävle is a centre for geographical information in Sweden. Lantmäteriet, the government agency
responsible for such information is situated here.
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Directive will deal with access to spatial information for the public and public
authorities. In this context, issues relating to data sharing between public authorities,
intellectual property rights and charging of spatial information will be essential in the
exchange of views. Many of the different aspects of the Directive and its impacts will
of course be discussed in the light of the forthcoming implementation of INSPIRE.
According to the present timetable for the decision-making process, the conference
will probably coincide with the second reading of the proposal. An exchange of
views among national parliamentarians should therefore be particularly valuable and
timely.
On behalf of the Swedish Parliament I have the great pleasure to confirm the
Speaker’s invitation to three members of your Chamber to attend the Conference.
Please forward this invitation to the relevant members in your Chamber
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. One
official is also invited.
The national parliaments of all Member States and candidate countries, as well as the
European Parliament are invited to the Conference. The Conference will be open to
the media, experts and observers from organisations interested in INSPIRE.
However, these persons will only be able to attend the conference as observers and
will not be able to participate in the debates.
A preliminary programme is enclosed as well as registration forms and some general
information. The registration forms can be submitted by regular mail or fax.
However, for the sake of convenience it would be preferable that the form is
submitted electronically at
www.gavlekongress.com.
Please note that the deadline
for registration is 24 February 2006.
Yours sincerely,
Ragnwi Marcelind
Chairperson of the
Committee on Housing
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In case the legislative work in your country is so organised that INSPIRE is not the responsibility of
your national parliament, but of a regional parliament, we are happy to welcome parliamentarians at
this level instead.
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