Developments in European information issues: Networks and relays – Services – Products, August 2000

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Publication Date August 2000
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Newsletter from EP UK Office

The Parliament's UK Office is now sending out a newsletter by email which is an edited version of the news pages on its website http://www.europarl.org.uk/. It comes as an attached HTML file with no graphics or frames so any browser will cope. The text includes hyperlinks which lead back to the Office's website as well as to the Parliament's main server at http://www.europarl.eu.int/. If you would like to be put on the email list to receive this service, contact the webmaster at avanderstock@europarl.eu.int

Assessment and Guidance Handbook of Good Practice

The Assessment and Guidance Handbook of Good Practice produced by YouthTurn was launched earlier this year both as a free print publication and on its website at http://www.youthturn.com. The handbook is designed to offer guidance on best practice for those working with young people who have left education with few formal qualifications and have difficulty in joining the labour market. In particular it focuses on ways of helping young people with special needs, from emotional and behavioural difficulties to language problems, dyslexia and physical disabilities. The project was funded under the Youthstart Initiative which is part of the Community's Employment Initiative funded from the European Social Fund. YouthTurn is a transnational partnership which includes Italian and Irish partner organisations working together with the UK based Workforce Charitable Trust. The handbook may be viewed or downloaded as a pdf file from the website or printed copies may be obtained free of charge from:

Workforce
123-125 Curtain Road
London EC2A 3BX
Tel +44-(0)20-7613-4467
Fax +44-(0)20-7613-4472
E-mail info@workforce.org.uk

Relaunch of euroguide

Essex Libraries have announced the relaunch of their subject gateway euroguide. The site has been updated and now uses the ROADS software which offers improved amendment facilities so that it will be easier to keep the data current and correct. The address remains the same at http://www.euroguide.org/ and the site still offers the original features such as “ask us a question”, “suggest a site”, “what's new” and A-Z. A new addition however is the keyword search facility. Comments and suggestions are invited. These should be sent by e-mail to answers.direct@essexcc.gov.uk, putting euroguide in the subject field. Volunteers are also sought to help identify new sites and add information to existing sites. If you would like to contribute by looking after a particular category, again contact the above address.

European Pollutant Emission Register advance news

News of a new database does not usually appear three years ahead of availability. However the European Pollutant Emission Register (EPER) is being introduced under the terms of Council Directive 96/61/EC concerning Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control and the Commission has just announced the adoption of a Decision to set up the register which will be introduced in 2003. It is to cover emissions of 50 pollutants from some 20,000 industrial facilities across the EU and will be available both to industry and the public. Its introduction is linked also to the UNECE Aarhus Convention (1999) relating to access to information and public participation in environmental matters. The aim is that the register will provide comparative data by industry and country, allowing close monitoring of pollution. It is intended to give public access to data down to the level of individual industrial sites. At the same time it should meet both the public's right to know as well as naming and shaming to encourage improved environmental control. The European Environment Agency will assist the Commission in disseminating the database via the Internet. Further information can be found in the RAPID database, press release IP/00/816. To use the data, however, we will have to be more patient.

Directory of Members of the European Parliament

There is a new look for the MEPs search page on the European Parliament site. Visit http://wwwdb.europarl.eu.int/ep5/owa/p_meps2.repartition?ilg=EN/ where you can see MEP information in alphabetical order, in tabular format by country and political group, or link to the search page. The search screen allows searches by name, political group, EP committee, Delegation or other body such as the Joint Assembly of the ACP-EU. When searching by name, truncation using the asterisk symbol is supported. Selection is possible from drop down menus and combinations of fields can also be used. Thus, for example, all women MEPs from the UK can be identified by selecting the “Ms” option together with the relevant country. The directory contains details of all the current MEPs in the fifth parliamentary term and is updated to take account of changes. It does not include former MEPs though for the archive there is a record of membership of the European Parliament on 19 July 1999, which was the last day of the fourth parliamentary term.

Legislative Observatory (OEIL), Version 4 has new address.

A new version of the Legislative Observatory went live in July. If you are a regular user and have bookmarked the site you will need to amend the address as it is now at http://wwwdb.europarl.eu.int/dors/oeil/en/default.htm/ . The latest version offers new content and search features as well as improved presentation of the results. The aim has been to make it both simpler and faster to search as well as easier to absorb the information displayed. There is an increased use of one-step searches to eliminate unnecessary stages. The advanced search in particular has been completely revamped with the screen expanding to offer the necessary search boxes as the relevant additional criteria are selected. A new graphic presentation has been designed for the results display, but particularly helpful is the new positioning of the information on the state of progress of the procedure. This now appears in the first heading section under “Identification of procedure” instead of requiring the searcher to scroll through the complete history. Political parties now have details of their dates of activity included. Records can be selected by clicking on a check box, then downloaded in either HTML or text format.

French Presidency

With the start of the French Presidency from 1 July 2000, we have not only the French Presidency website at http://www.presidence-europe.fr/pfue/static/acces5.htm/ but also the CORDIS French Presidency Research and Technology Information Service at http://www.cordis.lu/france/. Both feature the red, white and blue of the French flag and offer updates on the progress of affairs under French direction. Both sites too allow easy navigation from the menus on the left of the screen. For the research and technology site, the French Minister of research has highlighted key areas which he will seek to move forward during the six month period of the Presidency. These include the mobility of researchers, the need for co-operation and co-ordination and the pushing to the fore of eEurope developments. On the more general front the Presidency has an important role to play in smoothing the path towards enlargement and the French website will provide yet another source of data charting the progress of events on this front.

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