Confederation’s position to the EU Single Digital Market

The Confederation of Industry is worried about the unsatisfactory situation in the Czech digital agenda field.

The Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic welcomes the publication of the EU Strategy for the Single Digital Market as a document which is a continuation of the European Commission’s efforts to deepen the single market.

In this context, the Confederation reiterates its concern about the unsatisfactory situation that reigns in the digital agenda field in the Czech Republic. The Czech government has not an umbrella coordinator for the digital agenda. The irresponsible approach of the Czech government to the digital agenda topic causes that the competitiveness of the Czech Republic and its industry within the European and global market is harmed.

The Confederation considers necessary to point out that the Czech Republic has not a unified national digital umbrella strategy. The Strategy Digital Czech Republic version 2.0 from March 2013 is incomplete and outdated and is missing several important points as cloud computing or large data processing.

As to the EU Strategy for the Single Digital Market, the Confederation of Industry considers essential following topics:

·         Development of the cross-border e-commerce and barriers‘ removing

·         Upcoming data protection and cyber-security regulations

·         Copyright legislation revision

·         Cloud computing services development

·         Digital platforms

·         Big data

·         Standardization

·         International dimension

In the internal market digitization process, the Confederation of Industry wants to focus on the following priorities:

·         Secure transfer of data both in cross-border and domestic communication

·         Cloud computing promotion

·         Big data systems development, including mining and research and development in the ICT field

·         Promotion of initiatives leading to the digitization of the European industry, including „Industry 4.0“

·         Copyright, especially the geo-blocking

·         E-commerce systems promotion

·         Digital knowledge and skills - eSkills development

·         Internet of Things development promotion

·         On-line platforms operators‘ activity regulation