Electronic Working Methods (EWM) 

The ECC has been increasingly implementing electronic working methods in its work over the last years and currently all ECC Entities are encouraged to use EWMs as widely as possible.

In particular, the 22nd meeting of the ECC (9-13 March 2009, Vienna, Austria) on the issue of the use of the already available EWMs noted that ”administrations should consider these to the extend possible and that physical meetings should only take place if considered necessary”.

Within the ECC, the Working Group Regulatory Affairs (WGRA) is the responsible entity for the development and implementation of EWMs.

In line with the guidance provided by the ECC and in close co-operation with WGRA, the Office developed and made available in August 2009 "ECO Guidelines on EWM" which are being kept under continuous review.

In connection with the above Guidelines also see Internal ECC Report on the "Implementation of Electronic Working Methods (EWM) in the ECC working process" developed by WGRA and approved by the 24th meeting of the ECC (26-30 October 2009, Skopje, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia).

The Report contains 11 Recommendations on the implementation of EWMs and introduces a 2-year trial period for the 3 virtual participation methods:

-         web-casting;

-         web-conferencing, and

-         virtual participation in physical meetings.

 

The Office, following the request from the ECC and guidance from WGRA, produced and made available in February 2010 ’ECO Guidelines on the use of GoToMeeting platform’ (updated in November 2010) which should enable ECC entities to implement the above mentioned 3 virtual participation EWMs within the 2-year trial period.

These Guidelines should be seen as a draft section of the above mentioned ”ECO Guidelines on EWMs” and will be kept under continuous review based on the feedback from the ECC Entities within the 2-year trial period and forthcoming developments in the related market of software/hardware solutions.

 

The ECC Entities applying in practice virtual participation EWMs are requested to complete the WGRA feedback template (which should be seen as a guidance for feedback) and return it to WGRA (Chairman of WGRA, Dr. Stelios Himonas [email protected]).

 

At the same time, CEPT administrations are encouraged to allow for the installation of the necessary software on the computers of their CEPT representatives so that they are able to participate virtually in meetings of ECC entities (see the ECO Circular Letter to CEPT Administrations on EWMs of 9 Feburary 2010).

 

 

 

ECO contact for enquiries related to the Electronic Working Methods: Alexander Gulyaev (ECO)  e-mail [email protected] or phone +45 33 89 63 13