Government Policy on Matters of the Information Society

While information technology has for a long time been utilized in public administration in Iceland, co-ordination and policy formulation only started in the mid-nineties. In 1996, the government made arrangements for a comprehensive policy formulation in this field, when the government formulated a specific policy on matters of the information society and established a provisional developmental project for this purpose under the direction of a special working group under the auspices of the Prime Minister's Office. While the project was to be completed within five years, from 1998 to 2002, it was decided at the beginning of this year to extend it to the end of the year 2003 while an appraisal of its implementation was carried out. Among the goals set in the governmental policy was that legislation, rules and the working methods of the public administration should be reviewed with a view to information technology, for the purpose of stimulating technological progress, and to make information accessible to the public irrespective of residence or economic resources. Furthermore, a special emphasis was put on the utilization of information technology in the dissemination of public information, and that all information systems used by government agencies should be structured so that they would provide information on laws, regulations, rights and obligations, and such matters, via a computer network, and also enable the public to go about their business, monitor the progress of important matters, and be provided with all such services which can be provided in this manner.