The Government

The Government has a very important role in the present economy. The interventions in the banking systems of the last months demonstrate that clearer than ever. The roles of the government are beyond that of control. There are also the tasks of facilitating and protecting, and the role of enabler of real-time economy for the government. 

The challenges for the government to support and implement real-time economy are in many different fields, among others; legal, electronic, education, taxation or e-government services and as a customer.

Legal

Existing legal barriers can hinder development of real-time economy in different ways. Confusion about the present legal requirements and the possible future changes can cause uncertainty. Smaller organizations with limited resources are reluctant to implement changes because of the costs of developing in the wrong direction.

Regulations and centrally enforced standards can help the development of real-time economy systems that work together optimally by ensuring shared standards. The use of regulatory instruments in enforcing the acceptance of single standards is helpful in fostering a national or EU wide system.

Finland is one of the first European countries to pass a set of laws that are aimed at enabling and supporting the development of e-government. The Act on Electronic services and communication in the public sector (2003) forces public authorities to adopt the use of electronic systems in some ways. The act on Electronic signatures (2003) acknowledges and legalizes the use of electronic signatures that, under conditions securing their validity, can be used as a legal signature on documents exchanged.

E-government services

E-government is more than the services provided, it is the technology, the methods and the organizational knowledge that make e-Government to what it is. 

E-government is in the service provision from the government to the citizens, (G2C) to businesses (G2B) and to itself (G2G). The quality of these services, their usability and economic justification help decide the success and the value of these systems. 

Studying e-government is done at different levels in different organizations, in the universities, the companies supplying the government and in the different branches of government itself. 

E-Health and Electronic Medical Records

The two main causes of medical errors are missing information and communication errors. The use of electronic patient records can prevent many errors and give large savings. Kela (finnish public insurance) is running tests on a system that will be the basis of sharing patient information in the future.

 

Educational

The government is mainly responsible for financing and regulating the eductation in schools, at present there is a need for teacher education and material that teachers could use in their classes. 

Taxation

The methods of collecting tax have made considerable improvements with the increased use of ICT. The pre-completed tax return and the online verokortti are examples of this for private people, for companies the TYVI data interchange and the Verotiili or tax-account, demonstrate some of the improvements. However there is still much room for improvement. At the moment the tax is working retrospectively, dealing with the matters after they have completed. In a Real-time economy the taxation services will have to be able to meet their ideal of the right tax at the right time. 

Government as a custome

 The government is the biggest customer. By using e-invoice or no-invoice as a standard the government can help the development of real time economy.

Links to material and related research projects

Social and macro economic impacts of ICT (Department of Economics, Helsinki School of Economics)

EU information society for growth and employment. i2010 is the EU policy framework for the information society and media. It promotes the positive contribution that information and communication technologies (ICT) can make to the economy, society and personal quality of life.

TIEKE. Meeting point for information society developers in Finland.

ePractice.eu. Meet, share and learn about electronic practices.

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