Politics and administration

Digitization also provides the basis for modern, user-friendly and efficient administrative services. Citizens and also businesses have the right to communicate and interact electronically with authorities in a convenient, simple and accessible way. eGovernment solutions and the provision of government data infrastructures should systematically take account of the trend towards mobility and the need for unrestricted availability of administrative services and information. eGovernment should help to increase efficiency in authorities, make things significantly easier for citizens and businesses, and act as an innovation driver for the economy as a whole through its use of new technologies. Austria has already played a pioneering role in eGovernment in the past and we intend to further strengthen this role in future. To do so, well-trained staff in public administration are a prerequisite.

With over 800,000 users, the electronic signature and Citizen Card or mobile phone signature are already well established in Austria. Consistently digitized processes require secure electronic proof of identity. Citizens should therefore be able to use the existing eID not just throughout the EU; it should also become an electronic identity document when it is assigned certain attributes. A future administrative registration process will provide even greater security.

Modern ICT solutions and services will encourage participation in political discussion and decision-making processes. By including new methods, the quality of administrative action and of political decisions can and should be improved and their legitimacy strengthened. This should also lead to an increase in the transparency of governance.

Open government data is a central issue here, with the administration making non-personal data available to the general public in open formats. Individuals, NGOs, enterprises, scientists and other authorities can freely use and link the data – to program apps and software, for example. This also has an added democratic value since it enables discussions to be held at a more factual and objective level. The website data.gv.at makes over 2,100 data sources available and is to be expanded.

Measures

  • Introduce a comprehensive right to electronic communication between citizens and the administration
  • Extend the range of eGovernment services available in order to personalize and regionalize these services, e.g. at help.gv.at, further improvements to the Business Service Portal (usp.gv.at), networking and automatic information exchange between the eGovernment services offered by the Federal Government, Länder and municipalities
  • Expand one-stop processes (everything in one place) and no-stop processes (application-free – no need to apply):
    • Application-free employee tax assessment: first tax credit in autumn 2017
    • Application-free extension of family allowance: proof of activity (e.g. for students) is automatically queried and entitlement is extended
    • Change of name and address: data only needs to be changed in one place. The other authorities are informed automatically
    • Establishment of an electronic one-stop shop for business startups (see Business section)
  • In future, citizens should be able to use the existing eID not just throughout the EU; it should also become an electronic identity document when it is assigned certain attributes (e.g. driving licence, youth pass, identity card, etc.). A future administrative registration process will provide even greater security.
  • Data only once: information only needs to be reported to the authorities once. This means that documents such as proof of residence forms or birth certificates no longer need to be submitted to the authorities.
  • Accelerate electronic delivery and create a common display module for all electronic deliveries
  • Expand open data and open government data; provide further data sets from the authorities and incorporate important data records from the private sector
  • Accelerate open source by authorities
  • Position Austria as an international pioneer in eGovernment solutions and as a committed and reliable partner in the eGovernment context