World e-Parliament Report 2008 United Nations Inter-Parliamentary Union World e-Parliament Report 2008 United Nations Inter-Parliamentary Union World e-Parliament Report 2008 Disclaimer This Report is a joint product of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the Inter-Parliamentary Union through the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament. The views and opinions expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union. The designations and terminology employed may not conform to United Nations and Inter-Parliamentary Union practice and do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of these Organizations. Also, the presentation of the material in this Report do not imply the expression of any opinion on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations or of the Inter-Parliamentary Union concerning the legal status of any country, territory or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The term “developed” and “developing” economies or the designations of country groups are intended solely for statistical or analytical convenience and do not necessarily express a judgment about the stage reached by a particular country or area in the development process. The term “country” as used in the text of this publication also refers, as appropriate, to territories or areas. Mention of the names of firms and commercial products does not imply the endorsement of the United Nations or the Inter-Parliamentary Union. This Report has been issued without formal editing. Copyright © United Nations, 2008 All rights reserved ISBN: 978-92-1-023067-4 SALES: B.08.II.H.7 ST/ESA/PAD/SER.E/124 ISBN: 978-92-9142-369-9 World e-Parliament Report 2008 Foreword Information and communication technologies (ICT) have become essential tools in supporting the work of legislative bodies throughout the world. As they have grown in sophistication, ICT have ac- quired the necessary flexibility to assist parliaments in their most important responsibilities: making laws, overseeing the executive and communicating with citizens. While these developments are opening new avenues of cooperation among legislatures, the newest web technologies have already started to affect the traditional citizen-parliament relationship by en- abling participation through the exchange of user generated content. In today’s “wired world” parliaments must be able to harness ICT to be more representative, trans- parent, accessible, accountable and effective in their many functions. As parliaments employ new technologies, they must also address many of the issues that are inherent in global efforts to achieve an equitable and inclusive information society that supports the democratic process. The ways in which parliaments make decisions on the use of ICT in their own environment will in fact influence the nature of the information society within their country, and their ability to contribute to it. In preparing the World e-Parliament Report 2008, the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union have joined hands through the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament to address some of these issues. The World e-Parliament Report 2008 is the first of its kind and draws on information generously provided by more than one hundred assemblies from around the world. Its purpose is not to rank legislatures by e-parliament levels, but rather to stimulate an international debate on these topics by offering an overview of issues for a broad range of interested readers, at a time when inter-parlia- mentary cooperation is increasing. The Report offers to parliaments an authoritative baseline so that they can conduct their own as- sessment on the use of ICT in their daily work, draw lessons from the different practices presented therein, and see how they can improve their processes. It also provides civil society, business and the academia with a useful instrument to evaluate the complexities of using ICT in such a multifaceted institution as parliament. Moreover, the Report may help the international community to make the iii right decision when considering supporting legislatures through capacity development initiatives and technical assistance. The World e-Parliament Report 2008 is a tangible contribution of the United Nations, through its Department of Economic and Social Affairs, and the Inter-Parliamentary Union to the implementa- tion of the outcome of the World Summit on the Information Society, bringing to it a unique and innovative parliamentary dimension from a much needed global perspective. Sha Zukang Pier Ferdinando Casini Under-Secretary-General President for Economic and Social Affairs Inter-Parliamentary Union United Nations World e-Parliament Report 2008 World e-Parliament Report 2008 Acknowledgements The main authors of the World e-Parliament Report 2008 are Jeffrey Griffith, Jane Bortnick Griffith and Gherardo Casini, who also provided overall guidance and coordination during its preparation. They were supported by Avinash Bikha, Ludovica Cavallari, Daniela Giacomelli, Ana Carolina Kobe and Valentina Subacchi in the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament, and by Andy Richardson in the Inter- Parliamentary Union. A group of reviewers provided, in their personal capacity, extremely useful comments, suggestions and inputs throughout the drafting of the Report. These are: Mohamed Nagib Abou-Zeid, Martin Brothén, Margareta Brundin, Armando Roberto Cerchi Nascimento, Pierre Dandjinou, Assem Genaidy, Tünde Hagymási, Elisabet Lindquist Michailaki, Alessandro Palanza, Joseph A. Santiago, Enrico Seta, Dirk Toornstra and Flavio Zeni. A background paper commissioned for the preparation of Chapter 5 of the Report was prepared by a team led by Giovanni Sartor and composed of Mariangela Biasiotti, Enrico Francesconi, Monica Palmirani and Fabio Vitali. The preparation of the Report greatly benefited from the presentations made by members of parlia- ment, Secretaries General, parliamentary officials and experts at the World e-Parliament Conference 2007 and from the discussions held on that occasion. Statistical advice and inputs on data analysis and presentation were provided by Giorgina Brown and Angela Me. Costantino Scammacca contributed valuable support to data management and processing. Helpful assistance was provided by Costanza Sebastiani. The Global Survey on ICT in Legislatures was designed by Jeffrey Griffith and benefited from the important contributions offered by Amr Aljowaily, Geoffrey Q. M. Doidge, Ross Ferguson, Anders Forsberg, Pam Greenberg, Anders Johnsson, Elisabet Lindquist Michailaki, Mei Lan, Andy Richardson, Enrico Seta, Dirk Toornstra and André van der Meer. Special thanks are due to the parliamentary staff and officials from around the world who spent con- v siderable time completing the survey and sharing their experiences. The value of this Report is a direct result of their thoughtful responses and insights. The layout, design and all graphic work were done by Ludovica Cavallari. World e-Parliament Report 2008 World e-Parliament Report 2008 Executive summary The World e-Parliament Report 2008 constitutes the first assessment from a global perspective of how information and communication technologies (ICT) are being employed by parliaments across the spectrum of activities for which they are responsible. It is based on the responses and comments provided by 105 assemblies from around the world to a survey on the use of ICT in parliament. It also draws on experiences exchanged during the World e-Parliament Conference 2007 and relevant publicly available information. The World e-Parliament Report 2008 has been produced for the purpose of helping legislatures eval- uate the potential benefits of ICT in supporting parliament’s basic values of transparency, accessibil- ity, accountability and effectiveness, and, at the same time, its representative, legislative and oversight functions. Its publication is intended to establish a shared knowledge base among the parliaments of the world and, most importantly, promote international dialogue on these matters. Throughout the Report, e-parliament is regarded as a continually evolving concept that is rooted in the institutional approach to modern technologies in the complex parliamentary environment. In this context, the document outlines the definition of an e-parliament as a legislature that is empowered to be more transparent, accessible and accountable through ICT. It empowers people, in all their di- versity, to be more engaged in public life by providing greater access to its parliamentary documents and activities. It is an organization where connected stakeholders use information and communica- tion technologies to support its primary functions of representation, law-making and oversight more effectively. Through the application of modern technology and standards and the adoption of sup- portive policies, it fosters the development of an equitable and inclusive information society. This definition deliberately encompasses both the institutional and organizational aspects of parlia- ment and the inevitable broader societal impact of applying information and communication tech- nologies to its context. Parliament is uniquely positioned to use new technologies to demonstrate the values of openness and transparency in the public sphere, and to influence the information society agenda through this approach. Because ICT are such a strategic resource, the leadership of