VENUE:

Held at the Brussels Royal Crown Hotel
9 December 1997, 13.00 - 14.00.

PARTICIPANTS:

Alessandro Barbagli, DG13
Eduardo Barrera, Tecodis
Maarten Botterman, DG13
Enrique De la Serna, Diplomat
Annakaisa Tschokkinen, Bourbon
Josef Hochgerner, Diplomat
Noel Hodson, Diplomat, GAT Chair
Horace Mitchell, ETD
John Nolan, DG13
Andrew Page, Diplomat
Rob Peters, ETD - ISdAC
Antonio Rizzo, Avanti
Christian Van Asbroeck, ETD, GAT Secretariat

MEETING HIGHLIGHTS:

1. Introduction

The Chairman announced that the meeting would close at 2 pm, in order to allow attendees to join the HA Domain concertation meeting for a video presentation by Bourbon, on the use of broadband communication networking by SMEs.

• the latest issue of the European Journal of Teleworking, featuring a report on Telework Guidelines
• the report on Marketing the ACTS Guidelines, an independent study undertaken for DG13-B

ETD reported on the GA Chain Group meeting which took place on 8 December at 13.30 Hr, where the GA Group decided to pursue synergy across GA chains and guidelines, one immediate opportunity being the several guidelines from various sources relating to ICTs in the home. A proposal has been made to Domain 1 and the HA Domain asking them to sponsor a GA Group workshop or show of some kind with a focus on 'the home' for the February concertation meeting.

After a lengthy discussion, the following conclusions and decisions were agreed. The overall objective is to involve more projects in the production of telework related guidelines.

The strategy is based on the findings of Marketing the ACTS Guidelines and on the discussions at the GA Chain Group meeting.

• technical oriented guidelines, facilitated by ETD
• socio-economic oriented guidelines, facilitated by Diplomat

The technical thread will investigate other ACTS projects with a relationship to telework and invite active suggestions from them. This will be supported by deliverable D021 from ETD (Second reports on ACTS and telework guidelines). A draft document will be produced.

The socio-economic thread will follow a similar approach.

2.2. Timetable

The next ACTS Concertation Meeting on 17-18 February 1998 is critical because it represents the last opportunity to involve ACTS as a whole. Hence:

• the draft document is to be available early February and distributed before the ACM
• the brochure is to be ready before the summer holiday period

Technical Guidelines:

• contributions from Avanti (adaptability) and Bourbon (interoperability)
• follow up by the GAT Chain Secretariat

Socio-economic Guidelines : within the scope of the Diplomat project activities

3. Topics

Little time was left (cf. 1 and 2 above) and the presenters could only give an outline of their views and findings. They have supplied summaries which are appended to these minutes for further discussion and contribution by the GAT Chain members.

3.1. Interoperability

Presentation made by Horace Mitchell. Summary in Annex 1.

3.2. Market Development and 3.3. Tax Issues

Combined presentation made by Noel Hodson. Summary in Annex 2.

4. Other business

Provisional date of the next GAT meeting : Monday 16 February 1998, i.e. the day before the AGM.

Annex 1

Topic 3.1. Interoperability for Telework (Horace Mitchell)

There is an existing GAT Guideline, 'First Time Interoperability across Extranets', that has been endorsed by the ACTS community but is still open for further comment and development.

There is an opportunity to develop further Guidelines on the Interoperability topic, but some concern that the latest guidance document (Marketing the Guidelines, circulated at the Concertation Meeting on 9 December) appears to exclude Guidelines that are not explicitly based on ACTS RTD work. This needs to be clarified before any further effort, since the Interoperability guideline was based on market experience rather than ACTS RTD and has not been the subject of much comment from RTD projects.

If further work is welcomed on Guidelines whose basis is mainly market experience and market needs, then one potential topic for focus by GAT is the issue raised by Noel Hodson, and which is a serious barrier to take up of ACTS technologies and ICTs generally, ie the improvement of support to the . This includes a high proportion of teleworkers and is a topic for which teleworkers provide an excellent focus. Its a barrier to spread of telework as well as a barrier to the market for ICTs.

Assuming that market-based and user-requirements-based Guidelines are not now discouraged, ETD is prepared to invest some effort to further develop the Interoperability theme within GAT and to seek support from other projects including RTD projects to strengthen the existing Interoperability guidelines.

Note: ACTS Telework Guidelines can be found on the WWW at http://www.eto.org.uk/gat/guides

Annex 2

Topic 3.2. Telework Statistics (Noel Hodson)

Few accepted, accurate counts exist of EU Member States teleworkers. The IT industry could plan products with more surety if the scale of teleworking and the size of the market, now and in the future, could be properly assessed. Traffic decongestion plans could be set in motion if forecasts of the number of people cutting out or reducing their commuting were reliable. It should now be possible to know both these numbers in the EU; Jack Nilles raised the need for such counting some 25 years ago when he promoted telecommuting in California to improve traffic conditions and air quality.

The IT industry is most concerned to know the total number of home or SOHO office workstations - irrespective of the frequency of use. Such teleworker equipment needs to be supplied and serviced. It needs to be interoperable and especially user-friendly, as many teleworkers are remote and are not supported by central offices.

The telecoms industry is most concerned to anticipate the traffic that European teleworkers will generate. The estimates made by for Telework Analytics International Inc. by SW2000 Oxford, show traffic volumes and values which are substantial, even by the values of major telecoms such as Deutsch Telecom, France Telecom, BT and other major players.

Governments are concerned to anticipate the impact on Cities, urban areas and rural areas. At the lowest, most conservative estimates, for example, the UK has nearly 1 million teleworkers (home based). Their combined earnings amount to some 40Becu, a substantial sum, which is applied by teleworkers in novel ways, in different regions - for example spending on daily food locally instead of in a town centre, or spending on casual rather than casual clothes. Travel spending patterns chhange significantly.

Tax authorities are also concerned at the changes in their revenue collections. Should the tax authority shift from the City where the employer is located to the region where the teleworker has a home-office, which could be across a national boundary.

Counting and Forecasting is therefore a vital activity which should be undertaken and maintained at least annually if not more regularly. Telecoms may be able to deduce from their traffic records when a home or local office is being used intensively for business, but they are generally constrained by privacy rules from utilising or publishing the information; perhaps this should be changed.

Topic 3.3. Fiscal Issues for Telework (Noel Hodson)

Markets for technology can be hindered or accelerated by the tax rules applied. Many potential teleworkers and their employers become concerned about the diverse and complex rules in different countries and regions that may create costs when teleworking.

1. For employers, the largest issues are on payroll and social security taxes and on VAT charged on any re-invoicing of employees time; particularly where this crosses borders and becomes subject to transfer-pricing regulations within international double-taxation agreements.

2. Employees want to ensure that the costs they incur operating an office at home will be fully re-paid, including any tax costs. Families are concerned at the threat of Capital Gains tax when they sell their home, on that part used as office. In some EU countries local taxes are charged on commercial activities from home. Individuals can find themselves enmeshed in complex tax arguments over relatively small benefits-in-kind assessments raised by their tax offices.

3. The IT industry and teleworkers would benefit from accelerated Capital Allowances on the cost of computer and communications equipment in home-offices, irrespective of the tax authority location of such equipment.

4. Traffic authorities and environmental departments are concerned that teleworkers who greatly reduce their car mileage and other energy consuming travel, are in some countries penalised by the tax system - for example in the UK. Incentives to commute are equally problematical for these authorities - for example, the Netherlands gives tax relief on some commuting to work costs.

5. The taxing authorities are generally concerned that cyberspace transactions, implicitly generated by teleworkers, and the ephemeral, mobile and very rapid transmission of the products of telework might escape or reduce the taxes properly due in a particular taxing authority. Loss of revenue, such as Social Security Payroll taxes, while retaining the social responsibility for support redundant or sick citizens, could be very costly for some regions. In theory, telework increases the opportunities for tax avoidance and tax minimisation planning.

6. The focus of all these concerns and of the multitude of varying laws and protocols is the Contract of Employment or of Consulting. Ideally, these contracts should clarify all the potential costly confusions which may arise - and thus prevent the problems. Contracts should for example specify the place of work, the residency and domicile of the teleworker, the responsible tax payer and the responsible payer of social security taxes - including a statement of the social security benefits being purchased.

7. The focus of the DIPLOMAT project Guidelines on such fiscal issues is to ensure that telework is treated fairly compared to other work contracts, and is not discriminated against by the fiscal and legal system. Currently, telework IS discriminated against according to an expert report produced for Diplomat on the EU Member States. The DIPLOMAT Guidelines, when adopted, will redress the balance and improve the fiscal climate for telework. Much improvement can be achieved simply through clarifying grey areas and complex rules.

Note: DIPLOMAT Guidelines can be found on the WWW at http://www.telework-forum.org

Prepared by :
Christian Van Asbroeck
GAT Chain Secretariat