Mr. Andrus Ansip:

I thank the honourable Chairman and members of the joint committee. It is my great pleasure to be here. I have a written opening statement, but it would be artificial to spend ten minutes on it. For that reason, I will place this written statement on the Internet. Members already have it in paper.

I will reflect instead on the issues mentioned by the Chairman.

Ireland is digitally well advanced compared to the rest of Europe. The Commission's digital economy and society index ranks it in eighth place among the 28 member states. In terms of e-commerce and small and medium-sized enterprises, Ireland ranks first in the European Union. Its performance, in percentage terms, is twice the average in the European Union. Some 32% of Irish small and medium-sized enterprises are selling online. The average in this regard across the European Union is 16%. In terms of cross-border sales, the story is the same, with Ireland ranked in first place across the European Union.

The EU Single Market was created 20 years ago. Every country has benefited from the Single Market, including Ireland. However, it is a single market in physical terms only, as a digital single market does not exist. We must create a digital single market. According to analysis prepared by the European Parliament in 2014, the cost to Europe of not having a European digital market is huge. Some €415 billion per annum is being lost. The amount being lost is set to increase rather than decrease in the years ahead. As such, there is an urgency to a digital single market. We are not, unfortunately, progressing quickly enough. In 2010, four Prime Ministers issued a letter to their colleagues in which they proposed the creation of a digital single market in the European Union. A decision was made to have a digital single market in place across the European Union in 2015. It is now 2016 and all we have in place is a digital single market strategy. We need to speed up.

Last May, we launched the digital single market strategy. On the basis of this strategy, we made our first proposal last December. This year is delivery year. During this year, we would like to make all the proposals based on the digital single market strategy. Last December, we proposed to allow portability of content. An important detail in the digital single market strategy is that currently 20% of Europeans spend at least ten days a year in another EU member state and while there they would like to have access to their legally bought digital content but because of copyright restrictions they cannot do so. Technically, this is not a big issue. Some 20% of Internet users in the European Union are using VPNs to get access to digital content. Some 68% of film viewers state that they are using free downloads to get access to movies. VPNs are not free of charge. It costs up to €10 per month and €20 per three months. Many users think that because they are paying for a VPN they are not doing anything wrong, but authors are not being remunerated. For this reason, we proposed portability of content. I would welcome the support of the committee for this proposal.

In February, we made our proposal for the 700 megahertz spectrum. As this measure is technical in nature, it must be dealt with by parliaments. Currently, we can only dream about 5G in terms of the Internet, remote surgery and so on. Without access to the 700 megahertz spectrum it will never be a reality. It is proposed that the 700 megahertz band will be divided into two parts, with the upper side being made available to telecom companies and the lower band being made available to broadcasters for wireless microphones and so on. Some member states believe that the target of achieving clarity by 2020 is too ambitious and that 2022 is more realistic. The year 2030 is also realistic. We know, for example, that South Korea will start using major elements of 5G during the Winter Olympics in 2018. At a G7 meeting in Japan I heard that Japan will use 5G during the Olympic Games in 2020. Ericsson and Teliosonera have stated that they will commence the use of major elements of 5G in two towns, Stockholm and Tallinn, in 2018. If we do not speed up the process of providing access to the 700 megahertz spectrum we will find ourselves lagging behind. If this new generation network is not made available we will continue to only dream about apps created on the basis of those new technologies. We will know theoretically how it works, but practice creates the best ideas. It may seem as though we are talking about peanuts, but in 2014, 1.8 million jobs across the European Union were in the app industry. According to analysis, in 2018 there will be 4.8 million jobs in the app industry alone across the European Union and 3 million associated jobs. A 700 megahertz band is necessary not only for that industry but also for the car industry, remote surgery and other applications. We must do our outmost to get clarity in this regard.

As I said earlier, Ireland ranks first in the European Union in the area of e-commerce. However, as members will be aware, the e-commerce market across the European Union is fragmented. The European Commission organised a mystery shopping survey. According to this survey, 2% of people who wanted to access websites to purchase goods and services from another member state were blocked from doing so. One might say that was not a big problem, but 27% of those who could access websites were unable to register because their IP addresses were wrong. Of those who were able to register, 32% experienced delivery problems, which are natural problems to which we must also find solutions. Twenty-six percent of people who wanted to buy goods and services from another country experienced problems making payments. Although we have SEPA in the European Union, some credit cards were not accepted because they were issued in the wrong countries, including Estonia. Thirty-six percent of people who tried to buy goods and services from another EU member state were unable to conclude their purchases successfully. We must abolish unjustified geo-blocking.

In the coming weeks we will make our second copyright proposal and also the telecom proposal. I know Ireland would like to cover the country with a high-speed fibre network. According to my understanding, access to the Internet must be one of those fundamental rights and we must do it. As we know, especially in those areas where population density is not so high, there is not as much tough competition. With the market conditions, telecom service providers are not as ready to invest in those fibre networks. It means we must create certain better conditions to attract those investments. I would like to say we are trying to turn Europe in the same direction as Ireland is moving already.

The second copyright package proposal will be quite a large proposal, with different issues dealing with exceptions relating to education, handicapped people, text and data mining. We have to make text and data mining available for all the scientists across the European Union. Today in the majority of EU member states, scientists cannot use text and data mining. We would like to provide better access to digital content for our people. Our aim is to double cross-border access to digital content for our people. It is the aim of our second copyright proposal.

At the end of this year we will also make a free data flows proposal. We must create an environment in the European Union where free data flows will be possible in the Union and we will not always have to face data authorisation threats. I thank the committee for inviting me and I am ready to take questions.