The Joint Czech-Slovak Digital Parliament Library won the Czech at sign competition

03/24/2003, 22:05

On the eve of the 6^th Internet in State Administration and Self-government (ISSS) annual conference, the results of the Czech at sign competition were published in Hradec Králové. The award winner for 2003 is the "Joint Czech-Slovak Digital Parliament Library".

"The Association for the Czech at sign Competition [The Czech @ Competition] decided to award this project this year on the grounds of an exceptional achievement in the development of information society in the Czech Republic and Slovakia," says Mr. Tomáš Renčín, director of the ISSS and member of the Czech at sign Association jury. "The Joint Czech-Slovak Parliament Library is a breakthrough in the exchange of information between the legislative bodies and general public of the two countries, and it is becoming an important achievement also in the wider European context. Significant savings of finances and human resources are an important benefit of this international project, too."

Following a thorough analysis of the projects entered in the Czech at sign competition, the independent jury decided to grant this year's award to a project that is a joint effort of the Czech and Slovak parliaments. Other participants on the Czech part include the Parliament Library, the IT Department of the Office of the House of Deputies, and the IT Department of the Office of the Senate; on the Slovak part, the participants are the Parliament Library, the Parliament Archives, and the IT Department of the Office of the National Council of the Slovak Republic.

The principal objective of the project is to develop and operate a standardised information system on

1. The activities of the legislative bodies o the Czech and Slovak Republics since their inception in 1993;
2. The activities of common legislative bodies of the Czechoslovak Republic between 1918 and 1992;
3. The activities of Czech and Slovak deputies within different legislative bodies (Slovak National Council, the Imperial Assembly, and the Assembly of the Kingdom of Bohemia) from 1848 to 1914.

History of the Czech at sign competition

The first award in the 1999 competition was granted to Otakar Motejl, Minister of Justice, for making the companies register accessible on the Internet (www.justice.cz) and for his lasting open approach to the needs of the general public.

In 2000, the jury granted the award to the Office of the Parliament of the Czech Republic for the Digital Library of Czech Parliament (www.psp.cz/eknih) with an archive of digitised stenography reports from the deliberations of the Czech Parliament from 1918 until today.

In 2001, the award winner was the Ministry of Interior for the projects titled Vehicle Search, Invalid Documents and Authority is not a Labyrinth, run at www.mvcr.cz.

In 2002, the Czech at sign award was granted to the Ministry of Finance for an Internet register of VAT payers and excise tax payers, as well as for the activities and conceptual approach to comprehensive solutions of the modern technologies deployment in tax administration as a whole.