Time for an electronic signature in local government administration. This is not a pious wish of the citizens of the Third Polish Republic—and at the same time petitioners of offices or all types of institutions—nor is it a statement of fact made by IT experts obligated to act by current legal regulations. It is the name of a regional conference that took place in Poznań at the beginning of May 2005. The Greater Poland Association WOKiSS has been conducting activities for years aimed at improving the functioning of local government administration in the region. Current legal regulations (especially the Act on Access to Public Information, the Act on Electronic Signature, or the Act on Computerization…) have imposed new obligations on public administration offices, which are practically impossible to implement without “IT support.” According to Article 58 of the Act on Electronic Signature, for example, public administration (including local government) will have to be prepared from August 17, 2006, to handle matters sent via the Internet and signed with a qualified electronic signature. National and regional projects related to the creation of public service platforms, the practical use of electronic signatures in national public administration offices, technical and organizational aspects of creating local government information portals (equipped with Public Information Bulletin and Resident Service Office modules), as well as information management support systems (back office class) were discussed in detail. During the conference, specific solutions in the field of “e-office” were presented, and problems in the area of building an information society, on which local government administration can (and should) have an influence, were signaled. Not only the speakers’ presentations were interesting, but also the issues they raised.
The article comes from the magazine “e-Fakty” 3/2005.