Strasbourg, 7 May 2008 CDLR(2008)23
Item 8 of the agenda
EUROPEAN COMMITTEE ON LOCAL AND REGIONAL DEMOCRACY
(CDLR)
LOREG AND LOREG NETWORK MEETING
Secretariat Memorandum
prepared by the
Directorate General of Democracy and Political Affairs
Directorate of Democratic Institutions
 |
Introduction
This documents contains – see Appendix – an overview of the LOREG network and the development of its operating system. The CDLR members are invited to pay special attention to the forthcoming conference of network correspondents (Strasbourg, 12-13 June) whose purpose is to “relaunch” the database through the involvement of a greater number of national “contributors” in its operation.
The attention of CDLR members has already been drawn to the conference. They were also invited to identify the experts who, in their ministry or in another central administrative unit of their country, are responsible for introducing into the databese the documents (laws, regulations, major reports) pertaining to local and regional democracy in their respective countries and would therefore qualify for the “correspondent” status. The conference targets specifically these persons although CDLR members are also welcome.
In order to give guidance to the LOREG Network, the CDLR is also invited to discuss the scope of documentation to be included in the LOREG database (http://www.loreg.org).
Action required
The
CDLR is invited to take note of the information on the LOREG database and the
conference of the network of correspondents and to make such suggestions and
proposals on the operation of the database as it deems appropriate for the
conference to take into account. It is also invited to pronounce itself on the
scope of documentation it should include.
APPENDIX
Strasbourg, 5 May 2008 LOREG(2008)2
Item 3 of the agenda
EUROPEAN COMMITTEE ON LOCAL AND REGIONAL DEMOCRACY
(CDLR)
NETWORK OF LOREG CORRESPONDENTS
A TECHNICAL PRESENTATION AND
HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE DATABASE
Secretariat Memorandum
prepared by the Directorate General of
Democracy and Political Affairs
Directorate of Democratic Institutions
|
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Introduction
LOREG is a database containing a pan-European collection of official and other information on local and regional democracy in Europe. The LOREG Library contains international legal instruments, reports and comparative studies as well as national legislation, regulations and data.
LOREG is composed of 4 main interfaces, and offers, in this way, a multitude of search possibilities: the introductory interface, the search interface, the overview interface (divided into searches by topic or by country), and a browse interface.
Launching LOREG
LOREG was first included in the CDLR programme of activities in 2001, when it was launched in December of the same year. Its name was chosen from among 30 entries all based on a list of words relevant to the subject of local and regional democracy, selected by the CDLR: “Local, Regional, Democracy, Government, On Line, Library, European, Information, Data, Base, Council of Europe, WEB”.
The name “LOREG” was based on the words Local and Regional Government.
The Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe
The project, financed by a voluntary contribution from the Norwegian Government, formed part of the activities carried out under the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, whose founding partners (40 states and organisations) in Cologne in June 1999 pledged to strengthen the countries of South Eastern Europe “in their efforts to foster peace, democracy, respect for human rights and economic prosperity in order to achieve stability in the whole region”[1].
Local and regional democracy and transfrontier co-operation were among the Pact’s core objectives. The development of sound and effective local democracy institutions fully trusted by the population and able to respond quickly to their needs through the provision of adequate services was seen as key for the region’s economic development and stability. The main needs, as expressed by SEE local and regional authorities, related to the implementation of legislation on local governance, capacity building, and awareness raising on decentralisation, enforcement of the dialogue between all parties concerned and ensuring the participation of civil society.
Meeting in June 2000, the CDLR, on a proposal from the Secretariat, decided that a database on local and regional democracy, with an extensive range of documentation, and with the possibility of incorporating it into a more extensive network, could, in addition to making a significant contribution to the spread of good practices in Europe generally, be one of the measures implemented under the Stability Pact Programme.
It was proposed that the contents of the database would include legislation on local and regional democracy in the member states, or at least extracts from such legislation (in English and French), and relevant Council of Europe publications. The design and definition of the database contents, data collection and management of the site could be activities carried out in co-operation with the CLRAE.
Project development
Aims
As the project took form, one of its aims became the adding of documents or their extracts in as many languages and formats as possible. To facilitate this task, LOREG was designed technically to grant a number of people outside the Council of Europe “external editor” status. They would act as the interface between their respective governments and the database as members of a genuine network. Their chief role would be to publish new documents and new versions of existing documents, giving preference to documents written in their country’s official language. Today these editors are the Network of LOREG Correspondents (for further information on the work of the Network see document LOREG(2008)3).
Technical development
LOREG 2001 - 2004
The database was given a complex architecture to enable it to offer as many search criteria as possible, and at its launch in December 2001, it was possible for a user to carry out searches for documents not only in a variety of languages and a variety of formats, but also from a variety of authors, on a large variety of subjects, on all member States of the Council of Europe.
From those modest beginnings in June 2000, thanks to the hard work of the Secretariat, staff members from member states’ ministries responsible for local and regional democracy, and the system designer, the project had become a powerful tool.
LOREG 2005-2006
Four years after its launch, it was decided to modify LOREG to take advantage of a variety of new IT possibilities and also to bring it in line with the Council of Europe source code standards and Graphic Charter (which at the time of its development had not existed), and to take advantage of the now state-of-the art technology.
The New LOREG was ready by November 2006. Most of the changes to LOREG had taken place behind the scenes, and were therefore not visible to the user. Retaining all of its former document search features, LOREG now included the keyword search function, documents were available in pop-up screens as opposed to frames, and various security aspects had been added to the search pages, notably the “validation” button.
LOREG 2007-2008
At the November 2006 meeting of the Network of Correspondents, it was decided to continue the revision project following a variety of suggestions by the Correspondents during the meeting, including the addition of an email alert system. Initially added for correspondents, following the Network’s meeting in December 2007, the email alert system was extended in the first quarter of 2008 to all users, via a simple registration form, requiring no username or password, since these can sometimes act as a deterrent to registration.
Other recent changes include an interactive page for correspondents to add or modify their contact details and a pop-up description page, to enable correspondents to add simple synopses of documents in English/French, where the document exists only in the national language. Indeed, the database was generally given a face lift, to make the system more intuitive and as a result easy to use.
LOREG : Its future : awareness-raising activities
The Conference and the brochure
The LOREG Network conference is being organised in Strasbourg from 12-13 June 2008. It is designed to increase membership of the LOREG Network of Correspondents, to help the Network strengthen the LOREG database, and make it an important and effective research tool, by ensuring the availability of key European local and regional democracy documentation, including primary and relevant sectoral legislation, reports and comparative studies, amongst many others etc. An increased membership, will mean an increased wealth of data available. The aim of the Conference and for subsequent meetings of the Network of LOREG correspondents is: one member state, one network correspondent.
The Conference grew from around an idea to produce a brochure to help raise LOREG’s profile in government departments, universities, and other institutions which could usefully use its information. It was felt that LOREG’s future success was very much dependent on a strong publicity campaign in such institutions, keeping in mind budget constraints. The brochure is now available in both English and French. It is hoped that Correspondants will have the brochure translated into their national languages, to facilitate its dissemination.
LOREG already has a good solid supply of documentation on local and regional democracy, but could always benefit from documentation from a wider geographical scope. In this connection, it was additionally felt that the present Conference could be aimed at encouraging participation from a wider range of Council of Europe member states since this would undoubtedly lead to the Network’s and database’s expansion and promotion in terms of documentation and awareness-raising opportunities.
Possible partnerships
A project for the LOREG database when it was first being built was a link between the LOREG database and the LOGIN database, - a database being built in Hungary around about the same time by the Open Society Institute / Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative. Both databases share a similar focus. Unfortunately, the different timelines for developing both databases meant this project had to be moved to a backburner.
With the launch of the new LOREG database, this project is currently being revisited by the Secretariat, and first contacts with the OSI have been made. Depending on its technical feasibility, it is hoped that the link established would enable the user to search both databases at the same time, merely by ticking a box on either of the databases to express this preference.
Other possible partnerships
In the longterm, if this initiative were to prove successful, the Network could consider the possibility of other partnerships with other similar projects to ensure LOREG’s visibility and efficacity further. Possible examples of projects are: European Urban Knowledge Network, an e-library which shares knowledge and experience on tackling urban issues in which fifteen EU Member States, EUROCITIES, the URBACT Programme and the European Commission participate; and Logolink – a learning initiative on citizen participation and local governance. LogoLink is a global network of practitioners from civil society organisations, research institutions and governments working to deepen democracy through greater citizen participation in local governance.