Accenture's fifth annual global e-government study

Belgium
2004 Rank: 11 (joint)
2003 Rank: 9
2002 Rank: 16
Vision introduced: 1999
Vision title:
New Technologies at the
Service of Government,
its Administration and
its Clients
Vision summary:
Government has a dual role in eGovernment. On
one side is the role of enabler: creating juridical
and administrative conditions for the realization
of the information society. On the other side government
should set the example in the way it
applies technologies and the way it interacts with
its clients.
Regular Internet users (percent of population):
41.85 percent
Regular Internet users who have ever visited an
eGovernment site: 65 percent
Belgium
Belgium is part of a large cluster of countries whose
scores are so close that even improvements of just a
few percentage points can mean gains or losses of
several places in the rankings. Belgium has spent the
past year consolidating its eGovernment achievements
and putting essential enablers in place that
will facilitate growth in the near future.
After the federal elections in May 2003, Peter
Vanvelthoven was appointed state secretary for
eGovernment, deputy to the minister for the Budget
and Public Enterprise. In this newly created role,
Mr. Vanvelthoven is building on the eGovernment
vision expressed by Minister Van Den Bossche in
April 2002. At that time, Minister Van Den Bossche
restated the country’s commitment to eGovernment
and its priorities: first to get the back office
processes right and then to roll out new services to
citizens. The government is convinced that automation
and reengineering of the back office will be
good for all citizens, even those who do not wish to
interact with government online.
Mr. Vanvelthoven presented his eGovernment action
plan in November 2003. There are 17 priorities for
2004 through 2005, including improving accessibility
for blind users, data mining to combat fraud, initiating
eGovernment awards to spur innovation, and
improving and expanding the tax filing service,
electronic birth registration and e-procurement.
This year, Belgium seems to be channeling its efforts
toward enhancing its eGovernment enablers, setting
the stage for even greater progress in customerfacing
initiatives in the future.
For example, the country has successfully launched
a unique identification card for businesses and
organizations. The Kruispuntbank Ondernemingen
(Crossroads Bank for Enterprises) allocates each
company a single unique identification number. The
creation of the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises
means each company deals with only one point of
contact to complete all formal processes in setting
up a business; each company has a single number
for all its governmental contacts (as opposed to
more than 70 types of identification numbers in the
past); and each company has to provide its entire
basic identification data to the government only
once, not repeatedly to different government bodies.
From the government’s perspective, the initiative
allows more than 3,000 government agencies and
intermediaries to gain access to and update company
information using a Web interface.
64