Benefits of Membership

• Opportunities to help create frameworks for future policies.

• Opportunities to make your views known before future legislation/regulation is agreed.

• Opportunities to network with decision makers in Government and Business.

• Opportunities to work with EURIM's partner organisations on joint events and initiatives.

• Opportunities to keep abreast of developments that will change the way you do business.

• Opportunities to gain business benefit by understanding what is likely to happen.

The benefits of membership will depend on what you put in, time and resources, over and above your subscriptions. Some members wish merely to keep in touch with what is happening and receive notices of policy initiatives and consultations. Others wish not only to work with their peers to influence what is happening but to help set the political agendas of the future, before policies are drafted. 

Opportunities to help set the policies of the future

EURIM brings together working groups from the ICT industry (suppliers, users, trade associations and professional bodies) to work with officials to analyse issues not well addressed by others, identify possible ways forward, test these for consensus (professional, industrial and political) and help achieve realistic outcomes during the legislative process.

EURIM's track record on issues like Data Protection, Telecommunications Policy, the Regulation of Investigatory Powers, the electronic signatures legislation, Y2K and Good Practice in planning and procurement mean members can genuinely help improve the legislative process by working with those responsible for drafting policy, particularly where it cuts across departmental boundaries. Members work with their competitors, partners, suppliers and customers to provide well informed and balanced inputs to discussion and case studies of practical experience with what works and what does not.

For example some of the case studies of low cost, rapid payback, joined-up local systems produced in the course of the “Transformational Government dialogues” helped not only change thinking about how to deliver public services but also highlighted the need to reform the structures used for up-front planning and procurement and subsequent performance monitoring. 

Opportunities to make your views known before legislation/regulation is agreed/implemented

EURIM's ongoing dialogue with politicians and officials enables members to communicate business perspectives to decision makers at the start of the legislative process, before commitments are made and the policy choices formalised for consultation. Focussed discussion at the policy-making stage has benefits for all parties, especially if followed by well-informed debate at each stage, from consultation and pre-legislative scrutiny through legislative debate to the statutory instruments and regulatory decisions. A flexible structure allows EURIM to respond quickly to developments in the legislative and pre-legislative arena. 

For example a six week exercise to help officials re-write draft regulations for the lawful interception of business communications, into line with what was agreed during the negotiations over the original Directive and the UK Legislation, as opposed to the errors that crept in during subsequent changes of officials, saved members £millions on unintended overheads.

Opportunities to network with decision makers in Government and Business

EURIM's Parliamentary membership comprises Members of Parliament, Peers and Members of the European Parliament and includes Ministers, Select Committee Chairmen and women and members and their counterparts in the European Parliament. The diversity of EURIM's Industry membership, which spans large and small corporations, users and suppliers, trade associations, professional bodies and other not-for-profit organisations, allows for a more complete representation of the ICT sector and makes senior figures more willing to attend events and listen.

For example the workshops during the life of the ID card legislation were unique in bringing together all sides of government (including potential departmental users) and industry (not just the would-be suppliers) to look at the issues that would have to be addressed whether or not the scheme went ahead.

Opportunities to work with EURIM's partner organisations on joint events and initiatives

EURIM works with and through partners such as Intellect, UK Payments, CPS, DEMOS, IPPR, BCS, CILIP, IET, ISSA and the BSG wherever possible so as to demonstrate the collective views of industry on the need for change - or to persuade politicians to leave things to evolve without government intervention because of the risk that intervention would not achieve its objectives and might even be counter-productive.

For example the workshop on biometrics organised jointly with CESG was attended by those planning over 70 government projects requiring authentication routines. The show-case of examples of successful data sharing was attended by the then Home Secretary and her predecessor as well as her Minister for ID cards and officials from other departments and agencies.

EURIM round tables on information governance and information quality have brought together the relevant auditors (including NAO and Audit Commission) and regulators (including the Information Commissioner's Office and FSA) as well as Think Tanks (e.g. Centre for Policy Studies and DEMOS) and those looking at the issues as business challenges or opportunities.

Opportunities to keep abreast of developments that will change the way you do business

EURIM members receive notice of consultations on the subjects in which they have shown interest and events organised by partners on those consultations. Where no-one else is doing so, EURIM will organise round tables with those running consultations to help ensure balanced responses - and collective responses on points where there is agreement. Members have access to all responses to consultation exercises, along with published status reports, briefings, position papers and guides.  Members can also access a large archive of unpublished papers, minutes and other documents that trace the course of legislation and which provide vital background information for new developments.

It is not uncommon for some consultation meetings to be attended almost entirely by EURIM members, because the other communications channels used have not highlighted the potential importance of the consultation to those likely to be affected. 

Opportunities to gain business benefit by understanding what is likely to happen

EURIM meetings can give participants insight into what is likely to happen, over what timescale, as opposed to the claims of the supporters or opponents of an initiative or the public statements of ministers or suppliers.

For example one member was planning a project that depended on agreed standards for electronic payment. He hosted a EURIM workshop to help expedite progress by bringing the players together to discuss what had yet to be agreed and what was at stake for suppliers and users - without mentioning his own project. It has been said that the timetable for the EMV standards would not have been achieved without that meeting. Most participants never knew that the host also saved over £250 million by postponing his project until after the banks had committed to their UK/EU roll out.

Others have benefited from similar insights, positive as well as negative.

EURIM Achievements

• EURIM helped set the agenda and organise the pre-legislative scrutiny for the Communications Bill that created Ofcom. It was credited with helping save an estimate of over 400 “friendly” amendments.

• EURIM is helping to remove the barriers to using ICT to help deliver more for less: clarifying and publicising good practice in consultation, planning, procurement and shared service delivery.

• EURIM was one of the first organisations to recognise the impact of the proposed RIP legislation. It helped organise well-informed discussion and inputs at every stage: from the original consultation, through the passage of the Bill to the Statutory Instrument for the “Lawful interception of business communications”.

• EURIM alerted government and politicians to the need for co-operation with industry in the fight against e-Crime. The ground-breaking EURIM-IPPR study set the original agenda for the current UK Cybersecurity Strategy. It is helping launch the E-Crime Reduction Partnership, to turn rhetoric into action.

• EURIM is helping to improve the legislative scrutiny process: by preparing material for use by those likely to serve on future Select Committees on the questions they should bear in mind when checking that proposals have indeed been thought through and are likely to meet their objectives.

• EURIM cuts across departmental and organisational silos: as in its work on Information and Identity Governance and on the issues that need to be addressed to attract and retain Knowledge Based industries.

• EURIM confers competitive advantage on its members by keeping them abreast of developments: e.g. by circulating the original press releases and calls for submissions provided by our departmental observers.

More on Achievements

What does the subscription cover?

Membership of all working groups and sub-groups. Corporate and Associate members may nominate different representatives to join each working group or sub-group.  Individual membership is for the named individual only and can be credited against an upgrade when others need to be involved.

Access to all group activities, meetings and events.

Access to all EURIM documentation:- minutes, briefings, overviews, guides, status reports, position statements, consultation responses, etc.

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