Switzerland is to scale down its e-government plans, offering only online information rather than transactional services, according to reports on 3 June, 2004.
The Swiss Government's main website will not be as ambitious as originally planned, after some of the country's canton authorities refused to pay the full cost of the development.
A review of the e-government programme was conducted after objections were raised over its cost and complexity. Cantons were opposed to the main portal offering interactive services and wanted to make a reduced contribution of SFr1.2m (£500,000) to the project out of a total budget of SFr3.6m (£1.57m).
The Swiss federal authorities have been keen to make progress with e-government after a report earlier this year showed a lack of awareness among the public about the programme.
The study, published by the Bern University of Applied Sciences, found that just 12 percent of the population are going online to communicate with the Swiss authorities. The federal government was aiming to move Switzerland up from the bottom of Europe's e-government rankings.
Instead of offering e-services centrally, Swiss public authorities are to participate in a number of local e-government pilot projects.
One project underway in the Neuchâtel canton aims to identify people most likely to use online e-government services, the Swissinfo news service reported. Another involves the Swiss Federal Court and concerns the automatic exchange of information between cantonal authorities.
