Svenskt Näringsliv (the "Confederation of Swedish Enterprise", the largest employers' organization) yesterday released a report (in Swedish only) on how governmental agencies compete unfairly with private enterprise.
News release, http://www.svensktnaringsliv.se/frameset_wa.asp?NewsId=2838183&CatId=19242&LangId=1 Report, "Osund statlig konkurrens slår ut privat företagsamhet" http://sn.svensktnaringsliv.se/sn/publi.nsf/Publikationerview/4FD90DA07AA405B5C12572100041C5FF/$File/PUB200610-008.pdf The 39 page report says 80 percent of Swedish governmental agencies were conducting commercial business in 2000. And in 2003 this had increased to 95 percent. In 2005 they sold goods and services for 49.5 thousand million kronor (1 euro = 9 kronor) of which 23.5 were sold to non-governmental buyers (including private firms and municipalities). The report points out many examples where this causes problems and concerns. The largest business-conducting Swedish agencies, based on their sales to non-governmental buyers (the 23,500 MSEK sum), were in 2005: * Vägverket (public road administration): 2500 million kronor * Banverket (railroad administration): 2200 * Statens institutionsstyrelse (jails): 1000 * Exportkreditnämnden (export credits): 758 * Försvarsmakten (military defense): 490 * Statens fastighetsverk (buildings): 420 * Lantmäteriverket (land survey): 394 * Jordbruksverket (farming agency): 317 * Försvarets materielverk (mil. supplies): 311 * SMHI (weather forecasts): 169 * Skogsstyrelsen (forestry): 149 Concerning the land survey (pages 27-29), the report focuses not on public access to map data, but on consulting and software services. The land survey markets such services under the "Metria" brand, but wins contracts where costs for accessing land survey databases are hidden. Access to these databases is expensive to private competitors, or sometimes not available at all. Government-owned (and partly privatized) corporations (such as the telecom Telia, and railway train operators SJ and Green Cargo) are not included in this list, only agencies ("myndigheter"). The report doesn't mention ideological arguments such as free access to information, or whether corporations should be state-owned, only cases where the conduct of business is unfair due to the double role of the agencies. The report was released in the week after the newly elected non-socialist Swedish government presented its first budget. The report recommends to incorporate and sell off the business parts of each agency. Considering the numbers above, it seems likely that most pressure will be put on the public road administration, and far less on "Metria". And free access to map data is even further from the agenda. -- Lars Aronsson ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Aronsson Datateknik - http://aronsson.se _______________________________________________ Geowanking mailing list [email protected] http://lists.burri.to/mailman/listinfo/geowanking
