Introduction
The objective of Work Package 3 is the creation of a search interface for legislative materials, covering Baltic and Nordic countries and autonomous regions, made easily available and intuitive to use for all citizens in the region. As identified in the baseline study, citizens and businesses need legislative and regulatory information from other Baltic and Nordic countries in the following life events, for instance:
moving to a new country to work or when already working in a new country (e.g. taxation, permits, labour law) | moving to a new country to study or when already studying in another country (rules regarding study grants, social security, housing benefits and student health care) | travelling to another country (e.g. migration, visas, residence, and transport, traffic law, travelling with a pet, VAT) | dealing with issues regarding pensions and retirements in a new country |
running a business in another country or establishing a business in another country | needing health service in a new country (unplanned/planned health care) | crises, such as the Covid-19 pandemic (e.g. travel restrictions, testing and quarantine) | buying a real estate from another country |
having a child | marriage and divorce | death of a family member and inheritance | unemployment and other social security issues |
military service | court proceedings | being a victim of a crime | debt recovery |
The baseline study also identified certain challenges that we will be solving together:
- agreeing upon the best data formats, metadata standards, and thesauri;
- developing translation-related technologies;
- reaching consensus on the minimum viable product that provides cost-efficient advantages for the people, professionals and businesses in the region.
The seminar in Helsinki
In the seminar, experts from different countries and autonomous regions will have the opportunity to meet each other in workshops and discuss, among other things:
- What should be expected from a joint search interface?
- Which could be the most sustainable technological solutions for the search interface to be built on?
- How could the Nordic-Baltic region lead the way and work in synergy with EU projects in the same domain?
- How should the Nordic-Baltic countries and autonomous regions support each other in the development of their national legislative databases and interfaces?
The future
Following the seminar, the work package will enter a proof-of-concept phase, in which some technological solutions will be examined in more detail. Furthermore, a working group with representatives from all countries and autonomous regions will be established for mutual support in the process of digitalising and standardising legislative data.