Top > Press Releases > Back Issues > December 2008>Announcement of “Technical Reference Model (TRM) for the Procurement of Information Systems” and cooperation between Japan and the EU to use open standards for government procurement
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has been working in cooperation with the Information-Technology Promotion Agency, Japan (IPA; Chairman: Koji Nishigaki), to discuss the desirable way of constructing government information systems. The discussion has taken account of the perspective of ensuring interoperability of such systems, a concept stipulated in the “Basic Guidelines on Government Procurement of Information Systems” (approved by the CIO Liaison Meeting on March 1, 2007).
As part of this effort, METI announced “The Framework for Information Systems Interoperability” on June 29, 2007, and has continued discussions on the policy on technical handling.
The results of the discussion underwent a one-month public comment period from April 2008. Submitted opinions were reflected into the document hereby announced, “Technical Reference Model (TRM) for the Procurement of Information Systems 2008” (available in Japanese at http://www.meti.go.jp/policy/it_policy/tyoutatu/trm20.pdf).
This TRM will be revised step by step from next year onward. Revisions will include the addition and broadening of information on open standards.
Similar undertakings to make IT systems more open are also underway in the EU. One of them is the European Commission's initiative to produce the Common Assessment Method for Standards and Specifications (CAMSS), whose draft was released in June. With a view to taking account of such development in further elaborating the TRM, METI has been close contact with the European Commission and both sides plan to develop cooperation in this field.
Release Date
December 18, 2008
Division in Charge
Information Services Industry Division, Commerce and Information Policy Bureau
