Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) are still the main drivers of the economy and of changes within society. Official statistics are indispensable for an informed understanding of the implications of the transformations underway. However, the right set of variables is crucial. The measurement of the Information Society by statistics on society, on business processes, and on productivity is an area for continuous revision and improvement.

At the European Council Lisbonmeeting it was confirmed that the Europe needed to use the possibilities of knowledge-based economy, of Internet. Later in Feire an action plan eEurope was declared. The information on usage of computers, Internet and e-commerce in enterprises and in households are very important. There are used for international comparability analysis in European Union as well as for the world organisations Eurostat, OECD and other international organisations (UN, ITU, SIBIS).

In 2004 the EuropeanParliament approved and Council adopted Regulation(EC) No. 808/2004, which defines the scopeand content of the surveys. This regulation is a frameworkdocument, which is updated annually in line with new developments and emerging needs of data users.

In 2004 SO SR organised first time the independent survey on ICT usage and e-Commerce in enterprises (Pilot project 2004) and in households (Data Collection 2002) under the umbrella of Eurostat. Since 2005 the surveys are included in the Eurostat Grants in the field of information society (Theme 49). The aim of the Grants is to collect comparable data on ICT in all member countries EU.