The table below aims at gathering the administrative and governmental bodies of Cyprus, which are responsible for digital public administration policies and interoperability policies.
National
The Cyprus government decided to create the profile of a Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy (DMRID) tasked with the central coordination of all activities concerning research, innovation and digital policy. The office of the Deputy Ministry has been operational since 1 March 2020. The mandate of the DMRID policy is, inter alia, to lead Cyprus into the digital era through the promotion of scientific excellence, the support and facilitation of innovative entrepreneurship, and the implementation of a digital transformation programme aimed at developing a modern and efficient State and a dynamic digital economy where every citizen and every business will be able to grow and prosper. The DMRID will also have the ability to seek sufficient and clearly ring-fenced funds to implement the broader digitalisation strategy.
Τhe two government departments that were transferred to the Deputy Ministry are the Department of Electronic Communications (DEC), which was previously under the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Works, and the Department of Information Technology Services (DITS), which was previously under the Ministry of Finance.
| Nicodemos Damianou Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy Contact details: 134 Lemesou Avenue, 2015 Strovolos, Lefkosia Source: https://www.dmrid.gov.cy |
The Department of Information Technology Services is the government body that coordinates the promotion and application of Information Technology and eGovernment in the public sector. The mission of the Department is to plan, develop, implement, manage and maintain the ICT systems.
On 1 July 2016, Regulation (EU) 910/2014 came into force. It replaced the previous Directive 1999/93/EC on electronic signatures. It also introduced new regulatory procedures for a number of new trust services e.g. electronic seals, electronic time stamps, electronic registered delivery services etc. To this end, the Department of Electronic Communications (DEC) prepared a new article of legislation that adopted all new provisions under the above Regulation. Also, this legislation established the DEC as the competent authority for the implementation of Regulation (EU) 910/2014, as the supervisory body under (Article 17 of the Regulation) and the body responsible for keeping the national trusted list (Article 22 of Regulation).
The Press Information Office (PIO) is an executive member of the National Committee on the Digitisation of Cultural Heritage, created in 2017 by a decision of the Council of Ministers. Its main objective is to fully develop and exploit all available resources with the aim of digitalising Cyprus’ cultural heritage.
The Department of Public Administration and Personnel (PAPD) is in charge of the public administration reform, human resource management policies, training of public sector employees and upgrading their IT skills. It is responsible for the promotion of organisational changes and new processes in public administration to enable a successful implementation of eGovernment. The PAPD is also the body responsible for the implementation of the Open Data and Public Sector Information (PSI) Directive in Cyprus and of the Human Resource Management Module of ERP in the public sector.
The Commissioner for Personal Data Protection is an independent supervisory authority who monitors the application of the Data Protection Law and advises organisations in the private and the public sector in their implementation of this law. The Law provides, inter alia, for the protection of personal information against any unauthorised and illegal collection, recording and against the further use of that information for unlawful purposes. It also grants the individual certain rights, such as the right of information and the right of access to it. The office also receives and examines complaints in relation to the application of the law.
The Commissioner of Communications is an independent official, appointed by the President of the Republic of Cyprus, and it is the political supervisor of the Office of the Commissioner for Electronic Communications and Postal Regulation (OCECPR) and the Digital Security Authority (DSA). The OCECPR has the mandate to act as the independent electronic communications regulator, focusing mainly on ex-ante regulation. Within this mandate, the OCECPR is responsible for promoting consumers’ interests in terms of prices and choice availability, as well as the promotion of innovation through the development of efficient competition.
The Digital Security Authority (DSA) acts as the Single Point of Contact and the National Competent Authority (NCA) for implementing the NIS (Network and Information Security) Directive (EU) 2016/1148 in Cyprus, whilst also incorporating the National CSIRT (CSIRT-CY). It covers all of the sectors mentioned in the NIS Directive (energy, transport, banking, financial market infrastructures, drinking water, health, digital infrastructures), as well as many governmental services and the electronic communications sector.
The DSA is an independent governmental agency under the supervision of the Commissioner of Communications. It is responsible for the implementation of the NIS Directive, with a strong focus on upgrading and maintaining high levels of cybersecurity for all of the operators of essential services and critical information infrastructures in our country, including operators in the energy, water, transport, health, banking, financial market infrastructure, and digital infrastructure sectors. The establishment of the Digital Security Authority, which incorporates the National CSIRT, is crucial to significantly raising the cybersecurity posture and capabilities of Cyprus, securing our society, and boosting our international competitiveness, helping to contribute to the development of our economy in the process.
The structure of the Cypriot State is highly centralised, consisting of the central government, six districts and a number of municipalities and community councils. The Union of Cyprus’ Municipalities was established in 1981. Even though membership is voluntary, at present all municipalities (39), accounting for approximately 71% of the population of Cyprus, are represented. The Union’s main functions are to contribute to the development of local government autonomy, and to act as spokesman for local government interests vis-à-vis the central government and other national institutions.
Among other responsibilities, the Union took the initiative to design and implement eGovernment at the local authority level. The project is co-financed by the ERDF 2021–2027.
For this project, called ‘Evagoras’, the Union focused on designing and implementing an efficient and flexible IT cloud infrastructure and application architecture to be utilised by municipalities to enhance process automation, information management and utilisation, but also to provide channels for publishing and optimising the delivery of a full range of electronic services to citizens. The project started on 1 January 2021 and is expected to be completed by August 2023.
The Union of Cyprus Communities was established in 1992. The Union is set up to protect and promote its members’ powers, interests, rights and privileges and, generally, the independence and self-sufficiency of Communities. Its aims, thanks to the cooperation and exchange of views between members, are the following: (i) achieve common goals; (ii) collect useful data for members; (iii) lobby other government and non-government agencies; (iv) assist in securing the powers and resources needed for the development and expansion of local self-government, and (v) participate in international bodies of local self-government and in local and international conferences. There are 349 Community Councils in the areas under the effective control of the government, which cover approximately 85% of the island’s total land area.