Background
The European Commission website is the core website of the EC branded web presence.
It hosts general information shared by many different websites or departments and serves as a hub for onward navigation to further thematic or specific content.
The European Commission website is composed of 3 different entities
Together, they
- provide the political context to the Commission’s work
- present the Commission's political priorities
- present the Commission's political leadership
- feature news by the Spokesperson’s Service
Maintenance
DG Communication is responsible for the presentation, daily maintenance, and longer-term planning of the political websites.
Governance
Governance of these 2 entities is ensured by:
- the Spokesperson’s Service which maintains final editorial control of content and guides the editorial planning
- Europa Web Communication (COMM B3) unit which maintains the integrity of the websites, including content templates, user access rights, and technical development
- decentralised teams that maintain certain sections and subjects, for example, the Secretariat General and DG Budget
https://commission.europa.eu provides information and services to facilitate stakeholders’ interaction with the European Commission. It is organised in 15 thematic classes and contains
- information about how the Commission functions (About the European Commission)
high-level contextual content
access to detailed information on policies, funding, legislation, etc...possibly hosted on other websites
Maintenance
A web team in DG Communication Europa Web Communication (COMM B3) unit, in collaboration with the decentralised teams in the DGs and agencies, is responsible for the presentation, daily maintenance, and longer term planning of the European Commission website.
Governance
The Europa Web Communication Unit in the Directorate-General for Communication (COMM B3) is the owner of this website and is responsible for the management of the site as the container of the content, the editorial coordination, its design, technical maintenance, longer-term planning, as well as daily maintenance on levels 0-3. From level 4 onwards, various Commission services are responsible as content owners. For core and horizontal content, special arrangements may apply among several content owners, usually representing central services. More details can be found in the ARES note on the Commission’s core site governance.
Data protection
DGs are the data controller and responsible for content and data. DG COMM is responsible for the corporate tools it owns.
Rules
Content
The content must follow the web writing guidelines and be translated according to the language policy.
A specific governance applies for content hosted on the Europan Commission website.
Design
The EC branded Core website must follow general rules on logos and icons and specific EC branded core websites design rules.
They must comply with accessibility rules.
Development
Core websites must be built using Europa Web Publishing Platform.
Legal aspects
Core websites must comply with Privacy, security and legal notices.