In late September, 2002, the GINIE Project conducted a 2-day Workshop on the Accession Countries, EU expansion and the implications for GI.

The Accession Countries Workshop built upon the EUROGI/JRC workshop on Geographic Information and the enlargement of the European Union held in Brussels on 16-17 November, 2000. The workshop enabled a joint meeting and co-operation of the representatives of these countries, and also facilitated their contact and interaction with the representatives of the western countries. The workshop also enabled a meeting of EUROGI members from EU countries with both their non-EU co-members and those being neither EUROGI nor EU members.

The goals of the Workshop were to:

• consider the current position with regard to geographic information (where the time framework is the month of the workshop) and to collate the current position regarding geographic information for each of the Accession Countries.
• assess inconsistencies if and where they exist, to consider and recommend how these can be harmonised, and also to identify the differences between the member states of the EU and the Accession Countries.
• make recommendations as to the way forward on GI capacity building with Accession Countries ready for the Advisory Board on Geographic Information.