Find in your 'lost and found' online in Portugal The Portuguese government has set up a new e-service through which citizens can locate their mislaid items on-line. The service is run by the Ministry of Internal Administration and gives an overview of lost items handed in to the national and local police.

The process of searching a lost product is a simple on-line search that requires two pieces of information i.e. type of object and the approximate date of the loss. The advanced search facility also has a drop-down lists of object types and subtypes, with this a description of the lost item can be added, as can its manufacturer, brand, model and serial number.

Presently, the service covers items registered since December 2007 by the police in Lisbon, Porto, Coimbra, Setúbal and Fátima and it aims to expand gradually.

This online service also explains the immediate actions to be taken in case of lost credit cards and bank cards. The site also features general advice to property owners, FAQs and a section for comments and suggestions. In order ensure privacy, no persistent cookies are used and the session cookies are deleted at the end of every visit.

Source: http://www.epractice.eu/document/4375

National Portal Service, Singapore The National Service (NS) Portal (www.ns.sg ) is the first unified portal for all National Service personnel from Ministry of Defence/Singapore Armed Forces and Ministry of Home Affairs/Singapore Police Force/Singapore Civil Defence Force to conveniently access all important e-Services and information online and for NSmen to connect with their campmates via community building features.

Since its launch, it had attained much of what it set out to achieve and the strategy for the NS Portal is now to look beyond providing online services/ convenience and shifting the emphasis to explore customers' end-to-end needs to engage, bond and engender a positive NS experience for the NS community.

The NS Portal today has met its targets in terms of registered user base, transaction rates, visitor and hit rates. It has become the channel that NSmen, Pre-enlistees and NSFs turn to for information, updates and services related to National Service. As part of broader NS engagement, the team will, leveraging on new media technologies and tools, create more avenues for lively discussions, exchange of ideas, communication and interaction amongst the NS populations on the NS Portal. In short, we are banking on our critical mass and advent of new IT to develop NS Portal as a platform of knowledge exchange and interactivity so as to maintain the close bonds cultivated by the NSmen during their 2 years of national service.

Visit - www.ns.sg

Belgium Social Security goes electronic eGovernment is moving forward in Belgium's social security system. The report focuses on the progress of the main eGovernment projects related to social security in 2007. It was produced by the working group “Modernisation of the management of social security” which is composed of representatives of Federal departments and strategic cells of the ministries.

The working group has already achieved several modernisation projects. Apart from the electronically readable social security card containing the identification number and the social insurance status of its bearer (SIS card), several types of online declarations to social security institutions, made by employers or the self-employed, have already been available.

As regards the immediate declaration of recruitment and discharge (DIMONA) and the quarterly declaration of wages and labour time (DMFA), the report states that both the treatment and the checking of data are regularly following their course. The report also informs on the results of the integrated electronic declaration for foreign workers (LIMOSA), as well as actions carried out in the aim to improve both data quality and errors monitoring.

Visit- http://www.limosa.be/

“eGo”a paradigm shift for Luxembourg Public Transport Recently the Ministry of Transport, Luxembourg, has officially launched a new electronic payment system for public transport service called “eGo.” eGo is a chip card similar to that of a credit card that needs to be recharged electronically.It is hoped that in the longer term, this mode of payment is intended to replace conventional tickets completely for regular transport users. Occasional users will, however, still be able to buy paper tickets on buses or at ticket distribution booths.

This new payment system is an important element in improving the attractiveness, comfort and speed of public transport. It has advantage features both for drivers and transport operators. Indeed, the system will not only change the distribution of tickets, but it will also make it possible to collect precise statistics on the habits of transport users.

Though during the initial phase, the eGo cards must be bought and charged at selected stations only. But soon the sales network will be expanded to include automatic sales machines in the usual sales outlets, as well as in selected retail outlets. It will be possible to store several transport tickets of the same type on a single card and an 'auto-load' function is also foreseen to allow automatic recharging.

Source- http://www.epractice.eu/document/5053

Compiled by: Informatics Team.