IPEX- which stands for Interparliamentary Euinformation exchange - is the result of decisions taken by the Speakers of the European Union Parliaments at their Conference in Rome (2000). The objective of IPEX is to support Interparliamentary cooperation in the European Union by providing a platform for the electronic exchange of EU-related information between parliaments. Specifically IPEX will:

• create and maintain a platform for electronic exchange of EU-related information
• establish a Calendar of interparliamentary meetings
• provide a forum for the exchange of views on general scrutiny as well as on subsidiarity control
• appoint IPEX Correspondents from all EU Parliaments 

IPEX is open to all national parliaments in the Member States, Acceding Countries and Candidate Countries of the European Union as well as the European Parliament. COSAC and ECPRD have joined IPEX on an associate basis. 


In order to ensure that the IPEX project is a success, the project is guided by three overriding principles: 

• Simplicity: Updating the website shall not require any specific IT or technical skills on the part of the IPEX Correspondent. The website must be user-friendly and intuitive.
• Quality: It is essential that the information on the site is absolutely correct, while truly reflecting the participating parliament’s respective standpoints.
• Integrity: Data shall only be modified by the the responsible authorities. Information from the individual national parliaments should therefore only be updated by the staff of the individual parliaments.
 
 Structure

The Speakers of EU Parliaments define the objectives of IPEX, while the Secretaries General oversee the project and appoint the members of the IPEX Board for a period of one year. The Board is responsible for the management of the system and supervises the work of the Central Support.

The Central Support manages the daily maintenance of the IPEX website, and may assist the national correspondents in their work. The Central Support is composed of four members from the national parliaments represented on the Board and one from the European Parliament.