Interoperable Europe
The EU is pushing for common digital exchange standards between authorities.
UM – 11/2023
The Commission's proposal for a law for an interoperable Europe aims to improve digital cooperation and data exchanging between the EU's member
states. The draft provides for administrations, public authorities and
facilities subject to public law in the EU to be able to share their services
and data more easily by using common technical standards and interfaces. The
main objective is to promote digital transformation in Europe and make the
benefits of digital technologies accessible to all citizens and businesses. The trilogue negotiations, which
only began on 10 October, were concluded surprisingly quickly on 14 November
(see EC
press release). The
legal text must now be approved and adopted so that the regulation can come
into force.
The idea in brief
At
the centre of the initiative is the creation of a governance framework that
will oblige public authorities to carry out interoperability assessments when
investing in network and information systems. An advisory board will examine
the solutions and then make recommendations. A new EU portal will present the
interoperability solutions or recommend them for emulation and provide access
to standards and specifications needed for the information and communication
technologies. This will make it possible to exchange knowledge. The challenges facing the member states could
be far-reaching. Consequently, they would have to ensure that their own systems
and infrastructures comply with the proposed standards and are compatible. It
might become necessary to invest in updating or even replacing existing IT
systems.
The Council has urged a narrow approach
It was against this background that the Council
adopted its general approach on 6 October and insisted on a clear and
narrow definition for the scope of application. The law should only focus on
pan-European digital public services - and not on network and information
systems in general. This refers to services that through their network and
information systems are primarily aimed at cross-border interactions between
member states or between public authorities in member states and EU facilities.
Consequently, the envisaged interoperability assessments should only refer to
planned changes or investments that will involve or affect such pan-European
digital public services. It would also logical to limit the planned portal for
an interoperable Europe to the exchanging of information relating to
pan-European digital public services.
The initiative only marginally affects social insurance
In a recital, the federal states had also
explicitly named social insurance institutions to be subject to the scope of
the planned law. Nevertheless, the tasks facing the social insurance funds and their associations should be
manageable initially. Key areas of their cross-border communications are
covered by EESSI. The extended communications with the authorities, which also
aims to involve citizens, is being developed as part of the digital access
gateway and it also provides for specific services such as applying for and
issuing the A1 certificate or the European Health Card. The ESSPASS (European
Social Security Passport) and the digital identity (eID) - both of which are
the conditions for digital communications in the context of social security -
are being prepared. However, this does not exclude the possibility of other
activities being developed for social insurance in the future.