Great news: European Commission has adopted the proposal of the Interoperable Europe Act!

Great news! European Commission has adopted the proposal of the Interoperable Europe Act!

The term 'interoperability,' may sound a bit complicated, but it is really all about being able to work together to achieve a common goal. Interoperability means the capacity of systems or organisations to cooperate in order to pursue common objectives.

In the public sector, interoperability is related to governments and public administrations being able to cooperate, share information and make the delivery of services seamless across borders, sectors and organizational boundaries. It also supports trusted data sharing and access across sectors and organizational layers to improve policymaking and implementation.

What it does, and who it's for?

The Interoperable Europe Act is a major component of the European Union’s policy to strengthen interoperability among public administrations in the EU. The act sets up a new cooperation framework for interoperability between EU Member States and other EU institutions.

The new policy helps remove legal, organizational, semantic and technical obstacles to sharing and reuse of solutions and data between administrations.

Citizens, businesses and communities depend on the delivery of high-quality public services. Digitalising these services and making them interoperable can bring significant time and cost savings for citizens and businesses. For instance, they enable citizens to complete tax forms, renew their passports, and access family benefits in only a few clicks. Setting up high-quality digital public services requires cooperation between different administrations, as well as a trust that ensures data will be exchanged seamlessly.

The four pillars

The Act proposes to introduce a structured and co-owned EU cooperation framework for public administrations with the following pillars:

• An Interoperable Europe Board for the development of a common strategic agenda for cross-border interoperability, the support in operational implementing interoperability solutions, and progress monitoring

• Mandatory interoperability assessments to evaluate the impact of changes in IT systems related to cross-border interoperability in the EU

• An ‘Interoperable Europe Portal’ as a community platform and one-stop-shop for shared and reusable interoperability solutions 

• Innovation and support measures, including regulatory sandboxes and GovTech cooperation, to promote policy experimentation, developing skills and the scaling up of interoperability solutions for reuse. 

👉 Learn everything about the strategy here.