As part of the Interoperability Assessment Study Report, this case study examines how a structured checklist based on the European Interoperability Framework (EIF) can help assess the effects of binding requirements on cross-border interoperability, as required under Article 3(2) of the Interoperable Europe Act.
While the EIF provides foundational guidance for interoperability, stakeholders have raised concerns that it remains too high-level for practical application. To address this, the case study introduces a structured EIF checklist as a scalable and user-friendly solution.
The proposed checklist serves a dual purpose:
- As an analytical tool, helping to identify and assess impacts on cross-border interoperability.
- As a reporting tool, supporting the generation of mandatory Interoperability Assessment reports.
The approach focuses on developing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) with three key features:
- Organisation by interoperability layers (legal, organisational, semantic, technical) to enable targeted analysis.
- A minimum set of core questions derived from EIF recommendations, reformulated into actionable prompts.
- A scoring and aggregation system, allowing administrations to quantify impact by layer and generate comparable results.
The checklist aims to strike a balance between accessibility for non-technical users and analytical depth for experts. It also supports multidisciplinary collaboration, facilitates consistency across Member States, and can be integrated into existing national frameworks and tools.
Possible future enhancements include customisation through metadata, which would allow questions to be filtered by user profile or affected interoperability elements, and, in the longer term, AI support to assist during the discovery phase of assessments.
The European Commission is currently working on developing the Minimum Viable Product. Once it is published, Public administrations preparing to implement interoperability assessments can use this checklist as a starting point. It will offer a clear structure to evaluate potential cross-border effects and can be tailored to different institutional contexts. The case study also includes insights on the necessary effort, flexibility, and added value of this approach.
Download the full case study, which is attached below.
Read the full Interoperability Assessment Study Report, including all eight case studies, here.