NIFO organised a coffee talk on the link between the Single Digital Gateway Regulation (SDGR) and interoperability of public administrations on Monday June 3rd, 2024, with participants from different EU Member States as well as candidate countries. The event focused on promoting awareness of the SDGR as a key enabler of cross-border interoperability, and better understanding the roll-out of the Once Only Technical System (OOTS). Croatia also had the opportunity of presenting national good practices. 

During the coffee talk, Athanasios Karalopoulos and Adriaan Vermijs (DG GROW) provided an overview of the SDGR, which was established by Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 of 2 October 2018. The Regulation aims to provide a unified online access point for information, key administrative procedures, and assistance services within the European Union. Moreover, the SDGR guides citizens and businesses towards national and EU rules, rights, and procedures, as well as relevant websites for online transactions. In practice, the SDGR operates through the Your Europe portal, which serves as its public user interface.  A list of important administrative procedures is fully available online across all EU Member States, covering areas such as residence proof, study grants, academic diploma recognition, vehicle registration, health insurance cards, pension benefits, and employee registration for pension and insurance schemes. The portal, of which a demonstration was offered during the coffee talk, also streamlines access to essential services, helping users navigate the complexities of the single market. 

The presenters outlined the relevance of the Schengen Market as one of the main accomplishments in the history of the Union towards integration. Particularly, they highlighted that the SDGR aims at addressing the challenges linked to the full achievement of the four freedoms foreseen by the Single Market. The Regulation, in fact, comprises four main pillars: 

• Information, provided through the “Your Europe” portal; 

• Procedures, striving for the digitalisation of key public services; 

• OOTS, pushing for the automatic exchange of information between national administrations; and 

• Assistance services, provided through the “Your Europe” portal, which acts as a single point for assistance where citizens can address their issues.  

In addition, the presenters explained how the SDGR complements and further develops two other paramount EU initiatives: the newly adopted Interoperable Europe Act, with which many concepts are shared in order to strengthen the implementation of the SDGR itself; and the European Interoperability Framework (EIF), whose principles are embedded within the Regulation.  

Nils McGrath (DG GROW) also intervened in the coffee talk by highlighting the role played by the OOTS, which is a regulated interoperability framework that facilitates data-sharing between public administrations across EU countries. In fact, governed together by the Member States and the European Commission, the OOTS operates as a fully distributed data space, allowing trusted data-sharing between independent systems within each Member State. Its purpose is to simplify online administrative procedures for EU citizens, businesses, and public authorities. Established by the SDGR, the OOTS enables public authorities to exchange official documents and data at the explicit request of citizens, significantly reducing administrative burdens. A demonstration of how the OOTS may help a student applying for a tertiary education study financing in a country different from which she is a national was also displayed – the interactive case is available here.   

To complement the discussion on efforts done at the EU level, Croatia was invited to take part in the coffee talk by presenting national good practices linked to the implementation of the SDGR. Representatives from the country’s Ministry of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transformation pointed out the links between the SDGR and the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), which includes investments aiming to consolidate the basic registers, integrating them into the State Register, and establishing a central portal for interoperability in accordance with the EIF. The goal of these activities is to create standards and policies related to interoperability to harmonise the legal frameworks and fully apply the Once-Only principle, in accordance with the SDGR, as well as guarantee the cross-border exchange of data between EU Member States.  

The event reached more than 60 participants, who had, at the end of the event, the opportunity to ask questions, share their thoughts, and provide feedback. The presentations shared during the coffee talk are available below.