Guidelines Chapter 1: What are interoperability assessments and why are they relevant?

Interoperability assessments are evaluations required by Article 3 of the Interoperable Europe Act. They ensure that binding requirements for trans-European digital public services consider cross-border interoperability issues before implementation. These assessments are crucial because they facilitate seamless digital interactions among public organisations, which is essential for the mobility of citizens and businesses across the EU. Interoperability assessments cover legal, organisational, semantic, and technical dimensions, addressing challenges such as different legal frameworks, organisational structures, languages, and technical resources among Member States. They help reduce administrative burdens and promote peer learning, ultimately enhancing the quality and accessibility of trans-European digital public services.

1.1 What the Interoperable Europe Act states

Article 3(1) of the Interoperable Europe Act (IEA) establishes the obligation to carry out an interoperability assessment:

‘Before taking a decision on new or substantially modified binding requirements, a Union entity or a public sector body shall carry out an interoperability assessment.’

According to Article 3(2) IEA, the interoperability assessment therefore has to identify and assess:

the effects of the binding requirements on cross-border interoperability, using the European Interoperability Framework (EIF) as a support tool;
the stakeholders to which the binding requirements are relevant; and
the Interoperable Europe solutions that support the implementation of the binding requirements.

These guidelines explain not only what has to be done but also why it has to be done.

1.2 What is interoperability?

To understand interoperability assessments, it is important to understand what is meant by interoperability in general. The EIF is the guiding document on interoperability of public services in the EU. A fundamental feature of the EIF is that it defines interoperability as more than just a technical issue. In fact, there are other important dimensions that challenge the interoperability of digital public services across borders:

Member States have different legal frameworks, which may result in incompatible rules;
Member States have differences in the organisation of competent authorities and levels of government. This hinders the understanding of who is responsible for what, and of how national processes interact in cross border scenarios;
Member States have different languages, cultures and legal concepts, which make it a challenge to ensure that common terms are understood consistently throughout the EU; and
Member States use different technical resources, which may be incompatible and thus hinder interconnection.

The IEA’s scope is specifically cross-border interoperability as it applies to trans-European digital public services (i.e. the ability to meaningfully share data across borders):

‘Cross-border interoperability’ means the ability of Union entities and public sector bodies of Member States to interact with each other across borders by sharing data, information and knowledge through digital processes in line with the legal, organisational, semantic and technical requirements related to such cross-border interaction' Article 2(1) IEA

What does this mean in practice, looking at the four layers (legal, organisational, semantic and technical) of the EIF?

Legal interoperability assesses whether public organisations operating under different legal frameworks are able to work together for the provision of trans-European digital public services (e.g. the provision of a national disability card that can be used as legally valid proof in other Member States).

Organisational interoperability assesses whether public organisations align in their business processes, responsibilities and expectations to achieve high-quality provision of trans-European digital public services (e.g. clearly designating a public authority that is allowed to issue national disability cards that are valid in another Member State).

Semantic interoperability assesses whether the precise format and meaning of exchanged data and information is preserved and understood throughout exchanges between public organisations that are required for the provision of the trans-European digital public services (e.g. ensuring that the content and structure of the national disability card can be understood by authorities in other Member States).

Technical interoperability assesses whether different public organisations’ network and information systems can be securely and properly interconnected, as required for the provision of the trans-European digital public services (e.g. ensuring that national disability cards are issued in a digital format that can be processed by other Member States).

The latest version of the EIF was adopted by the European Commission in 2017 and has become a fundamental basis for many national interoperability frameworks (NIFs) and interoperability policies. In the future, the development of the EIF will be steered by the Interoperable Europe Board. If you are interested in further details, the Interoperable Europe Academy offers training on the EIF.

The EIF is a good starting point for understanding what an interoperability assessment is.

1.3 The key trigger for interoperability assessments

Every day, public organisations impose or change binding requirements (i.e. obligations, prohibitions, conditions, criteria or limits - explained in depth in Chapter 2) that impact the interaction with public organisations in other countries or at EU level, which, in turn, is necessary for the provision of trans-European digital public services. Interoperability assessments target precisely these decision processes. They aim at raising awareness about cross-border interoperability and the possible effect of binding requirements on it before these requirements are decided on. The entities that prepare such decisions containing binding requirements (e.g. a legal proposal or a procurement procedure) are therefore legally obliged to perform an assessment. They can nevertheless delegate the assessment to others, because Member States are free to decide on internal resources and the cooperation between its public sector bodies necessary to carry out interoperability assessments (Recital 16 IEA).

1.4 How can assessments help provide better digital public services at lower cost?

Seamless digital interaction between public organisations is essential for the mobility of citizens and businesses across the EU – and therefore for the completion of the Single Digital Market and increasing the competitiveness of the EU’s economy. It is also a condition for high-quality trans-European digital public services. In all this, interoperability is an important enabler for seamless digital interaction and therefore reaching these goals. However, enabling such interactions is often overlooked in the early stages of policy and IT project development, especially for issues other than technical interoperability of networks and information systems.

Interoperability assessments raise awareness on cross-border interoperability as early as possible – in order to enhance mobility and competitiveness and to avoid costly interoperability barriers.

Beyond highly harmonised niches (e.g. the exchange of vehicle and driving licence information) the (joint) delivery of high-quality digital public services across Member State borders can be particularly challenging because of specific cross-border issues across all dimensions of interoperability (legal, organisational, semantic and technical). The interoperability assessment helps to ensure that these challenges are properly considered, and possible solutions are identified for later implementation, thus reducing administrative burden and facilitating access to digital public services for citizens and businesses in the EU. The process of performing an assessment also helps public administrations discover reusable solutions and avoid having to start from scratch.

The interoperability assessment makes it easier to properly consider all the dimensions of cross-border interoperability present in the delivery of trans-European digital public services, thus avoiding the creation of unnecessary administrative burden.

In addition, publishing interoperability assessments is intended to communicate the lessons learnt between EU public organisations, thereby helping them improve their decisions on binding requirements and enhance reuse. This is envisioned not only through mechanisms such as peer reviews but also through a repository where previous assessments can be accessed. The mandatory interoperability assessment alone cannot prevent cross-border interoperability issues, but it does help to identify the need for new legal, organisational, semantic or technical solutions and agreements at EU or national level to remove or reduce cross-border barriers.

The benefits of interoperability assessment go beyond the benefit of a single assessment, because they can promote peer-learning between public organisations and can help identify those issues that are best addressed in a joint effort.