Description (short summary):  
The Royal Decree 3/2010 regulates the National Interoperability Framework foreseen in the article 42 of Spain's Law on Citizens' Electronic Access to Public Services (Law 11/2007, also referred to as the 'eGovernment Law'). It includes criteria and recommendations about the standardisation of information, formats and applications and the preservation of information, to be taken into account by the Public Administrations when adopting technological decisions, so as to ensure interoperability and avoid discriminations based on technological choices.

The National Interoperability Framework '(Esquema Nacional de Interoperabilidad' in Spanish - ENI) pursues the creation of the necessary conditions to ensure the adequate level of organisational, semantic and technical interoperability of the systems and applications used by the Public Administrations in order to allow the exercise of rights and the fulfillment of duties in the electronic access to public services; it also aims to provide benefits in terms of effectiveness and effectiveness.

In order to create such conditions, the ENI introduces the common elements that must guide the action of the Public Administrations regarding interoperability. It comprises in particular the following main elements:

• The specific principles of interoperability are defined.
• The dimensions of interoperability - organisational, semantic and technical - are taken into account, as they were explicitly mentioned in article 41 of Law 11/2007.
• Common infrastructures and services are recognised as relevant instruments that contribute to the simplification and propagation of interoperability and that facilitate multilateral interactions.
• The concept of 'reuse' applied to the applications of the Public Administrations, associated information and other information, given the fact that together with 'sharing' and 'collaboration' it is relevant for interoperability and that all three elements are recognised by EU policies.
• The interoperability of electronic signature and electronic certificates.
• The preservation of the electronic document, considering the effect of time in interoperability.
• A series of technical guidelines and instruments for interoperability, in order to facilitate the implementation of the Framework.

The ENI takes into account recommendations from the European Union, the current technological situation of Public Administrations, existing services, the use of open standards and, as appropriate and in complement, standards which are of general use among the public.

Another objective of the ENI is to introduce a common language that will facilitate the interaction among Public Administrations as well as the communication of interoperability requirements to the Information and Communication Technology Industry.

Number of pages: 18 

Related ePractice news article:
ES: National Interoperability and Security Frameworks approved

Related ePractice publication:
ES: National Security Framework for eGovernment

Description of license: © Gobierno de España. Ministerio de la Presidencia. Secretaría General Técnica

Nature of documentation: Manual (technical documentation)