Commission notice

Guidelines for the implementation of the single digital gateway Regulation

2019-2020 work programme

(2019/C 257/01)

Introduction

Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 of the European Parliament and of the Council (1) establishing a single digital gateway aims at facilitating online access to the information, administrative procedures and assistance services that citizens and businesses need to move within the Union and to trade, establish themselves and expand their businesses in another Member State.

Article 31(1) of the Regulation foresees the adoption of an annual work programme that shall specify actions to facilitate implementation of the Regulation, in particular actions:

— to improve the presentation of specific information within the areas listed in Annex I and to facilitate the timely implementation, by competent authorities at all levels, of the requirement to provide information;

— to facilitate compliance with Article 6 on the digitalisation of procedures and Article 13 on the cross-border access to online procedures;

— to ensure the consistent compliance with the quality requirements on information, procedures and assistance services set out in Articles 9 to 12;

— related to the promotion of the gateway in accordance with Article 23(2.)

These Commission guidelines aim at listing these actions and at providing a detailed timeline for the various steps to be taken for their implementation. On 26 February 2019, this list has been discussed with the gateway coordination group, as foreseen by Article 31(2) of the Regulation.

In view of the convergence of a number of actions towards the December 2020 deadline, this first work programme covers the period up to the launch of the single digital gateway, namely July 2019-December 2020.

Implementation of the work programme will be monitored both via the gateway coordination group online collaboration platform and during meetings of the gateway coordination group.

For the purposes of this Commission notice, the following definitions apply:

— ‘competent authority’ means any Member State authority or body established at national, regional or local level with specific responsibilities relating to the information, procedures, assistance and problem-solving services covered by the gateway Regulation;

— ‘national coordinators’ are the representatives appointed by Member States as foreseen by Article 28 of the gateway Regulation.

1. Information and service quality

Objective 1.1: Ensuring availability of information

Reference: Articles 4 and 5 of the Regulation on access to information, Article 9 on quality of information on rights, obligations and rules.

Background

The gateway will provide citizens and businesses with sufficiently comprehensive information to allow them to exercise their rights and obligations derived from Union and national law, including information about how to handle administrative procedures.

The Regulation provides in Annex I a list of areas for which the Commission and Member States will have to ensure all the information relevant for citizens and businesses is provided online by 12 December 2020. To avoid duplications (see objective 1.4), the Commission will publish information on EU-wide rights and obligations on the Your Europe portal (2) while Member States will publish most of the required information on national implementation on their portals. The Commission and Member States have agreed on the way Annex 1 topics are shared between EU and national level websites. A common search tool will ensure that all information can be found easily by users of the gateway.

The current version of the Your Europe portal already covers largely EU-wide rights and obligations. It also includes information on national implementation provided by Member States authorities for some of the topics identified in Annex I. By 12 December 2020, national content on Your Europe will be phased out as it is replaced by information on national websites. The European Commission has proposed guidance on how to reuse or reproduce on national websites the national content already available on Your Europe.

How and when?

When What Who Q3-Q4 2019 Identify for all Annex I areas whether information that needs to be covered at the national level is online Identify the responsible authorities Develop a work plan for addressing the information gaps at the national level National coordinators By Q4 2019 Provide basic guidance on topics in Annex I that are currently not covered on Your Europe Commission Q1-Q2 2020 Fill information gaps at national level National coordinators Competent authorities Q1-Q2 2020 Fill information gaps at EU level Commission Q2 2020 Mid-term assessment of progress made towards full coverage of Annex I topics National coordinators Commission Q2 2020 Provide links to national information in a common repository to be used for the search facility National coordinators Commission Q3-Q4 2020 Test, fix bugs and improve search facility Commission Q4 2020 All areas identified in Annex I to be covered at the level required (EU or national) Commission National coordinators

Objective 1.2: Ensuring quality of information and information on procedures, including user friendliness and web accessibility

Reference: Article 8 of the Regulation on quality requirements related to web accessibility and Article 9 on quality of information on rights, obligations and rules.

Background

The gateway must provide information that is user-friendly, well-structured and well presented. The content should be accurate and updated, and include the date of latest update. It should provide the name of the authority responsible for the information, and contact details of relevant assistance or problem-solving services. It should be accompanied by references to legal acts, technical specifications, guidelines.

Websites managed by Member State authorities have to comply with web accessibility rules (as set out in Directive (EU) 2016/2102 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3)). The Regulation extends this requirement to Commission-managed websites included in the gateway.

The Commission has proposed initial guidance on how these requirements can be met, based on its experience managing the Your Europe portal.

How and when?

When What Who Q3-Q4 2019 Share guidance provided by the Commission with competent authorities or integrate it in existing guidelines for quality management of web content Set up an approach for monitoring quality of web content to be covered by the gateway National coordinators Competent authorities Q3 2019-Q4 2020 Exchange regularly on quality and accessibility standards and on good practice National coordinators, in the frame of the gateway coordination group Q4 2020 All relevant information to be of the right quality — relevant, accessible, and the following the requirements laid down in Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 Commission National coordinators

Objective 1.3: Translating information

Reference: Articles 9 to 12 of the Regulation on translation and quality requirements

Background

In order for the services offered through the gateway to be accessible to a wide range of users, explanations on the rules, the procedures and what can be expected from assistance services covered by the gateway will need to be provided at least in a language that most users can understand. This language is defined as the official language of the Union that is ‘broadly understood by the largest possible number of cross-border users’. Article 12(3) of the Regulation provides further clarification by referring to the language ‘most widely studied as a foreign language by users across the Union.’ In practice, this language should be English for most national websites. The Commission will continue to translate information on rights and procedures applicable uniformly throughout the EU into all EU languages on its own websites.

The Commission will support Member States in this task by providing a translation service (human translation). In view of budget limitations, priority for the use of this service should be given to the basic information in all areas listed in Annex I, followed by any further information, explanations about assistance services and instructions for procedures.

How and when?

When What Who Q3 2019 Inform Member States of the arrangements for the translation service, including available translation volumes per Member State and rules for optimal use of the facility Commission Q3 2019-Q4 2019 Draw an overview of translation needs of the various competent authorities Prioritise needs in view of the translation volume available National coordinators Q1 2020 Provide national coordinators with a link to the translation service Commission Q1-Q4 2020 Submit requests for translation National coordinators Q2-Q3 2020 Reattribute translation volumes if necessary to ensure optimal use of the translation facility Commission Q2-Q4 2020 Make translations accessible on national websites National coordinators

Objective 1.4: Avoiding duplication

Reference: Recitals 17 and 55, Articles 19.6 and 30 of the Regulation

Background

The Regulation calls on Member States and the Commission to provide single sources for each information item required for the gateway, and to avoid partial or full duplication whenever possible. This is to avoid confusion among users confronted with different portals containing similar but not identical information on some topics. Aiming for single information sources also makes updates easier and reduces the risk of presenting inconsistent information.

Only information exclusively targeting citizens and businesses and explaining their applicable rights and obligations is eligible for the gateway. It should not be mixed with other content, such as information on policy in the making that is aimed at a different audience.

The Commission will work to integrate EU-level information addressing citizens and businesses on their Single Market rights on Your Europe (4).

The Commission has defined, together with Member States, which topics in Annex I are to be covered on Your Europe or other Commission-managed websites, and which topics are to be addressed by national information.

How and when?

When What Who Q3 2019-Q4 2020 Integrate all EU-level information on single market rights addressing citizens or businesses on Your Europe exclusively, except where such information has to be included in EU portals created through a separate legal act Commission Q3 2019-Q4 2020 Make a clear separation between information on applicable rules for citizens and businesses, presented on Your Europe, and information on policy in the making, covered on the Commission’s corporate website and separate DG websites Commission Q3 2019-Q4 2020 Develop an integrated approach covering portals created through a separate legal act and the gateway, to ensure a common look and feel and to avoid duplication Commission Q3 2019-Q4 2020 Develop an integrated approach at the national level to avoid duplication of information on specific topics between various national portals National coordinators Competent authorities

2. IT development, digitalisation of procedures, data collection

Objective 2.1: Digitalising procedures

Reference: Article 6 of the Regulation on procedures to be offered fully online.

Background

The gateway will offer users easy access to national administrative procedures. For this purpose the Regulation requires all Member States to ensure that users can access and complete any of the procedures listed in Annex II fully online. This means that the user should be able to take all steps electronically, at a distance and through an online service. The Regulation also gives a non-exhaustive list of specific criteria which need to be met (see Article 6).

While the ultimate deadline for digitalising procedures is in December 2023, Member States should start working on this project already now and look for opportunities to implement the requirements well before the deadline as part of their ongoing e-government programmes.

EU programmes will help Member States achieve this goal, for instance in the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (5) (H2020), the Connecting Europe Facility (6) (CEF), the ISA2 programme (7) and the ERDF (8). Competent authorities are invited to contact their national coordinators responsible for the financial programmes in their Member State.

How and when?

When What Who Q3-Q4 2019 Verify which of the Annex II procedures are already available online, in compliance with the criteria of Article 6 Identify the responsible authorities Share information with the coordination group National coordinators Competent authorities Q3-Q4 2019 Guidance on ‘fully online’ procedures, such as check list, examples of good practices, interoperability principles Commission Q1 2020 Identify the remaining gaps Share information with the coordination group National coordinators Competent authorities Q1 2020 Discuss good practice and challenges related to digitising Annex II procedures Discuss the outcome of the ISA2 form generator feasibility study and next steps Discuss needs and opportunities for (co-) funding of national digitalisation actions National coordinators, in the frame of the coordination group Q2 2020 Develop national work plans to fill the remaining gaps at national level National coordinators Q3 2020-Q4 2023 Monitor progress with digitalisation of Annex II procedures in all Member States Coordination group p. m. Q4 2023 All Annex II procedures to be fully online National coordinators Competent authorities

Objective 2.2: Ensuring access of cross-border users to online procedures

Reference: Article 13 of the Regulation on cross-border access to online procedures.

Background

The Regulation foresees that procedures which are already online, are (made) fully accessible for cross-border users. That means that if a procedure is available for a national of a specific Member State, it also has to be accessible in all its steps to users from other Member States or to users from the same Member State living in another Member State or who have previously lived, worked, studied or done business in another Member State.

Member States may use an alternative, technically separate technical solution for cross-border users where necessary, but in those situations, extra care should be taken to ensure that the procedure would lead to the same outcome and is not more burdensome than the procedure offered to national users.

Special attention should be paid to obstacles for cross-border users, such as form fields that require national phone numbers, national prefixes for phone numbers or national postal codes, payment of fees that can only be done through systems which are not (widely) available for cross-border users, the lack of detailed explanations in a language understood by cross-border users, the lack of possibilities to submit electronic evidence from authorities located in another Member State and the lack of acceptance of electronic means of identification issued in other Member States.

In certain areas (e.g. Services Directive, Professional Qualifications Directive, Public Procurement Directives), non-discriminatory access to procedures for cross-border users is already a legal requirement in addition to the principle of non-discrimination enshrined in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

How and when?

When What Who Q3-Q4 2019 Guidelines and practical checklist on how to ensure that national online procedures are fully accessible for cross-border users Commission in cooperation with national coordinators Q1-Q2 2020 Identify remaining obstacles (e.g. technical, functional, organisational and legal) Draw up a plan to address them National coordinators Competent authorities Q1 2020 Share guidelines with relevant authorities or integrate recommendations in existing quality guidelines for development of online procedures National coordinators Q1-Q4 2020 Exchange of good practice in the frame of the coordination group Monitoring progress National coordinators p. m. Q4 2023 Online procedures accessible for cross-border users in a non-discriminatory way National coordinators Competent authorities

Objective 2.3: Contributing to the development of the EU level IT tools and ensuring interoperability between EC and national IT tools

Reference: Article 21 of the Regulation on responsibilities for the ICT applications supporting the gateway.

Background:

As foreseen by the Regulation, the functioning of the gateway will be enabled by technical tools developed by the Commission in close cooperation with Member States. These include: a search facility and a common assistance finder guiding end-users towards information, procedures and assistance services; a user feedback tool on quality of services; a user feedback tool on obstacles in the Single Market; a tool to collect statistics of use; and a dashboard as the interface for public authorities.

Methods for collecting and exchanging data regarding feedback on quality and statistics will be decided in implementing acts.

The Commission has contracted studies that have proposed the technical basis for these tools, by defining requirements, an IT architecture and an analysis of interoperability questions, and has presented the state of development to the national coordinators.

How and when?

When What Who Q3 2019 Inform the coordination group of the outcome of the studies conducted by the Commission on the gateway IT tools (2018-2019) Commission Search facility and common assistance service finder Q4 2019 Examine how to automatise the collection of links for the repository of links Commission National coordinators Q1 2020 Inform national coordinators about how to access and provide links to the repository Commission Q1 2020 Testing period for the search facility together with the repository of links, and testing for the common assistance service finder Commission National coordinators Q3 2020 Commission presents the beta version of the search facility and the common assistance service finder to national coordinators Commission National coordinators User feedback on quality and user statistics Q3 2019-Q4 2019 Commission gathers opinions from national coordinators on the implementing acts Commission National coordinators Q4 2019-Q1 2020 Commission consults national coordinators on the development of the common user feedback tool Commission National coordinators Competent authorities responsible for assistance services in the frame of their respective networks Q2 2020 Adoption of the implementing act(s) Commission SDGR Committee Q1 2020-Q2 2020 Draw an overview of which national websites that will be part of the gateway have an existing feedback tool and an existing tool to collect statistics, and which websites will need to connect to the common user feedback tool and/or deploy a new tool to collect statistics Commission National coordinators Q1 2020-Q2 2020 Development of the feedback tool on quality and the tool to collect user statistics Commission Q3 2020 Provide link to the common user feedback tool to national coordinators Commission Q4 2020 Ensure that each service that is part of the gateway and does not have an existing feedback tool complying with the implementing act requirements links to the common user feedback tool Alternatively, ensure that feedback collected through existing feedback tools complies with the implementing act and that the agreed data are made available through the common dashboard National coordinators Competent authorities Q4 2020 Ensure that the collection of statistics complies with the implementing act and that the agreed data are made available to the Commission and the other national coordinators National coordinators Competent authorities User feedback on obstacles in the Single Market Q3 2019 Commission consults national coordinators on the development of the user feedback tool reporting on obstacles in the Single Market and the system to collect aggregated data from the assistance services Commission National coordinators Q4 2019-Q3 2020 Development of IT tools Commission Common Dashboard Q1 2020 Commission presents to national coordinators the beta version of the tool which will be functional in limited capacity: submitting links to the repository and submitting translations requests Commission National coordinators Q1 2020 Inform national coordinators about how to submit links to the repository and translation requests Commission Q1-Q3 2020 Development of the common dashboard in its full capacity Commission Q3 2020 Inform national coordinators about how to access and use the common dashboard Commission Q4 2020 Launch of the gateway

Objective 2.4: Once-only

Reference: Article 14 of the Regulation on the technical system for the cross-border automated exchange of evidence and application of the ‘once-only’ principle.

Background

As foreseen by the Regulation, the Commission will, in cooperation with Member States, establish a technical system for exchanging evidence for the online procedures listed in Annex II to the Regulation and for the procedures provided for in the Services Directive (9), the Professional Qualifications Directive (10) and two public procurements Directives 2014/24/EU (11) and 2014/25/EU (12) of the European Parliament and of the Council.

How and when?

When What Who Q1 2019-Q3 2020 Preparatory action on once-only under CEF to analyse existing technical solutions (from TOOP project and available at national level), share experiences, support cross-border interoperability and assess readiness of Member States Commission National coordinators Competent authorities Q3 2019 Inform national coordinators about the status and outcome of the once-only pilots and studies Commission Q3 2019-Q2 2021 Assess fitness of digital procedures at national level for incorporation of the once-only step Draw a work plan to address gaps National coordinators Competent authorities Q3 2019-Q2 2020 Run, if feasible, a pilot covering a wider range of the gateway procedures Commission National coordinators Competent authorities Q1 2020-Q3 2020 Discuss content for the implementing act Commission National coordinators Competent authorities Q3 2020-Q4 2020 Commission gathers opinions from national coordinators on the draft implementing act and on the core and generic services under development Commission National coordinators p.m. Q2 2021 Adoption of implementing act Commission p.m. Q4 2023 Once-only technical system in place and ready for use

3. Assistance services

Objective 3.1: Ensuring availability of information about assistance services and their quality

Reference: Articles 7, 11 and 16 of the Regulation on access to assistance and problem-solving services, on quality of information on these services and on quality requirements related to them.

Background

The gateway will offer users easy access to a broad range of assistance services. For an optimal experience, end-users should in addition get to know, before submitting a request for assistance, what to expect from such services and under what conditions they can use them. Assistance services will have to publish online a clear and user-friendly explanation of the service provided, as detailed in Article 11. To be accessible to a majority of users, this explanation will have to be provided in principle in English (official language of the Union that is ‘broadly understood by the largest possible number of cross-border users’, see objective 1.3). Like the other gateway services, assistance services should be of the highest quality and will have to respect quality criteria listed in the Regulation. Quality will be monitored through user feedback and statistics.

These requirements are mandatory for the assistance services listed in annex III of the Regulation. The Commission has mapped the state of play and identified gaps for these services.

In addition, the Commission and national coordinators may opt-in other assistance services if those fulfil the conditions foreseen in the Regulation. Priority will be in 2019 and 2020 on preparing for the inclusion of assistance services that are funded or co-funded and/or managed by the Commission, such as the European Consumer Centres, the IPR Help Desk, the part of the Enterprise Europe Network that addresses topics covered by the gateway, SOLVIT or Your Europe Advice.

Where necessary to meet the needs of the users, national coordinators may also propose to the Commission to opt in private or semi-private assistance services if they fulfil the quality requirements of the gateway.

How and when?

For annex III services:

When What Who Q3 2019 Provide to national coordinators a check-list of quality requirements to be checked, including the provision of information on the assistance service Commission Q3 2019-Q2 2020 Address gaps identified Competent authorities, coordinated by national coordinators Q1 2020-Q2 2020 Provide to the Commission links, descriptions and contact details of the assistance services for inclusion in the assistance service finder Competent authorities, via national coordinators Q3 2019-Q2 2020 Exchange regularly on quality standards, on how to provide information on the service and on good practice Gateway coordination group Q3-Q4 2020 Test, fix bugs, improve assistance service finder Commission Q4 2020 Launch of the assistance service finder

For services funded and/or managed by the Commission that request to opt in:

When What Who By Q3 2019 Express interest to opt in Commission, after discussion with competent authorities in the frame of their respective networks Q3 2019 Provide to national coordinators and to competent authorities an explanation of the procedure and a check-list of quality requirements to be checked before proposing a new opt-in service, including the provision of information on the assistance service Commission Q3 2019 Finalise the analysis of the state of play and identify gaps Commission, after discussion with competent authorities Q3 2019 Inform the gateway coordination group about the interest to opt in and the results of this analysis Commission Q3 2019-Q2 2020 Address gaps identified Competent authorities, coordinated by the Commission (networks) Q1 2020 Report to the gateway coordination group on the on-going work Commission Q1 2020-Q2 2020 Provide to the Commission links, descriptions and contact details of the assistance services for inclusion in the assistance service finder Competent authorities, via the Commission Q3 2019-Q2 2020 Exchange regularly on quality standards, on how to provide information on the service and on good practice Competent authorities, coordinated by the Commission (networks) Q3 2020 Inform the coordination group of compliance with all requirements Submit to the Commission any remaining element necessary for inclusion in the assistance service finder Competent authorities, via the Commission Q3-Q4 2020 Test, fix bugs, improve assistance service finder Commission Q4 2020 Launch of the assistance service finder

4. Promotion

Objective 4.1: Promoting the gateway

Reference: Articles 22 and 23 of the Regulation on promotion, name, logo and quality label

Background

The gateway, named ‘Your Europe’, will offer users easy access to a broad range of high-quality services. Existence of ‘Your Europe’ and reliability of the services it offers need to be advertised to end-users.

For that purpose, a logo, serving as a quality label of ‘Your Europe’ has been decided upon by the Commission, in close cooperation with the gateway coordination group (13). The logo and guidelines explaining how to use it have been provided to national coordinators. This logo and a link to the gateway will need to be made visible and accessible from all websites that are part of the gateway.

In addition, the Commission and Member States will need to enhance findability and raise awareness of ‘Your Europe’ among end-users. Activities to promote ‘Your Europe’ and the websites that are part of it will need to be coordinated.

How and when?

When What Who Q3 2019-Q4 2020 Prepare to add the logo on all websites that will be part of the repository of links Commission National coordinators Competent authorities Q3 2019-Q4 2020 Prepare to add the link to the gateway on all websites that will be part of the repository of links Commission National coordinators Competent authorities Q4 2020 Make sure logo and link are added on all websites that are part of the repository of links Commission National coordinators Competent authorities Q3 2019-Q4 2020 Search engine optimisation of Your Europe in search engines accessible to the wider public Commission Q3 2019-Q4 2020 Promote the gateway to national and local competent authorities National coordinators Commission Q3 2019-Q2 2020 Draw a coordinated communication plan Commission National coordinators Q3 2020-Q4 2020 Implement the communication plan Commission National coordinators Competent authorities

(1) OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 1.

(2) And on Commission websites created by legal basis.

(3) OJ L 327, 2.12.2016, p. 1.

(4) Except for what concerns Commission websites created by legal basis.

(5) https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/programmes/h2020

(6) https://ec.europa.eu/inea/en/connecting-europe-facility

(7) https://ec.europa.eu/isa2/isa2_en

(8) European regional development fund.

(9) Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 255, 30.9.2005, p. 22).

(10) Directive 2006/123/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 376, 27.12.2006, p. 36).

(11) OJ L 94, 28.3.2014, p. 65.

(12) OJ L 94, 28.3.2014, p. 243.

(13) Ongoing process, to be completed by the adoption of this annual work programme.