Article 1 Subject matter and objectives
1. This Decision establishes, for 2016-2020, a programme on interoperability solutions and common frameworks for European public administrations, businesses and citizens (‘the ISA 2 programme’). The objectives of the ISA 2 programme shall be to: (a) develop, maintain and promote a holistic approach to interoperability in the Union in order to eliminate fragmentation in the interoperability landscape in the Union; (b) facilitate efficient and effective electronic cross-border or cross-sector interaction between European public administrations on the one hand, and between European public administrations and businesses and citizens on the other, and to contribute to the development of a more effective, simplified and user-friendly e-administration at the national, regional and local levels of public administration; (c) identify, create and operate interoperability solutions supporting the implementation of Union policies and activities; (d) facilitate the re-use of interoperability solutions by European public administrations. The ISA 2 programme shall take into account social, economic and other aspects of interoperability, as well as the specific situation of SMEs and microenterprises, in order to improve interaction between European public administrations on the one hand, and between European public administrations and businesses and citizens on the other. 2. The ISA 2 programme shall ensure a common understanding of interoperability through the EIF and its implementation in Member States' administrations. The Commission, through the ISA 2 programme, shall monitor the implementation of the EIF. 3. The ISA 2 programme succeeds, and shall consolidate, promote and expand, the activities of the ISA programme.
Article 2 Definitions
For the purposes of this Decision, the following definitions shall apply: (1) ‘interoperability’ means the ability of disparate and diverse organisations to interact towards mutually beneficial and agreed common goals, involving the sharing of information and knowledge between the organisations, through the business processes they support, by means of the exchange of data between their respective ICT systems; (2) ‘interoperability framework’ means an agreed approach to interoperability for organisations that wish to work together towards the joint delivery of public services, which, within its scope of applicability, specifies a set of common elements such as vocabulary, concepts, principles, policies, guidelines, recommendations, standards, specifications and practices; (3) ‘common frameworks’ means reference architectures, specifications, concepts, principles, policies, recommendations, standards, methodologies, guidelines, semantic assets and similar approaches and documents, taken individually or together in a set; (4) ‘common services’ means the organisational and technical capacity to deliver a single outcome to European public administrations, including operational systems, applications and digital infrastructures of a generic nature which meet common user requirements across policy or geographical areas, along with their supporting operational governance; (5) ‘generic tools’ means systems, reference platforms, shared and collaborative platforms, and generic components which meet common user requirements across policy or geographical areas; (6) ‘interoperability solutions’ means common services and generic tools facilitating cooperation between disparate and diverse organisations, either autonomously funded and developed under the ISA 2 programme or developed in cooperation with other Union initiatives, based on identified requirements of European public administrations; (7) ‘actions’ means projects, solutions already in an operational phase and accompanying measures; (8) ‘project’ means a time-limited sequence of well-defined tasks addressing identified user needs through a phased approach; (9) ‘suspended actions’ means the actions of the ISA 2 programme for which financing is suspended for a certain period of time, but the objective of which is still valid, and which remain subject to monitoring and evaluation of the ISA 2 programme; (10) ‘accompanying measures’ means: (a) strategic measures; (b) information, communication of the benefits of the ISA 2 programme, and awareness-raising measures, aimed at European public administrations and, where appropriate, at businesses and citizens; (c) measures in support of the management of the ISA 2 programme; (d) measures in relation to the sharing of experience and the exchange and promotion of best practices; (e) measures to promote the re-use of existing interoperability solutions; (f) measures aimed at community-building and capability-raising; and (g) measures aimed at establishing synergies with initiatives relevant to interoperability in other areas of Union policy; (11) ‘supporting instruments for public administrations’ means the interoperability tools, frameworks, guidelines and specifications that support European public administrations when designing, implementing and operating interoperability solutions; (12) ‘European public administrations’ means public administrations at Union, national, regional and local levels; (13) ‘end-users’ means European public administrations, businesses, including SMEs and microenterprises, and citizens; (14) ‘key interoperability enablers’ means interoperability solutions that are necessary to enable the efficient and effective delivery of public services across administrations; (15) ‘European Interoperability Reference Architecture’ or ‘EIRA’ means a generic structure, comprising principles and guidelines applying to the implementation of interoperability solutions in the Union; (16) ‘European Interoperability Cartography’ or ‘EIC’ means a repository of interoperability solutions for European public administrations provided by Union institutions and Member States, presented in a common format and complying with specific re-usability and interoperability criteria that can be represented on the EIRA.
Article 3 Activities
The ISA 2 programme shall support and promote: (a) the assessment, improvement, operation and re-use of existing cross-border or cross-sector interoperability solutions and common frameworks; (b) the development, establishment, bringing to maturity, operation and re-use of new cross-border or cross-sector interoperability solutions and common frameworks; (c) the assessment of the ICT implications of proposed or adopted Union law; (d) the identification of legislation gaps, at Union and national level, that hamper cross-border or cross-sector interoperability between European public administrations; (e) the development of mechanisms that measure and quantify the benefits of interoperability solutions including methodologies for assessing cost-savings; (f) the mapping and analysis of the overall interoperability landscape in the Union through the establishment, maintenance and improvement of the EIRA and the EIC as instruments to facilitate the re-use of existing interoperability solutions and to identify the areas where such solutions are still lacking; (g) the maintenance, updating, promotion and monitoring of the implementation of the EIS, the EIF and the EIRA; (h) the assessment, updating and promotion of existing common specifications and standards and the development, establishment and promotion of new common specifications and open specifications and standards through the Union's standardisation platforms and in cooperation with European or international standardisation organisations as appropriate; (i) the maintenance and publication of a platform allowing access to, and collaboration with regard to, best practices, functioning as a means of raising awareness and disseminating available solutions, including security and safety frameworks, and helping to avoid duplication of efforts while encouraging the re-usability of solutions and standards; (j) the bringing of new interoperability services and tools to maturity, and maintaining and operating existing interoperability services and tools on an interim basis; (k) the identification and promotion of best practices, to develop guidelines to coordinate interoperability initiatives and to animate and support communities working on issues relevant to the area of electronic cross-border or cross-sector interaction between end-users. By 8 September 2016, the Commission shall develop a communication strategy, aiming to enhance information and increase awareness with regard to the ISA 2 programme and its benefits, targeting businesses, including SMEs, and citizens, and employing user-friendly means on the ISA 2 programme's website.
Article 4 General principles
Actions launched or continued under the ISA 2 programme shall: (a) be based on utility and driven by identified needs and programme objectives; (b) comply with the following principles: — subsidiarity and proportionality, — user-centricity, — inclusion and accessibility, — delivery of public services in such a way as to prevent digital divide, — security, respect for privacy and data protection, — multilingualism, — administrative simplification and modernisation, — transparency, — preservation of information, — openness, — re-usability and avoidance of duplication, — technological neutrality, solutions which, insofar as possible, are future-proof, and adaptability, — effectiveness and efficiency; (c) be flexible, extensible and applicable to other business or policy areas; and (d) demonstrate financial, organisational and technical sustainability.
Article 5 Actions
1. The Commission shall, in cooperation with the Member States and in accordance with Article 8, implement the actions specified in the rolling work programme established pursuant to Article 9. 2. Actions in the form of projects shall, where appropriate, consist of the following phases: — initiation, — planning, — execution, — closing and final evaluation, — monitoring and control. The phases of specific projects shall be defined and specified at the time when the action is included in the rolling work programme. The Commission shall monitor the evolution of projects. 3. The implementation of the ISA 2 programme shall be supported by accompanying measures.
Article 6 Eligibility criteria
All actions to be financed under the ISA 2 programme shall comply with all of the following eligibility criteria: (a) the objectives of the ISA 2 programme laid down in Article 1(1); (b) one or more of the activities of the ISA 2 programme laid down in Article 3; (c) the general principles of the ISA 2 programme laid down in Article 4; (d) the financing conditions laid down in Article 11.
Article 7 Prioritisation
1. Subject to paragraph 2, all actions that meet the eligibility criteria shall be prioritised in accordance with the following prioritisation criteria: (a) the contribution of the action to the interoperability landscape, measured by the importance and necessity of the action to complete the interoperability landscape across the Union; (b) the scope of the action, measured by its horizontal impact, once completed, across the sectors concerned; (c) the geographical reach of the action, measured by the number of Member States and of European public administrations involved; (d) the urgency of the action, measured by its potential impact, taking into account the lack of other funding sources; (e) the re-usability of the action, measured by the extent to which its results can be re-used; (f) the re-use by the action of existing common frameworks and elements of interoperability solutions; (g) the link of the action with Union initiatives to be measured by the collaboration and contribution level of the action to Union initiatives such as the DSM. 2. The prioritisation criteria referred to in paragraph 1 shall be of equal value. Eligible actions fulfilling more criteria than other eligible actions shall be given higher priority to be included in the rolling work programme.
Article 8 Implementation rules
1. In the implementation of the ISA 2 programme, due consideration shall be given to the EIS and to the EIF. 2. In order to ensure interoperability between national and Union information systems, interoperability solutions shall be specified with reference to existing and new European standards or publicly available or open specifications for information exchange and service integration. 3. The establishment or improvement of interoperability solutions shall, where appropriate, build on, or be accompanied by, the exchange of views, sharing of experience and the exchange and promotion of best practices. To that end, the Commission shall bring together relevant stakeholders and organise conferences, workshops and other meetings on issues addressed by the ISA 2 programme. 4. In the implementation of interoperability solutions under the ISA 2 programme due consideration shall, where appropriate, be given to the EIRA. 5. Interoperability solutions and updates thereof shall, where appropriate, be included in the EIC and be made available for re-use by European public administrations. 6. The Commission shall, at all times, encourage and enable Member States to join an action or a project at any stage. 7. In order to avoid duplication, interoperability solutions financed under the ISA 2 programme shall, where appropriate, reference results achieved by relevant Union or Member State initiatives, and shall re-use existing interoperability solutions. 8. In order to maximise synergies and ensure complementary and combined efforts, actions shall, where appropriate, be coordinated with other relevant Union initiatives. 9. Interoperability solutions established or improved under the ISA 2 programme shall build on the sharing of experience and the exchange and promotion of best practices. The ISA 2 programme shall promote community building activities around frameworks and solutions of common interest, involving relevant stakeholders including non-profit organisations and universities.
Article 9 Rolling work programme
1. For the purposes of implementing actions, the Commission shall, by 8 June 2016, adopt implementing acts establishing a rolling work programme for the entire period of application of this Decision. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 12(2). The Commission shall adopt implementing acts amending that rolling work programme at least once a year. The rolling work programme shall identify, prioritise, document, select, design, implement, operate and evaluate actions, promote their results and, subject to Article 11(5), suspend or terminate their financing. 2. The inclusion of actions in the rolling work programme shall be subject to their compliance with Articles 6 and 7. 3. A project launched and developed under the ISA programme or under another Union initiative may be included in the rolling work programme in any of its phases.
Article 10 Budgetary provisions
1. Funds shall be released where a project or a solution in its operational phase is included in the rolling work programme or after successful completion of a project phase as defined in the rolling work programme and any amendments thereto. 2. Amendments to the rolling work programme concerning budgetary allocations of more than EUR 400 000 per action shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 12(2). 3. Actions under the ISA 2 programme may require the procurement of external services, which shall be subject to Union procurement rules as laid down in Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012.
Article 11 Financing of actions
1. The development, establishment and improvement of common frameworks and generic tools shall be funded by the ISA 2 programme. The use of such frameworks and tools shall be financed by the European public administrations. 2. The development, establishment, bringing to maturity and improvement of common services shall be funded by the ISA 2 programme. A centralised operation of such services at Union level may be also funded by the ISA 2 programme, in cases where such an operation is serving Union interests and is duly justified in the rolling work programme. In all other cases, use of those services shall be financed by other means. 3. Interoperability solutions that are taken over by the ISA 2 programme to bring them to maturity or to maintain them on an interim basis shall be funded by the ISA 2 programme until they are taken over by other programmes or initiatives. 4. Accompanying measures shall be funded by the ISA 2 programme. 5. The funding of an action may be suspended or terminated in accordance with the results of monitoring and control under Article 5 and based on an assessment of whether the action continues to meet the identified needs, and of the effectiveness and efficiency of the action.
Article 12 Committee procedure
1. The Commission shall be assisted by the Committee on Interoperability Solutions for European Public Administrations, Businesses and Citizens (the ISA 2 Committee). That committee shall be a committee within the meaning of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011. 2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall apply. 3. On duly justified imperative grounds of urgency, the Commission shall adopt immediately applicable implementing acts in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 8 of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011. Those acts shall remain in force for a period not exceeding 6 months.
Article 13 Monitoring and evaluation
1. The Commission shall regularly monitor the implementation and impact of the ISA 2 programme for the purpose of assessing whether its actions continue to meet the identified needs. The Commission shall also explore synergies with complementary Union programmes. 2. The Commission shall report annually to the ISA 2 Committee, the responsible committee or committees of the European Parliament, the Council and the Committee of Regions on the implementation and results of the ISA 2 programme. The Commission shall monitor regularly the implementation and re-use of interoperability solutions across the Union, as part of the rolling work programme established pursuant to Article 9(1). 3. The Commission shall carry out an interim evaluation of the ISA 2 programme by 30 September 2019 and a final evaluation by 31 December 2021 and shall communicate the results of those evaluations to the European Parliament and to the Council by the same dates. In that context, the responsible committee or committees of the European Parliament may invite the Commission to present the results of the evaluations and to answer questions raised by their members. 4. The evaluations referred to in paragraph 3 shall examine, inter alia, the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, utility, including, where relevant, business and citizen satisfaction, and the sustainability and coherence of ISA 2 programme actions. The final evaluation shall, in addition, examine the extent to which the ISA 2 programme has achieved its objectives such as the re-use of interoperability solutions across the Union, paying particular attention to the needs expressed by the European public administrations. 5. The evaluations shall assess the performance of the ISA 2 programme against the achievement of the objectives laid out in Article 1(1) and compliance with the principles set out in point (b) of Article 4. The achievement of the objectives shall be measured in particular in terms of the number of key interoperability enablers and through the number of supporting instruments for public administrations delivered to and used by European public administrations. Indicators for measuring the result and impact of the ISA 2 programme shall be defined in the rolling work programme. 6. The evaluations shall examine the benefits of the actions to the Union for the advancement of common policies, identify potential overlaps and examine coherence with areas for improvement and verify synergies with other Union initiatives, in particular with the CEF. The evaluations shall assess the relevance of the ISA 2 programme's actions to local and regional authorities to improve interoperability in public administration and the effectiveness of delivery of public service. 7. The evaluations shall contain, where applicable, information regarding: (a) the quantifiable and qualifiable benefits that the interoperability solutions deliver by linking ICT with the needs of end-users; (b) the quantifiable and qualifiable impact of the interoperable ICT-based solutions. 8. Completed or suspended actions shall remain subject to the overall programme evaluation. They shall be monitored regarding their position in the interoperability landscape in Europe and evaluated in terms of user uptake, utilisation and re-usability.
Article 14 International cooperation
1. The ISA 2 programme shall be open to participation by other countries of the European Economic Area and by the candidate countries within the framework of their respective agreements with the Union. 2. Cooperation with other third countries and with international organisations or bodies shall be encouraged, in particular within the framework of the Euro-Mediterranean and Eastern Partnerships and with neighbouring countries, in particular those of the Western Balkans and Black Sea regions. Related costs shall not be covered by the ISA 2 programme. 3. Where appropriate, the ISA 2 programme shall promote re-use of its solutions by third countries.
Article 15 Non-Union initiatives
Without prejudice to other Union policies, interoperability solutions established or operated under the ISA 2 programme may be used by non-Union initiatives, for non-commercial purposes, provided that no extra costs are incurred for the general budget of the Union and the main Union objective of the interoperable solution is not compromised.
Article 16 Data protection
Processing of personal data through solutions operated under the ISA 2 programme shall comply with the principles and provisions set out in Directives 95/46/EC and 2002/58/EC, and in Regulation (EC) No 45/2001.
Article 17 Financial provisions
1. The financial envelope for the implementation of the ISA 2 programme for the period of its application shall be EUR 130 928 000. 2. The annual appropriations shall be authorised by the European Parliament and the Council within the limits of the multiannual financial framework. 3. The financial allocation for the ISA 2 programme may also cover expenses pertaining to preparatory, monitoring, checking, audit and evaluation activities which are required on a regular basis for the management of the programme and the achievement of its objectives.
Article 18 Entry into force
This Decision shall enter into force on the third day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union . It shall apply from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2020. Notwithstanding the second paragraph of this Article, Article 13 shall apply from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2021.