The European Parliament adopted by 524 votes to 18, with 97 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down measures for a high level of public sector interoperability across the Union (Interoperable Europe Act).

Parliament's position adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure should amend the proposal as follows:

Subject matter and scope

The proposed regulation lays down measures that promote the cross-border interoperability of trans ‑ European digital public services , thus contributing to the interoperability of the underlying network and information systems by establishing common rules and a governance framework. It should apply to Union entities and public sector bodies that regulate, provide, manage or implement trans-European digital public services.

Member States should remain competent regarding: the definition of what constitutes public services or to their ability to establish procedural rules for or to provide, manage or implement those services; (ii) their activities concerning public security, defence and national security.

The regulation does not entail the supply of information the disclosure of which would be contrary to the essential interests of Member States’ public security, defence or national security .

Interoperability assessment

Before taking a decision on new or substantially modified binding requirements, a Union entity or a public sector body should carry out an interoperability assessment which should identify and assess the following: (i) the effects of the binding requirements on cross-border interoperability, using the European Interoperability Framework as a support tool; (ii) the stakeholders to which the binding requirements are relevant; (iii) the Interoperable Europe solutions that support the implementation of the binding requirements.

The Union entity or public sector body concerned should publish, in a machine-readable format facilitating automated translation, a report presenting the outcome of the interoperability assessment, on an official website.

Share and reuse of interoperability solutions between Union entities and public sector bodies

A Union entity or public sector body should make available to any other Union entity or public sector body that requests it an interoperability solution supporting a trans-European digital public service, including the technical documentation, and, where applicable, the version history, documented source code and the references to open standards or technical specifications used. To enable the reusing entity to manage the interoperability solution autonomously, the sharing entity shall specify any conditions that apply to the reuse of the solution, including any guarantees provided to the reusing entity with regard to cooperation, support and maintenance.

The priority should be to the implementation of interoperability solutions that do not carry restrictive licensing terms, such as open source solutions, where such interoperability solutions are equivalent in terms of functionalities, total cost, user-centricity, cybersecurity or other relevant objective criteria.

Interoperable Europe solutions

The Board should recommend interoperability solutions for the cross-border interoperability of trans-European digital public services. Where the Board makes such a recommendation, that solution should carry the label ‘Interoperable Europe solution’ and should be published on the Interoperable Europe portal, clearly distinguishing between Interoperable Europe solutions and other solutions.

The Interoperable Europe portal should be made publicly available and findable interoperability solutions that follow the EIF principles of openness, accessibility, technical neutrality, reusability, security and privacy. The portal should be electronically accessible to all citizens, including persons with disabilities, and such access shall be free of charge.

Establishment of interoperability regulatory sandboxes

The regulation provides the establishment of an interoperability regulatory sandboxes, which will consist of controlled test environments that facilitate the development and testing of innovative solutions before they are integrated into public sector networks and information systems.

Interoperability regulatory sandboxes that entail the processing of personal data by public sector bodies, shall be operated under the supervision of the national data protection authorities as well as other relevant national, regional or local supervisory authorities.

Training

The Commission should develop training courses and training materials, and should promote the development of a certification programme on interoperability matters in order to promote best practices, qualifications for human resources and a culture of excellence. The Commission and the Member States should foster capacity-building, particularly within public administrations, in terms of the reskilling and upskilling needed for the implementation of this Regulation.

Interoperable Europe Board

The Interoperable Europe Board should facilitate strategic cooperation and provide advice on the application of this Regulation. It should be composed of one representative from each Member State and from the Commission. The Committee of the Regions, the EU Cybersecurity Agency (ENISA) and the European Cybersecurity Competence Centre should each designate one expert, who should be invited to participate as observers.

Interoperable Europe Agenda

The Board should adopt, each year, a strategic agenda by which to plan and coordinate priorities for the development of cross-border interoperability of trans-European digital public services. The Interoperable Europe Agenda should contain a needs assessment for the development of interoperability solutions as well as indications of available financial opportunities in support of the priorities included.

The Commission should monitor the progress of the development of trans-European digital public services to support evidence-based policymaking and necessary actions in the Union at national, regional and local level.

The Committee on Industry, Research and Energy adopted the report by Ivars IJABS (Renew, LV) on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down measures for a high level of public sector interoperability across the Union (Interoperable Europe Act).

The committee responsible recommended that the European Parliament's position adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure should amend the proposal as follows:

Subject matter and scope

The proposed regulation lays down measures to promote the cross-border interoperability of network and information systems which are used to provide or manage public services in the Union by establishing common rules and a framework for coordination and cooperation on public sector interoperability, with the aim of fostering the development of interoperable trans-European digital public services infrastructure and enhancing the efficiency of public administrations. It applies to public sector bodies of Member States and Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies that provide or manage network or information systems.

Interoperability solutions

Members considered that the Commission should publish Interoperable Europe solutions and the European Interoperability Framework on the Interoperable Europe portal, by electronic means, in formats that are open, machine-readable, accessible, for persons with disabilities. Machine translated versions of the publication, should be made available in all the official languages of the institutions of the Union.

Interoperable Europe solutions

Members considered that value of the recommendation as a mark of excellence could be better guaranteed if the Interoperable Europe Board can also remove the ‘Interoperable Europe solution’ label, when necessary.

Establishment of innovation sandboxes

The amended text suggested the establishment of innovation sandboxes which should provide a controlled environment for the development, testing and validation of innovative interoperability solutions for a limited period of time before putting them into service, with the aim of offering innovative public services to citizens and businesses.

Interoperable Europe Board

Members proposed that the Commission should organise free of charge training courses on interoperability issues at Union level to enhance cooperation and the exchange of best practices between the staff of public sector bodies, institutions, bodies and agencies of the Union. The courses targeted at decision-makers and practitioners should be announced in all official languages of the institutions of the Union on the Interoperable Europe portal.

The report called for the European Parliament and the EU Cybersecurity Agency (ENISA) to be represented on the Interoperable Europe Board.

Interoperable Europe Agenda

The Interoperable Europe Agenda should contain:

- a needs assessment for the development of interoperability and infrastructure solutions;

- indications of available financial opportunities in support of the priorities included;

- the main objectives and key performance indicators for measuring the achievement of those objectives.

The Interoperable Europe Agenda should not constitute financial obligations and further administrative burden. After its adoption, the Commission should publish the Agenda on the Interoperable Europe portal and provide regular updates on its implementation.

Monitoring and evaluation

The report stressed that the Commission and the Interoperable Europe Board should monitor the progress of the development of cross-border interoperable public services to be delivered or managed electronically in the Union. The monitoring should make use of the indicators set by the Interoperable Europe Board and reuse of existing international, Union and national monitoring data and to automated data collection in order to achieve an accurate reflection of actions and activities on national, local and regional level.

All monitoring and evaluation activities should take into account the different starting points of the Member States and of regions with lower levels of connectivity, of rural and peripheral areas and islands.

PURPOSE: to establish measures to ensure a high level of public sector interoperability at EU level (Interoperable Europe Act).

PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council.

ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and on an equal footing with the Council.

BACKGROUND: it is necessary to strengthen the development of cross-border interoperability of network and information systems which are used to provide or manage public services in the Union, to allow public administrations in the Union to cooperate and make public services function across borders.

Member States are investing intensely in the digitisation of their public administrations. However, while more and more services provided by the EU public sector become digital, their level of interoperability is still insufficient.

The communication from the Commission ‘2030 Digital Compass: the European way for the Digital Decade’ underlines the need to speed up the digitalisation of public services by 2030, including by ensuring interoperability across all levels of government and across public services. Furthermore, experience with the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that interoperable solutions help to ensure that EU citizens can exercise their Treaty right to free movement.

The existing informal cooperation should be replaced with a clear legal framework to enable interoperability across different administrative levels and sectors and to ensure seamless cross-border data flows for truly European digital services.

CONTENT: the Regulation proposes to lay down measures to promote the cross-border interoperability of network and information systems which are used to provide or manage public services in the Union by establishing common rules and a framework for

coordination on public sector interoperability, with the aim of fostering the development of interoperable trans-European digital public services infrastructure.

Coherent EU approach to cross-border interoperability

To foster a coherent EU approach to cross-border interoperability and to support the three main pillars of the proposal: (i) interoperability solutions, (ii) policy implementation support projects and (iii) governance framework, the proposal sets out two general obligations for public sector bodies:

1) to perform interoperability assessments and,

2) to support the sharing of interoperability solutions within the public sector.

Interoperability solutions

The Interoperable Europe Board will develop a European Interoperability Framework (EIF) and propose to the Commission to adopt it. The Commission may adopt the EIF.

The EIF will provide a model and a set of recommendations on legal, organisational, semantic and technical interoperability, addressed to all entities falling within the scope of this Regulation for interacting with each other through their network and

information systems.

The Interoperable Europe Board will recommend interoperability solutions for the cross-border interoperability of network and information systems which are used to provide or manage public services to be delivered or managed electronically in the Union. When an interoperability solution is recommended by the Interoperable Europe Board, it will carry the label ‘Interoperable Europe solution’ and will be published on the Interoperable Europe portal.

The Commission will publish Interoperable Europe solutions and the European Interoperability Framework on the Interoperable Europe portal , by electronic means, in formats that are open, machine-readable, accessible, findable and re-usable, if applicable, together with their metadata.

Support measures

The proposal sets out measures designed to support public sector bodies in the implementation of the Regulation.

The rules governing policy implementation support set out a process on how EU-wide policy projects carried out under the Regulation can support interoperable and digital EU policy implementation across the EU public sector.

The proposal also sets out innovation measures to promote the development and uptake of innovative interoperability solutions in cross-border contexts.

To support testing environments for innovative interoperability solutions, the Commission can authorise the set-up of regulatory sandboxes . The sandboxes should not only contribute to new technological solutions but also to regulatory learning.

Governance

The proposal establishes a multi-level governance framework . In the Interoperable Europe Board, Member States and representatives of the Commission, the Committee of the Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee will set strategic goals and agree on concrete measures that can ensure the cross-border interoperability of their networks and information systems providing or managing digital public services.

The Committee will be supported by the Interoperable Europe Community , which will enable the participation of a wider range of stakeholders and will be involved in the operational tasks related to the implementation of the Regulation.

The Board is supported by the Interoperable Europe Community that will enable the involvement of a broader set of stakeholders and that is involved in the operational tasks linked to the implementation of the Regulation.

Budgetary implications

The proposal establishes a number of obligations for the Commission, in particular to create the structured cooperation mechanism between EU and Member State administrations, to facilitate this interoperability governance and to develop guidelines and common solutions.

Fulfilling the Commission’s obligations set out in this legal proposal will require around EUR 130 million between 2023 and 2027 and will be funded directly from the Digital Europe programme. The Commission’s administrative costs are estimated at approximately EUR 2.822 million, including costs for human resources and other administrative expenditure.