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Public Open Data
Nils MC GRATH posted on Jun 12, 2017

A Connecting Europe Success Story

Public Open Data

Photo by Carlos Muza

Every day, public institutions across Europe are publishing more and more data – in categories as broad as health, traffic, public spending and agriculture. Through Open Data, all this data has economic potential. Open Data encourages the reuse and analysis of existing data to create new products and services. The Public Open Data Digital Services Infrastructure makes it easier for public services and businesses to access and reuse this public data through the European Data Portal.


What is the European Data Portal?

The European Data Portal is an online portal that collects metadata (data about the data) published by public bodies across Europe, collating it into a searchable tool accessible by anyone. Whether it’s a transport tech start-up trying to make commuting more efficient, or a journalist investigating government spending, they can access that data via the European Data Portal.

What are the benefits?

How do the Building Blocks fit in?

  • eTranslation translates the metadata harvested by the portal into any of the 24 official EU languages.

  • eID supports the portal’s login system – which enables users to log queries, search live data, and store complex data queries

Why was the project set up?

To reap the benefits of Open Data, Member States and the data sector in Europe needed a single portal to access public data.

Wendy Carrara, Director and EU policy advisor at Capgemini Consulting, describes this need. “There was no single data portal. There was a portal from the publications office, to publish open data from different EU institutions, but there was no point of single contact at a pan-European level that could give access to data across Europe, in all 24 languages. So that’s what we developed.”

From the outset, the project team had two clear goals:

  1. Make it easier for anyone to access and reuse public sector information
  2. Encourage the development of data applications and products reusing this information


How was the European Data Portal implemented?

The Connecting Europe Facility had identified the need for this data portal. The next phase was to consult Member States and the data community to understand their respective needs.

Wendy knew collaboration was critical to the success of the project. She says, “To find out what people wanted for the user interface, the features, the functionalities, we consulted Member States and Open Data communities.”

Consulting Member States was a two-way process. The team worked to understand what functionality Member States needed, while also helping them improve the data published by their respective public portals – ensuring that the data reaching the European Data Portal was quality reusable data.

Working with Open Data communities meant acquiring feedback on desired features, functionality, and licensing information. This cooperation ensured the data published on the portal was fit for purpose and could be reused effectively.

After this period of consultation, the portal was developed – partly from scratch, but also using components already available from the Open Data community worldwide.

During development, there were obvious opportunities to integrate functionalities with the CEF Building Blocks:

  • The translation of metadata. Metadata would need to be translated into all 24 official EU languages to be properly accessible.
  • The identification of users. eIDAS requires Member States to allow citizens from other Member States to use their electronic IDs to access their online services, which would require investment and know-how. 

By implementing the eTranslation Building Block, the portal can translate metadata 'en masse'. The scale of the translation needed by the European Data Portal means that machine translation is an ideal solution – turning every piece of harvested metadata into something accessible in all 24 official European languages.

Wendy explains how the portal has also has a login system which is supported by the eID Building Block. “We use EU Login, the eID verification system that’s used by the Commission and that enables people to register to the portal, to log queries, to live data search, and give them a few additional features to allow them to store complex machine language queries.”


How is the European Data Portal evolving?

Since its launch in 2015, the portal is evolving to meet the needs of Member States.

On 1 March 2017, the European Data Portal was updated to version 2.0 – directly addressing feedback and adding features to make the portal easier to use. Wendy describes this commitment to collaboration, “We’re open to receiving feedback since the launch of the portal in 2015, in terms of new developments, directions to take and different features.”

The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) is working to ensure Member States are unlocking the full potential of the European Data Portal and the Open Data economy. Most recently, the 2016 CEF Telecom Public Open Data call gave Member States the opportunity to apply for funding to projects to improve the quality of their data, giving it more use for other projects.

 As a result, actions are being developed to support Open Data initiatives across European countries. Recently, this has included making high-quality data on air pollution and air quality available, and developing a methodology for all EU/EEA member states to publish standardised air quality data sets. Assurance tools are also being developed, for streamlining the process of making raw data suitable for publication as trusted open data.

To support the understanding of Open Data across Europe, the team has expanded the European Data Portal to include an Open Data eLearning portal. A short course on Open Data, it provides training materials for users to understand the value of data and how it can be utilised to provide value for business and public administrations.


What are the results?

Citizens now have a window into public institutions across Europe. There are currently over 750,000 data-sets published on the European Data Portal, freely accessible by citizens, journalists and businesses. People can use their native language to navigate the portal and access these datasets, which leads to initiatives like OpenCoesione.com.it.

OpenCoesione analyses projects financed by Italian the department of Cohesion Policies (Dipartimento per le Politiche di Coesione). It shows how much money the department spends on different subjects in different regions, with visualisations. Citizens can analyse how this department within the government is spending money.

Public services are expected to make gains in efficiency from this greater openness and transparency. By using Open Data, Member States are forecasted to make 1.7 billion EUR in efficiency savings by 2020. One example of Open Data being used to create efficiency is the OASIS project.

The OASIS project uses Open Data to improve the accessibility of public services, including public transport, in the city of Ghent and the region of Madrid. By collaborating to publish Open Data, the goal is to improve the accessibility of public services and applications that function across borders.

Innovation in business is fostered by Open Data. Whether it’s air pollution, traffic congestion or public spending, the reuse of data can help the private sector address a market need. On the European Data Portal, there are over 160 cases of Open Data being used in across many different sectors, from agriculture to transport.

Plume Labs in France tracks the hourly pollution levels in sixty cities in the world, including ten cities in France, four cities in Belgium and four cities in the UK. The start-up uses data made public by different agencies engaged in a policy of Open Data, such as Airparif in Paris.

The creation of this central Open Data hub is both a practical and symbolic gesture towards transparency and accountability, adding value.

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European Data Portal

CEF eID

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CEF Digital 2018 to be Presented at Connecting European Chambers
Thomas FILLIS posted on Jun 08, 2017

CEF Digital 2018 to be Presented at Connecting European Chambers

European Commission, 2017


While the 2014-2020 programming period enters into its mid-term review phase, European Chambers continue to show a high interest in EU funding opportunities.

The third edition of “Connecting European Chambers” aims to illustrate a number of winning or potentially winning experiences at European level, to discuss case studies with the competent services of the European Commission and to boost the exchange of experiences among participants.

During the event, the European Commission will present the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) building blocks on 30 June 2017.

To support the Digital Single Market, the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) programme is funding a set of generic and reusable Digital Service Infrastructures (DSI), also known as building blocks. The CEF building blocks offer basic capabilities that can be reused in any European project to facilitate the delivery of digital public services across borders and sectors. Currently, there are five building blocks: eDelivery, eInvoicing, eID, eSignature and eTranslation.

Draft Agenda


Please note that the event is hosted by the European Parliament, and therefore subject to the Parliament's security protocols.


Discover how the CEF building blocks are digitally connecting Europe, and about grant funding, visit CEF Digital 2018 now.


Progress Made in Notification of National eID Schemes
Thomas FILLIS posted on Jun 08, 2017

Progress Made in Notification of National eID Schemes

European Commission 2017


On 2 and 3 May 2017, the European Commission met with representatives from 17 EU Member States and with German experts on electronic identification in Berlin, Germany, as part of the peer review of the German eID function.

The meeting took place within the context of the notification process for the eID function which was initiated on 20 February 2017. Following the completion of the notification process, anyone who has activated the eID function of their ID card or electronic residence permit will be able to use the public administrative services of other EU member states online.

The eID building block, supported by the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), primarily supports the Member States in the roll-out of the eIDAS Network (the technical infrastructure which connects national eID schemes). Service Providers (public administrations and private sector organisations) may then connect their services to this network, making these services accessible across borders and allowing them to enjoy the legal recognition brought by eIDAS.

The CEF eID building block is a set of services (including software, documentation, training and support) provided by the European Commission and endorsed by the Member States, which helps public administrations and private Service Providers to extend the use of their online services to citizens from other European countries. This is realised through the mutual recognition of national electronic identification (eID) schemes (including smartcards, mobile and log-in), allowing citizens of one European country to use their national eIDs to securely access online services provided in other European countries.


The mutual recognition of eID schemes across Europe is mandated by the eIDAS Regulation. The Regulation states that by 29 September 2018 all online public services requiring electronic identification assurance corresponding to a level of 'substantial' or 'high' must be able to accept the notified eID schemes of other EU countries. 

To discover how CEF eID is Connecting Europe visit CEF Digital 2018 now.




Online Dispute Resolution
Nils MC GRATH posted on Jun 07, 2017

A Connecting Europe Success Story

Online Dispute Resolution

The Digital Single Market is growing. More consumers are shopping online, purchasing goods domestically and from other Member States. But this also increases the potential for misunderstanding and disagreement. Connecting Europe’s Online Dispute Resolution service ensures that both sides are satisfied with these transactions, and they have somewhere to turn when things don’t go according to plan.

What is the Online Dispute Resolution service?

Online Dispute Resolution is an online platform that allows EU consumers and traders to solve disputes for online purchases in a simple, fast and affordable way. This keeps the dispute from having to be settled in court, which is beneficial for consumers, traders and more cost-effective for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) bodies across Member States.

What are the benefits?

  • Consumers have a faster, cheaper way to resolve disputes online, giving them the confidence to choose the best deals from across the EU – which has the potential to save consumers 11.7 billion each year.

  • Traders have a cheap, secure and effective way to resolve online disputes, gaining the confidence to sell their goods across Europe.

  • ADR bodies can now deal with disputes across Europe more efficiently.

How do the Building Blocks fit in?


Why was the project set up?

Primarily, the project was set up to protect consumers. The project builds on EU regulation that ensures consumers have access to Alternative Dispute Resolution when there’s a disagreement with traders. The Online Dispute Resolution service was developed because the regulation included an online portal.

Who is the Online Dispute Resolution service for?

Consumers: European citizens or businesses buying goods or services online in Europe – domestically or cross-border.  Online Dispute Resolution helps them resolve issues with any purchase, without the effort and expense of going to court.

Online traders: European businesses selling goods or services online. The Online Dispute Resolution service helps traders who have had a sale disputed by a customer and would also like to avoid going to court.

ADR entities: Organisations offering out-of-court settlement procedures. Online disputes registered on the platform are channelled through ADR bodies. Every ADR connected to the Online Dispute Resolution service platform has been checked to ensure they meet the quality standards laid out by the European Commission.

 

How was it implemented?

The Online Dispute Resolution service platform was designed and developed by the European Commission, DG SANTE and is now supported by DG JUST. The team was tasked with developing an online Online Dispute Resolution service platform that is user-friendly, multilingual and accessible.

To make sure the project was going to meet the needs of consumers, traders and ADR entities, the project team consulted a group of ADR/Online Dispute Resolution service experts. This ensured that the Online Dispute Resolution service platform had the right functionality and features to be effective.

As a result, the team identified three pieces of functionality as key to the success of the service:

  1. Verifying the identity of consumers

  2. Translating legal documents sent to ADR bodies

  3. Securely sending documents sent by consumers, traders and ADR bodies

Three of the Connecting Europe Building Blocks were chosen to build that functionality, saving time, money and making the platform more efficient.

  • By using eID, the project saved time and costs that would have otherwise been invested in the development and maintenance of a separate login system.

  • The use of eTranslation allows the platform’s end users gain more freedom and confidence when handling the dispute on-line. It also reduces reliance on human translators, and thus increases the speed and volume of translation and reduces costs;

  • The eDelivery network is easily scalable, allowing Online Dispute Resolution service to add an increasing number of eDelivery access points as more and more ADR entities connect to the platform.


Finally, as a consumer protection tool, the Online Dispute Resolution service had to be known to consumers before it would be trusted as a way to resolve online disputes. The deployment of the service was supported by a communications campaign to encourage uptake.


"It simply made sense, they fulfilled the requirements of the project and contributed to the successful launch of the platform."

Xenios Xenophontos, Policy Officer, DG Justice and Consumer”


What are the results?

Consumers now have a faster, cheaper way to resolve disputes online. They can do this in the language of their choosing, and with the confidence that the information they share will be secure. Since the platform launched, thousands of customers across Europe have logged disputes.

Long term, the Online Dispute Resolution service will give consumers the confidence to shop internationally and seek out the best deals from across the EU – it is believed this could save EU consumers EUR 11.7 billion each year.

Traders get a cheap, secure and effective way to resolve online disputes, and have more confidence to sell their goods and services to new markets in other European countries.

At the same time, increased consumer confidence in cross-border trade, leads to more consumers seeking out good and services in across the internal market. This increases the volume of potential customers available to them – meaning more potential revenue.

ADR entities are now able to deal with disputes coming from across Europe more efficiently, with hundreds of resolution bodies now connected to the service.  

The platform allows ADR clerks to deal with cross-border disputes much more efficiently delivering a better service to traders and consumers.


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Online Dispute Resolution

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European e-Justice Portal
Nils MC GRATH posted on Jun 07, 2017

A Connecting Europe Success Story

The European e-Justice Portal

Over 10 million citizens are involved in cross-border judicial procedures each year. That means a far greater need for cooperation between different national judicial systems, and improved access to information on the judicial process in different European countries. The European e-Justice Portal facilitates this cooperation by providing information and access to justice services across the EU.

What is the European e-Justice Portal?

The European e-Justice Portal is a one-stop-shop for citizens, businesses and legal professionals across Europe. Whether a prosecutor in Amsterdam needs to connect with a judge in Luxembourg, a Spanish entrepreneur wants to consult land registries in Belgium, or a Greek citizen needs to look for a lawyer in Ireland, the European e-Justice Portal provides a wealth of legal information and access to legal services.

What are the benefits?

  • Citizens can access legal information in their own language, or find a legal practitioner in another country.
  • Legal professionals can consult registers and access legal databases and contact colleagues in other countries, eliminating the need to physically send information or requests.
  • Businesses can access a wealth of legal information in their own language and access legal means across borders. 

How do the Building Blocks fit in?

  • eSignature enables legal professionals, judges, citizens and businesses to create and validate electronic signatures.
  • eID will allow users to legally authenticate themselves to the platform from anywhere in the EU through the eIDAS network.
  • eDelivery provides a secure and reliable solution to electronically exchange information between citizens, businesses, governments and judicial authorities.
  • eTranslation and its machine translation service has already translated three years’ worth of work for human translators into 24 official EU languages for judicial entities and users across Europe. 


Why was the project set up?

The European e-Justice Portal was introduced to improve citizens' access to justice, to facilitate procedures within the EU and to make the resolution of disputes or the punishment of criminal behaviour more effective.

The project is grounded in a core principle – citizens should be able to enjoy the same access to civil and criminal justice in other Member States as they do in their native country. 

How was the European e-Justice Portal implemented?

The first step to building the success of the European e-Justice Portal was to ensure Member States could collaborate and transmit data between one another. That meant interoperability – Member States should not build IT systems independently of each other.

According to Marc Jorna, Head of Unit at DG Justice and Consumers, there’s a need for ongoing collaboration. Marc says, “It is critical that we don’t create barriers between the Member States' IT systems as each country is stepping up their efforts to digitise their processes and procedures in the justice domain. If everyone starts building their own IT system then they will not be able to communicate with each other and that will be a big problem.”  


"If everyone starts building their own IT system then we will not be able to communicate with each other and that will be a big problem."

Marc Jorna, Head of Unit at DG Justice and Consumers


The next stage was identifying functionalities that were easy to implement and would ensure the system was compliant with EU regulation.

  • The identities of users had to be legally authenticated. eIDAS requires Member States to allow citizens from other Member States to use their own electronic IDs to access their online services, which would require investment and know-how. 
  • The system needed legally acceptable electronic signatures. Electronic signatures would need to be created but also validated.
  • Messaging had to be secure and reliable. End users and legal professionals would need to exchange information between judicial systems.
  • Users needed legal information in their native language. Marc explains that "the European e-Justice Portal contains a wealth of legal information but in some areas we had three years’ worth of work for human translators”.

The CEF building blocks became a key component in the evolution of the European e-Justice Portal from the beginning, explains Marc. “Five years ago, the Commission and the Member States sat together and agreed that the European Justice domain needed modernising, we asked ourselves, which areas would we tackle first? This is how it all began, and the building blocks are a key component of our strategy." 

Through eID, users will be able to legally authenticate themselves to the platform from anywhere in the EU. This functionality means platform administrators can safely provide different levels of access to different users.

The use of eSignature allows legal professionals, judges, citizens and businesses to create and validate electronic signatures. Marc explains how the building blocks ensures the project complies with EU regulation. “With CEF eSignature we have a solution that is ready to use, the building blocks are putting the law into practice.”

Adopting eDelivery enables the connection of the judicial systems of the Member States by providing a common standard for their message exchange system. Where documents and data used to be exchanged physically, eDelivery provides a secure and reliable solution to electronically exchange information between citizens, businesses, governments and judicial authorities.

eTranslation translated three years’ worth of work for human translators into 24 official EU languages at a lower cost, so it could be made available to judicial entities and end-users all over Europe. 


"For us, the fact that the CEF building blocks handle the development, maintenance, infrastructure and support of these key functionalities of our system is great, we can focus on where we can add the most value, dealing with issues relating to the justice domain."

Bogdan Dumitriu, IT Policy Officer at DG Justice and Consumers


Bogdan Dumitriu, the IT Policy Officer on the project, highlights that the use of the CEF building blocks provides a financial benefit to the project, but what the project team really values is that the building blocks take away the burden of deploying and maintaining key parts of the system. “For us, the fact that the CEF building blocks handle the development, maintenance, infrastructure and support of these key functionalities of our system is great, we can focus on where we can add the most value, dealing with issues relating to the justice domain.” 

What are the results?

The European e-Justice Portal is delivering faster and more accessible digital public services in the domain of justice to the 10 million citizens involved in cross-border judicial procedures each year.

Citizens and businesses have access to a wealth of legal information in their own language and can find legal assistance across Europe. As of the 4th quarter in 2016, 14,000 visitors accessed the European e-Justice Portal’s ‘Find a Lawyer’ service alone.

Legal professionals can use the portal to submit claims in the name of their clients in an electronic fashion, directly to the competent courts in Member States.

Marc explains how the portal will help change the way the legal system works, “With upcoming developments in e-Justice, a prosecutor in Amsterdam will be able to fill out a mutual legal assistance request electronically, send it to the judge in Luxembourg over a secure channel in order to obtain, also electronically and securely, the evidence he needs in a criminal investigation. We are becoming so much more efficient in the judicial system.”


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CEF Building Blocks at the 2nd FIWARE Summit
Rory ASTON JAMES posted on Jun 02, 2017

CEF Building Blocks at the 2nd FIWARE Summit

On 31 May 2017, the CEF Project & Architecture Office attended the 2nd FIWARE Summit in Utrecht, Netherlands, to promote the existing cooperation between the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) and the FIWARE Foundation and explore possibilities for further collaboration.

Juanjo Hierro, CTO of the FIWARE Foundation, presented the FIWARE Marketplace[1], which offers a clear view of ready-to-use solutions and services based on FIWARE technologies. The Marketplace showcases solutions and platforms powered by FIWARE, FIWARE-enabled Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and related services. It is intended for developers and service providers who wish to learn how to use FIWARE technologies to create and host solutions.

At present, the CEF Building Block, eDelivery, is featured as a Generic Enabler in the FIWARE Catalogue. The Catalogue contains a range of FIWARE-compatible Generic Enablers that can be reused by developers to create certain functionalities in their solutions. The CEF Building Blocks are generic components (or enablers) consisting of technical standards and specifications, sample software (in some cases) and services that can be reused for the creation of trans-European digital services.  In the future, the collaboration between FIWARE and CEF may be strengthened through the inclusion of other CEF Building Blocks into the FIWARE Catalogue of Generic Enablers.

Joao Rodrigues Frade, head of sector in charge of the CEF Building Blocks at the European Commission, presented CEF and the Building Blocks. The Building Blocks can be clustered into two groups: the ‘trust’ cluster, which aims at securing transactions between entities from different Member States and the ‘data’ cluster, which aims at promoting the sharing and reuse of data. While the reuse of the Building Blocks in the trust cluster has proved successful, additional work needs to be done to expand the data cluster. Moreover, grants are offered by the European Commission for the deployment/reuse of Building Blocks in national infrastructures across the EU[2].

Ulrich Ahle, CEO of the FIWARE Foundation, ended the conference by repeating that FIWARE technologies aim to foster the creation of a multi-sided market of smart applications. Generic enablers such as FIWARE’s Context Broker and CEF’s eDelivery are key to the creation of innovative services and a smarter society.





Download the CEF Building Block presentation


[1] https://www.fiware.org/marketplace/

[2] For more information, please contact CEF-BUILDING-BLOCKS@ec.europa.eu .