eInvoicing is Connecting Europe! eInvoicing Standard Launch Event 2017
European Commission, 2017
On 23 October 2017, the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), in partnership with the European Commission, held a launch event to mark the publication of the reference to the European standard on eInvoicing in the Official Journal of the European Union on 17 October 2017.
The European Commission mandated CEN to define the standard in accordance with Directive 2014/55/EU on electronic invoicing in public procurement. The Directive allows for an 18-month implementation period after the publication of the standard, with 18 April 2019 fixed as the deadline for this.
The publication of the standard is a major milestone towards the digitalisation of public procurement in Europe and marks an important step towards realising the Digital Single Market.
The event gave representatives from the private and public sectors a forum for discussion on the adoption of eInvoicing in Europe. It also represented the launch of the next big step for eInvoicing B2G as it kicked-off the implementation stage in EU Member States and EEA countries.
In addition to high-level interventions from the European Commission, CEN and the private sector, Member State representatives provided valuable insights on the status of eInvoicing in their respective countries.
Electronic invoicing is the exchange of an electronic invoice (eInvoice) document between a supplier and a buyer. An electronic invoice is an invoice that has been issued, transmitted and received in a structured electronic format that allows for its automatic and electronic processing, as defined in Directive 2014/55/EU.
In 2017, there is a total of €10 million grant funding available to support eInvoicing respecting the European standard. The deadline for submissions is 28 November 2017. Please note that the the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) help-desk closes one week prior to the deadline for submission.
The grant funding aims to:
- Foster the uptake of eInvoicing solutions compliant with the European Standard: public entities will be supported for putting in place eInvoicing solutions compliant with the European Standard and its ancillary deliverables;
- Support the update of eInvoicing solutions compliant with the European Standard: to ensure full compatibility of the existing solutions with the European Standard and its ancillary deliverables, solutions providers and public authorities will be supported for updating their eInvoicing solutions accordingly;
- Facilitate the integration of CEF eDelivery services.
On 5 July 2017, the European Commission hosted a webinar looking at how to apply for CEF funding and examples of beneficiaries. You can see recordings of the webinar here.
Finally, on 7 December 2017, the European Commission is organising the high-level conference 'Connecting Europe with Building Blocks: Making the Digital Single Market a Reality'. The main objective of this important event is to showcase concrete examples of how the building blocks, including eInvoicing, successfully contribute to creating a Digital Single Market. Spaces are limited, so don't hesitate to register.
CEF eSignature: LOTL-Signing with New Certificate
The European Commission today announces a change in the signing certificates of the List of Trusted Lists (LOTL).
Since June 2016, changes to the LOTL's signing certificates are contained in the LOTL itself, as detailed in the Official Journal of the European Union. The Commission will issue a new LOTL signed for the first time with one of these new certificates on 13 November 2017.
The certificates used to sign are changed to phase out the previously used certificates which used the outdated SHA1 hash algorithm. All relying parties are warned to take into account the procedure for updating the LOTL's signing certificates as outlined in the Official Journal of the European Union, if they haven't done so already.
The Regulation (EU) N°910/2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market (better known as the eIDAS Regulation) lays down a predictable legal framework for people, companies (in particular small and medium-sized enterprises) and public administrations to safely access to services and do transactions online and across borders.
The eIDAS Regulation sets out the requirements for electronic signatures to be recognised as qualified electronic signatures. To be qualified, electronic signatures must – among other requirements – have been created using a qualified signature creation device and using a qualified certificate.
Qualified certificates for electronic signatures and other trust services are provided by (public and private) trust service providers providers which have been granted a qualified status by a national competent authority as indicated in the national 'trusted lists' of the EU Member States, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. Those lists can be accessed through the Trusted List Browser. Many providers of qualified certificates will deliver the corresponding private key on a qualified signature creation device.
As stated in Article 22(4) of the eIDAS Regulation and in Article 4(3,4) of the Commission Implementing Decision 2015/1505/EU, the European Commission makes available the information notified by the Member States. This information is available in an XML document called the List of Trusted Lists or LOTL.
While different levels of electronic signatures may be appropriate in different contexts, only qualified electronic signatures are explicitly recognised to have the equivalent legal effect of hand-written signatures all over the EU.
EU Member States and the European Commission support the adoption of electronic signatures in Europe with the CEF eSignature building block. The deployment of solutions based on this building block in a Member State facilitates the mutual recognition and cross-border interoperability of e-signatures. This means that public administrations and businesses can trust and use e-signatures that are valid and structured in EU-interoperable formats.
Improvements on the CEF eDelivery PKI service
European Commission, 2017
The CEF eDelivery Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) service has now an improved process to manage the roles, policies, procedures and systems needed to create, manage, distribute, store and revoke digital certificates. This was achieved by updating the Global Terms and Conditions of the CEF eDelivery PKI service. The CEF eDelivery team is currently contacting the policy domain owners using this service in order to process any changes needed to follow the necessary procedures.
The CEF eDelivery Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) service enables issuance and management of the digital certificates used in the CEF eDelivery components (e.g. between CEF eDelivery Access Points (AP) and Service Metadata Publishers (SMP) to ensure confidentiality, integrity and non-repudiation of the data moving across systems). This service is provided to policy domains (European institutions, other public administrations and businesses) interested in creating a trust circle for information exchange using the technical specifications and components of CEF eDelivery. The certificates can be used to authenticate the origin of data, encrypt data and ensure detection of integrity breaches of data.
The CEF eDelivery PKI has been designed to generate a list of benefits to the users of the service:
- A user friendly interface to request and manage digital certificates;
- Well established processes and procedures supported by the CEF eDelivery Support office;
- Digital certificates issued by a trusted Certification Authority;
- Free-of-charge PKI service (with limitations) under the terms and conditions of CEF eDelivery for eligible stakeholders only.
It's a Sign! EU Legislation Electronically Signed in Strasbourg
©European Commission
Today, 25 October 2017, Antonio Tajani, on behalf of the European Parliament, and Deputy Prime Minister Matti Maasikas, on behalf of the Estonian Presidency of the Council, electronically signed a new regulation on the security of gas supply. A signing ceremony took place at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
The signing application used, the European Parliament Electronic Signature Console, was developed by the European Parliament and is based on DSS, the open-source electronic signature library developed for the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) eSignature building block. The Parliament and the Estonian Presidency sign electronically to underline the European Union's dedication to furthering the digital revolution.
This signing ceremony marked a major milestone in the digitalisation of Europe, the implementation of the Regulation (EU) N°910/2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market (better known as the eIDAS Regulation) and the reuse of the CEF eSignature building block.
With eIDAS, the EU has managed to lay down the right foundations and a predictable legal framework for people, companies (in particular SMEs) and public administrations to safely access to services and do transactions online and across borders. Indeed, rolling out eIDAS means higher security and more convenience for any online activity such submitting tax declarations, enrolling in a foreign university, remotely opening a bank account, setting up a business in another Member State, authenticating for internet payments, bidding to on line call for tender, etc.
The roll-out of eIDAS is reiterated in the eGovernment Action Plan 2016-2020, which constitutes 20 actions to achieve the goal of open, efficient and inclusive administrations, providing borderless, personalised, user-friendly, end-to-end digital public services to all citizens and businesses in the EU. Furthermore, at the Tallinn Declaration on eGovernment in October this year, national ministers went even further, reaffirming the Member States' commitment to progress in linking up their public services and implement the eIDAS regulation.
The digitalisation of document signing, ergo giving legal validity to a document signed electronically, reduces costs, increases security and ensures processes (governmental, administrative or commercial) can be conducted online from beginning to end.
An electronic signature is an electronic indication of a person’s intent to agree to the content of a document or a set of data. Like its handwritten counterpart in the offline world, an electronic signature legally captures the signatory's intent to be bound by the terms of the signed document.
There are now over 200 qualified trust service providers (including providers of certificates for electronic signatures) in Europe, which can be found by using the Trusted List Browser.
EU Member States and the European Commission support the adoption of electronic signatures in Europe with the CEF eSignature building block. The deployment of solutions based on this building block in a Member State facilitates the mutual recognition and cross-border interoperability of e-signatures. This means that public administrations and businesses can trust and use e-signatures that are valid and structured in EU-interoperable formats.
The CEF eSignature building block consists of several services managed by the European Commission. These include:
- The Digital Signature Services (DSS) open-source library for the creation and validation of e‑signatures and e-seals.
- The Trusted List Browser, which any European can use to find the qualified trust services they need.
- The Trusted List Manager, which helps the Member States' Trusted List Scheme Operators (TLSOs) create and edit a trusted list in a standard, machine-readable format.
- Technical specifications and associated standards (maintained by ETSI), which outline the requirements laid out by the eIDAS Regulation in regard to e-signatures and e-seals.
- Grant funding, to support the reuse of the eSignature building block.
CEF eTranslation Used During Estonian EU Council Presidency
European Commisison, 2017
At the Tallinn Digital Summit on 29 September 2017, twenty-five heads of state and government met together to discuss e-governance, cybersecurity, digital economy, and the labour market.
At the Tallinn Digital Summit Expo, the AI-powered EU Council Presidency Translator was presented to delegates, journalists, and public sector staff members to enable multilingual communication.
To reach the goal of an EU Council Presidency without language barriers, the translation tool uses Neural Machine Translation and CEF eTranslation to provide secure, instant translation of texts, full documents, and websites.
The EU Council Presidency translation tool was developed by Tilde, a leading European language technology company based in Riga, Tallinn, and Vilnius, with support from the CEF eTranslation building block. In addition to building AI technology, Tilde helps the EU to craft multilingual policy by providing input on the current state of language technology innovation.
Currently working in Estonian to English (and vice-versa), the EU Council Presidency Translator will be further elaborated for the Bulgarian and Austrian presidencies via the CEF eTranslation building block. The tool will benefit from analysis of its usage at the Estonian presidency and receive regular improvements.
CEF eTranslation helps European and national public administrations exchange information across language barriers in the EU, by providing machine translation capabilities that will enable all Digital Service Infrastructures (DSIs) to be multilingual. CEF eTranslation builds on the existing machine translation service of the European Commission, MT@EC, developed by the Directorate-General for Translation (DGT). MT@EC translation engines are trained using the vast Euramis translation memories, comprising over 1 billion sentences in the 24 official EU languages, produced by the translators of the EU institutions over the past decades.
Grant funding from the CEF Telecom programme, administered by the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA), is made available annually to the uptake of eTranslation in Europe and support the provision of language resources for CEF eTranslaton. Eligible parties can apply for funding by submitting a proposal during the relevant period each year.
The Tallinn Digital Summit brought together EU heads of state and government in the capital of Estonia to discuss the steps needed to enable people, enterprises and governments to fully tap into the potential of innovative technologies and digitalisation. The the Tallinn Ministerial Declaration on eGovernment, signed on 6 October 2017, called for the reuse and long-term sustainability of the CEF building blocks.
CEF eDelivery Factsheet Now Available
European Commission, 2017
The European Commission is happy to announce the publication of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) eDelivery building block factsheet.
The factsheet is an easy read for absolute beginners on AS4 and the eDelivery building block. It provides the basic information on eDelivery's key concepts, use cases, benefits and how to get started
The CEF eDelivery Building Block helps users to exchange electronic data and documents with one another in a reliable and trusted way.
CEF eDelivery is based on a distributed model called the “4-corner model”. In this model, the back-end systems of the users don’t exchange data directly with each other but do this through Access Points. These Access Points are conformant to the same technical specifications and therefore capable of communicating with each other. As a result of this, users adopting CEF eDelivery can easily and safely exchange data even if their IT systems were developed independently from each other.
The eDelivery Building Block of the Connecting Europe Facility proposes the use of the AS4 messaging protocol to create a secure channel for the transmission of documents and data by electronic means, over the internet or via a private network. AS4 both provides evidence relating to the handling of the transmitted data as well as protecting it against the risk of loss, theſt, damage or any unauthorised alterations
Download the factsheet
To help realise the Digital Single Market, the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) programme funds 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. Visit CEF Digital 2018 to find out more: ec.europa.eu/cefdigital
Publication of the European Standard on eInvoicing
European Commission, 2017
The European Commission is happy to announce that a reference to the European standard on electronic invoicing (eInvoicing) has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
The publication of the standard is a key step towards the digitalisation of public procurement in Europe.
Directive 2014/55/EU on electronic invoicing in public procurement calls for the definition of a common European standard on eInvoicing at semantic level (the core information contained in the eInvoice) as well as a list of syntaxes (the format or language used for transmission of the eInvoice).
On 28 June 2017, the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) published the semantic data model and the list of syntaxes for the European standard on eInvoicing. As requested by the Directive, a Study on the practical application and implementation of the European e-Invoicing standard was carried out, which confirmed that the standard is fit for purpose. On 17 October 2017 Commission has published the reference to the standard in the Official Journal.
Today marks the beginning of the implementation phase of the standard. The Directive mandates an 18-month implementation period with 18 April 2019 fixed as the deadline for this. One extra year could be implemented by Member States for sub-central authorities as allowed by the Directive. The creation of a European standard for eInvoicing in public procurement prevents the continued proliferation of eInvoicing standards and syntaxes coexisting in the Member States, which leads to increased complexity in term of cross-border interoperability.
To mark this important milestone, a launch event will take place in Brussels on 23 October 2017. This event represents the next big step for eInvoicing B2G as it kicks-off the implementation stage in EU Member States and EEA countries. It also represents an important step towards realising the potential of the Digital Single Market. Spaces are limited!
Supporting eInvoicing in Europe
The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) building blocks support the establishment of cross-border digital services in Europe. The CEF eInvoicing building block promotes the uptake and accelerates the use of eInvoicing in full compliance with the European standard, amongst both public and private entities established in the EU.
The CEF eInvoicing building block serves to support public administrations in complying with the aforementioned eInvoicing Directive, and helps solution providers adapt their services accordingly. To do so, CEF eInvoicing makes the following services available:
Tallinn Ministerial Declaration on eGovernment
On 6 October 2017, Ministers responsible for eGovernment policy signed Tallinn Declaration on eGovernment under the auspices of the Estonian Presidency of the Council.
The Declaration was signed by ministers of Member States and European Free Trade Area (EFTA) countries on in the framework of a Ministerial eGovernment Conference. It marks Member States' strong political commitment to achieve the vision outlined in the eGovernment Action Plan 2016-2020 and it includes specific measures to ensure alignment with its principles. Its Annex on 'User-centricity principles for design and delivery of digital public services' is a concrete commitment towards citizens and businesses for improving their experience when interacting with public administrations. It also includes specific actions on the Commission and other EU institutions.
The eGovernment Declaration follows the Malmo Declaration signed in 2009 and the launch of the eGovernment Action Plan 2016-2020 which both recognise that service-oriented, reliable and innovative government at all levels are essential to develop a dynamic, productive and European society.
Alongside Ministerial eGovernment Conference, the European Commission exhibited a range of EU digital programmes: the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) building blocks; Trust Services & eID, specifically the Regulation (EU) N°910/2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions (the eIDAS Regulation) and the Interoperability Solutions for Public Administrations, Businesses and Citizens (ISA²) programme.
The Tallinn Declaration makes reference to the sustainability of the Connecting Europe building blocks, noting that:
"[The Signatories call upon] the Commission to prepare proposals on the future (post 2020) and sustainability of existing EU level cross-border digital service infrastructures and building blocks, including their funding and management, in anticipation of the end of the current Connecting Europe Facility programme and based on the experiences and evaluation of the large scale pilots – within the process of the next EU multiannual financial framework preparations";
To help realise the Digital Single Market, the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) programme funds 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. Visit CEF Digital 2018 to find out more: ec.europa.eu/cefdigital
CEF eID Presented at 4th IDM Europe Conference in Amsterdam, the Netherlands
European Commission 2017
On 20 September 2017, the European Commission presented the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) eID building block at the 4th IDM Europe conference in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
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 Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market (the eIDAS Regulation).
In less than a year, 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. Public administrations offering online services that match these requirements are therefore obliged to comply.
Alice Vasilescu presents CEF eID for the European Commission
IDM Europe is an identity and access management conference, inviting senior risk management, security and IAM professionals across government and large enterprise organisations. The IAM sector is poised for major growth as businesses of all sizes look to develop strategies that are aligned to the needs of their business but also consider people, processes and technology.
The event offered an opportunity for experts in the field to discuss the infrastructural challenges and opportunities associated with managing and security identity within the enterprise.
AN INVITATION FROM OUR MODERATOR
JENNIFER BAKER
THE DAY
High-level representatives and distinghuished panellists from the private sector (such as banking and telecom) demonstrated the value of the building blocks and the eIDAS regulation on trust services in the internal market for the realisation of the Digital Single Market.
This event also clearly illustrated how the building blocks facilitate the creation of cross-border digital public services and related services for citizens, businesses and public administrations. It also offered a unique forum for discussion on the future of the CEF building blocks and remaining challenges to be addressed in the realisation of the Digital Single Market.
HIGH-LEVEL SPEAKERS
Mariya Gabriel
Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society
Kaja Kallas
ALDE, Member of the European Parliament
Markku Markkula
First Vice-President, European Committee of the Regions
Maximilian Strotmann
Communications Advisor, Cabinet of Vice President Ansip
Luukas Ilves
Counsellor for Digital Affairs, Permanent Representation of Estonia to the EU
Diego Piacentini
Italian Government Commissioner for the Digital Agenda
Jean-Jacques Leandri
Counsellor e-Government, French Government
Juhan Leprassar
Head of Cabinet, Cabinet of European Commission Vice-President Andrus Ansip
SEE THE AGENDA AND FULL LIST OF SPEAKERS
THE LOCATION
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CEF eDelivery: Domibus 3.3 FR - Available Now
European Commission, 2017
Today, 6 October 2017, the European Commission is delighted to announce the final release of the Domibus 3.3 AS4 sample implementation software, following the successful release of the Domibus 3.3 Release Candidate on 7 August 2017.
The CEF eDelivery Building Block helps users to exchange electronic data and documents with one another in a reliable and trusted way.
CEF eDelivery is based on a distributed model called the “4-corner model”. In this model, the back-end systems of the users don’t exchange data directly with each other but do this through Access Points. These Access Points are conformant to the same technical specifications and therefore capable of communicating with each other. As a result of this, users adopting CEF eDelivery can easily and safely exchange data even if their IT systems were developed independently from each other.
The Domibus 3.3 final release has been achieved only by close collaboration between different EU policy projects' IT delivery teams and CEF eDelivery.
Highlights of the final release include:
- Important performance enhancements and memory consumption enhancement
- Possibility to manage the Admin Console users
- New Domibus plugin: File System Plugin
- Domibus configuration with a single properties file
- New Administration console
- Improved logging
- Implement new API to monitor the status of the messages
- Implement new API to log the acknowledgements from C3 to C4
- eDelivery Access Point to support pull MEP
- Custom truststore for SSL communication
- Possibility to download the PMode configuration file
- Add message DOWNLOADED status to API and MSH
- Configurable HTTP chunking
- Configure the deletion of Message from Sending Access point when the message status is SEND_FAILURE
In addition, on 24 October 2017, from 10:00 - 11:30 (CET), the European Commission is organising an interactive, live webinar on Domibus 3.3.
Those interested in adopting CEF eDelivery in their organisation are warmly invited to attend.