Last Chance to Register | eProcurement and eInvoicing EU policy at the #EURegionsWeek
Registrations for the European Week of Regions and Cities 2019 close on 27 September 2019.
That means now is the time to register!
Europe is now at a crucial moment in terms of its eInvoicing and eProcurement policies as public authorities adopt the European standard on eInvoicing.
The European standard supports the use of eInvoicing across-boarders, increasing opportunities for businesses and generating savings for the public sector.
You stand to benefit from the faster and more efficient processing of eInvoices, which great savings to European public administrations and to businesses. An estimated € 920 million in savings has already been recorded between 2015-2017 through eInvoicing alone.
In this context, do not miss the opportunity to register for the session “eProcurement and eInvoicing EU policy: implementation and challenges at regional level”. At this session, you can:
- Come and discover: Discover all the opportunities these modern processes offer to you! You will find out also what is happening in the EU arena and get an overview of the EU situation, from European Commission
- Share and learn: Bring experience from your own region or country, share your challenges and see what solutions others found to similar issues. Learn from peers: few best examples on how things worked out at national level will be presented to you
- Spread the good news: Take it home to your country and help to make it work
The European Commission is currently supports the uptake of eInvoicing respecting the European standard and Directive 2014/55/EU (on eInvoicing in public procurement) with the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) eInvoicing Building Block.
The CEF eInvoicing Building Block offers public and private sector on-site eInvoicing Trainings and Workshops; supporting webinars; a User Community hosting online discussions and a dedicated Conformance Testing Service. These CEF services are available until this deadline. In addition, around €35,2 million in CEF funding has been awarded to projects implementing the European standard.
CEF eArchiving at the EAG meeting in Helsinki, Finland
On 19-20 September 2019, Finland, as the current president of the Council of the European Union, hosted the 27th Meeting of the European Archives Group (EAG) and the 40th Conference of European Board of National Archivists. The National Archives of Finland kindly hosted the meeting's in the old reading room of the national Archives of Finland.
Adelina Dinu, programme assistant EU Policies in the Commission's DG CNECT Interactive Technologies, Digital for Culture and Education Unit, provided an operational update of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) eArchiving Building Block. Sophia Bunemann, from the Commisison's CEF Stakeholder Management Office, presented an update on the CEF Building Blocks portfolio.
Adelina Dinu also announced the upcoming eArchiving event 3-4 December in Brussels, Belgium. Find out more on the event page.
The EAG is an official European Commission expert group, as well as the CEF eArchiving expert group. While the primary mission of the EAG is to facilitate cooperation and coordination on matters relating to archives, the expert group also advises the building block on any relevant issues. For example, the EAG has supported the building block on methods for digital perservation through the eARK project, which is the foundation of the CEF eArchiving Building Block.
EAG-EBNA Helsinki 2019
The CEF eArchiving Building Block provides long-term information assurance by providing specifications, reference software, training and service desk support for digital archiving, including digital preservation. This benefits both the design and implementation of repositories and enables business systems to send data to those repositories. Information Package specifications are the foundation of eArchiving and describe platform-independent formats to structure information assets as bulk data and metadata that remains authentic and understandable over time.
The CEF Building Blocks at the ICT Proposers Day 2019, Blockchain and Context Broker Grant Funding
On 19-20 September 2019, the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Building Blocks were presented at the Digital Excellence Forum @ ICT Proposers' Day 2019.
This leading EU digital event provided an excellent opportunity for those present to discuss the main policy drivers of the digital transformation of European industry and society and how the EU research and innovation agenda can best contribute to these objectives.
Concerning the CEF Building Blocks, participants were informed about the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI), which will deliver EU-wide cross-border public services leveraging blockchain technology (EBSI will soon be a fully operational CEF Building Block).
Blockchain is a form of distributed ledger technology that creates an unchangeable ledger of records maintained by a decentralised network. The EBSI Building Block will provide reusable software, specifications and services to support adoption by European public administrations and by EU institutions. To keep updated on the progress of EBSI, subscribe to the regular newsflash.
ICT Participants learn about the benefits of Blockchain technologies
In addition, participants were particularly interested in CEF grant funding. In the period 2014-19, In this time, CEF provided an unprecedented level of funding at €30 billion (with €28.8 billion in grants). In the area of telecommunications (including the CEF Building Blocks), approximately €75.3 million in CEF funding was awarded to 128 actions.
Until 14 November 2019, you can respond to the CEF Public Open Data call for proposals. This call offers funding for the generation of cross-border and/or cross-domain services re-using information made discoverable/available through the European Data Portal (which harvests the metadata of Public Sector Information available on public data portals across European countries), in combination with other sources of information.
In the case of actions addressing real-time data, the use of the CEF Context Broker Building Block should be the privileged solution (where appropriate). Learn more about how you can get funding for the CEF Context Broker in the CEF Public Open Data call.
CEF Funding Available to Build a Smart, Data-Driven Europe Using Context Broker
Data is the raw material of the Digital Single Market. Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) grant funding means that you can make the most of it!
The CEF Context Broker Building Block allows organisations to manage and share data in real-time. This allows the creation of smart irrigation systems, improved security in busy urban areas or supporting public health.
Data-driven innovation is a key driver of growth and jobs that can significantly boost European competitiveness in the global market. For this reason, the European Commission is working to create a common data space in the EU. A seamless digital area with the scale that will enable the development of new products and services based on data.
This is why up to €5 million in CEF grant funding is available to support Public Open Data.
What’s the CEF Context Broker
The CEF Context Broker is a standard-based API allowing users to collect, integrate and contextualise near real-time data. It is often used by cities to track real-time actions and to make real-time decisions.
The use of the Context Broker has helped projects across Europe reap the benefits of data-driven innovation. In a Connecting Europe Success Story, the Context Broker enables the use of IoT data to prevent hostile behaviour and noise pollution on a bustling street in Eindhoven. The project team is now planning to expand the solution throughout the city with more Context Broker connected sensor. Other CEF Context Broker Success Stories explore how:
- Context Broker empowers Dutch cyclists to choose healthier routes
- Context Broker helps the Spanish Badajoz province become a “smart province”
- How the Andalusia Smart Region uses Context Broker for intelligent irrigation
- How air pollution is mitigated and reduced with Context Broker in Barcelona
The Public Open Data call for proposals
The Public Open Data call for proposals will fund the generation of cross-border and/or cross-domain services re-using information made discoverable/available through the European Data Portal (which harvests the metadata of Public Sector Information available on public data portals across European countries), in combination with other sources of information.
In the case of actions addressing real time data, the use of the CEF Context Broker Building Block should be the privileged solution where appropriate; in which case the proposal should include one or both of these elements:
- Deployment of a Context Broker solution, i.e. as an implementation of the NGSI-LD API technical specification;
- Upgrade of Smart City, Internet of Things (IOT) or other domain solutions to support, and duly comply with the NGSI-LD API technical specification
How to apply for CEF funding
To receive co-funding under this call, actions must be ready for deployment, contribute to EU Digital Single Market policies and have a long-term sustainability strategy. The funding will be allocated to those eligible proposals that best meet the award criteria as specified in the 2019 CEF Telecom Work Programme and call texts in the areas relevant to this call.
The Innovation & Networks Executive Agency (INEA) held Virtual Info Day on the 2019-2 CEF Telecom call on 10 July 2019. The recording provides useful information on the goals of the call and the application process.
How to apply and next steps? Visit the Call Page on the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) site. The deadline for applications is 14 November 2019.
How can CEF help you?
If you’re interested in using Context Broker for a project of your own, we would be happy to help you. The documentation and support services provided by CEF are described on our website and available to all. Visit us at Context Broker to learn more.
The European Blockchain Services Infrastructure is on its way
The EU's ambition to lead the way on next-generation “hyperscalers”, includes major investments in blockchain. Distributed technologies permeate economic activities and public services at large. Their importance as a driver of growth in the EU's and global economy will likely continue to increase. They have the potential to significantly enhance the way that citizens, governments and businesses interact, by increasing the level of trust between entities.
On 10 April 2018, the Commission, together with the Member States, created the European Blockchain Partnership (EBP). Its aim is to align policies and regulatory approaches to blockchain and other distributed ledger technologies, and develop a trusted, secure and resilient European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI) which will deliver EU-wide cross-border public services leveraging blockchain technology. EBSI will meet the highest standards in terms of privacy, cybersecurity, interoperability, and energy efficiency - fully compliant with EU law.
Blockchain is a form of distributed ledger technology which creates an unchangeable ledger of records maintained by a decentralised network. All records are approved by consensus, with groups of records linked in the ledger, forming a chain. The decentralised nature of blockchain can remove the need for intermediaries during transactions, while the immutability of the ledger helps to promote trust and security. There are numerous use cases in both the public and private sectors where this technology can bring significant benefits.
EBSI aims to have a first operational version up and running in 2020, supporting one or more prototype applications which can be tested by EU Member States. The number of applications supported by EBSI will continue to grow, driven by use cases identified by the European Commission and the Member States.
EBSI will soon be a fully operational Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Building Block, providing reusable software, specifications and services to support adoption by EU institutions and European public administrations. As a CEF Building Block, the European Commission will provide a range of services supporting the reuse of the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure directly. These include the creation and maintenance of open technical specifications, the provision of testing and training services, and onboaridng and communication support. on-boarding.
Visit the EBSI page on the Commission's CEF Digital site to learn more about the project, the selected use cases for 2019, and to get in touch. You can also register for the EBSI newsletter to keep up to date with the latest developments.
To build a 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 nine building blocks: Big Data Test Infrastructure, Context Broker, Archiving, eDelivery, eID, eInvoicing, eSignature, eTranslation and EBSI.
Dutch energy sector formally approves AS4 Energy Market Profile
©Adobe Stock
The Dutch energy sector has formally approved a specification of AS4 as communication protocol in the Dutch national energy market.
The “AS4 Energiemarkt Profiel” (AS4 Energy Market Profile) can now be used and distributed.
The Dutch energy sector develops its own market processes under the supervision of the Netherlands Authority for Consumers & Markets (ACM). The non-profit association NEDU plays a central role in the development and implementation of market processes and is a platform that connects the roles of various market operators. It covers both gas and electricity and both wholesale, retail and metering processes. The NEDU Technical Committee is assigned to prepare the implementation of the profile, where applicable.
In the words of Arthur van Wylick, President of NEDU:
“NEDU considers harmonisation of (the national) standards for data-exchange to be an important goal in the evolution of the energy market. With the introduction of the “AS4 Energy Market profile” we aim to pro-actively reduce complexity for all parties in data-exchange, particularly our members, by introducing a single document based data exchange protocol. The AS4 Energy Market profile is based on the European e-Delivery standards and is set up in line with the ENTSO-G AS4 Profile, already in use in the Netherlands.
NEDU foresees a similar development on the European level of international energy market standards, and we are convinced that introducing this profile is a future-proof step towards national and international standardisation.”
AS4 (Applicability Statement 4) is the message exchange protocol promoted by the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) eDelivery Building Block.
“AS4 Energiemarkt Profiel” is closely based on the CEF eDelivery AS4, including the Four Corner Enhancement and Pull enhancements.
AS4 is a Conformance Profile of the OASIS ebMS 3.0 specification. AS4 is typically used for the secure and reliable exchange of documents, attachments to these documents and data in general, and can be used in Business-to-Business (B2B), Business-to-Administration (B2A) and Administration-to-Administration (A2A) exchange contexts. AS4 can be used in virtually every sector or business domain.
In 2015, AS4 was chosen by the EU Member States, participating in the e-SENS Large Scale Pilot, as the primary protocol for B2B, B2A and A2A message exchange going forward.
The profile was written in Dutch, is also available in English.
Exchange Summit 2019: What’s next for eInvoicing and CEF Workshop
The Exchange Summit 2019 will take place from 30 September – 2 October 2019 in Vienna, Austria.
The Exchange Summit provides a platform to get in-depth information about recent developments and future trends where benefit from cutting edge keynote speeches, panels and round tables covering interoperability and public procurement and discuss with global thought leaders.
This event will include discussions and a workshop on the European standard on eInvoicing and the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) eInvoicing Building Block – the tool with which the Commission is supporting adoption of the standard in the European economy.Two of the event's highlights look at Europe's eInvoicing and eProcurement policies.
On Tuesday 1 October 2019 (14:15 - 14:35), Charles Bryant, Secretary General of the European E-Invoicing Service Providers Association (EESPA) will interview David Blanchard, Head of Unit (Acting) for Innovative and E-Procurement, DG GROW, European Commission. “What´s Next on the EC´s Agenda Regarding E-Invoicing and E-Procurement?” presents a great opportunity for participants to learn how European eInvoicing and eProcurement policies are set to evolve. You can get an idea of what will be discussed in David Blanchard’s article in agendaNi, a leading Northern Irish business and public policy magazine.
On Wednesday 2 October 2019 (09:00 - 16:00), experts from the European Commission's CEF eInvoicing team will facilitate an eInvoicing implementation workshop. Participants will learn about implementation roadmaps for the European standard, best practice for handling of eInvoices and get first-hand knowledge on the latest development in EU Members States and much more. The agenda includes:
- Introduction to CEF, tools and supporting service
- Methods for exchange electronic invoices
- Ways of implementing the European standard (EN)
- Taking eInvoicing to the next level
- Next steps, Q&A
The European Commission currently supports the uptake of eInvoicing respecting the European standard and Directive 2014/55/EU (on eInvoicing in public procurement) with the CEF eInvoicing Building Block . CEF eInvoicing currently offers public and private sectors on-site eInvoicing Trainings and Workshops; supporting webinars; a User Community hosting online discussions, a Registry of supporting artefacts to implement European standard and a dedicated Conformance Testing Service.
CEF Context Broker at the FIWARE Global Summit 2019
The 7th FIWARE Global Summit: “Scale Up for a Real Smart Future”, will take place from 23-24 October 2019 in Berlin, Germany.
The FIWARE Foundation is striving to change the world for the better and is proud to present brand new content and exciting updates from the FIWARE open source world. FIWARE is the upcoming technology that has been changing the way cities work, inhabitants live, or companies produce.
In late 2018, the Context Broker, the core of the FIWARE platform, was approved by the European Commission as a Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Building Block and has since been reused by the first early adopters like cities and regions.
This Global Summit will be co-hosted with the Smart Country Convention and by combining FIWARE strengths looking forward to welcoming more than 10,000 guests.
The FIWARE booth at the Smart Country Convention will showcase a large selection of the latest technology evolutions and new (live) applications. The booth will offer 20 exhibiting partners from the FIWARE Community the opportunity to exhibit real showcases from the domains of Smart Cities, Smart Industry, Smart Agrifood, and Smart Energy.
Three days with:
- Key drivers of digital transformation in (Smart) Cities
- Trends and Disruptive Future: How trending topics in tech (ie. Blockchain, IoT, Robotics) are integrated into the FIWARE roadmap
- Implementation of IoT-enabled Cloud-native Smart Solutions in various domains
- Enabling and accelerating start-up innovation and growth
- More than 70 sessions, panels, workshops, and keynotes.
- 20 FIWARE members co-exhibiting in the FIWARE community booth.
- Answers to your questions, and solutions to your development and business challenges.
- iHubs Growth Program and new ‘Do-It-Package’.
On 24 October 2019, an interactive workshop at 13:30 is anticipated entitled "Ready to digitize Smart Services for Public Administration".
The main topic will be perks and benefits of the Building Blocks for public administrations, how the Context Broker facilitate the development of smart solutions.
Get start-up ready in 6 hours!
A startup day with promising startups from Europe and beyond will take place on 24 October 2019. This will be an opportunity to discover new disruptive technologies.
This event offers:
- Up for a challenge? 1 Hackathon, 4 challenges (Smart Cities, Smart Manufacturing, Open Data and Smart Agriculture), 4 winners, 1 year of global visibility for your solution, and of course, prize money!
- Discover the secrets to accessing those “unreachable” funding opportunities
- Meet top speakers expert inf European Funding Opportunities presenting sneak peeks of the new open data policies
- Build up a profitable business! Find out how easy it is to monetize FIWARE!
- We bring you together with our global, mature business leaders during the exclusive Open Minds Aperitivo to discuss your innovative ideas.
- Tips and trick directly from investors on how to successfully bring your business to the next level
- Get perks from our affiliates and partners (eg. discounts on web design and marketing materials).
- Meet your peers in a cool lounge space! …..And much more…
#FIWARE Hackathon "‘19! Hack your way to success!"
- Use FIWARE open source technologies, as well as the Context Broker as a CEF Building Block, for your own benefit
- Show of your innovative ideas aimed at developing new services/applications in the sector of Smart Cities, Smart Manufacturing, and Open Data.
- Get the chance to present your solution exclusively during the Grand Closing of the FIWARE Global Summit in Berlin.
- Win up to € 7500 in prize money* and fully paid attendance at the Smart City Expo World Congress (Barcelona).
- Get access to 1 year of technical services for free provided by the FIWARE Foundation.
- Receive 1 year of free social media promotion and global visibility thanks to the international channels of the FIWARE Foundation.
- Training in FIWARE Open Source! Make your solution market-ready in 2 hours!
You can buy your tickets on the event page.
** 2,500 per challenge. Please Read carefully Terms & Condition
Deadline for eInvoicing Code List Change Requests for 2019 Autumn Release
Those who wish to have new codes added to the VATEX and/or EAS code lists, are kindly invited to submit Requests for Change before 30 September 2019.
CEF is the managing authority for these two code lists in the European standard on eInvoicing (EN 16931).
To submit Requests for Change visit the dedicated Code Lists page on the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Digital website or directly via the through the CEF Service Desk.
CEF eInvoicing
The European Commission supports eInvoicing using the European standard with the CEF eInvoicing Building Block.
The European standard on eInvoicing makes it possible for sellers to send invoices to many customers by using a single eInvoicing format. This means they do not have to adjust their sending and/or receiving to connect with individual trading parties.
This Building Block supports public administrations in complying with the Directive 2014/55/EU on electronic invoicing in public procurement and helps solution providers adapt their services accordingly. To do so, CEF eInvoicing makes the following services available:
E-ARK/eArchiving Building Block in Germany – Workshop Report
Source: Bundesarchiv / Dahlmanns, Tim
On 25 April 2019, experts from national archives and the European Commission held a workshop entitled "E-ARK/eArchiving Building Block — also for us in Germany?” on the topic of Information Packages, an important element of digital archiving. The workshop was held in Berlin, Germany.
The continuous production of data means interoperable digital archiving becomes a greater necessity for all EU Member States. This workshop presented the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) eArchiving Building Block and EARK4ALL specifications for digital archiving to German archiving institutions.
The CEF eArchiving Building Block, built on the specifications developed through the E-ARK project, supports long-term information assurance, meaning that digital preservation, records management, and digital archives in general are recognised as critical pillars for the Digital Single Market.
The organisers of the workshop asked if the Information Packages developed in the E-ARK project are available for archival institutions in Germany, especially with regard to the eIDAS Regulation (on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market) and the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI).
The EU project E-ARK (since 2018, E-ARK4ALL) developed specifications for OAIS compliant Information Packages, which are freely available to all. However, these specifications are less known in Germany.
Participants discussed the rationale, sustainability, and the risks of standardisation, as well as the pros and cons of the possible use of E-ARK information packages. It emerged that all participants would be in favour of a stronger harmonisation of the acceptance packages (SIPs) in order to make the underlying workflows easier and more efficient. The participants concluded that the same should apply to the Information Packages for User Purposes (DIPs), in order to facilitate the exchange of data in this area.
The workshop included the following presentations:
- Dr. Sebastian Gleixner (Bundesarchive): Volume as challenge. An overview of the Federal archives digital archiving efforts;
- Dr. Ulrike Korte (Bundesamt für die Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik): Introduction to eIDAS, ETSI LONG-TERM PReservation (LTP) and BSI TR.03125 (TR-ESOR);
- Sandro Hardy (Federarchive): The Federal digital in-between archive and the user opportunity of the E-ARK SIPs;
- Sophia Bünemann (CEF eArchiving team of the European Commission): Introduction to the Building Blocks of the Connecting Europe Facility of the European Commission;
- Janet Anderson (Danish National Archives): E-ARK4ALL - the project that created the eArchiving building block;
- Karin Bredenberg (Swedish National Archives): The eArchiving Building Block core specifications for filling up the European fridges;
The workshop concluded with a panel discussion on the ‘Possible usage of E-ARK information packages in German archiving institutions’. The panel included:
- Karin Bredenberg (Swedish National Archives)
- Prof. Dr. Christian Keitel (Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg)
- Dr. Ulrike Korte (Bundesamt für die Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik)
- Steffen Schwalm (msg systems ag)
- Sandro Hardy (Bundesarchiv)
- Rainer Jacobs (Bundesarchiv)
- Moderation: Dr. Sina Westphal / Dr. Sebastian Gleixner (Bundesarchiv)
(For non-German speakers working in a public administration in Europe, the CEF eTranslation Building Block allows you to translate the text into the 24 official EU languages plus Icelandic and Norwegian).
The CEF eArchiving Building Block provides long-term information assurance by providing specifications, reference software, training and service desk support for digital archiving, including digital preservation. This benefits both the design and implementation of repositories and enables business systems to send data to those repositories. Information Package specifications are the foundation of eArchiving and describe platform-independent formats to structure information assets as bulk data and metadata that remains authentic and understandable over time.
eInvoicing receives highest level of grant funding among CEF Building Blocks
In June 2019, the Innovation & Networks Executive Agency (INEA) published the brochure ‘’The Connecting Europe Facility: Five years supporting European infrastructure”.
The brochure takes an extensive look at the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) programme 2014-2019 in the areas of Transport, Energy and Telecom.
Funded through CEF Telecom, the CEF Building Blocks are Digital Service Infrastructures that provide basic functionality (for example authentication or data exchange), facilitate cross-border interaction between EU public administrations, businesses and citizens and are reusable by more complex services (eJustice or Online Dispute Resolution).
In 2014-2018, 16 dedicated calls were launched for these Building Blocks, allocating €75.3 million in CEF Telecom funding to 128 actions. The largest level of CEF grant funding was awarded to actions helping public entities adopt the European standard on electronic invoicing, which received €27.6 million financing 42 actions.
CEF eInvoicing received €27.6 million financing 42 actions
The European Commission currently supports the uptake of eInvoicing respecting the European standard and Directive 2014/55/EU (on eInvoicing in public procurement) with the CEF eInvoicing Building Block .
The 18 April 2019 was the legal deadline for Member States to transpose into national law and implement the Directive (for contracting authorities and entities). The 18 April 2020 is the extended deadline (upon request) for contracting authorities and entities that are not central government authorities.
CEF eInvoicing currently offers public and private sector on-site eInvoicing Trainings and Workshops; supporting webinars; a User Community hosting online discussions and a dedicated Conformance Testing Service. These CEF services are available until this deadline.
Read the INEA brochure to learn more about the CEF Building Block Digital Service Infrastructures and the wider CEF programme.
Read | CEF: Five years supporting European infrastructure
In June 2019, the Innovation & Networks Executive Agency (INEA) published the brochure ‘’The Connecting Europe Facility: Five years supporting European infrastructure”.
The brochure takes an extensive look at the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) programme 2014-2019 in the areas of Transport, Energy and Telecom. It notes specifically how the level of CEF funding is unprecedented, at approximately €30 billion (with €28.8 billion available for grants).
The brochure highlights two characteristics, which help make CEF funding so effective:
- Leveraged support: CEF funding combined with public and private support will total €55.5 billion (€0.09 billion for Digital Service Infrastructures, such as the CEF Building Blocks) of investment in the European economy:
- Multiannual approach: enhancing the financial stability and viability of investments;
The brochure also explores how CEF Telecom is anchored to the Europe 2020 Strategy for smart, sustainable, and inclusive growth via the Digital Single Market Strategy. The Single Market Strategy strategy highlights the importance of digital infrastructure and a digital economy for improving services, expanding choice and creating employment.
The CEF Building Blocks are CEF-funded Digital Service Infrastructures that provide basic functionality (for example authentication or data exchange), facilitate cross-border interaction between EU public administrations, businesses and citizens and are reusable by more complex services (eJustice or Online Dispute Resolution). In 2014-2018, 16 dedicated calls were launched for the Building Blocks*, allocating €75.3 million in CEF Telecom funding to 128 actions.
To see the value of the CEF Building Blocks in action, have a look at the Connecting Europe Success Stories. They offer first-hand accounts of how the Building Blocks support cross-border projects in building a Digital Single Market in Europe.
Otherwise, take a moment to read this INEA brochure to learn more about the CEF Building Block Digital Service Infrastructures and the wider CEF programme.
*CEF eDelivery, eID, eInvoicing, eSignature and eTranslation, which were initially adopted the first CEF Work Programme in 2014.