Update to CEF-managed eInvoicing code lists
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The European Commission has made several updates to the code lists managed under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).
The CEF eInvoicing Building Block serves as the managing authority for the VAT exemption reason code lit (VATEX) and Electronic Address Scheme (EAS) code lists in the European standard on eInvoicing (EN16931).
We have added one new code to the Electronic Address Scheme code list, namely new code ICD 0194. All codes listed in the VATEX code list are now available in upper case.
For the full listing of the code lists as used in European standard, five items have been added:
- ISO 3166-1 → Country Codes → Added XK as temporary code for Kosovo
- ISO/IEC 6523 → Identifier scheme code → Added Identifier scheme name for code 0194
- UNTDID 4451 →Text subject qualifier → Added codes BAS and BAR
- UNTDID 4461 → Payment means → Added code 69
- CEF EAS → Electronic address scheme identifier → Added code 0194
You can access the updated code lists via the CEF Digital platform.
CEF eInvoicing
The European Commission supports public administrations comply with Directive 2014/55/EU on electronic invoicing in public procurement with the CEF eInvoicing Building Block.
The Directive mandated the creation of a European standard on eInvoicing. The European standard 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.
CEF eInvoicing makes the following services available:
Sign up as a CEF Telecom expert!
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On 20 February 2020, the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) launched a call for experts to evaluate Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Telecom proposals in different areas.
The expert assignment offers you:
- New 'EU stamped' experience on your CV
- Enhanced employability through more diverse knowledge of the EU funding programmes
- Great networking opportunities with peers and representatives from the EU institutions
- An overview of major projects that will shape the future of European Telecommunications Digital Service infrastructure
INEA needs CEF Telecom call evaluators for the several calls that will be opened in 2020. Namely:
CEF eTranslation: Removing Language Barriers with AI-Powered Technology
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Croatia recently kicked-off its Presidency of the EU Council with numerous events including the EU Council Presidency Translator Workshop held at the Press-Centre of the Croatian Presidency at the National and University Library in Zagreb.
The EU Council Presidency Translator is the first customized AI-powered neural machine translation (NMT) solution specifically designed for the Croatian language making this tool highly appreciated by its users. The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Zagreb played an important role in its development, providing data and quality assurance services that helped language technology company Tilde create the first high-grade NMT solution for Croatian.
During translation, NMT systems examine the entire context of the sentence, producing highly readable translations that are almost human-like in style. The quality evaluation tests of the EU Presidency Translator assured its top-notch quality and demonstrated better translations than Google Translate in the Croatian-English and English-Croatian language pairs. The Presidency Translator is a multilingual communication tool that enables delegates, journalists, translators, and visitors to overcome language barriers and access information during Croatia's Presidency of the EU Council. This tool allows users to automatically translate texts, entire documents, and local websites with the European Commission’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF)-financed eTranslation Building Block, which includes which includes secure machine translation (MT) systems for all official EU languages.
Marko Tadić, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb: “During this project, Croatia received valuable know-how that will help to develop similar tools in the future. In 2013, the Croatian language became one of the 24 official EU languages. In addition, there are more than 60 indigenous regional or minority languages, as well as many non-indigenous languages spoken by migrant communities. These numbers clearly demonstrate the importance of machine translation not only for translation of official EU and legal documents, but also for the creation of the Single European Digital Market.”
According to a Eurobarometer study, nearly 42% of Europeans do not purchase goods or services online if information about them is not provided in their native language. This poses a challenge not only to public administrations as multilingual information needs to be provided to its residents, but also to companies that have to offer information in customers’ native languages. Thanks to advances in AI and machine learning, Neural Machine Translation (NMT) has made it possible to overcome language barriers and provide secure and instant access to multilingual information. High quality machine translation is especially important for smaller languages to ensure their continued existence in the digital age.
Artūrs Vasiļevskis, Head of Machine Translation Solutions at Tilde: “We focused both on the quality and usability of machine translation to make it most suitable for the needs of the EU Council Presidency. Translation between Croatian and English was carefully tailored to the terminological and stylistic requirements of the Presidency. Secure data processing, instant translation of documents and websites preserving their formatting, tools to support human translators – these are just a few features that facilitate the daily work of Presidency staff and visitors. This solution demonstrates how machine translation can be customized to provide notable efficiency and quality in cross-lingual communication.”
About Tilde
Tilde is a leading European language technology innovator and service provider that strives to seal the gap created by language barriers and to enable language diversity in the digital age. By relying on the latest cutting-edge AI-driven technology, Tilde develops custom machine translation systems, online terminology services, intelligent virtual assistants, speech technologies, and proofing tools.
About CEF eTranslation
CEF eTranslation helps the European and national public administrations exchange information in the EU without any language barriers by offering machine translation capacities that allow all Digital Service Infrastructures (DSIs) become multilingual. This project is partly funded by a CEF Telecom grant "Translation Automation Services for EU Council Presidency (2018-EU-IA-0079)". This funding from the CEF Telecom program administered by the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) is made available annually for the uptake of eTranslation in Europe, as well as to support the provision of language resources to CEF eTranslation. Eligible parties can apply for funding by submitting a proposal during the annual application period.
EU Institutions meet CEF eArchiving
On Valentine's Day (14 February 2020), the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) eArchiving Building Block held a workshop for the EU Institutions in Brussels, Belgium.
The event increased awareness of the value of standards-based, interoperable data archiving as promoted through the eArchiving Building Block to the relevant colleagues and services within EU Institutions.
The Commission's Informatics department (DIGIT) presented the CEF programme.
Subsequently, the Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CNECT) presenting the CEF eArchiving Building Block itself.
The specific eArchiving services were presented by the E-ARK consortium.
While eArchiving focuses on preservation of data, the active digitisation processing of archives is inevitable, the European Commission's Historical Archives Service therefore presented their own digitisation process during this workshop.
This workshop welcomed 40 participants in person, 49 online via the web stream
The afternoon programme focused on the current digital preservation plans and activities in the Publications Office of the European Union and the Commission's Historical Archives Service. This workshop concluded with a break-out session, enabling the participants to share their current archiving barriers, and if or how CEF eArchiving could help them and provide any feedback they had to the Building Block team.
European Blockchain Partnership: Q1 meeting 2020
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On 12-13 February 2020, members of the technical and policy groups of the European Blockchain Partnership (EBP) met in Brussels over two days to discuss the progress of the first version of the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI).
These meetings launched the testing phase and dry-run of the demonstration tool, which EBP members will be able to use when testing the services delivered by the EBSI v1. To get a full understanding of the possibilities of the EBSI and how this blockchain infrastructure will work in practice, two tests have been made available to the members of the EBP. You can learn more about them on the CEF Digital platform.
While the technical group meeting focused on agreeing on both the infrastructure and a use cases roadmap for 2020-2021, the policy meeting started very interesting discussions on how the next use cases for the EBSI v2 will be selected as well as policy and regulatory measures related to the EBSI for the 29 members of the EBP.
For more information about the project and exciting blockchain news do not forget to subscribe to the monthly EBSI newsflash!
Register Now! Market Consultation of European Blockchain Pre-Commercial Procurement, 12 March 2020
Blockchain can connect Europe
The European Commission invites all interested market parties to participate in the open market consultation for its upcoming European Blockchain Pre-Commercial Procurement. We are looking for novel blockchain solutions for the European Blockchain Service Infrastructure. The consultation offers a unique opportunity to provide feedback on the scope of the future PCP and to be involved in and co-create the future development of EU-wide blockchain solutions. Share your views by completing the online questionnaire and by registering for the open market consultation event on 12-13 March (deadline 2 March 2020).
The aim is to implement the Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) in cooperation with and building on the work of European Blockchain Partnership (EBP). The EBP is a cooperation between the European Commission, all EU Member States and some countries of the European Economic Area to deliver together the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI). The EBSI aims to deliver EU-wide cross-border public services using blockchain technology with the highest standards of security and privacy.
The open market consultation is organised in English in the form of several activities:
- Online questionnaire is now live: Please complete the questionnaire by 02/03/2020
- Online registration for the Open Market Consultation event is open now: Agenda the Open Market Consultation Event on 13/03/2020 and bilateral face-to-face meetings with the EC on 12/03/2020 in Brussels, Belgium. Please complete the online registration by 02/03/2020
- A webinar took place on 14/01/20 (slides presented at webinar, recording of the webinar)
Once Only Principle presented during ninth Meeting of the Single Digital Gateway Coordination Group
The Single Digital Gateway Coordination Group dedicated to the Once-Only Principle (OOP) at on Wednesday 12 February 2020 in Brussels, Belgium.
The meetings main attendees were the national coordinators directly involved in the topics related to the implementation of the Once-Only Principle in the Single Digital Gateway and the future implementation of the Single Digital Gateway Once-Only technical system at the national level.
Within the European Union, citizens from all Member States are free to live, work and study wherever they choose. But getting started in a new country isn’t always so easy. The Single Digital Gateway will therefore guide citizens and companies to information on national and EU rules, rights and procedures and the websites where they can carry out these procedures online. Users looking for assistance will also be guided towards problem-solving services.
In practical terms, a search function on the ‘Your Europe’ portal will give access to:
- Information. Citizens will be able to easily find reliable, qualitative information on EU and national rules that apply to them when they want to exercise their Single Market rights
- Procedures. Citizens will find out exactly how to carry out administrative procedures and what steps they need to follow
- Assistance services. If users are still confused about which rules apply or have trouble with a procedure, they will be guided to the EU or national assistance service most suited to address their problem
Article 14 of the Regulation establishing the Single Digital Gateway foresees the creation of a technical system for the cross-border automated exchange of evidences and application of the Once-Only principle.
The Once Only Principle entails that citizens and businesses provide diverse data only once in contact with public administrations, while public administration bodies take actions to internally share and reuse these data – even across borders – always in respect of data protection regulations and other constraints. The Connecting Europe Facility’s digital programme supports the application of this principle.
During the Coordination Group meeting, the European Commission’s informatics department (DIGIT) presented the updated OOP Blueprint, results of the bilateral meetings with national coordinators on the Architecture Blueprint and the next steps on the OOP user journeys.
The OOP Blueprint describes the vision or the “target state” of the once-only technical system that we aim at having in place by 12 December 2023, i.e. by when article 14 shall enter into force. The elements that contributed to the creation of the OOP blueprint consist of legal interoperability, organisational interoperability, semantic interoperability, user perspective and piloting.
During the morning session the Commission’s Directorate General responsible for the internal market (GROW) organised a workshop on the requirements of the Implementing Act. In the afternoon, DG GROW together with Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (CNECT) and DIGIT organised the second workshop dedicated to the results of the bilateral meetings with the national coordinators.
The overall goal of the meeting was to gather more feedback from the national coordinators on the OOP Blueprint and collect the issues they may have while deploying it in the future and integrating it to their national systems.
Publication of the 2020 eInvoicing Country factsheets
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The European Commission is happy to announce this year's publication of the eCEF eInvoicing Country factsheets.
The European Commission commissioned this data collection in order to provide an accurate "stay-of-play" of the transposition of Directive 2014/55/EU on eInvoicing in public procurement, adoption of the European standard on eInvoicing (EN 16931-1:2017) and national and Business-to-Government (B2G) solutions. This year, the two major updates are the country data related to the eInvoicing implementation at the sub-central level and the respective national eInvoicing monitoring strategy selected. This work draws exclusively from data provided to the Commission by members of the European Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Electronic Invoicing (EMSFEI). The EMSFEI oversees both the policy and technical implementation mandates for B2G eInvoicing in the EU Member States and additional countries in EEA.
To implement the eInvoicing Directive at the sub-central level, some countries requested a "year of extension", meaning a legal deadline of 18 April 2020 for eInvoicing implementation at the local and regional levels. Today, according to latest country factsheet revisions, thirteen countries are fully or partially compliant with the Directive. Eleven of them have put in place an eInvoicing monitoring.
The country factsheets also provide country-specific information about the national legal frameworks, eInvoicing platforms, implementation of the standard, and the strategy in place to receive and process electronic invoices in each country.
The publication of these factsheets aims to further enhance transparency and cooperation among eInvoicing stakeholders and to encourage a harmonised eInvoicing implementation. For this reason, all the country factsheets are now shared on CEF Digital, and more information on eInvoicing are available on the website of Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) eInvoicing Building Block.
CEF Building Blocks presented at Open Day on Management of Logistics Networks, Lisbon
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On 4 February 2020, the European Commission presented the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Building Blocks during the "Open day on Management of Logistics Networks" held in Lisbon, Portugal.
The presented included the Digital Innovation Challenge, which invites Europe's Digital SMEs and startups to innovate and grow their business based on our open and reusable solutions. First prize is €50 000, submit your proposal by 28 February 2020!
The Open day on Management of Logistics Networks raised awareness of the benefits of the digital transformation in the logistics and transport sector within public and private sector stakeholders involved in this sector.
The Portuguese Directorate General for Maritime Policy supported the event and gathered various European initiatives aiming to encourage and improve digitalisation in this sector, such as eFreight, UBL and PEPPOL.
This initiative is closely linked with the follow up of the CEF Transport funded project e-Impact that demonstrated how CEF eDelivery can be used to improve logistics and ports management.
To build a Digital Single Market, CEF programme funds generic and reusable digital infrastructures, 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 eight Building Blocks: Big Data Test Infrastructure, Context Broker, eArchiving, eDelivery, eID, eInvoicing, eSignature and eTranslation.
A Blockchain DSI (the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI)) will soon become a fully operational Building Block, and the Once Only Principle (OOP) is a preparatory action under CEF.
Domibus v4.2 support for WebLogic 12.2.1.4
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For users of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) eDelivery Building Block sample software – Domibus – the only WebLogic version supported by the upcoming version Domibus 4.2 (release scheduled for December 2020) will be 12.2.1.4 .
CEF eDelivery helps public administrations to exchange electronic data and documents with other public administrations, businesses and citizens, in an interoperable, secure, reliable and trusted way. The CEF eDelivery Access Point implements a standardised message exchange protocol – AS4 – that ensures interoperable, secure and reliable data exchange. Domibus is the Open Source project of the AS4 Access Point maintained by the European Commission.
Domibus version 4.1.2 and future 4.1+ versions support, and will support both WebLogic Version 12.1.3 and 12.2.1.4 . Only the latter will continue to be supported from Domibus 4.2 onwards.
Below you will find the list of application servers and databases currently supported by Domibus:
- Tomcat 8.5.x
- WebLogic Version 12.1.3 and 12.2.1.3 (tested versions, future versions might also work)
- Wildfly 12
- Oracle 12c
- MySQL 5.6
CEF eDelivery promotes 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 condenses in a single specification a series of well-known web-services specifications, such as WS-Security and SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) with Attachments. AS4 is typically used for the secure and reliable exchange of documents, can be used in virtually every sector or business domain.
The number one smart city in the world uses CEF Context Broker to effectively manage Big Data
For the second year in a row, Vienna ranked first in the Smart City Strategy Index 2019. Learn what lies behind their success and how CEF contributed.
Quick facts
- Project: VeroCity platform (https://smartdata.wien)
- Location: The City of Vienna, Austria
- Problem: How to collect and consolidate data for enhanced public services and innovation
- Solution: A context-aware open data platform that increases transparency and insight
- CEF Building Block: Context Broker
Behind Vienna’s success
A major contributor to Vienna's top ranking position is the central Smart City Agency dedicated to coordinating and monitoring the success of all projects. This approach has resulted in highly integrated solutions for mobility, the environment, education, healthcare and public administration. For managing one of the biggest challenges for smart cities, big data, Vienna has the VeroCity Platform (https://smartdata.wien). Vienna was actually the first city in the German-speaking world to publish open government data already in 2011, but the platform takes open data to a whole new level. Its data aggregation and analysis capabilities are based on the European Commission’s Context Broker building block, which can sort through data of all sorts and sources from all across the city.
The Context Broker allows the platform to offer real-time information through visual dashboards that cater to the needs of all stakeholders from residents to city officials and software developers. The platform can facilitate day-to-day activities, such as urban mobility, environmental monitoring, urban infrastructure, energy efficiency and more. In addition to the web services offered by the platform, the city’s open data and open interfaces have led to remarkable innovation, as more than 200 new apps have been developed by third-party software engineers.
Data is the new oil – if you can make sense of it
Smart city strategies are often based on big and open data to enhance the city’s quality of life and foster innovation. But sorting through unharmonised data to understand context and interrelationships is time consuming for data engineers. Data can come from many sources and formats, such as legacy systems, users (mobile apps), sensor networks (IoT devices), static datasets (CSV or spreadsheets) and APIs, without any pattern.
Context Broker helps to build pictures
The Context Broker aggregates data and transfers any platform into a context-aware system – turning a spreadsheet of numbers into actionable insight. Let’s use Vienna’s e-bike sharing service as an example to understand how Context Broker made the VeroCity platform smart. The main context data entity in this case is the e-bike sharing station. Context attributes are additional properties of the entity that add critical information, such as the location of the station and the number of e-bikes available. With this knowledge, Context Broker builds a complete picture of the station for actionable insight.
Screen shot from the VeroCity platform showing information for a Sycube e-bike sharing station.
The dashboard shows that the station has seven bike boxes (see "Station boxes count") with one bike available ("Parked bikes") and six free spots available for returning bikes ("Free boxes"). Further information on individual e-bike usage can be found under Sycube trip data ("Fahrtdaten"). Data on the dashboard is automatically updated every two seconds to provide real-time information on the use of the service provided by a local company, Sycube. This can, for example, allow the city to analyse the use of e-bikes and make policy decisions to enhance mobility. Data visualisation through the dashboard is achieved thanks to Context Broker's data manipulation capabilities.
Benefits for all stakeholders
Citizens and city officials benefit from the platform's web services that can facilitate daily activities from urban mobility to environmental monitoring. The platform gives access to readily organised and visualised information without having to go through raw data. This provides the city unparalleled transparency across policy areas for monitoring and benchmarking, while promoting citizen participation in shaping the future of the city.
For software developers, Context Broker saves time and money with readily available solutions. The APIs make it easy to integrate Context Broker with existing and future systems, they enable cross-sector data interchanges, and facilitate the creation and maintenance of context data models. Context Broker is an open-source solution, eliminating the risk of vendor lock-in. The open-source software, open data and open interfaces also provide opportunities for third-party developers to innovate and get involved in creating smart cities. A complete suite of complementary solutions is provided by FIWARE for data modelling, data visualisation, security, user management and more.
Context Broker at the centre of the solution
VeroCity used Context Broker’s reference implementation, the Orion Context Broker. Orion is an open source software designed to take into account all specifications and save developers time and money. The Context Broker also provides an open standard API to communicate with all other applications in the ecosystem, such as an open government database or a dashboarding application. The API also enables sending data to a historical database, called the Data Lake, for monitoring developments across a timeline. Both Context Broker and the API were developed by the FIWARE association based on the global NGSI specifications. FIWARE’s version of the NGSI interface is a RESTful API that uses HTTP to transfer context data between applications. The API allows data to be retrieved for both one-time queries and subscriptions. The illustration below depicts the solution, with the arrows representing data flows.
Vienna chose relevant data models from FIWARE to define how entities and attributes relate to each other. This helps Context Broker to understand how data can be aggregated from the various different sources, including:
- Open Government Data from two open data portals
- Other public sources of data, such as maps and real-time traffic cameras for geospatial data and live camera feed
- Other local data providers
For the API, Vienna chose to use the latest NGSI v2 data model with enhanced support for linked data. This makes it easier to create associations between entities, which facilitates establishing meaningful context for data. A security layer ensures that each stakeholder only sees the data that they are authorized to see. After one year of adapting and customising the solution, it now handles a wide range of data requests with innovative visualisation capabilities based on FIWARE’s complementary business intelligence component, KnowAge.
Next steps for the platform
Vienna is one of the three European lighthouse cities in the Smarter Together initiative, aiming to improve citizens’ quality of life by finding the right balance between ICT technologies, citizen engagement and institutional governance to deliver smart and inclusive solutions. The VeroCity platform is also used for this initiative to pilot solutions in the district of Simmering in Vienna around three use cases: facility management, monitoring mobility and harmonisation of facility and energy information. Vienna will monitor the results, share them with other cities and upscale finalised solutions throughout the city.
How can Context Broker help you?
If you’re interested in using Context Broker for a project of your own, we would be happy to help you get started. The documentation and support services provided by CEF are described on our website and available to all.
Q3 2019: CEF Building Block adoption reaches new heights
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An increasing number of projects are adopting the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Building Blocks, as attested by the latest quarterly figures.
Adoption reached an all-time high of 235 projects reusing or committed to reusing the CEF-financed open and reusable solutions during Q3 2019. This represents an increase of 15% since Q2 2019, when recorded reuse-cases stood at 203!
Uptake at a glance
- Big Data Test Infrastructure: the number of projects using the BDTI remained stable at 23;
- Blockchain: all EU Member States are now participating in the European Blockchain Partnership (EBP);
- Context Broker: 13 organisations are reusing the Context Broker, which is an increase of 18% compared to previous quarter;
- eArchiving: 15 projects are now reusing eArchiving, which is stable compared to previous quarter;
- eDelivery: 588 eDelivery access points were operational in Q3 2019, a new all-time high, and an increase of 5% compared to previous quarter.
- eID: the number of reviewed eID schemes is stable at 13 countries;
- eInvoicing: 23 Member States had a B2G eInvoicing solution in 2019, up from 21 in 2018
- eSignature: the number of eSignature Conformance tests increased by 18%;
- eTranslation: 76 million pages were translated using eTranslation, which is an increase of 25% compared to the previous quarter;
Evolution of reuse
Q4 2014 - Q3 2019, CEF monitoring dashboard
Discover more insight in the CEF reuse dashboard. The reuse journey evolves from analysis, to commitment and finally into reuse after the implementation of one or more CEF Building Blocks.
A new look for the Building Blocks Dashboard
On the latest release of the CEF dashboard, we’ve reorganised the information to make it more accessible. You can now find all information relating to a specific Building Block on a single page. The dashboard now also features a highlight section with key figures for each Building Block.
The European Commission updates the CEF Dashboard on a quarterly basis to improve the visibility on the progress made by CEF Building Blocks.
The CEF Dashboard provides an overview of the uptake, progress, financial management and reuse of the digital infrastructure funded through the CEF Telecom Programme.
Here is an overview of the newly updated dashboard for the eTranslation Building Block:
To build a Digital Single Market, the 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 eight Building Blocks: Big Data Test Infrastructure, Context Broker, eArchiving, eDelivery, eID, eInvoicing, eSignature and eTranslation.
A Blockchain DSI (the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI)) will soon become a fully operational Building Block, and the Once Only Principle (OOP) is a preparatory action under CEF.
Finland sets record with the EU Presidency Translator
Finland has concluded its Presidency of the European Union by setting a new record with the EU Presidency Translator: 12.7 million words translated in six months
Finland has set an excellent example to the rest of Europe by taking advantage of AI-powered neural machine translation (NMT) to facilitate and speed up multilingual communication during its Presidency of the EU Council from July 1 to December 31, 2019. Finland has set a new record for the EU Presidency Translator: 740 thousand translations with more than 12.7 million words, and a record high translation volume in November: 3.7 million words translated during just one month.
To support the Presidency of the EU Council in dealing with massive amounts of multilingual information, language technology company Tilde, acting in close partnership with the European Commission machine translation service eTranslation, developed a Presidency Translator tailored to the specific needs of each Presidency country. The Presidency Translator is a multilingual communication tool that enables Presidency staff, delegates and public sector employees automatically translate texts, entire documents, and websites. It relies on the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) eTranslation service supplemented by custom MT systems developed by Tilde for secure machine translation into all official EU languages.
Kaisa Kuhmonen, Head of Language Services Unit for the Prime Minister’s Office of Finland: "The Council Presidency Translator project provided the Prime Minister’s Office with an excellent opportunity to use a customized machine translation system. After a short testing period, our language specialists included machine translation in their daily translation activities for official Presidency documents and administrative texts. Our language specialists were very satisfied with the neural machine translation and ease of its use, as it seamlessly integrated into our translation memory.”
The recent AI advances have enabled Tilde and eTranslation teams to achieve a qualitative breakthrough in machine translation for such small and structurally challenging languages as Finnish. Neural Machine Translation is based on deep machine learning from large volumes of human translated text. The MT engine for the Finnish language was trained by Tilde that relied on more than 20 million translated sentences, which is comparable in size to 2,317 Harry Potter books. In Finland, the Presidency Translator is used not only for Presidency’s purposes, but also highly appreciated by numerous public bodies and individual users. The average daily number of words translated by the Presidency Translator amounts to more than 100,000.
The EU Presidency Translator is a unique solution that combines the best of two powerful machine translation systems. CEF eTranslation enables translation for all the 24 official EU languages and Tilde’s custom Neural MT provides superior-quality translation adapted for the Presidency requirements. The EU Presidency Translator is a high-quality automated translation tool that enables staff, journalists, delegates and translators to process large translation quantities in a short period of time. Presidency staff members can use automated translation of texts, full text documents with the support for most popular Office formats and websites. Journalists can quickly translate documents, press releases and local news site. Delegates can participate in multilingual meetings by quickly translating words and phrases during the meeting while translators can integrate it into their CAT tools that helps them boost translation productivity and efficiency. Solutions developed for all Council presidencies are also available to everyone else free of charge at www.presidencymt.eu.
Artūrs Vasiļevskis, Head of Machine Translation Solutions at Tilde: “Working with EU Presidencies allows us to make our contribution to preserving multilingualism in the digital age, and we take great pride in what we have achieved. The EU Presidency Translator has dramatically improved translation efficiency and helps to overcome language barriers and work in multilingual environments. Tilde has provided machine translation solutions to the last six Council Presidencies and is happy to integrate translation technologies for the purposes of Croatia's Presidency that will take place during the first half of 2020.”
About Tilde
Tilde is a leading European language technology innovator and service provider that strives to seal the gap created by language barriers and to enable language diversity in the digital age. By relying on the latest cutting-edge AI-driven technology, Tilde develops custom machine translation systems, online terminology services, intelligent virtual assistants, speech technologies, and proofing tools. In 2019, Tilde received the “Innovation and Export Champion” award from the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA) and the Ministry of Economics of the Republic of Latvia for its innovative AI-driven language technologies.
For media enquiries concerning Tilde, you can contact Liga Strautniece via +371 24422470 or email.
About CEF eTranslation
CEF eTranslation helps the European and national public administrations exchange information without language barriers in the EU by offering machine translation capacities that allow all Digital Service Infrastructures (DSIs) become multilingual. This project is partly funded by a CEF Telecom grant "Translation Automation Services for EU Council Presidency (2018-EU-IA-0079)". This funding from the CEF Telecom program administered by the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) is made available annually for the uptake of eTranslation in Europe, as well as to support the provision of language resources to CEF eTranslaton. Eligible parties can apply for funding by submitting a proposal during the annual application period.
eInvoicing Code Lists: 8 February deadline for change requests
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Those who wish to have new codes added to the next version of the VATEX and/or EAS code lists, are kindly invited to submit Requests for Change by 8 February 2020.
Subsequent requests (such as changes or bug fixes) will be included in the next release in six months’ time.
The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) eInvoicing Building Block serves as 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 CEF Digital website or directly via the through the Service Desk.
CEF Digital provides a Registry of supporting technical resources (validation artefacts, code lists, etc.) to implement the European standard on eInvoicing. You can receive email notifications for each update to the items included in the registry (such as these code lists) directly on the dedicated page in the CEF eInvoicing User Community (simply follow the instructions at the bottom of the page).
CEF eInvoicing
The European Commission supports public administrations comply with Directive 2014/55/EU on electronic invoicing in public procurement with the CEF eInvoicing Building Block.
The Directive mandated the creation of a European standard on eInvoicing. The European standard 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.
CEF eInvoicing makes the following services available: