The momentum for dataspaces and eDelivery
Connecting communities and ecosystems
The debate around data spaces gained an incredible momentum. Nowadays, building data spaces is the widely recognised next step in connecting different data ecosystems and achieving a level playing field in line with the European Strategy for Data.
“Data Spaces are a true paradigm shift" is the message echoing among implementers, policymakers, and civil society. Data spaces aim to tackle many of the missing puzzle pieces for true large-scale and open-to-all data exchanges, such as data catalogues, data permits, data usage policies, data exchange agreements, data quality rules and more. Data sharing through data spaces carries with it the potential to improve the lives of citizens, businesses, and public administrations across the EU.
Now, a new challenge lies ahead: how to leverage the existing interconnections and achievements in the best possible way, avoiding redefining the entire technology platform and focusing the new investments and standardisation in fresh areas. This implies a careful cartography of the existing landscape, selecting and supporting the most appropriate market-ready, tested and reliable solutions and standards for use by data spaces. Making the right selection is a critical success factor for reaching the objective of connecting data ecosystems across the continent and beyond.
eDelivery: a trusted solution for data spaces
The eDelivery Building Block is an established provider of open standards, secure and reliable solutions. The building block is currently used in over 84 projects enabling data exchange across the EU and in various sectors – from logistics to the judiciary. Moreover, the market staying power and flexibility of eDelivery solutions are highlighted by the existence of currently 33 eDelivery conformant solutions that have passed the eDelivery conformance testing. This family has been steadily increasing through the years, with a full and detailed list being available on this page.
Thanks to its solid track record as a provider of open standards for secure data exchange, eDelivery is considered a trusted solution for data spaces. This role has been recognised by both the European Commission and external stakeholders, such as the Member States and businesses.
Firstly, the European Commission is promoting eDelivery as one of the solutions for its service offering for dataspaces. The European Commission’s Directorate General for Informatics (DIGIT) features building blocks like eDelivery as available solutions for trustworthy data exchange to ensure secure, cross-domain, and cross-sector data transfer.
Similarly, eDelivery has already been recognized by the Member States and external stakeholders as a suitable solution for creating data spaces across all sectors, from healthcare to mobility.
For example, eDelivery was selected among the reusable solutions for the European Health Data Space (EHDS) pilot. During the 2022 edition of the Semantic Interoperability Conference (SEMIC), EHDS representatives highlighted the importance of eDelivery for HealthData@EU. HealthData@EU is a data-sharing ecosystem of secondary health data within EHDS, connecting entities such as European Health-Related Agencies (e.g., the European Centre for Disease Control, the European Medicines Agency) and health research institutions. eDelivery was chosen for EHDS because it is flexible and configurable, ensuring high-quality data exchange regardless of the number of stakeholders connected to the network.
Furthermore, the Member States are considering eDelivery as one of the top contenders for the messaging infrastructure in another data exchange ecosystem: the European Freight and Transportation Information (eFTI) project. The eFTI data set comprises data elements in an electronic format, providing mandatory regulatory information from economic operators (mainly companies involved in freight transport and logistics) to competent authorities. The implementation of eFTI is monitored by the Digital Transport and Logistics Forum (DTLF) – an expert group of the European Commission that brings together public and private stakeholders from various transport and logistics communities.
eDelivery’s success in providing open standards also makes it a potential candidate for the European Mobility Data Space (EMDS). Another pillar of the European Strategy of Data, the EMDS aims to unlock the potential of mobility data, which is essential for the digital and green transformation of the sector. Given the importance of the building block, eDelivery has been recognised as a relevant player for the PrepDSpace4mobility. During the first Public Stakeholder forum meeting, which took place on February 28th (slides available here), public and private sector representatives convened to chart the future of mobility data sharing while ensuring alignment with the European Data Spaces Technical Framework.
The Data Spaces Symposium – showcasing eDelivery’s success
eDelivery’s prominent role as a data space co-creator was highlighted during the Building Block's participation in the Data Spaces Symposium & Deep-Dive Day from the 21st to the 23rd of March 2023. The event saw over 500 data space enthusiasts crowding the Postillion Centre in The Hague to chart the future of data space implementation.
During the Symposium, the eDelivery team shared a booth and the stage with the Once-Only Technical System (OOTS) team.
The Once-Only Technical System is a fully distributed data space for trusted evidence sharing. It creates an interoperability layer based on common and mature “building blocks", including the eDelivery building block, which creates a secure virtual private network on top of the public Internet. With the Once-Only Technical System, the Commission is establishing a cross-border and cross-sector G2G dataspace supporting the mobility of citizens and businesses in the Single Market.
Throughout the symposium, visitors to the OOTS and eDelivery booth gained access to a dynamic presentation on eDelivery service offering (available here) along with newly developed promotional material (available for download here).
On top of engaging with stakeholders at the eDelivery stand, the team highlighted its role as a data space co-creator during a dedicated pitch on the 23rd of March 2023 deep-dive session. Sharing the main stage of the Postillion Centre with the Once-Only Technical System team, eDelivery’s project officer Bogdan Dumitriu highlighted the building block’s importance in the creation of data spaces. He underlined how the contemporary data-sharing framework calls for cross-sector and cross-domain data spaces rather than isolated data silos.
Ultimately, the Symposium highlighted two vital takeaways: big data spaces are already in deployment – and they will revolutionise the data economy of the future – benefitting citizens, businesses and public administrations.
Similarly, despite legal uncertainties and standardisation challenges, the data space paradigm shift is already happening – and eDelivery is part of it.
The eDelivery team’s participation to Data Space Symposium highlights its key value proposition in building data spaces. Interested in all the webinars planned for the year ahead? You can see them at this link.
Stay tuned for the latest updates on the eDelivery services by checking the building block's Twitter and web page. For more information, do not hesitate to register for personalised news or contact us via our portal or by e-mail: EC-EDELIVERY-SUPPORT@ec.europa.eu.
The eDelivery Building Block
eDelivery is a building block that provides technical specifications and standards, installable software and ancillary services to allow projects to create a network of nodes for secure digital data exchange.
Domibus is the sample software provided by the European Commission to implement an eDelivery AS4 Access Point for the interoperable, secure and reliable data exchange. It is based on the eDelivery AS4 profile, an open technical specification for the secure, web-based, payload-agnostic exchange of data or documents.
DomiSMP is the sample software provided by the European Commission to implement an eDelivery Service Metadata Publisher for publishing and retrieving data necessary for an eDelivery party to dynamically configure its system for message exchange with counterparties using eDelivery. It is based on the eDelivery SMP profile, an open technical specification for publishing service metadata within a 4-corner network.
DomiSML is the sample software provided by the European Commission to implement an eDelivery Service Metadata Locator for an eDelivery party to discover the URLs of other counterparties using eDelivery Access Points and their corresponding metadata. It is based on the eDelivery BDXL profile, an open technical specification for locating Access Points within a network, and on the PEPPOL SML Specification, a technical specification defining a BDXL administration API.
Photos by eDelivery SMCO
European Commission's Third Countries Trusted Lists (TCTL) Programme: What You Need to Know
The Third Countries AdES LOTL (TC AdES LOTL) - A stepping stone towards the mutual recognition of Qualified Trust Services between the EU and Third Countries
With the implementation of Regulation (EU) N°910/2014, commonly known as eIDAS Regulation, by the EU/EEA Member States, the Union has established a very successful and vibrant ecosystem and governance regarding Qualified Trust Services for many years. This success story has triggered the interest of many Third Countries to replicate the European Trust Scheme. The European Commission continuously receives requests from Third Countries for assistance in aligning their Trust Scheme with the European one, with the ultimate goal of reaching an absolute alignment on legal and technical grounds to trigger Article 14 of the eIDAS Regulation.
This article can be used to establish mutual recognition of Qualified Trust Services between the Union and each Third Country that meets the relevant legal and technical criteria. This is the reason for announcing European Commission's TCTL Programme - a programme that defines a roadmap, technical standards and prerequisites to provide a transparent and solid process that will lead to mutual recognition under Article 14 of the eIDAS Regulation.
DG DIGIT, in collaboration with DG CNECT, issued circa two years ago the technical specifications of the Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) to facilitate, from the technical perspective, the inclusion of the Third Countries' Trusted Lists, including information on their national Trust Services, into a dedicated List of Trusted Lists, similar to the European Union List of Trusted Lists (EU LOTL). As an alternative or prior step to establishing formal mutual recognition via an international agreement, the Commission decided to implement and maintain the Third Countries AdES LOTL to facilitate the validation of electronic signatures and seals supported by certificates issued by trust service providers established in Third Countries. This comprehensive list includes all relevant information necessary to interpret the content of Third Countries’ trusted lists in compliance with the EU's requirements and best practices for validating advanced electronic signatures and seals. The EU also acknowledges the demand for voluntary recognition of Third Country trust services, particularly for the recognition of electronic signatures and seals in the context of Articles 27 and 37 of the eIDAS Regulation. Including a Third Country into the Third Countries AdES LOTL can be seen as the stepping stone towards mutual recognition of qualified trust services following the conclusion of an International Agreement. As the first ever third country being included in this list, Ukraine is a frontrunner in this regard. Given the keen interest by many other third countries in mutual recognition of trust services with the EU, the inclusion of Ukraine in this list should be seen as the first step towards expanding the list to many other countries.
Under the TCTL Programme, the European Commission has conducted a technical assessment of the legal and technical aspects of the Ukrainian electronic signatures. It has verified, checked, and vouched for all elements of conformity, ensuring that Ukraine meets all requirements for being part of the trusted list.
In the context of this milestone, new documentation is published in the eIDAS Dashboard dedicated to the International Pilot section:
- Version 2.2 of MRA element’s specification, usage and XSD (ZIP archive), which enables relying parties to understand the syntax and semantic of the TC AdES LOTL.
- Signature applicability rules which enable relying parties to determine whether an electronic signature or seal fits in the recognition scheme established by the TC AdES LOTL.
- The EC provides a report containing all relevant information about the validity of the scheme behind the inclusion of Third Countries on this list.
All the above material can be found in the following link.
In addition, the Digital Europe Programme provides a set of tools to accompany the TC AdES LOTL:
- The Third Countries Trusted Lists Browser.
- The Digital Signature Service (DSS) library supports, since its version version 5.11.1, the interpretation of the content of the TC AdES LOTL.
- The DSS Cookbook provides a detailed guide on how to configure it for electronic signatures and seals validation.
The European Commission's commitment to provide comprehensive and effective tools to validate electronic signatures and seals is a significant step towards a more secure, global and seamless digital future.
To find out more about the actions taken by the European Commission to move towards alignment of trust services with Third Countries, interested parties can attend the EC-3rd Countries Trust Services Forum to be held on 12 June 2023, from 09:00 to 17:30 (CET) in Brussels in a hybrid mode.
If you would like to attend the event, please register using the form below:
The Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL) is a new EU funding programme focused on bringing digital technology to businesses, citizens and public administrations.
The European Commission opens the discussion on the transition to a more digital world. Technology and digital infrastructures play a crucial role in our private lives and working environment, which is why the Commission feels the need to provide the necessary tools to best meet this challenge. For more information, please visit The Digital Europe Programme website.
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eInvoicing validation artefacts updated
The European Commission announces the release of the EN 16931 validation artefacts v1.3.10. This is the first update in 2023 of the validation artefacts as part of the services provided by the DIGITAL eInvoicing Building Block. The European standard on eInvoicing defines the rules that allow stakeholders using the EN 16931 standard to ensure invoice compliance with the standard. These rules are expressed in validation artefacts, which make it possible to validate automatically whether an invoice complies with those rules.
Release 1.3.10 of the EN 16931 validation artefacts implements the updated code lists published in March 2023, as well as corrects validation rules, and fixes typos. You can access the full release notes of the validation artefacts here.
The next update of code lists and validation artefacts is foreseen for Autumn 2023 as per its regular scheduled release.
Are you looking to implement the European standard on eInvoicing? The European Commission has got you covered! With a comprehensive Registry of supporting technical resources including validation artefacts and code lists, you can easily streamline the implementation process. Moreover, you can stay up to date with the latest news by opting in for email notifications for each update to the items in the registry. To turn on these notifications, simply follow the easy instructions provided on the dedicated page of the eInvoicing User Community!
Photo Source: EC - Audiovisual Service
eInvoicing Country Factsheets: Second batch updated in 2023
The European Commission is happy to announce the update of the second batch of eInvoicing Country Factsheets of 2023. These Country Factsheets provide comprehensive information on the eInvoicing policies and practices of all 27 EU Member States and 4 additional European Economic Area (EEA) countries. Such information includes policy frameworks, eInvoicing platforms (if existing), strategy in place to receive and process electronic invoices, as well as the use of Core Invoicing Usage Specifications (CIUS). These updated factsheets may also include, in relevant cases, information on the national Digital Reporting Requirements, covering obligations for VAT-taxable persons to submit transaction data digitally.
The eInvoicing Country Factsheets provide an objective, up-to-date picture of the eInvoicing approaches across Europe. It analyses the implementation of electronic invoicing in the EU Member States and additional European Economic Area countries and their alignment with the eInvoicing Directive. Don't miss out on the opportunity to explore and share them!
The second batch of 2023 eInvoicing Country Factsheets includes the following 8 countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Sweden, The Netherlands.
The last batch of updates including the remaining eight factsheets is foreseen for May 2023. Then, the update of all 31 eInvoicing Country Factsheets will be completed.
Additionally, the Commission launched a Call for Evidence on the evaluation of eInvoicing policy in March 2023 to ensure that the eInvoicing Directive remains aligned with stakeholders' needs, as well as the emerging trends and needs. We encourage you, our stakeholders, to share your views by 14 April 2023 via the Have your say portal.
Photo Source: EC - Audiovisual Service
Is it time for a cross-border eDelivery network between citizens and public administrations?
The eDelivery team actively strives to meet stakeholders’ expectations regarding the building block and its implementation. On top of a jam-packed event calendar, the team has been busy responding to outreach requests from the community.
The team was very happy to meet the Lithuanian representative - Ms. Kristina Semene, attaché for Telecommunication and Post from the Lithuanian Permanent Representation to the EU. During the meeting, Ms. Semene presented a secure message exchange success story from Lithuania that connected Lithuanian citizens to the nation's postal network. Given the project's incredible achievement, she pushed for exporting this model on a cross-border scale. Along with Member States with established eDelivery networks, she highlighted that Ukraine could be an ideal partner to be involved in this push toward a pan-European network for sharing data among citizens and administrations.
Meanwhile, an increasing number of implementers are setting up eDelivery networks across the EU, with the latest example coming from Croatia. In December 2022, thanks to a cooperation between Croatian Post, the Ministry of Justice, and the company Sedam IT, Croatia completed an eDelivery network aimed at developing and implementing an electronic document delivery solution for individuals and public administrations. The network created technical and procedural conditions for the digital delivery of registered mail in accordance with the eIDAS Regulation.
Although no information about funding for pilot projects is currently available under the Digital Europe Programme, the team is eager to open the floor to idea exchange to promote the creation of a pan-European eDelivery network for messages exchange. The upcoming Informal Cooperation Network (ICN) for eDelivery, taking place on May 11 in a hybrid format, will be the ideal occasion to have such a discussion. The meeting is a platform for Member States' representatives involved in the setting up of national eDelivery infrastructures to actively contribute to the adoption of eDelivery at national and EU levels. If you’re a Member State representative and you are not included in the forum, you can send a request to join the ICN here.
The eDelivery team looks forward to receiving community members' feedback, suggestions, and success stories. Have a look at our event calendar here to explore all the opportunities to interact with other stakeholders!
If you want to tell us about an eDelivery success story, send us a message at EC-EDELIVERY-SUPPORT@ec.europa.eu.
The eDelivery Building Block
eDelivery is a building block that provides technical specifications and standards, installable software and ancillary services to allow projects to create a network of nodes for secure digital data exchange.
Domibus is the sample software provided by the European Commission to implement an eDelivery AS4 Access Point for the interoperable, secure and reliable data exchange. It is based on the eDelivery AS4 profile, an open technical specification for the secure, web-based, payload-agnostic exchange of data or documents.
DomiSMP is the sample software provided by the European Commission to implement an eDelivery Service Metadata Publisher for publishing and retrieving data necessary for an eDelivery party to dynamically configure its system for message exchange with counterparties using eDelivery. It is based on the eDelivery SMP profile, an open technical specification for publishing service metadata within a 4-corner network.
DomiSML is the sample software provided by the European Commission to implement an eDelivery Service Metadata Locator for an eDelivery party to discover the URLs of other counterparties using eDelivery Access Points and their corresponding metadata. It is based on the eDelivery BDXL profile, an open technical specification for locating Access Points within a network, and on the PEPPOL SML Specification, a technical specification defining a BDXL administration API.
Stay tuned for the latest updates on the eDelivery services by checking the building block's Twitter and web page. For more information, do not hesitate to register for personalised news or contact us via our portal or by e-mail: EC-EDELIVERY-SUPPORT@ec.europa.eu.