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Citizens and students help shape the future of the Once-Only Technical System 

23 November 2023 | 3 minutes read

Once-Only Forum for Citizens & Students, 23 November 2023, Brussels

On 23 November 2023, the European Commission held the first in a series of public Forums looking at the Once-Only Technical System. The Once-Only Forums address the current nature of selected cross-border administrative procedures (such as registering a motor vehicle in another EU Member State) and how the Once-Only Technical System will simplify such procedures, saving users time and money.

This Forum gathered a selected group of citizens with first-hand experience in administrative procedures related to either moving and/or studying abroad, such as registering a motor vehicle abroad, registering to a tertiary higher educational institution or applying for study financing.

Participants provided their personal experience with these cross-border procedures. They then examined how the Once-Only Technical System stands to make cross-border administration easier and improve access to the Single Market.

The feedback and input harnessed from this event will help the Commission and EU Member States understand how users perceive the benefits of Once-Only and so help inform the future of the Once-Only Technical System.

The Once-Only Technical System is a technical framework for data sharing. When completing an online procedure, EU citizens and businesses will be able to make an (explicit) request to retrieve official documents or data (known as ‘evidence’) from a public authority in one Member State, such as for a diploma or driving license, and have it automatically exchanged with a competent authority in another EU country (such as educational institutions, population registers, company registers etc.).

Development teams from the Commission and Member States are building the core infrastructure of the Once-Only Technical System (the “Common Services” and other elements). Public authorities who act as the authentic data sources of the evidence that will be exchanged through the Once-Only Technical System will now connect themselves to the System, finally allowing the automated exchange of evidence within the Single Market.

Future Once-Only Forums will take place between now and February 2024. Sign up to contribute to Forums looking at: