On 28 June 2023, the Once-Only Technical System project was shortlisted among the top four projects in the European Ombudsman Award for Good Administration 2023 in the “Excellence in Innovation” category. The winner in this category was the EU Digital COVID Certificate, submitted by Commission Directorates-General JUST, CNECT and SANTE.

A total of 11 projects made it into the longlist for the “Excellence in Innovation” category.

The Once-Only Technical System securely connects the authentic sources of EU public authorities, so they can exchange official documents and data (evidence), at the request of citizens and businesses as part of cross-border administrative procedures e.g., when registering an address or vehicle or when moving abroad. Simply click ‘request’, and away you go. This innovative system eliminates the complicated manual search, mapping and fetching of evidence between EU Member States.

Introduced in 2017, the Award for Good Administration recognises actions by the EU public service that have a visible and positive impact on the lives of citizens and aims to encourage the sharing of good ideas and practices.

Once-Only will increase the efficiency of the Single Market by drastically reducing red tape. It will also make the life of citizens and businesses easier and reduce the cost of mobility – the time and money spent in administrative procedures.

As an innovative digital infrastructure, the Once-Only Technical System contributes significantly to the twin green and digital transitions, reducing energy consumption through the digitalisation process and reducing administrative burdens within the Union. An EU data space, the Once-Only Technical System contributes to exploiting the authentic sources of all Member States by making access to their data across borders much easier.

The Once-Only Technical System truly demonstrates European innovation.

It serves services to remove obstacles while imposing no obligations on citizens or businesses (in other words, the manual upload of evidence is still possible, wherever desired). Once operational, the Once-Only Technical System will make it much easier for citizens to study, move, work, retire or do business across the EU.

Through this digital innovation of public service in the Single Market, the Once-Only Technical System will significantly improve the experience of those seeking to utilise their EU rights and benefit from the latest technological advancements.

Being among the top four projects in this award category can only encourage the national teams currently implementing the Once-Only Technical System. The deadline for this implementation is the 12 December 2023.

You can keep up to date on the Once-Only Hub.