The European Commission has launched the Once-Only Hub.
10 November 2022 | 5 minutes read
This Hub is a platform where national teams from the EU Member States (Implementers) will work to realise the Once-Only Technical System, which implements the Once-Only Principle.
A space for national Implementers to build this technical system
The Once-Only Hub is a space for Implementers – those teams from the EU Member States who are building the Once-Only Technical System. Each EU Member State adopts its own approach to a challenge such as the construction of a pan-European technical infrastructure. A single virtual environment allows these teams to come together, exchange ideas and information on their national approaches to implementing the Once-Only Technical System.
The Once-Only Hub is also a resource for journalists, academics, students, interested parties and citizens who want to learn more about the Once-Only Technical System and the ‘Once-Only’ principle.
The Once-Only Technical System helps EU citizens and businesses
EU citizens and businesses, especially those operating other EU countries, often struggle to fully understand the rules that apply to specific transactions, or the steps required to carry out simple procedures.
The European Commission and national administrations are developing a network of national portals to provide information for citizens and businesses on how EU rules are applied in each EU country for cross-border users. This is known as the Single Digital Gateway established by Regulation (EU) 2018/1724.
This regulation creates the requirement for all EU Member States to enable the automated exchange of evidence.
These evidences are documents or data needed when performing simple procedures like requesting proof of registration of birth, submitting an income tax declaration or claiming pension or a company’s payment of social contributions for employees. The cross-border application of the once-only principle means that citizens and businesses do not have to supply the same data to public authorities more than once.
The Once-Only Technical System is therefore a secure technical system for the automated cross-border exchange of documents (the evidence) between those organisations involved. The Once-Only Technical System allows various governmental portals to request (at the explicit request of the user) the sharing of evidence from one or several competent authorities between different Member States.