Three reasons why the ICT Industry should discover CEF eDelivery and eIDAS ERDS

In a recent post, it was argued that CEF eDelivery and the (Qualified) Electronic Registered Delivery Service (ERDS) of the eIDAS Regulation will become key enablers of the Digital Single Market, one of the top 10 priorities of President Juncker in his Political Guidelines. This post concerns the significance of CEF eDelivery and ERDS to the ICT industry, a less heralded yet important subject.

CEF eDelivery and ERDS are a reflection of societal change not only technological change

As shown by the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) of the European Commission: "the European Union as a whole as well as individual Member States are progressing towards a digital economy and society". If we look at the Digital Public Services dimension of this index, it's clear that "Public Administration can take advantage of technology to better address an ever more demanding set of business and citizen needs while at the same time realising significant cost reductions" (the same logic applies to businesses, dimension 4 of the index).

As public administrations and businesses engage in the exchange of documents and data in digital format, the need to secure their transmission becomes of increasing importance. This article will explore why. As a result, CEF eDelivery and ERDS are very likely to become core building blocks for public administrations and businesses as they move from paper-based processes (figure A below) to electronic transactions aligned to ERDS requirements.

Here are three reasons why this change is a source of untapped opportunities for the ICT industry

In short, an insufficient level of security in email technology, the rapid pace of the digitalisation of current paper-based processes and the fledgling nature of a common European regulatory environment is why this change is a source of untapped opportunities for the ICT industry. These points are explained in more detail below.

The first reason is that our day-to-day e-mail account is unlikely to be secure enough to deliver sensitive information and official documents. This happens because we don't tend to encrypt or seal our regular emails nor we require evidences relating to their handling. Even if we accept the security limitations of common email for our 'routine' exchanges, we know that the exchange of official documents and sensitive information must be handled according to different requirements.

The good news is that eIDAS defines a clear set of requirements for ERDS. If these requirements are fulfilled, transmitted data is protected against the risk of loss, theft, damage or any unauthorised alterations.

Whereas eIDAS defines these requirements in a technologically neutral way, CEF eDelivery promotes technical specifications which are capable to meet these provisions. The message protocol of CEF eDelivery is based on web-services technology (not e-mail technology), known as the e-SENS Profile of the AS4 Message Protocol. It's important to note that this message protocol is not owned, created or controlled by the public sector.

Quite the opposite, CEF uses a profile of the ebMS3 and AS4 technical specifications of OASIS, a non-profit consortium that promotes industry consensus for the global information society. This profile is available for free to the ICT industry on the CEF Digital 2018 website. In addition, there are grants covering up to 75% of the costs of its implementation in new or existing software solutions. More information about the grants is available on the CEF Digital 2018 website. In addition to make grants available, the European Commission provides a set of services to support its implementation and mitigate any risks. These services are detailed in an article published on CEF's website.

The second reason is the fact that the digitisation of paper-based processes is already happening in many areas of our society at a pan-European level. Below are a few examples:

• The new rules on e-procurement in the EU will gradually replace the exchange of documents on paper by documents in digital format. Consequently, the way to deliver them will also shift towards electronic delivery.

• Policies towards better mobility of businesses and citizens across the EU often require the exchange of official documents across borders in a digital format. Consequently, the way to deliver them is also shifting towards electronic delivery. The European Account Preservation Order, piloted by the Member States in the e-SENS project, is a good example of this trend.
• The need to share information among national registers of Member States in domains is of key importance for a more secure and prosperous Union. The Interconnection of EU Business Registers is a good example of this trend and many other similar initiatives are under way

In all of the above cases, the exchange of official documents and sensitive information is done directly in digital format. As a result, the associated electronic delivery must be secure, reliable and trusted. This is why CEF eDelivery is currently working with all of these initiatives and several others (all of them are listed on the reuse watch dashboard of CEF), aligned with the ERDS requirements defined by eIDAS.

Therefore, the numerous public administrations and businesses participating in these initiatives will look for software and services conformant to the e-SENS Profile of the AS4 Message Protocol. This will include system integrators capable to integrate this software and service with their IT systems, trust providers who can provide the necessary keys and certificates, training providers knowledgeable of ERDS and CEF eDelivery, etc.

Finally, the third reason is because the advent of a common regulatory environment across Europe is very recent. As ERDS and CEF eDelivery become more used and known by the public and private sector, the more likely it is that they will reuse it in other projects that require the exchange of official documents and/ or sensitive information in digital format.

Experience shows that once CEF eDelivery and ERDS are used within a domain for a specific set of documents/ data, network effects are likely to lead to their adoption for other types of documents/ data. For example, in the eJustice domain, eDelivery facilitates the exchange of European Payment Orders, of Small Claims and soon the exchange of Business Registers information. In addition to this 'demand-side' replication process, research shows that the engagement of the ICT industry in the creation of software and services which enable faster, safer and simpler use of such technology and services can also significantly contribute to its adoption.

Furthermore, industry engagement is very likely to trigger the development of complementary services such as training services and consulting services which support large-scale adoption. Even though the creation of such an ecosystem may require upfront expenditure by all participants, which can be partially offset by the CEF grants, the future is promising as paper based transactions will continue to be replaced by electronic transactions. This includes Business2Business (B2B), Business2Government (B2G) and Government2Government (G2G) transactions. The time to take action is now.

Interested in ERDS and CEF e-Delivery?

If you are interested to know more about ERDS and CEF eDelivery, join the experts of the European Commission in a complimentary webinar on Monday, 12 September 2016 from 15:00 to 16:30 (CET). To ensure your participation, register here.

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