CEF Digital 2018 Presented at the Event: Supporting the Implementation of eGovernment at Regional and Local Level

On 15 November 2016, the European Commission organised an event to help regional and local public administrations implement the EU's eGovernment Action Plan 2016-2020.

The seminar presented the various funding mechanisms - such as the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) - available for actions and discussed how to ensure alignment of these investments with the main priorities of the eGovernment Action Plan.

CEF Digital 2018, a programme supported by the Connecting Europe Facility, supports the provision of the CEF building blocks, basic reusable capabilities available for European project designed to facilitate the delivery of digital public services across borders. CEF Digital 2018 also includes Sector Specific Digital Service Infrastructure (DSI), such as in eJustice or Public Open Data, i.e. projects deploying the CEF building blocks. CEF Digital 2018 also has strong links to the eIDAS Regulation on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market, and other relevant EU legislation.

The presentation explained the governance and legal structure behind the Connecting Europe Facility, and CEF Digital 2018, and how the provision of reusable cross-border digital services will support the creation of a Digital Single Market in Europe. Mr Frade noted that CEF Digital 2018 supports both services provided directly by the European Commission (the CEF building blocks) and funding to support the uptake of the CEF building blocks, achieved through grants administrated by the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA). Calls for proposals for CEF eInvoicing and CEF eTranslation remain open until 15 December 2016, with further calls open at six-month intervals until 2020.

In addition, the presentation explored the scope of the CEF building blocks across industry, the public sector, the European Commission and other EU Institutions. Using the example of CEF eID, this building block is currently being reused by the finance sector, national authentication schemes (such as verify.co.uk or egiz.gv.at) and as the European Commission's main authentication platform, EU Login.

Finally, participants were provided with information on the take-up of the CEF building blocks, available online via the CEF Dashboard. The purpose of the CEF Dashboard is to track the performance of the CEF building blocks and to measure progress towards the long-term goals of CEF Digital 2018, as laid out in the CEF Work Programmes.

To learn more about the CEF building blocks, watch our short video now