The “Once-Only” Principle (TOOP) Project Is Underway

On 1 January 2017, the European Commission launched the “Once-Only” Principle (TOOP) project. The “Once-Only” principle in the context of the public sector means that citizens and businesses supply diverse data only once to a public administration.

On 18 and 19 April 2017, TOOP organised a workshop with over 50 organisations (public administration organisations, research organisations and private companies) from EU Member States and Associated Countries to align the understanding of the use-cases and requirements of the project.   

The eDelivery building block, supported by the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), the EU's main financing instrument for cross-border networks, was represented to ensure that this building block can be reused in "once-only" approaches in the context of the TOOP project. CEF eDelivery allows European public administrations to send and receive data in an interoperable, secure, reliable and trusted way.

The TOOP project is funded under Horizon 2020 research and innovation program and coordinated by the Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia). The project explores and demonstrates the “once-only” principle on a cross-border scale with the aim to reduce the administrative burden of businesses and public administrations. The project is part of the EU eGovernment Action Plan 2016-2020 and will contribute towards the creation of a Digital Single Market.