• Digital Europe Programme: eDelivery is funded under the Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL), which runs until 2027. Current focus is on preparing the next program cycle for 2025-2027. eDelivery budget discussions are part of the broader European Digital Identity Framework Ecosystem.
• eIDAS regulation: The new eIDAS regulation has been adopted and published. Implementation acts are being prepared, with a set deadline of 6-12 months for completion. Member States must issue EU Digital Identity Wallets two years after the first set of implementing acts are adopted. One implementing act will focus on standards for qualified electronic registry and delivery services, to be adopted within 12 months.
• Upcoming meetings and events: Next Informal Cooperation Network meeting in November, planned as a hybrid event. Member States testimonial webinar scheduled for December 2024 [after the event postponed to January 2025], seeking volunteers for participation.
• Request for reauthorisation of personal data processing in compliance with GDPR: all ICN members need to renew membership for eDelivery team to keep in touch with them.

eDelivery news

• Monitoring approach: Transition from CEF to DEP monitoring framework has been challenging but is now live. New metrics introduced; some previous ones retained. Monitoring dashboard tracks engagement via events and newsletter subscriptions. Data collection from ecosystems is ongoing, with efforts to improve data accuracy. eDelivery team invites to reach out in case of feedback/discrepancies noticed.
• Data Spaces involvement: eDelivery's role in data spaces is critical for scaling interoperability and standardisation efforts. Active participation in the Data Spaces Support Centre consortium and the Data Spaces Technology Group. Promotion of eDelivery as a general-purpose API within data spaces.

eDelivery adoption in ecosystems

• CESOP by DG TAXUD, Union Database of Biofuels, Transparency Register now in production using eDelivery.
• HERA's ATHINA health threat analysis system in early planning stages to use eDelivery.

Profile specifications

• eDelivery 2.0 specifications: Second public consultation completed; significant changes made based on feedback and internal analysis. Interoperability Event planned to test new cryptographic specifications. New versions of specifications expected to be published in the second half of 2024, with rollout anticipated in 2026.
• Ongoing and upcoming changes: Potential changes in 2.0 specifications due to gaps identified in OOTS project requiring hybrid approach, SMP metadata confidentiality, and trust store functions for certificates. Collaboration with ETSI to align eDelivery standards with updated eIDAS2 framework.

eDelivery products

• Domibus: Focus shifted to maintenance, support and quality assurance. Domibus 5.0 and 5.1 received significant patches improving stability. Domibus 5.2 planned for release by end of 2024; Domibus 6.0 tentatively by end of 2025. New technical documentation format introduced, and SQL scripts lifecycle separated for clarity.
• DomiSMP and DomiSML: No new updates; roadmap remains as previously presented. New instructional videos published for DomiSMP.

eDelivery services

• Conformance testing: Implementation of tests for optional profile enhancements to be launched in July 2024. Upcoming tests to strengthen Common Profile validation. Changes to the eDelivery conformant solutions page to improve usability and clarity.
• Events: eDelivery present in upcoming Peppol conference and SEMIC. eDelivery community meetings include Interoperability Forum and ICN. Call for national eDelivery system presentations for the value proposition webinar.
• Communication: Continued focus on newsletter and mailing list engagement. Two-factor authentication required for accessing eDelivery Groups on Confluence by June.

• Simpl is an open-source middleware platform supporting data access and interoperability among European data spaces. It is part of the European Commission's strategy to enhance the data economy and support various sectors. Developed under the EC's policies, legislation and funding for research and deployment. Aligns with the Data Act, Data Governance Act, and Open Data Directive.
• Features: open source to ensure broad adoption and collaboration; middleware platform to facilitate data sharing without managing hardware or services directly; designed to support cloud-to-edge federations and improve interoperability among data spaces.
• Simpl assembles existing components like eDelivery, Eclipse Foundation, Gaia-X and others. Consists of core data services for finding, processing and using data. Designed to be deployable on various infrastructures, including private and public clouds, high-performance computing and edge computing.
• Deployment models: traditional industrial data spaces, smart community models for information exchange between different communities, gateways between ecosystems (like Destination Earth).
• Simpl products: Simpl-Open, the open-source middleware; Simpl-Labs, a playground for prototyping and experimenting with Simpl; Simpl-Live, support for specific data spaces to identify and deploy Simpl needs.
• Project timeline: Initial development started in early 2024. First releases expected by mid-summer. A minimum viable platform targeted for the end of 2024.
• Support and collaboration: Contracts for development awarded to European consortia, including Eviden.
• Plans: Additional funding for extended features and use cases. Potential EuroCloud pilot for public sector data sharing across Member States' infrastructures.
• Simpl aims to incorporate eDelivery, ensuring its compatibility with both public and private sector use cases. Ongoing technical discussions to facilitate this integration.
• MMG encouraged Member States and other stakeholders to engage with Simpl development and provide feedback. Planned release of a white paper detailing integrations and interfaces.
• Q&A: A participant asked about competition with other implementations and Simpl's role as a reference implementation. MMG clarified that Simpl aims to adapt to various use cases rather than enforce a monolithic approach.
• Q&A: A participant asked about planned integrations and interfaces for Simpl users. MMG confirmed that details will be included in the forthcoming white paper.

• Representative of Finland said the ongoing projects in the country include Single Digital Gateway, cross-border data exchange with Harmony eDelivery, national exchange via X-Road, and digital ordering through Peppol.
• Representative of Norway summarised the country's new eDelivery use cases, including OOTS and MyHealth@EU.
• Representative of Denmark said the country is planning a health domain production pilot for 2026, with Dynamic Discovery setup and NemHandel. The pilot involves public and private sectors, with general practitioners and municipalities participating.
• Representative of Poland explained that the country has an eDelivery solution for public and non-public sectors (the mandatory use deadline moved to October 2024) and is integrating public services for communication via eDelivery.
• Representative of NIIS shared the information about a release of production-ready Docker version of the Harmony Access Point, which supports clustering.

• Peppol is a global interoperability ecosystem for exchanging business documents in B2G and B2B environments while OpenPeppol is the non-profit governance organisation responsible for Peppol standards and operations.
• Stakeholder categories: Peppol Authorities are government entities overseeing Peppol implementation in their countries (20 authorities); Service Providers are IT organisations deploying Access Points on the Peppol eDelivery network (372 certified providers); End Users are public and private organisations exchanging business documents via Peppol (over 1 million registered entities).
• Peppol is deployed in 45 countries, including non-European countries like Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia and Japan.
• Peppol's core components: Specifications are Business Interoperability Specifications (BIS) for automated exchanges between trading partners; Network is a standardised eDelivery network using Dynamic Discovery to facilitate seamless data exchange; Governance includes legal agreements and a framework for maintaining interoperability standards and regular updates.
• Currently, Peppol uses the AS4 protocol for data transport, but the governance framework allows for the introduction of other protocols if needed.
• In four-corner model, originators and recipients (corner 1 and corner 4) connect through Access Points (corner 2 and corner 3). This model ensures standardised communication between service providers while allowing for heterogeneous systems at the endpoints.
• Five-corner model was introduced to support continuous transaction control (CTC) and tax reporting by adding a fifth corner (administration). Piloted in countries like France and Singapore, enabling decentralised reporting through service providers.
• Peppol International Model (PINT) was developed to address non-European requirements, ensuring interoperability by standardising core elements of business documents while allowing regional variations.
• Interoperability Framework comprises legal, organisational, semantic and technical interoperability layers. Supports the addition of new business domains like logistics, environmental reporting and construction.
• Member States are interested in using Peppol for B2A and B2G scenarios while retaining regulatory control. The governance framework allows for domain-specific customisation and self-governance by stakeholders. Belgium is moving towards a decentralised invoicing mandate, aligning with Peppol's principles without explicitly naming Peppol in the law.

n/a

Reminder to register to confirm ICN membership or become new members for years 2024-29.

Next Informal Cooperation Network meeting to happen in November.