General Report on the Activities of the EU 2024 shows value of “Once-Only”
14 March 2025 | 4 minutes read
On 12 March 2025, the European Commission published its annual activities report for 2024.(opens in a new tab). Among the comprehensive list of activities and priorities for the European Union undertaken in 2024, the report notes the importance of “Once-Only” to Europe’s digital transition.
The Commission is bound by the Union’s founding treaties to a general report on the activities of the Union. These repots describe in detail what challenges the EU addressed and what it achieved during a given year.
In Chapter 5 “A Europe fit for the Digital Age(opens in a new tab)”, this report notes that “Once-Only” contributes to how businesses – and individuals – can use digital technologies do be more productive and more competitive:
“Companies expanding to other Member States often need to prove to authorities in those countries that they are an EU company and to resubmit information, such as their registered office details or the names of their legal representatives, even though these data are already available in the business register of their own Member State. New EU company rules adopted in December, will introduce digital tools to ease this administrative burden. Companies will no longer need to resubmit documents when setting up subsidiaries or branches in other Member States, as this information will be exchanged directly between business registers under the once-only principle.”
The Commission and EU Member States are currently implementing the Once-Only Technical System(opens in a new tab). This system is an EU-wide framework that will help reduce the burden of these administrative procedures. When a business or an individual citizen completes an administrative procedure connected to the Once-Only, they can request that their authentic documents, needed to complete this procedure, to be exchanged directly between the public register and the requesting authorities in all EU Member States. This might be permits, certificates, licences and diplomas, etc. The scope of Once-Only currently covers 21 procedures set out in the Single Digital Gateway Regulation (EU) 2018/1724(opens in a new tab), procedures related to the recognition of professional qualifications (2005/36/EC)(opens in a new tab) and public procurement (2014/24/EU (opens in a new tab) and 2014/25/EU)(opens in a new tab)), and procedures under the Services Directive (2006/123/EC)(opens in a new tab), with the system continuously expanding to further procedures.
Overall, the 2024 report concluded that Europe has adapted to the fast-changing digital landscape by working to ensure that society benefits from technology and that innovation boosts the European Union’s competitiveness and technological sovereignty, while minimising the risk to citizens.
In addition, the general activities report references the results of the 2024 State of the Digital Decade report(opens in a new tab). This annual report keeps track of the progress of the EU towards the objectives and targets for 2030 set by the Digital Decade Policy Programme and provides recommendations for Member States to accelerate their progress in achieving Europe’s Digital Decade.
In 2025, “Once-Only” remains a fundamental way to achieve the EU’s political priorities. Both the recently launched EU competitiveness compass(opens in a new tab) and the 2025 Commission work programme (opens in a new tab) directly call for greater simplification in the Single Market to boost economic competitiveness and innovation.
To learn more about how “Once-Only” is simplifying cross-border administration within the EU Single Market, visit the Once-Only hub(opens in a new tab).