The EU Commission has taken the initiative to set up the European blockchain regulatory sandbox. The objectives of the programme are to break down the walls between innovation and regulation, enhancing dialogue and understanding of the regulatory issues as well as legal certainty and to develop best practices across sectors and EU/EEA regions.
The sandbox is a facility that brings together national and EU regulators, companies and tech experts to test innovative solutions and identify obstacles from a legal & regulatory perspective in a safe environment.
The EU Commission has procured the set up and operation of the European blockchain regulatory sandbox and has selected Bird & Bird and its consulting arm OXYGY for this task. The consortium is supported by blockchain experts from WBNoDE with a wealth of experience in blockchain technologies across different sectors. The selection of use cases will be supervised by a panel of three independent experts.
The regulatory sandbox is not only about EBSI (the European Blockchain services infrastructure). This is a sandbox for both private and the public sector use cases across sectors and regions. The sandbox is also not limited to a specific blockchain infrastructure.
Latest updates
This section of the page will continously update during the course of the project. (Last updated: 23rd January 2023)
EC News item - a short summary of the news item with a hyperlink
Consortium News Item
Consortium News Item - presenting the application process
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the European Blockchain Sandbox?
Over three years, three cohorts of twenty DLT use-cases will be matched with relevant national and EU regulators for a safe and productive dialogue on their top regulatory issues. The use cases will be selected across sectors, regions including start-ups, scale-ups and mature players (60 use cases in total). For each of these selected use cases we will select and invite the relevant regulators to exchange information and enter into a dialogue in a safe environment. Bird & Bird lawyers and experts will contribute legal advice and regulatory experience to the groups. The combined experiences will result in best practices reports that will be made available obviously without disclosing confidential information.
For more information about the project, click on this link to read more.
Why has the EU Commission taken the initiative to set up the European Blockchain Regulatory Sandbox?
How is the European Blockchain Regulatory Sandbox related to other European Commission initiatives such as the EU Digital Finance Platform and the regulatory sandbox on Artificial Intelligence?
What is the relationship between the European Blockchain Regulatory Sandbox and EBSI?
How much time will be required for participation in the European Blockchain Regulatory Sandbox?
What are the benefits for blockchain use cases in having their use-case selected for the European Blockchain Regulatory Sandbox?
What could be considerations for national and EU regulators to take part in the European Blockchain Regulatory Sandbox?
Who can apply to the sandbox?
If you wish to take part in the regulatory sandbox as a use-case in the current cohort, please click on this link to access the Application Form. This form uses the EUSurvey tool, which is the European Union's official survey tool.
How can a use-case owner apply to the sandbox?
If a company applies as a member of a consortium, can they also apply as an individual company with a different use case?
Key documents
The European Blockchain Sandbox project operates on a strict European Commission mandate and along defined quality and operations parameters. In the project, candidates and participants are required to sign and commit to such parameters. Please click on the below document links for more information:
Application Terms
Protocol for Sandbox Participation
Self-declaration of Honour
Selection Criteria
Application Form (in pdf)