"Communication is key". "Regulation will not happen on its own". "We need consistency between national and European requirements". "We need to have one Digital Single Market and not 28 digital markets".

These are just a few of the key messages that we would particularly like to retain from what was welcomed as a successful event last Monday, 19 December 2016.

Only 6 months have passed since the switch-over to the new regime for electronic trust services under eIDAS and there is a lot of movement out there. Lots of changes, opportunities, but still also obstacles and challenges. New services are emerging, new markets are opening and creating new business opportunities. Trust Service Providers are moving towards qualification, but the qualification process is tough and real commitment is needed. eIDAS is offering concrete opportunities to make the EU an attractive location for business. However, actual obstacles still remain and need to be addressed.

Nonetheless, the real main obstacle seems to be non-awareness. Some people do not know about eIDAS. Departments in the same firm have difficulties in speaking to each other not because of different languages but because of the same language spoken differently, e.g. in conversations between the legal, financial and technical departments. A successful implementation of eIDAS requires a significant mix of technical and legal expertise and this calls for businesses to put together multi-disciplinary teams. This is why communication at all levels is essential, and the eIDAS Observatory is for us all to launch discussions, ask questions, share ideas.

The role of the EU trust mark, the "unknown known" as described by Ulrika, was clearly recognised as an important tool ensuring to build trust in society, between citizens and businesses and to provide transparency in the market, together with the EU Trusted Lists "the known known" and the constitutive value that they have acquired under eIDAS.

The need for standards as a key element in order for the market to work was raised together with the need for secondary legislation. Standardisation organisations are working on updating the relevant standards as was shown by Riccardo and we, at the Commission, have adopted all the mandatory implementing acts under the Regulation and we now follow specific principles for the adoption of further secondary legislation. In this context, ENISA has been drafting a number of guidelines in the context of the Trust Services' chapter and will continue to support the eIDAS implementation through its activities, including the TSP Forum which will take place some time next year.

In addition, under the Connecting Europe Facility, we have been showing that interoperability is not an issue and the eSignature and eDelivery (and eID) building blocks are ready and available for use.

All in all, it has been an intense and constructive day with highly interesting panel discussions and valuable exchanges of views and analysis of the obstacles and opportunities.

We will possibly see you again for our first year after the switch over. In the meantime, we need to make further efforts to better communicate, raise awareness, and convince all actors of the value of electronic trust services that bring legal certainty and cross-border recognition in a market that is increasingly borderless and digital.

So our plea to you is: use the eIDAS Observatory, make it your own, share your experiences, address your questions, learn from each other.

On our side, we will do our best to answer your questions and continue our quest to deliver a real Digital Single Market for the benefits of us all, at national, EU and international level.