Common user interface
1. The Commission shall, in close cooperation with the Member States, provide a common user interface, integrated into the ‘Your Europe’ portal, to ensure the proper functioning of the gateway.
2. The common user interface shall give access to the information, procedures and assistance or problem-solving services by means of links to the relevant Union and national level websites or webpages included in the repository for links referred to in Article 19.
3. The Member States and the Commission, acting in accordance with their respective roles and responsibilities, as provided for in Article 4, shall ensure that the information on rules and obligations, on procedures and on assistance and problem-solving services is organised and marked in a way that makes it easier to find through the common user interface.
4. The Commission shall ensure that the common user interface complies with the following quality requirements:
(a)
it is easy to use;
(b)
it is accessible online through various electronic devices;
(c)
it is developed and optimised for different web browsers;
(d)
it meets the following web accessibility requirements: perceivability, operability, understandability and robustness.
5. The Commission may adopt implementing acts laying down interoperability requirements to make it easier to find the information on rules and obligations, on procedures and on assistance and problem-solving services through the common user interface. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 37(2).
Repository for links
1. The Commission, in close cooperation with the Member States, shall establish and maintain an electronic repository for links to the information, procedures and assistance and problem-solving services referred to in Article 2(2) allowing the connection between such services and the common user interface.
2. The Commission shall provide the repository for links with the links to the information, procedures and assistance and problem-solving services accessible on the webpages managed at Union level, and it shall keep those links accurate and up-to-date.
3. The national coordinators shall provide the repository for links with the links to the information, procedures and assistance and problem-solving services accessible on the webpages managed by competent authorities, or by private or semi-private entities as referred to in Article 7(3), and they shall keep those links accurate and up-to-date.
4. Where technically possible, the provision, referred to in paragraph 3, of the links may be carried out automatically between the relevant systems of the Member States and the repository for links.
5. The Commission shall make the information included in the repository for links publicly available in an open and machine-readable format.
6. The Commission and the national coordinators shall ensure that the links to information, procedures and assistance or problem-solving services offered through the gateway do not contain any unnecessary full or partial duplication and overlaps that are likely to confuse users.
7. Where the making available of information referred to in Article 4 is provided for in other provisions of Union law, the Commission and the national coordinators may provide links to that information in order to comply with the requirements of that Article.
Common assistance service finder
1. In order to facilitate access to the assistance and problem-solving services listed in Annex III or referred to in Article 7(2) and (3), the competent authorities and the Commission shall ensure that users can access them through a common assistance and problem-solving service finder (‘the common assistance service finder’) available through the gateway.
2. The Commission shall develop and manage the common assistance service finder, and decide on the structure and format in which the descriptions and contact details of the assistance and problem-solving services need to be provided, to enable the proper functioning of the common assistance service finder.
3. The national coordinators shall provide the descriptions and contact details as referred to in paragraph 2 to the Commission.
Responsibilities for the ICT applications supporting the gateway
1. The Commission shall be responsible for the development, availability, monitoring, updating, maintenance, security and hosting of the following ICT applications and webpages:
(a)
the Your Europe portal, referred to in Article 2(1);
(b)
the common user interface, referred to in Article 18(1), including the search engine or any other ICT tool that enables searchability of web information and services;
(c)
the repository for links, referred to in Article 19(1);
(d)
the common assistance service finder, referred to in Article 20(1);
(e)
the user feedback tools, referred to in Article 25(1) and point (a) of Article 26(1).
The Commission shall work in close cooperation with the Member States to develop the ICT applications.
2. The Member States shall be responsible for the development, availability, monitoring, updating, maintenance and security of ICT applications related to the national websites and webpages that they manage and that are linked to the common user interface.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
