General principles
1. The Commission shall publish Interoperable Europe solutions and the EIF on the Interoperable Europe portal, by electronic means, in formats that are open, machine-readable, accessible for persons with disabilities in accordance with Directives (EU) 2016/2102 ( 19 ) and (EU) 2019/882 ( 20 ) of the European Parliament and of the Council, findable and re-usable, if applicable, together with their documented source code and metadata. Machine-translated versions of the Interoperable Europe solutions shall be published on the Interoperable Europe portal in all the official languages of the Union institutions.
2. The Board shall monitor the overall coherence of the recommended interoperability solutions, and propose measures to ensure, where appropriate, their compatibility with other interoperability solutions that share a common purpose, while supporting, where relevant, their complementarity with or transition to new technologies.
European Interoperability Framework and specialised interoperability frameworks
1. The Board shall develop a European Interoperability Framework (EIF). It shall submit the EIF to the Commission for adoption. In the event that the Commission adopts the EIF, it shall publish the EIF in the Official Journal of the European Union.
2. The EIF shall provide a model and a set of recommendations for legal, organisational, semantic and technical interoperability as well as for its governance, that are addressed to all entities falling within the scope of this Regulation for the purpose of facilitating interactions among each other through their network and information systems. The EIF shall be taken into account in the interoperability assessment referred to in Article 3 and in the Annex.
3. The Commission may, after consulting the Board, adopt other interoperability frameworks (specialised interoperability frameworks) targeting the needs of specific sectors or administrative levels. Specialised interoperability frameworks shall be based on the EIF. The Board shall assess the alignment of the specialised interoperability frameworks with the EIF. The Commission shall publish the specialised interoperability frameworks on the Interoperable Europe portal.
4. Where a Member State develops a national interoperability framework and other relevant national policies, strategies or guidelines, it shall take the EIF into utmost account.
Interoperable Europe solutions
1. The Board shall recommend interoperability solutions for the cross-border interoperability of trans-European digital public services. Where the Board makes such a recommendation, that solution shall carry the label ‘Interoperable Europe solution’ and shall be published on the Interoperable Europe portal, clearly distinguishing between Interoperable Europe solutions and other solutions. Where the Board withdraws its recommendation the ‘Interoperable Europe solution’ label shall be removed and, where necessary, the solution shall be deleted from the Interoperable Europe portal.
2. The Interoperable Europe solutions shall adhere to the principles of openness and reuse and shall meet the criteria referred to Article 15(5), point (i).
Interoperable Europe portal
1. The Commission shall provide a portal as a single point of entry for information related to cross-border interoperability of trans-European digital public services (the ‘Interoperable Europe portal’). The Interoperable Europe portal shall be electronically accessible to all citizens, including persons with disabilities, and such access shall be free of charge. The Interoperable Europe portal shall have at least the following functions:
(a)
providing access to Interoperable Europe solutions in a user-friendly manner and at least searchable per Member State and per public service;
(b)
providing access to interoperability solutions other than Interoperable Europe solutions, such as those:
(i)
shared pursuant to Article 4(3);
(ii)
provided for pursuant to other Union policies;
(iii)
published on other portals, catalogues or repositories connected to the Interoperable Europe portal;
(c)
providing access to ICT technical specifications eligible for referencing in accordance with Article 13 of Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012;
(d)
providing access to information on the processing of personal data in the context of interoperability regulatory sandboxes referred to in Articles 11 and 12, where any high risk to the rights and freedoms of the data subjects, as referred to in Article 35(1) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and in Article 39 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, has been identified, as well as access to information on response mechanisms to promptly mitigate that risk, including, where appropriate, disclosure of the data protection impact assessment;
(e)
fostering knowledge exchange between members of the Interoperable Europe Community referred to in Article 16, such as providing a feedback system for the expression of views on measures proposed by the Board or for expressions of interest in participating in actions related to the implementation of this Regulation;
(f)
listing best practices and knowledge sharing supporting interoperability, including, where appropriate, guidance on public procurement, cybersecurity, IT integration and data governance;
(g)
providing access to the data resulting from interoperability-related monitoring carried out pursuant to Article 20;
(h)
allowing citizens, businesses, in particular SMEs, and civil society organisations to provide feedback on the published content.
2. The Board may propose that the Commission publish other interoperability solutions on the Interoperable Europe portal or have them referred to on the Interoperable Europe portal.
3. The solutions accessible through the Interoperable Europe portal shall:
(a)
not be subject to third party rights that prevent their distribution and use;
(b)
not contain personal data or confidential information;
(c)
have a high-level of alignment with the Interoperable Europe solutions, which may be proven by publishing the outcome of the interoperability assessment referred to in Article 3 and in the Annex;
(d)
use a licence that allows the solution at least to be reused by other Union entities or public sector bodies, or be issued as open source;
(e)
be regularly maintained under the responsibility of the owner of the interoperability solution.
4. Where a Union entity or public sector body provides a portal, catalogue or repository with similar functions, it shall take the necessary and proportionate measures to ensure interoperability with the Interoperable Europe portal. Where such portals collect open source solutions, they shall allow for the use of the European Union Public Licence.
5. The Commission may adopt guidelines on interoperability for portals, catalogues or repositories with similar functions as those referred to in paragraph 4.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
