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The impact of important Single Market policies on the development of Pan-

European Services and Products

i2010 Conference

Information Society at the Crossroads 13-14 MAY 2008

Nick Leapman, telephone: +32 2 295 12 66 nicholas.leapman@ec.europa.eu

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The Issue

• Single Market legislator has increasingly been opting for electronic solutions

• Assumption that the building blocks of the information society are in place

• The real world is full of surprises

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Single Market ReviewNovember 2007

Single Market policy makers want interoperability across e-government solutions:

• ICT is essential tool to make the Single Market work• Risk that Member States opt for incompatible solutions• New “e-barriers” could emerge for end-users• Need to redouble efforts to avoid market fragmentation

and promote commonly agreed ICT solutions• Action Plan in 2008 to promote implementation of

interoperable signatures and e-authentication

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3 Single Market initiatives that create demand for interoperable

solutions

• SEPA and e-invoicing

• Electronic public procurement

• Services Directive

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SEPA and e-invoicing

• SEPA: – Single Euro Payments Area aims to create a world class

payment system for the EU

• E-invoicing: – Essential part of an efficient financial supply chain as it links the

internal processes of enterprises to the payment systems

• SEPA & E-Invoicing:– SEPA and a successful European e-Invoicing initiative would

complement each other, by linking e-invoicing directly with payments

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SEPA and e-invoicing

• Huge Benefits: – Savings potential of e-Invoicing (SEPA Cap Gemini study):

• Cost reductions due to e-Invoice = 70-75% (of a paper invoice)• Estimated potential cost savings of € 238 Billion over 6 years

• Risk: – In many MS, individual e-invoicing initiatives are emerging:

• Risk of emergence of multiple solutions which are not interoperable • If this risks materializes: full potential of e-invoicing will not be

achieved

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The EU FRAMEWORK for ePROCUREMENT

A comprehensive legal and policy framework

• Entry into force of new public procurement directives (Apr 2004)

• Transposition by MS (21 months - 31 Jan 2006) – nearly complete

• Action plan on e-procurement 2005-2007 (Dec 2004)

• i2010 eGovernment Action plan (April 2006)

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The EU LEGAL FRAMEWORK: objective

Allow automation of full procurement-to-payment process chain preserving all existing procedural guarantees

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The EU LEGAL FRAMEWORK: rules (1)

• Requirements for electronic communication and receipt of offers

– Non-discrimination– Transparency– Fair competition

• Rules for innovative electronic purchasing practices

– Repetitive purchases, e.g. dynamic purchasing systems– Electronic auctions

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The EU LEGAL FRAMEWORK: rules (2)

• Electronic means on equal footing with paper

• All stages of the procedure can be conducted online

• Flexible and technology-neutral framework

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Implications for ICT products and services(1)

• e-procurement creates strong demand for specialised ICT products

– comprehensive e-procurement systems solutions and electronic documents

– specific tools, e.g. e-auctions, e-catalogues, Dynamic Purchasing systems (‘DPS’)

– standardised product descriptions and inventory management solutions (e.g. product classifications and dictionaries)

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Implications for ICT products and services (2)

– links to B2B applications for e-ordering, e-invoicing and e-payments

– user-friendly, multilingual interfaces

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Implications for ICT products and services (3)

The challenge

– All solutions must preserve existing procedural guarantees

– To do that they must be generally available, non-discriminatory and interoperable

– All solutions must provide secure means of electronic authentication and signature

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THE ECONOMIC PRIZE: What are we talking about? (1)

• The public sector: by far the biggest buyer in the economy

– Estimated total EU public procurement (2006): 1.800 bn. EUR (16% of EU GDP)

– Estimated total above thresholds (TED): 370 bn. EUR (3% of EU GDP)

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THE ECONOMIC PRIZE: What are we talking about? (2)

• Very large savings and efficiency gains

– from e-procurement: 5% on prices, 50-80% on transaction costs

– 5% of savings may correspond to up to 1% of GDP

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Services Directive

• Entry into force - 28.12.2006

• Implementation – by 28.12.2009

• Objectives– Remove barriers to the establishment of

service providers (Art. 43 ECT)– Remove barriers to the cross border provision

of services (Art. 49 ECT)

• Horizontal nature – wide range of different services

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Main Implementation Aspects

• Simplification of procedures

• Electronic procedures

• Establishment of Points of Single Contact

• Mutual assistance (supported by the Internal Market Information system - IMI)

• Rights of recipients

• Quality of services

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Electronic procedures (Article 8)

• Possibility of completion of all formalities and procedures at a distance and by electronic means

• Availability for national and foreign service providers

• Cross border dimension• Interoperability issues

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Implications for ICT products and services

• Services Directive creates strong demand for specialised ICT products– Transactional software for completion of e-procedures– User-friendly multilingual interfaces– Software for back office integration– Software to create standardised forms such as form

generator– Tools for electronic delivery of documents such as

document safes, personal web spaces– Tools for secure electronic payment

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European Council Conclusions13/14 March 2008

In the context of the Services Directive it is an immediate priority to:

“Improve the functioning of the “e-Single Market” by putting in place cross-border

interoperable solutions for electronic signature and e-authentication”

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Main Interoperability Challenges for the Single Market

• Electronic signatures– Use of qualified signatures– Use of advanced signatures– Issues related to trust

• Electronic identification and authentication– Different systems ranging from soft to strong ID– Temporary solution by end of 2009– Large Scale Pilot on e-ID aiming at interoperable EU wide solution

• Documents– Transition from paper to electronic world– Authentication of documents– Different types and formats– Long term migration to electronic documents