Drivers for and Barriers to the Cross-border Implementation of the Once-Only Principle

Abstract

The once-only principle (OOP) aims to reduce interactions between citizens and governments, but many factors challenge its cross-border implementation. Building on the results of the “The Once-Only Principle Project” (TOOP, 2017–2021), an analysis was undertaken of the factors that either support or hinder implementation of the cross-border OOP. Five domains of factors were examined - technological, organizational, institutional aspects, actors and miscellaneous. This research highlights the importance of awareness of the OOP, and its inherent benefits, as a key driver. Also, the activities of supranational entities are of key significance, as it is establishing a critical legal framework. Co-ordination between different levels of government and different countries remains an important barrier. One specific issue discovered and addressed during the project but uncovered here, relates to identity matching, and this requires EU level intervention to reach an effective and efficient solution.

Cross-border digital public services in the European Union: a systematic literature review

“…This theme relates to the discussion of cross-border digital public services as a multi-level governance process, with the involvement of stakeholders across geographic and functional dimensions. Along the geographic dimension, studies show the involvement of local administrations, national administrations, regional organisations and supranational institutions (Kramer, 2016;Leosk et al, 2021;Mulder and Snijders, 2020;Prentza et al, 2021;Schmidt and Krimmer, 2022;Weehuizen and Van Oranje, 2007;Williams et al, 2018).…”

“…On the functional dimension, various studies describe the roles of public agencies (Leosk et al, 2021;Prentza et al, 2021;Schmidt and Krimmer, 2022;Soe, 2018;Weck et al, 2022), private actors (Prentza et al, 2021;Schmidt and Krimmer, 2022;Weck et al, 2022) and societal organisations (Soe, 2018;Tinholt et al, 2013;Weck et al, 2022;Weehuizen and Van Oranje, 2007), with each actor being a service provider and/or service consumer (Leosk et al, 2021;Prentza et al, 2021) (Trupec et al, 2015).…”

“…Within this analytical theme, various studies focus on and describe the European Commission's role in bridging the differences between member states (Leosk et al, 2021;Mäkinen et al, 2006;Marcut, 2019). Studies report that this form of coordination has taken place through agenda setting in the e-GOV action plan 2010, the Malmö and Tallinn declarations and in the 2014-2018 strategy on European e-justice (Berce et al, 2011;Schmidt and Krimmer, 2022).…”

“…Studies report that this form of coordination has taken place through agenda setting in the e-GOV action plan 2010, the Malmö and Tallinn declarations and in the 2014-2018 strategy on European e-justice (Berce et al, 2011;Schmidt and Krimmer, 2022). Furthermore, literature suggests that the European Commission promotes digital strategies (Kramer, 2016;Mulder and Snijders, 2020;Schmidt and Krimmer, 2022) and develops frameworks (Graux, 2021;Kramer, 2016;Leosk et al, 2021;Mulder and Snijders, 2020;Nalin et al, 2019;Ng, 2014;Schmidt and Krimmer, 2022;Velicogna et al, 2020;Weehuizen and Van Oranje, 2007), more specifically the 1999 e-Signature directive (Kramer, 2016;Schmidt and Krimmer, 2022;Velicogna et al, 2020) and the 2007 e-service directive (Mulder and Snijders, 2020).…”

“…Since the e-service directive, general regulations and specific sectorial regulations have also been developed (Kramer, 2016;Lanzara, 2014;Mulder and Snijders, 2020;Nalin et al, 2019;Schmidt and Krimmer, 2022;Velicogna et al, 2020). These regulatory frameworks are considered to be critical conditions in the development and implementation of cross-border digital public services (Leosk et al, 2021;Tinholt et al, 2013). A final role for the EU, as reported in the literature, is promoting standardisation (Nalin et al, 2019;Schmidt and Krimmer, 2022;Soe, 2018) and developing the general building blocks for cross-border services to be implemented by member states (Mäkinen et al, 2006;Nalin et al, 2019;Schmidt and Krimmer, 2022;Soe, 2018, Kramer, 2016Leitold, 2019, Velicogna et al, 2020.…”