Brussels – The 2017 edition of eGovernment factsheets has been published by the European Commission’s National Interoperability Framework Observatory (NIFO) community. The factsheets summarise policies and activities related to the implementation and the delivery of digital public services in 34 countries (EU countries, FYROM, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey).
Main trends identified during this year’s exercise:
- New open data portals have been created, also due to an increasing number of countries joining the Open Data Partnership. At the beginning of 2016, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has launched an updated version of its data portal and also launched a Third Action Plan for Open Government Partnership. Similarly, the Belgian government re-launched its national data portal in January 2016.
- The eIDAS regulation’s implementation is progressing well. In December 2016, both Chambers of the Dutch Parliament passed the eIDAS act, which sets out the steps for the implementation of the Regulation into national law and also outlines the necessary changes in existing Dutch laws. Similarly in Sweden, the Parliament voted on the supplementary law in May 2016, which will support the implementation of the eIDAS regulation. In Norway, the Agency for Public Management and eGovernment (Difi) established a shared service for electronic signing, available for all public enterprises. Similarly, the Irish government launched in September 2016 MyGovID, a single secure online identity allowing access to a wide range of eGovernment services.
- Cybersecurity is one of the emerging topics in this factsheets edition. European countries realise that increasing digitalisation of public services comes with greater risks of security breaches and some of them have consequently launched cybersecurity strategies. As an example, Malta adopted a National Strategy on Cybersecurity in the second half of 2016, and Slovakia adopted an Action Plan for the Implementation of the Cyber Security Concept in March 2016. Also the UK has launched its National Cybersecurity strategy in November 2016.
The factsheets were produced in collaboration with national eGovernment experts and serve as a unique tool to identify best practices in the field of eGovernment policy in particular, and the modernisation of public administration in general.
NIFO is a project service provided by the European Commission’s ISA² programme delivering solutions for European public administrations, citizens and businesses. It assists EU countries in monitoring the take up of eGovernment and interoperability.
All eGovernment factsheets are available here.
