Context and background
Under the umbrella of the Digital Single Market Strategy and the ISA² programme, the European Commission adopted in March 2017 a Communication on Interoperability, which introduced a revised European Interoperability Framework (EIF). This revised version of the EIF aims at providing guidance to public administrations on how to improve the governance of their interoperability activities, establish inter-organisational relationships and ensure the streamlining of processes supporting digital services.
The three pillars of the EIF
The EIF provides 47 recommendations, organised under three pillars:
- The first pillar comprises the 12 principles that should guide policymakers in the pursuit of interoperability, including subsidiarity and proportionality, openness, and transparency, among others.
- The second pillar describes the interoperability layers, presenting different aspects of interoperability that should be addressed in the design of European public services.
- The third pillar proposes the conceptual model for designing and delivering integrated public services. It fosters the idea of ‘interoperability by design’ as a standard approach driven by reusability. In this regard, European public services should reuse both internal and external information sources.
The figure below displays the conceptual model of the EIF Monitoring Mechanism composed of three scoreboards to represent each pillar, depicting the 25 thematic areas grouping the 47 EIF recommendations.
Source: European Interoperability Framework Monitoring Mechanism 2019
Monitoring the implementation of the EIF
In order to fulfil the ISA² programme’s obligation to monitor the implementation of the EIF, the European Commission has created an integrated framework for monitoring, evaluating and reporting on the implementation of the EIF within the European Countries: the EIF Monitoring. Additionally, the results of the EIF Monitoring Mechanism will help Member States identify the areas in which their performances should improve and the ones in which they are outperforming. A clear picture of the current implementation status will support them in defining the next milestones and share their expertise.
For more information on the performance of the Member States, please visit the dedicated interactive dashboard by clicking on the link below. Within the dashboard, it is possible to visualise the performance of the countries at different levels of granularity through numerous types of charts and to filter the results per country and year.
*Value assessed at 0 correspond to "No data" for values that could not be calculated due to their non-applicability at country level or the lack of source data. The assessment is done on a scale of 1 to 4, thus values at 0 do not influence aggregated levels. **The assessment of KPI 08 for Finland includes 11, out of 21, items that are “Not applicable” and thus does not fulfil the criteria to consider the score relevant
European Insights
This section illustrates the consolidated results, at the European level, of the yearly data collection exercise measuring the implementation of the EIF. Additionally, it will highlight the main challenges that European countries are facing when implementing the EIF. For more information on the overview of the yearly performance of the Member States, please consult the links below:
| Year | Member States Results | State of Play Report |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Link | Link |
| 2020 | Link | Link |
| 2021 | Link | Link |
The EIF Monitoring as a source of information
Co-VAL
Co-VAL is an EU-funded project that aims to find new ways of examining the co-creation of value and its integration to transform public administration services and processes. The EIF Monitoring results were used as a source of information to create the Co-VAL dashboard, an online tool for collating and mapping key initiatives on digital government and co-creation across EU member states, the United Kingdom and leading municipalities. A comprehensive analysis of the dashboard results is available in the Co-VAL policy brief 'The 2021 State of Co-Creation: Delivering Services Together'.
Archive
Past NIFO analytical model and factsheets
This page provides information on:
- The 2016 NIFO Analytical Models provide an overview of the level of alignment and implementation of 26 European countries’ National Interoperability Frameworks with the European one (EIF v2). They also identify how each element of the NIFs are monitored by the public authorities of each country, in order to further improve them.
- The NIFO factsheets provide an overview of the levels of implementation and alignment of the National Interoperability Frameworks (NIFs) of 32 European countries with the European Interoperability Framework (EIF).