The European Commission presented to the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, on November, 28th, a Communication proposing an “Action Plan on e-signatures and e-identification to facilitate the provision of cross-border public services in the Single Market” COM(2008) 798 final.

Major barriers to cross-border access to electronic services of public administrations are linked to the use of electronic identification and of electronic signatures. Like in the non-digital environment, certain electronic procedures may require identification and signatures. Thus access to public administrations’ electronic procedures often implies the need for the individuals involved to identify themselves. The main barrier is the lack of interoperability, be it legal, technical or organisational.

The e-Signatures Directive was adopted in 1999 to promote the legal recognition of electronic signatures and to ensure the free circulation within the single market of e-signature products, equipment and services. However, a legal and technical analysis of the practical usage of e-signatures shows that there are interoperability problems that currently limit the cross-border use of e-signatures. The analysis highlights the need for a more effective mutual recognition approach. Fragmentation due to the lack of cross-border interoperability is likely to affect e-government services in particular, which today are the largest channel of transactions using e-signatures.

Effective interoperability is also required if Member States are to comply with their legal obligations under other EU legislation, in particular under specific internal market instruments. Several internal market initiatives foresee that businesses should be able to use electronic means to communicate with public bodies, exercise their rights and do business across borders.

The Services Directive, as part of them, obliges Member States to ensure by the end of 2009 that service providers are able to complete electronically and at a distance all procedures and formalities necessary to provide a service activity. Besides, the Directives on Public Procurement aim to promote the development and use of electronic means in public purchasing procedures, with potentially substantial cost savings for business. In this sense, there are already some initiatiaves aiming to promote cross-border frameworks to facilitate companies from different Member States to access such kind of procedures by linking existing national electronic public procurement systems.

The objective of this Action Plan is therefore to offer a comprehensive and pragmatic framework to achieve interoperable e-signatures and e-identification, which will simplify access of enterprises and citizens to cross-border electronic public services. To achieve this objective, the Action Plan focuses on a number of practical, organisational and technical issues, complementing the existing legal framework.

It sets out specific actions on e-signatures (part 1) and on e-identification (part 2). Although the Action Plan focuses mainly on e-government applications, the suggested actions will also benefit businesses’ applications insofar as the means to be put in place can also be used in Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Consumers (B2C) transactions.

The Commission will, in close cooperation with the Member States, monitor the implementation of the Action Plan; the aim being to ensure the coherence of the suggested measures, of the various legislative requirements at EU level and of relevant operational projects such as the CIP pilot projects. In particular, it will seek an ongoing dialogue with Member States to accompany this Action Plan, including the Member State authorities responsible for competitiveness and internal market policies.

On the basis of the progress report and of a discussion with Member States in the relevant fora, the Commission will assess whether further horizontal and/or sectoral initiatives are needed.