SSI policy

One of the 10 priorities of the European Commission is to remove barriers to the Digital Single Market in Europe. The public sector, which provides more than a quarter of total jobs and contributes around one fifth of the EU’s GDP through public procurement, plays a key role in the Digital Single Market as a regulator, service provider and employer.

Member States are digitising their public administrations to save time, reduce costs, increase transparency and improve the quality of data and the delivery of public services. National public services should be linked to each other and beyond national borders with similar services at EU level, thus contributing to the completion of the Digital Single Market. This requires a coordinated approach at all levels, from law-making, organisation of public administrations’ business processes and information management to the development of information systems for the implementation of public services. Interoperability is a key factor in achieving the digital transformation. Interoperability between public authorities allows authorities to exchange information electronically with each other and with citizens in a way that is understandable to all parties involved. It touches on all levels affecting the provision of digital public services in the EU.

The European Interoperability Framework (EIF), which puts greater emphasis on the practical implementation of interoperability principles and models, as well as new policy and technology needs, was adopted on 23 March 2017. The framework provides guidance on how to set up interoperable digital public services.

Link to: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/HR/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:52017DC0134&from=EN

In November 2022, the Commission adopted a proposal for an Interoperability Europe Act and its accompanying communication to strengthen cross-border interoperability and public sector cooperation across the EU.

Link to: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM:2022:0720:FIN

Digital Public Administration is a strategic commitment of the Government of the Republic of Croatia. Accordingly, the obligations of public sector bodies in ensuring the interoperability of data and information exchange are regulated by the State Information Infrastructure Act (Official Gazette 92/2014) and the Regulation on organisational and technical standards for connection to the state information infrastructure (OG 60/2017).