In 2018, the European Parliament and European Council decided to create a single point of access to public administration in the EU.

The EU Regulation Establishing a Single Digital Gateway (2018/1724) and Germany’s Online Access Act (OZG) have the same goal: to make online services offered by the public administration more helpful and easier to use, through a single portal.
The EU portal “Your Europe” will be completely modernized and expanded within the next five years to provide a common user interface for public services offered by all the EU member states. The Online Access Act calls for a central point of access to services offered by the public administration in Germany via a network of administration portals.

Background, aims and requirements of the SDG Regulation

Digital transformation of the European internal market is crucial for promoting innovation, growth and jobs in the EU. This is why the European Parliament and European Council decided that existing European portals, websites, networks, services and systems should be expanded, integrated and linked with the different national solutions, thereby creating a single point of entry to the EU public administrations.

The Regulation intends to reduce administrative burdens for individuals and companies to make it easier for them to participate in the EU’s internal market. Making information, online procedures and assistance services available in all the official EU languages will reduce barriers for users and facilitate their access to the internal market.

The Regulation is expected to have very positive effects: it is intended to create easy access to information and services, make rules and regulations more transparent, increase consumer confidence, be easy to use and simplify interaction with the public administration.

The Regulation calls for bringing together all the public portals of the EU member states in the overarching EU portal by the end of 2020. Users will then be able to target searches in all the official EU languages and directly access all national portals. By the end of 2023, selected EU services are to be available in digital form from start to finish, with no need to search for the competent authorities or submit applications on paper.

Network effects from implementing the Online Access Act

Implementing the SDG Regulation is part of implementing the Online Access Act. For this reason, the requirements of the SDG Regulation must be taken into account when implementing the Act.