Interoperability Governance in Emergency Services in the European Union

Interoperability has emerged as an important topic in the digital transformation of administrations and services, and is a prominent theme in EU digital and data policies. The European Commission (EC) defines public sector interoperability as “what enables administrations to cooperate and make public services function across borders, across sectors and across organisational boundaries”. Improving interoperability in the public sector creates positive public values and efficiency gains by relying on trusted data from different public and private sources, contributing to the achievement of policy objectives that are interconnected across borders and sectors [1]. 

The matter of interoperability should cover technical, semantic, organisational and legal contexts, as well as requirements for coordination and coherence, which are defined by its governance approach in order to successfully link administrations [2]. Interoperability governance plays an important role in cross-border data exchange and public service delivery in Europe by involving hierarchical collaborating actors (collaborative governance) that interact at different levels with clear roles and relationships.  In order to assess the current state of European governance on interoperability, Wimmer et al. [3] have developed an analytical framework that relies on the identification of political, strategic, tactical and operational governance aspects, and the different roles and responsibilities attributed to the actors involved. This article seeks to apply this framework to the scope of emergency services. 

The EC has adopted steps to establish a multi-level approach to the interoperability governance, which are tangible to emergency services. As the main actor for political governance, the EC launched the European Interoperability Framework (IEF), a guiding document with recommendations to public administrations that streamlines processes for digital services. Albeit widely accepted, the EIF figures as a non-binding policy framework, which has shown limitations as to voluntary uptake. Against this backdrop, the Interoperable Europe Act serves as the legal framework governing interoperability in the European Union by defining the parameters for interoperability governance across public services in Europe as well as a governance model.

The inclusion of national competent authorities represents an important link between Member States and EU institutions, covering both political and strategic governance levels. First, through national interoperability frameworks, national competent authorities extend the overarching guidelines of the EIF to the national level of the Member States. Secondly, the Expert group on the Interoperability of Public Services comprises nominated representatives from Member States to support the EC in policy preparation and implementation. Finally, the Interoperable Europe Board brings together Member State digital transformation authorities and EU institutions to contribute to the interoperability acquis[4].

In the specific case of emergency services, the EC´s role in political governance is demonstrated through the European Disaster Resilience Goals. They present ways to better prepare for natural hazards, and provide European countries with support for better decision-making in the matter. Furthermore, the European Science and Technology Advisory Group, launched under the EC and supported by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, is an important actor at the political, strategic and tactical governance levels. It includes nominated representatives from Member States for knowledge sharing, policy recommendations and assessment carry-outs based on technical and scientific support to the implementation of the Sendai Framework, a milestone in disaster risk reduction political agenda worldwide [5]. 

As for tactical and operational governance, Europe benefits from the work of the Open Geospatial Consortium, which functions as a practitioner consortium promoting interoperability through the advocacy of open standards specifications worldwide. Additionally, the Emergency Response Coordination Centre oversees interoperability in emergency services in Europe, coordinating and harmonising emergency response in Member States, as well as coordinating the communication between civil protection and humanitarian aid. 

The current governance framework for interoperability will harness the alignment between interoperability strategies and the agendas of the EU and the Member States, which have been harmonised through the predispositions of the Interoperable Europe Act. In the specific context of emergency services interoperability governance, there is still space to enhance emergency prevention and response operations, which can be filled by strengthening multi-level collaboration.

References:

[1] European Commission (2022). Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of Regions on a strengthened public sector interoperability policy - Linking public services, supporting public policies and delivering public benefits Towards an "Interoperable Europe". https://commission.europa.eu/document/download/7ad24728-71d5-4148-a6a6-2af7551726fe_en?filename=Communication%20Interoperable%20Europe%20Act

[2] Ibidem.

[3] Wimmer et al. (2018). Interoperability Governance: A Definition and Insights from Case Studies in Europe. Proceedings of the 19th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research, May 30- June 1. https://doi.org/10.1145/3209281.3209306

[4] European Commission (2022). Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of Regions on a strengthened public sector interoperability policy - Linking public services, supporting public policies and delivering public benefits Towards an "Interoperable Europe". https://commission.europa.eu/document/download/7ad24728-71d5-4148-a6a6-2af7551726fe_en?filename=Communication%20Interoperable%20Europe%20Act

[5] Migliori et al. (2019). Data interoperability for disaster risk reduction in Europe. Disaster Prevention and Management: an International Journal, 28 (6), 804-816. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm-09-2019-0291