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IDABC examines the case for streamlined cross-border mobility
Understanding the problems of cross-border data exchange relating to the movements of European citizens is essential to boosting mobility and cross-border activities in the European Union. To this end, IDABC has launched a study into the requirements for cross border mobility, based on the concrete case of a border region.
The Mobility Case Study, initiated in October 2004 under the IDA II programme, is intended to feed into the activities of IDABC. It examines cross-border activity in the Euregio Maas-Rhine region, where the borders of Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands meet. It focuses specifically on electronic data exchange between civil registration offices and other relevant municipal and local authorities.
The objectives of the study are fivefold:
- Examine the requirements placed on citizens working or living across borders in the study area, in terms of registration and other administrative processes. The study will adopt the point of view of the citizen in terms of the paperwork and responsibilities to contact administrations that they face.
- Prepare the ground for implementation of cross-border eGovernment services that will make a targeted difference to citizens wishing to live and work in another EU Member State.
- Determine how cross-border mobility can be enhanced by better inter-administration data exchange mechanisms.
- Identify obstacles preventing effective data exchange between administrations on different sides of the border, and thus reduce the burden for citizens.
- Propose further actions including pilot implementation projects. These proposals will be developed on the basis of an assessment of the business case for cross-border data exchanges, with, in addition, consideration of legal issues.
The project addresses three specific scenarios:
- When a person moves from one EU Member State to live in another.
- When a person is required to modify personal data due to maintaining residences in more than one EU Member State.
- When a person is commuting across a border for the purpose of work.
The area covered by the study is a region that might be expected to have a particular requirement for streamlined cross-border data exchange between administrations due to the increasing economic interrelationships brought about by European integration. The project concentrates on local administrations around the cities of Maastricht (Netherlands), Liège (Belgium) and Aachen (Germany).