Supporting materials for EU4Digital: eTrade Network, 8th Online Workshop

This is a set of supporting materials discussed with the participants of the EU4Digital: eTrade Network, 8^th Online Workshop that took place on 9-10 June 2020. It was held as a video conference in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. The main objectives of this workshop were to present and discuss with the Network Working Groups:

• General updates in eTrade
• Updates in legislation
• Updates in the EU perspective on digital logistics and recommendations in this area
• The result of the analysis and the selected pilot cases in eDelivery, eCustoms and DTC activities
• The progress, mid-results in eCommerce activity and the next steps

Participants

Experts from EU4Digital Facility team and stakeholders from the partner countries participated in the workshop and contributed their experiences and best practices.

Participants included:

• Speakers from the EC (DG TAXUD, DG CONNECT) and the eLogistics experts from the EU;
• Contact network of EU4Digital, eTrade;
• Harmonising Digital Markets (HDM) coordinators from the Eastern partner countries;
• Civil society forum eTrade experts;
• Working group members in eDelivery, eCustoms, eCommerce, DTC;
• EU4Digital Facility senior experts;
• EU4Digital Facility country coordinators from the Eastern partner countries.

Agenda

The agenda was split into two days mainly focusing on EU4Digital eTrade updates (Day 1) and the progress of EU4Digital Facility, i.e. eDelivery, eCustoms, eCommerce and Digital Transport Corridor (Day 2). Each session was followed by the contributions and insights from the representatives of the Eastern partner countries.

Conclusion of the event

The harmonisation of digital markets is one of the main objectives of EU4Digital Facility and to achieve this goal the collaboration between the EU and the Eastern partner countries is essential. Discussing the EU4Digital progress, challenges, sharing insights and the best practices helps to achieve tangible results in eTrade area that will have positive impact both for the businesses and citizens of the EU and the Eastern partner countries.

Material

The material includes the recent developments of the EU4Digital Facility in eDelivery, eCustoms, eCommerce, and Digital Transport Corridor (DTC) activities of eTrade.

eDelivery:

• Introduction slides;
• eDelivery pilot project decomposition;
• eDelivery pilot project implementation plan with identified involvement from pilot countries;
• Action steps for the pilot countries;
• The cross-border eTrade legislation gap analysis report and recommendations.

eCustoms:

• Introduction slides
• The analysis of the existing customs information exchange solutions. It compares the most popular advanced solutions that are currently being used by Customs Authorities in the Western Balkans and the EU, and defines the most suitable for eCustoms pilot activity.
• The analysis of country selection. The analysis covers the current status of customs information exchange in the Eastern partner countries and considerations regarding the potential country pairs (prelim list of country pairs can change) for the eCustoms pilot activity.

eCommerce:

• Introduction slides
• The EU baseline of eCommerce. The aspects covered in the baseline are the basis for the research in partner countries during this study.

DTC:

• Introduction slides
• Preparatory actions to pilot a digital multi-modal transport corridor between the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea, including:

1. Country state of play related to DTC activity
2. EU direction and best practices
3. DTC concept
4. DTC in the Eastern Partner countries implementation roadmap
5. List of Living Labs

• The indicative roadmap of DTC implementation.

The supporting material also includes the slide decks presented during the event, including:

• The most recent and important eTrade initiatives in the EU
• The latest developments in the customs legislation in eTrade
• Update on electronic freight transport regulation and the exchange of electronic information between businesses and public administrations
• The most recent recommendations for the logistics area from the Digital Transport & Logistics Forum
• Global Collaborative Logistics – reusing eDelivery and applying UBL – Universal Business Language

For additional information and clarifications on the agenda, please contact Igor Michailovski (mia@ipps.by).