SPOCS - Simple Procedures Online for Cross-border Services - is the third Large Scale Pilot launched under the CIP programme of the European Commission. The project aims to implement and test interoperable eGovernment services in the context of the Services Directive. SPOCS is expected to improve the quality of cross-border electronic procedures and points of single contact (PSC) for businesses.
The EU Services Directive, which had to be implemented by all Member States until the end of 2009, requires that procedures necessary to establish or exercise a service in another Member State can be conducted electronically. To implement this regulation, the Member States had to establish so called points of single contact (PSCs) which will serve as electronic one-stop shops for all service providers. PSCs act as intermediaries between the requesting service provider and the national competent authorities. In many cases existing PSC implementations on national level are only rudimentary and far from being interoperable. This is a serious obstacle towards realising the Commission's goal of a Digital Single Market.
SPOCS fills this gap and provides methods, tools, procedures and standards to improve services and processes and aims to ensure an interoperable network in the EU, which will enable safe cross-border exchange of data for all relevant procedures of the Services Directive. By doing so, it contributes to the development of the next generation of points of single contact - PSC 2.0. The simplification of cross-border communications will also generate potential savings, both on the side of governments and administrations, as well as for enterprises.