Federal CIO calls for “Right to Once Only” for citizens and companies
Having to submit birth certificates and salary statements to the authorities again and again? Federal CIO Markus Richter wants to put an end to this.
As State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Markus Richter is responsible for the digitalization of the administration, among other things.
(Image: BMI, Henning Schacht)
The German government's Chief Information Officer, Markus Richter, is calling for a legal right to "Once Only". In a guest article for the new c't newsletter D.digital, Richter writes that citizens and companies should be given the right to transfer their data to the administration only once. Authorities should therefore exchange the information they store with each other in compliance with data protection regulations instead of repeatedly requesting it from applicants.
Once Only" is about all data that citizens and companies provide to the administration, for example birth certificates, salary statements or permits. In mid-November, the federal government, federal states and municipal umbrella organizations defined "Once Only" as a guiding principle in their first joint digital strategy. "A legal entitlement would be well suited to giving the guiding principle particular emphasis," writes Richter in his article, which you can read in full in the free newsletter D.digital.
A right to Once Only requires "strict data protection measures", writes Richter. The planned data protection cockpit will provide users with transparency and control over the use of their data by the administration.
Authorities would be put under pressure
As part of the modernization of registers, the federal and state governments are already developing a system for data exchange between authorities (National Once Only Technical System, NOOTS). The federal and state governments are also negotiating a treaty that would oblige authorities to use this system. According to the current draft, however, most authorities will only have to connect to NOOTS once the technical and legal requirements have been met.
An enforceable legal entitlement to Once Only would be a much stronger instrument that would put pressure on authorities. A model for such a rule already exists in the current Online Access Act: this grants all users a "right to electronic access to federal administrative services". However, the entitlement only applies from the beginning of 2029; moreover, the federal states and local authorities are responsible for many administrative services. Before the law was passed, experts had called for a more comprehensive legal entitlement. A legal entitlement to "Once Only" would now have to be introduced by the next federal government.
(cwo)
