The Once-Only Principle project supports the free movement of data. It aims at eliminating multiple requests for the same information in public services. Three categories of expected benefits can be distinguished:
- The first one is administrative burden reduction. Procedures will be facilitated by reducing the amount of steps, that need to be taken by businesses to start the cross-border operations. Additionally, to ensure simplification of administrative processes, harmonization of data will be provided. It will also affect the quality, reliability and validity of provided data.
- The second category of expected benefits of the once-only principle implementation in real life is improved quality of public services. Non-discrimination for foreign individuals and businesses, which are seeking services from public authorities should be guaranteed. Decisions and queries submitted to public administrations are planned to be transparent and easy to understand.
- The third one concerns government efficiency. The main added value is avoidance of task duplication, as well as fraud reduction and prevention. This will lead to a decrease of similar activities being performed by different entities, which in turn will improve the detection of illegal attempts to obtain information by external, non-trusted sources.
All these benefits together lead to the improved end-user satisfaction, whose needs are situated in the first place. The process of the OOP implementation is taking place right now and the conclusions are being drawn. Potential obstacles and advantages are being defined and analysed. One of the aims of the TOOP project is to elaborate and present the best solutions to implement for the future actions.