TESTA: Europe’s digital backbone
RINIS foundation has been connecting Dutch government organisations to the European TESTA network for more than twenty years. TESTA is the highly protected network used by European authorities to securely exchange data. The robust network is a solid foundation for the onward digitisation of European services.
TESTA – or Trans European Services for Telematics between Administrations – is the secure network for the exchange of sensitive data between government agencies within the EU. The network has been up and running since the 1990s, thereby considerably pre-dating a lot of public internet services.
In the Netherlands, RINIS administers the National Access Point (NAP) for TESTA, which sees it connect Dutch organisations to TESTA. 'We take pride in our role as the NAP administrator for TESTA', RINIS director Gino Laan explains. 'The access point enables Dutch government organisations to securely and efficiently exchange data with their European counterparts.'
Death notices via TESTA
In amongst other things, TESTA is used in areas such as social security (through EESSI), customs and excise, the fight against fraud, law enforcement, healthcare and education. All of which enables government agencies, inspectorates and supervisory authorities in the Netherlands to share information on a day-to-day basis with their colleagues in different EU countries through RINIS and TESTA. This includes the Dutch Emissions Authority, which exchanges data with EU ETS, the European Union Emissions Trading System through TESTA.
Gino: ‘TESTA helps to deliver more efficient government. European cooperation is increasingly intensifying, whereby TESTA enables us to set up effective cross-border processes.’ One current example being the new Once Only Technical System (OOTS), which was recently commissioned. OOTS is set to allow citizens and business owners from across the Netherlands to apply for and be issued with relevant documents from the Netherlands in digital form at every EU Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths. These data are retrieved at source – through TESTA. Which explains how the network is the very foundation that underpins this new generation of European digital service delivery.
Secure and reliable
TESTA itself is also constantly moving forward. Efforts are constantly ongoing to innovate the infrastructure, including things such as delivering greater bandwidth and a wider scope of application. ‘TESTA is the only infrastructure that delivers this degree of security and reliability when it comes to sensitive international government communications.’
This very high level of security and reliability are what make TESTA an appealing proposition to all public sector organisations. Gino: 'We actively help organisations get started, even if they do not know exactly what TESTA is yet or how it works. This often starts out with identifying and recognising the fact that there is a particular European information flow and ends with a secure connection via our network.'
The sole provider
In the Netherlands, RINIS is the sole party that enables government agencies to connect to TESTA. Which is why public organisations that call on RINIS’ services get to do so by way of a semi insourcing arrangement. Gino: 'From application to connection and administration: we handle everything from start to finish and we make sure it keeps working to perfection. Even where protocols change or where new requirements are imposed by the EU or the national authorities. Our job is to make sure that Dutch authorities continue to benefit from this to the fullest extent possible.'
Want to find out more? Or looking to connect?
If your organisation is considering connecting to TESTA or you are working on a project to deliver cross-border digital services, get in touch with your RINIS account manager or send us a message at accountmanagement@rinis.nl.