Article 24 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 requires the competent authorities of the Member States and the Commission to ensure that statistics are collected in relation to users’ visits on the single digital gateway established pursuant to Article 2(1) of that Regulation (‘the gateway’) and on the webpages to which the gateway links. It also requires the competent authorities, the providers of assistance and problem-solving services as referred to in Article 7(3) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 and the Commission to collect and exchange, in an aggregated way, the number, the origin and the subject matter of requests for assistance and problem-solving services and their response times.

Article 25 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 requires the Commission to provide users of the gateway with a feedback tool enabling them to comment anonymously on the quality and availability of the services provided through the gateway, of the information made available therein and of the common user interface. It also requires the Commission to ensure that users can access that tool from all webpages that are part of the gateway. The same obligation applies to the competent authorities unless they already have in place on their webpages another user feedback tool with similar functionalities.

The method and rules for collecting and sharing user statistics and user feedback are combined in a single implementing act because the data covered will be collected and made accessible through a common dashboard and a common data repository. The data will be used in combination by the national coordinators and by the Commission to monitor whether the services provided through the gateway comply with the quality criteria and to improve the functionality of the single digital gateway.

In order to collect user statistics and feedback that is comparable and useable for the purposes set out in Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 and to facilitate matching between the data and the related service, it is necessary to specify the context data that must be made available together with the user statistics and feedback. These context data should include the URL and information on the content of the relevant webpage. Service providers should include this information as tags in the metadata of the webpages, or insert it directly in the repository for links. The Commission should use a tool to retrieve the tagging information from the webpages in an automated way. For that purpose, the tagging information should be structured and formatted in a way that is recognised by the tool.

To facilitate the collection of user statistics related to the users’ views of webpages accessible through the gateway, pursuant to Article 24 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1724, such statistics should be collected through web data analytics tools in an automated way and transmitted to a common data repository automatically and regularly.

In cases where further technical clarifications are needed to ensure the interoperability between the national ICT solutions and the common IT tools, the Commission should provide such clarifications in consultation with the gateway coordination group. Specific operational arrangements required for the collection and transmission of data from assistance and problem solving services as well as the detailed survey questions, should be discussed by the gateway coordination group.

Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 establishes the later time-limit of 12 December 2023 for digitalisation of the procedures listed in its Annex II. Consequently, prior to 12 December 2023, user statistics and feedback related to such procedures should only be collected in relation to webpages on which the explanation of a procedure is published.

Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 establishes the later time-limit of 12 December 2022 for the provision of information, explanations and instructions by municipal authorities. Consequently, prior to 12 December 2022, the requirements laid down in this Regulation should only apply to municipal level webpages notified to the repository for links ahead of this deadline.

Taking into account the different case-handling systems in use, both the automated and manual collection of the categories of statistics referred to in Article 24(2) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 should be allowed for.

The single digital gateway aims to make it easier for citizens and businesses to exercise their single market rights by providing user friendly access to information on rights and rules applicable to cross-border activities. In order to understand the specific needs and interests of cross-border users, statistics related to the use of services provided through the gateway by these users, such as statistics about the countries from which users are accessing the webpages of the gateway and the number of cross-border users turning to the gateway assistance and problem-solving services for help, should be collected.

The providers of assistance and problem-solving services as defined in this Regulation should collect the number of requests that relate to the rights, obligations, rules and procedures laid down in Union and national law applicable to users exercising or intending to exercise their rights derived from Union law in the field of internal market, in the areas of information listed in Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2018/1724. Where an assistance and a problem-solving service receives requests falling outside the scope of Regulation (EU) 2018/1724, it should distinguish between such requests and requests concerning areas covered by that Regulation, as far as possible.

Where assistance and problem-solving services are already collecting statistics on the basis of existing Union law or arrangements with the Commission, the providers of assistance and problem-solving services or the network managers should ensure that statistics to be covered in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 are also collected and transferred to the common data repository.

The service providers should enable users to leave their feedback on all webpages that are part of the gateway irrespectively of whether users have accessed these pages from the common user interface referred to in Article 2(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1724, or through any web portal or a search engine.

In order to ensure comparability of feedback, common rules are needed for the transmission of the user feedback on the services provided through the gateway to the common data repository. In addition, service providers should either map and correlate the feedback questions and ratings used in their own user feedback tools with those in the common user feedback tool or adapt their questions and ratings where needed. The service providers should not be obliged to include a link to the survey with detailed questions if their alternative user feedback tools already include similar questions. In such cases they should also map and adapt these questions to those of the detailed survey that is part of the common user feedback tool.

Users should be able to provide feedback on the user friendliness of information about procedures and about the ease of use of online procedures, referred to in Article 2(2)(b) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 and the common user interface referred to in Article 2(1) of that Regulation. Service providers should be able to decide the best time and place to invite users of procedures to give feedback. They may choose to include a link to a feedback tool on a webpage where the procedure can be launched, in the confirmation of receipt of the application, in the output of a procedure, if it is displayed to users immediately after the submission of the request, or on the webpage with online information about the procedure. In case there would be two invitations to provide feedback on one webpage: one on the quality and availability of the procedure and another on the information about this procedure made available therein, the purpose of providing feedback on both issues should be clearly explained to avoid confusion on the part of the user.

In case of assistance and problem-solving services listed in Annex III and referred to in Article 7 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1724, the invitation to provide feedback should be sent to users who can be contacted by digital means immediately after the service is provided. Where the nature of the service requires some time for the solution or advice to be put into practice, the services should be allowed to send the invitation for submitting feedback shortly after the final response to the request has been provided as this allows the user to verify whether the solution or advice works in practice.

Article 24(1), (2) and (3) and Article 25(1) to (4) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 apply from 12 December 2020, therefore the requirements laid down in this Regulation should also apply from this date.

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Single Digital Gateway Committee,