European Blockchain Sandbox - invitation for interested regulators

Ref. Ares(2023)1742672 - 10/03/2023 EUROPEAN COMMISSION DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS, CONTENT AND TECHNOLOGY Platforms Digital Economy, Recovery Plan and Skills Brussels, 9 March 2023 CNECT.F.4 Subject: EC recommendation letter on Regulatory Blockchain Sandbox Dear Sir, / Dear Madam, The European Commission has taken the initiative to set up a pan-European regulatory sandbox for blockchain applications. The European Blockchain Sandbox establishes a framework for regulatory dialogues to increase legal certainty for innovative blockchain solutions. Blockchain and other Distributed Ledger technologies are among the important innovative developments in recent years with wider utility beyond crypto assets. Advanced proofs of concept have already shown the significant potential of innovative solutions based on blockchain technologies across industry sectors such as energy & utilities, education, healthcare, mobility, finance & insurance, and logistics & supply chains. 1 Nevertheless, legal uncertainty prevails especially when services cross borders, as governance remains shared between many actors under different jurisdictions. Funded by the Digital Europe Programme and delivering on the SME strategy, the sandbox is running from 2023 to 2026 and will annually support 20 individual use cases proposed by innovators, including public sector use cases on the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure. The Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (CNECT) of the European Commission has awarded a services contract for the European Blockchain Sandbox to a consortium under the leadership of the international law firm Bird & Bird and its consulting arm OXYGY supported by blockchain experts WBNoDE and by the web-designers of Spindox, which has been procured through an open call for tenders in 2022. 1 Updated information on the Blockchain ecosystem developments in the EU/EEA can be found on the website of the European Blockchain Observatory and Forum, a European Commission initiative to accelerate blockchain innovation and the development of the blockchain ecosystem within the EU and so help cement Europe’s position as a global leader in this transformative new technology. Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË – Tel. +32 22991111  Hereby, I kindly invite you to favourably consider the invitation of our contractor to participate in the activities for the European Blockchain Sandbox. Please be ensured that when you share information in the sandbox, it is securely bound by confidentiality agreements underlying the participation in the sandbox in line with the service contract between the contractor and the European Commission. I thank you in advance for your valuable time in supporting this initiative. Yours faithfully, Fabrizia BENINI Head of Unit 2 Electronically signed on 10/03/2023 10:10 (UTC+01) in accordance with Article 11 of Commission Decision (EU) 2021/2121 Saatja: European Blockchain Sandbox <[email protected]> Saadetud: 23.03.2023 12:17 Adressaat: TTJA <[email protected]> Teema: European Blockchain Sandbox - invitation for interested regulators Tähtsus: Tavaline Manused: EC+recommendation+letter+on+Regulatory+Blockchain+Sandbox.pdf Dear Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority of Estonia, It has come to our attention that we have sent an email to you about the European Blockchain Sandbox through the wrong email address ( [email protected]). This was a human error and the message we intended to send was through this email address ( info@blockchain- sandbox.eu). Please find below the email which we intended to send you and please accept our apologies for any disruptions caused to you as a result of this. At the initiative of the European Commission, we would like to share with you and your agency the opportunity to participate in the European Blockchain Sandbox – a regulatory sandbox which aims to establish a pan-European framework for regulatory dialogue to increase legal certainty around the use of innovative blockchain technologies across industry sectors. The recommendation letter from the European Commission is attached. The sandbox offers a framework that brings together national and EU regulators with providers of innovative blockchain applications in both the private and public sector to identify obstacles to their deployment and solutions from a legal & regulatory perspective in a safe and confidential environment. Concretely, the sandbox will: (1) At the level of individual use cases, deliver legal advice and regulatory guidance in a safe and confidential environment, thus increasing legal certainty and understanding of the relevant rules for blockchain innovators and allowing regulators and supervisors to enhance their knowledge of cutting edge blockchain technologies; (2) At the broader industry and ecosystem level, the combined experiences will result in best practices reports that will be published by the European Commission obviously without disclosing confidential information. Over three years, three cohorts of twenty blockchain use-cases will be matched with interested national and EU regulators for a safe and constructive dialogue on the most relevant regulatory issues. The selection of use cases will be based on criteria agreed with the European Commission. Selection for participation in the sandbox does not imply a legal endorsement of the business model of the use case. The expectation is that the sandbox will cover a broad range of horizontal and sector specific regulatory areas. The application process for the first cohort of 20 use cases has started on the 14th of February 2023 and the application term will end on 14th April 2023. Thereafter the selection will take place by the selection team under supervision of a panel of independent academic blockchain experts from European universities consisting of Professor Roman Beck (IT-University, Copenhagen), Professor Soulla Louca (University of Nicosia, Cyprus) and Professor Walter Blocher (Universities of Kassel and Vienna). More information about the project and the role of Regulators is available on the official project website. We hereby kindly invite your agency to participate in the activities of the European Blockchain Sandbox. It will provide an opportunity to discuss regulatory issues that have arisen on a national level and exchange experiences in a cross-border setting with other EU and national regulators and blockchain innovators. The exchanges will take place in a secure environment and will allow regulators to enhance their knowledge of cutting-edge technologies involving blockchain and distributed ledger technologies. There is a possibility for regulators to support applications of use[1]cases for the Sandbox that are considered particularly relevant for a cross-border dialogue. In addition, there will be the opportunity to contribute to the development of best practices and the best practices reports that will identify regulatory and legal issues and solutions with a focus on fostering mutual learning across sectors. The best practice reports will be published, highlighting the contributions of the participating regulators and supervisors. An award will be given to the annual “most innovative regulator” by our panel of independent academic blockchain experts. An introductory regulator-only webinar will be organised on 30th March at 10:00 CET to present the project and to answer any questions or comments you may have. If you wish to attend, click on this link to submit your contact details. Please forward this letter and email to the individuals from your agency that you think would be interested in this project and ask them to sign-up via this link for more information. Alternatively feel free to ask them to contact us via [ [email protected]]. Yours sincerely, Marjolein Geus Edoardo Monopoli If you do not want to receive communications about the European Blockchain Regulatory Sandbox, please send an email to ([email protected]) from the email address you have received this on and include in the subject line: I wish to opt-out. We will remove you from the mailing list as soon as possible.