Proposal for a Regulation on EU Business Wallets (EBWs) – a BusinessEurope position paper

Introduction

BusinessEurope strongly supports the European Commission’s proposal Regulation for the establishment of EU Business Wallets (EBWs) and considers this as an opportunity to facilitate business operations, streamlining compliance (under corporate, tax, AML/KYC1, and other regulatory regimes) and generally facilitating cross-border activities for businesses, whilst remaining in line with the Simplification Agenda.

European businesses currently perform administrative tasks, registrations, document handling, and data exchanges across 27 distinct national systems, compounded by divergences among regional systems within Member States. This fragmentation undermines legal certainty and prevents the emergence of a fully interoperable digital environment for businesses across the Union. Interacting with public administrations (B2G) both within and across Member States, as well as exchanges between businesses (B2B), form a daily part of conducting business in Europe. These processes remain burdensome, complex, and resource-intensive in terms of time, costs, paperwork, and staffing requirements. Reducing the bureaucratic burden and streamlining the EU’s rulebook have the potential to unleash Europe’s innovation potential, thereby enhancing the EU’s long-term competitiveness.

This position paper aims to outline the main business priorities regarding the upcoming EBW project to ensure interactions with authorities and other economic operators can become an easier, digitalised, modernised, and cost-effective exercise for businesses of all sizes.