Filenews 19 October 2025 - by Eleftheria Paizanou
The citizen service centers (KEP) are "flying", as year after year the number of citizens who use them to secure or renew identity cards and passports, to issue traffic permits, to submit supporting documents for benefits, as well as other services from the State increases.
According to data from the Ministry of Finance, every day the KEP offer 3,250 services, while 2,433 phone calls from citizens asking for further clarifications are answered. In addition to the above services, the provision of additional teleconferencing services to citizens has also begun.
A total of nine Citizen Service Centers operate throughout Cyprus, in Nicosia, Limassol, Larnaca, Famagusta, Paphos, Kolossi, Polis Chrysochous and Pelendri, as well as the Service Unit in Kato Pyrgos Tyllirias.
Last year, these centers offered 805,918 services, while the KEP call center answered 603,481 calls.
On average, KEP provided 3,250 services on a daily basis. It is noted that 4,374 of the 805,918 services offered concerned services carried out via teleconference for the confirmation and approval of a natural person's profile in CY-Login.
Telephone service as well
The KEP call center has undertaken (in addition to the parent services) the telephone service for all the services offered to the KEP, in terms of information in relation to the procedures, conditions, supporting documents that must be submitted, etc.
Furthermore, the service of citizens was institutionalized in the KEP after the telephone appointment arrangement, with a positive response from the vast majority of citizens. In recent years, the new single call center of the KEP has been implemented through the government's unified network with a pan-Cypriot number.
In 2024, a total of 603,481 calls were answered by the KEP call center, i.e., an average of 2,433 calls on a daily basis. Percentages of 28%, 26%, 14% of the total calls concerned services of the Civil Registry Directorate, the Department of Road Transport and the Social Insurance Services, respectively.
294 mm services in Nicosia
In detail, the two service centers in Nicosia had offered 293,384 services and served 235,516 citizens by phone. In Limassol, the KEP provided 121,918 services and received 94,059 telephone calls. The KEP in Larnaca provided 147,000 services and received 102,000 phone calls. The Paphos Citizen Service Center has offered more than 69,000 services and telephone service to a total of 53,241 citizens. In the Free Area of Famagusta, the KEP provided around 58 thousand, services and responded to 41 thousand. Calls. At the same time, the KEP of Kolossi has offered 87,000 services and served 64,341 citizens by phone. The KEP of Polis Chrysochous has offered 17,000 services and responded to 6,000 telephone calls and a center in Pelendri has offered a total of 13,000 services and served 8,000 citizens. Finally, the Kato Tylliria Unit has offered services to 405 citizens.
TOM and Social Insurance
According to the Department of Public Administration and Personnel, 20.70% of the services that have been offered related to the delivery of documents to the Department of Road Transport, the Social Insurance Service and the Benefits Management Service.
At the same time, 20.51% concerned services in the Department of Road Transport, 19% of the services provided by the KEP concerned the Social Insurance Services and 17.35% in the Civil Registry Department and 8.39% in the Ministry of Health.
In addition, 3.54% of the services were related to the management of benefits, 2.49% to the Apostille certification service, 0.76% to the Judicial Service and 0.25% to the Ministry of Defense. A percentage of 4.94% concerned the Department of Information Technology Services.
And by teleconference
In recent years, KEP have been further developed by providing other services.
Specifically, the following happened:
‣ Commencement of services regarding the receipt of biometric data for identity card and passport applications submitted electronically by citizens.
‣ Actions in collaboration with the Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy for the inclusion of the service regarding the identification of citizens in the context of submitting applications for an Electronic Identity (eID).
‣ Actions regarding the inclusion of the service for the receipt of applications under the Interest Rate Subsidy Scheme for Household Mortgages with Income Criteria.
‣ Receipt of the second phase of the project of the Priority Order and Service Management System in the KEP/KEPO, which includes the arrangement of appointments for the service of the citizens, through the system. Specifically, the appointments will be arranged by the answering machines of the KEP, who will continue to arrange appointments for the citizens but also by the citizens themselves, via the internet and through a mobile phone application.
‣ Provision of additional services via video conferencing, in addition to the CyLogin profile identification service. These services concern the issuance of certain certificates by the Social Insurance Services, the Welfare Benefits Management Service and the Sponsorship and Allowances Service, as well as the provision of information on the progress of requests. This regulation will be implemented within the year.
‣ Re-certification of the Quality Management System of KEP, based on the ISO standard by the Cyprus Certification Company.
‣ Promotion of actions in cooperation with the Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy and the Department of Information Technology Services in the context of information security/digital security in the KEP.
Actions on open data
At the same time, the policy in relation to the promotion of the implementation of the policy regarding the reuse of public sector data and open data in Cyprus continued. The effort focused on upgrading the National Open Data Portal (www.data.gov.cy).
The new version introduces a number of upgrades aimed at improving the functionality, content and user experience of the Portal. One of the upgrades made concerns the simplification of the procedures for the preparation and publication of data by the responsible Officers appointed in each public body.
For the above process, new educational guides were developed and posted on the Portal, with the aim of enhancing the competence of the responsible officers and making the best use of the potential of the New Portal. Furthermore, individualized trainings were carried out, adapted to the needs of the Responsible Officers of each public body. Specifically, face-to-face trainings for responsible officers were completed in a total of 51 organizations.
These are actions that are an important step towards harmonization with the relevant European Directives and Regulations, as well as the implementation of the Open Data Strategic Plan 2023 – 2027. In December 2024, the European Commission published the annual Open Data Maturity Report 2024, which reflects the progress and degree of maturity of the European Union Member States in the field of Open Data.
Cyprus ranked 11th out of 34 participating countries, with an overall score of 94%, a performance that remained stable, compared to the years 2022 and 2023. It is noteworthy that Cyprus for 2024 is classified in the category of "Trend Setters" and specifically the countries that shape the trends in the field of open data, which reflects the continuous progress and utilization of data in the public sector.
