European Digital Identity Wallet
The eIDAS Regulation allows EU Member States to notify and recognise each other's national electronic ID systems. Since 2018, any scheme that has been notified must be recognised across the EU. But there's no obligation for every country to create its own electronic ID or to make it work with others. This has led to big differences from one Member State to another.
The new European Digital Identity Regulation is designed to fix these gaps. It makes the rules more effective and also opens them up to the private sector. Every Member State will now offer people and businesses a European Digital Identity Wallet. These wallets will let users connect different parts of their national digital identity in one secure app. They can be provided directly by governments or by private companies, as long as they are officially recognised.
The EU Digital Identity Wallet will be:
- made available to anyone who wants to use it: Any EU citizen, resident, and business in the EU who would like to make use of the EU Digital Identity will be able to do so.
- used widely: EU Digital Identity Wallets will be used as a way to identify users when providing them with access to public and private digital services across the EU.
- controlled by users: The EU Digital Identity Wallets will enable people to choose and keep track of their identity, data and certificates which they share with third parties. Anything which is not necessary to share will not be shared.
Consumers should also be able to access services online without having to use private platforms or unnecessarily sharing personal data. They will have full control of the data they share.
Architecture and Reference Framework
On 3 June 2021, the European Commission adopted a Recommendation ([COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION (EU) 2021/946 of 3 June 2021 on a Common Union Toolbox for a coordinated approach towards a European Digital Identity Framework, OJ L 210/51, 14.6.2021) calling on Member States to work closely together with the Commission towards the development of a Toolbox including a technical Architecture and Reference Framework (hereinafter the ARF), a set of common standards and technical specifications and a set of common guidelines and best practices.
The Recommendation specifies that these outcomes will serve as a basis for the implementation of the European Digital Identity Regulation, without the process of developing the Toolbox interfering with, or prejudging the legislative process.
The Recommendation establishes a structured framework for cooperation between Member States, the Commission, and, where relevant, private sector operators to develop the Toolbox. The European Digital Identity Cooperation Group (EDICG), formerly known as the eIDAS Expert Group, is responsible for:
- exchange best practices and cooperate with the Commission on emerging policy initiatives in the field of digital identity wallets, electronic identification means and trust services;
- advising the Commission in the preparation of draft implementing and delegated acts;
- supporting Supervisory Bodies in the implementation of the [European Digital Identity Regulation];
- organising peer reviews of electronic identification schemes;
- engaging with the Commission and other relevant stakeholders to develop a Common Union Toolbox;
The European Digital Identity Cooperation Group's page can be found at the official page.
The European Digital Identity Cooperation Group has since further developed the concepts and specifications for the European Digital Identity Framework. The current ARF version is based on the legal text adopted by the co-legislators, including the adopted Commission Implementing Regulations:
- CIR 2024/2977 regarding PID and EAA,
- CIR 2024/2979 regarding integrity and core functionalities,
- CIR 2024/2980 regarding ecosystem notifications,
- CIR 2024/2981 regarding certification of Wallet Solutions,
- CIR 2024/2982 regarding protocols and interfaces,
- CIR 2025/846 regarding cross border identity matching,
- CIR 2025/847 regarding security breaches of European Digital Identity Wallets,
- CIR 2025/848 regarding registration of Wallet Relying Parties,
- CIR 2025/849 regarding the list of certified European Digital Identity Wallets,
- CIR 2025/1566 regarding the verification the identity and attributes of a QC or QEAA holder,
- CIR 2025/1567 regarding management of remote QSCDs as qualified trust services,
- CIR 2025/1568 regarding peer reviews of eID schemes,
- CIR 2025/1569 regarding QEAAs and EAAs provided by or on behalf of a public sector body responsible for an authentic source,
- CIR 2025/1570 regarding notification of information on certified QSCDs,
- CIR 2025/1571 regarding the formats and procedures for annual reports by supervisory bodies,
- CIR 2025/1572 regarding the format and procedures for notification of intention and verification with regard to the initiation of qualified trust services,
- CIR 2025/1929 regarding the binding of date and time to data and establishing the accuracy of the time sources for the provision of qualified electronic time stamps,
- CIR 2025/1942 regarding qualified validation services for qualified electronic signatures and qualified validation services for qualified electronic seals,
- CIR 2025/1943 regarding reference standards for qualified certificates for electronic signatures and qualified certificates for electronic seals,
- CIR 2025/1944 regarding reference standards for processes for sending and receiving data in qualified electronic registered delivery services and as regards interoperability of those services,
- CIR 2025/1945 regarding the validation of qualified electronic signatures and of qualified electronic seals and the validation of advanced electronic signatures based on qualified certificates and of advanced electronic seals based on qualified certificates,
- CIR 2025/1946 regarding qualified preservation services for qualified electronic signatures and for qualified electronic seals.
Contents of the repository
This repository contains:
- "Architecture and Reference Framework" the main narrative text that describes the European Digital Identity Wallet and its ecosystem.
- "Annexes" the list of annexes that provide additional information to the main narrative text. In particular, the annexes provide normative high-level requirements.
- "Technical Specifications" the list of specifications that will be developed to support the implementation of the European Digital Identity Wallet.
- "Discussion Topics" the list of discussion topics that are open for public consultation. The topics are organised into three iterations, each focusing on a specific set of subjects to be included in a major document release.
The latest authoritative version is tagged as release/tag in this repository.
Contributing
Please read CONTRIBUTING.md for details on our code of conduct, and the process for submitting pull requests to us.
Versioning
We use SemVer for versioning. For the versions available, see the tags on this repository.
Authors
See the list of contributors who participated in this project.
License
See the LICENCE file for details.