(1)

In just one year, the COVID-19 pandemic has radically changed the role and relevance of digitalisation in our societies and economies, and accelerated its pace. In a response to the increased digitalisation of services, the demand by users and business for means to identify and authenticate online, as well as to digitally exchange information related to identity, attributes or qualifications, in a secure way and with a high level of data protection, has increased radically.

(2)

The objective of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council (1) (the ‘eIDAS Regulation’) is to enable the cross-border recognition of government electronic identification (‘eIDs’) to access public services, and to establish a Union market for trust services recognised across borders with the same legal status as the traditional equivalent paper-based processes.

(3)

In its conclusions of 1-2 October 2020, the European Council called on the Commission to make a proposal for the development of an EU-wide framework for secure public electronic identification, including interoperable digital signatures, to provide people with control over their online identity and data as well as to enable access to public, private and cross-border digital services.

(4)

The Commission Communication ‘2030 Digital Compass: the European way for the Digital Decade’ (2) sets the objective that, by 2030, the Union and its citizens should benefit from a wide deployment of a trusted, user-controlled identity, allowing each user to control their own online interactions and presence.

(5)

The Commission adopted a proposal to amend the eIDAS Regulation (3). It proposes a European Digital Identity framework to offer users self-determined personal digital wallets that would allow for a secure and easy access to different services, both public and private, under the users full control. In addition, it creates a new qualified trust service for attestation of attributes concerning information related to identity, such as addresses, age, gender, civil status, family composition, nationality, educational and professional qualifications and titles, licenses, other permits and payment data, that can be offered, shared and exchanged across borders, in full security, data protection and with legal effect across borders.

(6)

Given the acceleration of digitisation, Member States have deployed or are developing national electronic identity systems including digital wallets and national trust frameworks for the integration of attributes and credentials. Other solutions are being prepared or in the process of being deployed by private sector operators.

(7)

The development of divergent national solutions creates fragmentation and deprives people and businesses from the benefits of the Single Market, as they cannot use secure, convenient and uniform identification systems across the Union to access both public and private services.

(8)

To support the competitiveness of European businesses, online service providers should be able to rely on digital identity solutions recognised across the Union, irrespective of the Member State in which they have been issued, thus benefiting from a harmonised European approach to trust, security and interoperability. Users and service providers alike should be able to benefit from the same legal value provided to electronic attestations of attributes valid across the Union.

(9)

In order to avoid fragmentation and barriers due to diverging standards, and to ensure a coordinated process to impede endangering the implementation of the future European Digital Identity framework, there needs to be a process for close and structured cooperation between the Commission, the Member States and the private sector.

(10)

To accelerate the path towards achieving this objective, Member States should increase their cooperation and identify a Toolbox for a European Digital Identity framework. The toolbox should lead to a technical architecture and reference framework, a set of common standards and technical references as well as best practices and guidelines as a basis for the implementation of the European Digital Identity framework. To ensure a harmonised approach for electronic identity in line with the expectations of citizens and businesses, including of persons with disabilities, cooperation should start immediately in parallel and in full respect of the legislative process and in alignment with its outcome.

(11)

This Recommendation sets up a structured process of cooperation between Member States, the Commission and, where relevant, private sector operators to develop the Toolbox.

(12)

The Toolbox should cover four cross-cutting dimensions, namely the provision and exchange of identity attributes, functionality and security of the European Digital Identity Wallets, reliance on the European Digital Identity Wallet including identity matching, and governance. The Toolbox should meet the requirements laid out in the proposal for a European Digital Identity framework. It should be updated as necessary following the outcome of the legislative process.

(13)

Collaboration between Member States is necessary for the exchange of best practices and the development of guidelines in areas where harmonisation is not required, but an alignment of practices would support implementation of the European Digital Identity framework by Member State.

(14)

The eIDAS expert group shall be tasked as main interlocutor for the purposes of implementing this Recommendation.

(15)

Catalogues of attributes and schemes for the attestation of attributes have already been established in other areas, such as for the Once Only Technical System of the Single Digital Gateway Regulation or other data exchange initiatives at European level. Alignment and reuse of that work should be considered to ensure interoperability considering also the principles of the European Interoperability framework.

(16)

Existing international and European standards and technical specifications should be re-used where appropriate and reference pilots and test implementations of the European Identity Digital Wallet framework and related components should be carried out to facilitate deployment, up-take and interoperability.