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Review of rules on EU digital ID for online transactions

Overall state of play:

Evaluation – Finalised:COM (2021) 290 and SWD (2021) 130, 3.06.2021
Commission Proposal – Adopted: adopted by the Commission on 3.06.2021, COM (2021) 281
Legal Act – Pending in legislative procedure

State of play, main conclusions, outlook

Adopted in 2014, the European electronic identification and trust services initiative (eIDAS Regulation) provides the basis for cross-border electronic identification, authentication and website certification within the EU.

Overall, the eIDAS Regulation has contributed positively to the further development of the Single Market. It has provided the foundations for the development of an identity and trust services market in the EU, supporting the ever-increasing need for secure digital transactions. However, in a future-looking perspective, which has evolved as regards objectives and user-expectations in a society that has had an unprecedented digitalisation push due to the COVID pandemic, it would deserve a number of improvements in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, coherence and relevance to deliver on the new objectives and under new circumstances.

In 2021 the Commission adopted a proposal that puts forward a framework for a European Digital Identity, which will be available to all EU citizens, residents, and businesses in the EU. Citizens will be able to prove their identity and share electronic documents from their European Digital Identity wallets with the push of a button on their phone. They will be able to access online services with their national digital identification, which will be recognised throughout Europe.

Very large platforms will be required to accept the use of European Digital Identity wallets upon request of the user, for example to prove their age. Use of the European Digital Identity wallet will always be the choice of the user. Under the new regulation, Member States will offer citizens and businesses digital wallets that will be able to link their national digital identities with proof of other personal attributes (e.g. driving licence, diplomas, bank account). These wallets may be provided by public authorities or by private entities, as long as they are recognised by a Member State.

The new European Digital Identity Wallets will enable all Europeans to access services online without having to use private identification methods or unnecessarily sharing personal data. With this solution, they will have full control of the data they share.

Estimated savings and benefits

The Commission’s proposal is expected to reduce administrative and compliance cost for public administrations and operational costs and expenditure related to security for online service providers. Citizens would benefit from savings from reduced administrative burden, relying fully on digital means to identify and the facility to securely exchange digital identity attributes with the same legal value cross border. Electronic identity providers will also benefit from savings in compliance costs.

Estimated (monetisation) and quantification -  The total quantifiable benefits, according to the impact assessment are in the range of EUR 3.5– 7.1 billion.