What’s the story with the EUDI Wallet?
The European Digital Identity (EUDI Wallet) will be introduced in January 2027. This means every EU country has until the end of 2026 to put all the technical and legal requirements in place. But what are the advantages and challenges surrounding the EUDI Wallet?
In Switzerland, e-ID has been a topic of debate for years. Most recently, the federal government decided to postpone its rollout to have enough time to put all necessary security features in place. In other words, if you’re a Swiss citizen, you’ll have to wait a bit longer than others. For those who have an EU passport or live in the EU,
the digital wallet – known as the EUDI Wallet (European Digital Identity Wallet) – will be launched in January 2027. The EUDI Wallet comes with huge ambitions. It’s meant to be much more than just a digital proof of age. With 27 EU member states, that’s a Herculean task. Here are my answers to the most important questions.
What can the EUDI Wallet do?
The idea behind the EUDI Wallet is to provide everyone living in the EU with a secure and free digital wallet on their smartphone. The European Commission’s goal is to allow for a digital daily life that’s free of paperwork and physical identification documents.
The wallet is designed to let you uniquely identify yourself throughout Europe, sign contracts and manage important documents such as your driver’s licences, birth certificates or university diplomas. All digitally, of course.
Data protection and digital sovereignty are particularly important, as individuals need to have full control over what data they share and with whom. This prevents identity theft and uncontrolled tracking by big tech companies. What’s more, the infrastructure for the wallet needs to be operated by trusted entities.
Who can use the EUDI Wallet?
The EUDI Wallet can be used by everyone living in the EU (including those without an EU passport) who have reached the minimum age. In some countries, the minimum age is 16 (in Germany, for instance), while in others, it’s 18.
EU citizens living in other countries (such as Switzerland) may also use the EUDI Wallet issued by their home EU country.
Where can I get the EUDI Wallet?
You’ll find the apps in the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. Some wallets are already available, while others are still in the making. You can find a status snapshot of every country’s wallet online.
Currently, you need an iPhone or an Android smartphone running Google’s operating system to use the wallet. It won’t work with third-party providers such as /e/OS, as the security measures reportedly don’t meet the required standard.
What technology does the EUDI Wallet use?
From a technical perspective, the EUDI Wallet is based on the security architectures and mandatory requirements of the European Commission, which are defined in the so-called Architecture and Reference Framework (ARF).
Your personal data isn’t stored on a central EU server, but is encrypted directly in a special security chip in your smartphone (Secure Element). The app uses special cryptography for data exchange, such as the SD-JWT VC format standardised by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Online, data is exchanged via web protocols such as OpenID Connect (OIDC).
Here’s an example: If the police check your driver’s licence in an area with no mobile service, the verification takes place directly from device to device via QR code, Bluetooth or NFC. Through the principle of Selective Disclosure, your app also proves to the police officer that you’re over 18 without revealing your exact date of birth or your name.
How does the legal side of things look?
While Switzerland, after the population voted to accept the e-ID, drafted the Federal Act on Electronic Identification (link in German), the EU Wallet is based on the so-called eIDAS Regulation.
Each EU country issues digital identities to its own citizens and residents in accordance with national law. eIDAS requires all EU member states to recognise digital IDs from other EU countries in the same way they recognise their own. Here’s a real-life example: If you log in to a Spanish government agency using your German digital wallet to register a car for your vacation home, that registration is legally binding. In addition, the so-called Qualified Electronic Signature (QES) is considered to be 100 per cent equivalent to a handwritten signature on paper.
What is eIDAS?
eIDAS stands for Electronic Identification, Authentication and Trust Services and is a binding regulation of the European Union (Regulation (EU) No. 910/2014). It sets the standards for electronic identities (e-ID) and so-called trust services.
As mentioned above, this also means that all EU member states must offer an EUDI Wallet app. At the same time, the regulation requires companies and government agencies (so-called relying parties) to accept this wallet as an official form of identification.
What is a relying party?
A relying party is the official eIDAS term for any organisation, government agency or company that wishes to retrieve data from your EUDI Wallet to verify your identity or certain other information. Examples include government agencies such as resident registration offices or customs offices, banks, car rental companies or online shops. They all want to access data from your EUDI wallet when you interact with them, but must comply with all requirements set by the national supervisory authorities for trust services to do so. And this has caused quite a few discussions recently.
What’s the problem with these requirements?
One aspect of these requirements for companies and government agencies is the so-called registration certificate, which is like a digital ID for companies. A company must register with the government and receive this certificate before it’s allowed to access data from your wallet. Once the company registers, it becomes recognised.
When a hotel, for instance, has this certificate and wants to access information from your wallet, your app will first read this certificate. If it recognises that it’s a verified hotel, the hotel’s allowed to ask for the guest’s name and age. Any other request (regarding your health insurance, for instance) will immediately block your wallet app on a technical level.
Source: commission.europa.com
The problem? The European Commission initially wanted to make these certificates voluntary to keep the bureaucratic burden to a minimum and get the market for digital services up and running quickly. The argument was that it would take too long for every small and medium-sized enterprise to register.
This made data privacy advocates raise the alarm and point out that, without a mandatory certification requirement, shady companies could secretly siphon personal data from mobile phones while scanning it. In response, EU countries took decisive action and made the certificates mandatory.
What’s the difference between the EUDI Wallet and PID?
The EUDI Wallet is much more than just a digital ID card. The latter exists, too, and is called PID (Person Identification Data). EUDI (without «Wallet») is also a term that comes up in this context. So what is what?
- EUDI (European Digital Identity) is the overall legal and technical framework. In other words, the EU’s set of rules.
- The EUDI Wallet is the tool. It’s the actual app on your smartphone – similar to a real wallet.
- The PID (Person Identification Data) is your digital ID card, the official document stored in your wallet. It contains your name, date of birth and nationality. It’s basically the core around which you can upload other digital documents (such as your driver’s licence, medical records or diplomas) to the app.
What’s next?
Now that the eIDAS Committee has established the technical framework, the member states are focusing on the final stages of software development and national testing phases. The rollout of the EUDI Wallet will begin in early 2027.
However, there will be a long transition period, in which the relevant agencies will need to adapt their systems so that EUDI wallets can be accepted as a means of login and identification. At the same time, states are continuously integrating new documents, such as digital patient records and tax documents.
What’s the situation in Switzerland?
Source: eid.admin.ch
Although Switzerland isn’t a member of the EU, it will also be getting an e-ID. The Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) is establishing its own e-ID infrastructure, which is legally based on the new Swiss e-ID Act. They’ve named it «swiyu».
There’s no full interoperability with the EU, but technically, the two systems are very similar.
Both rely on open protocols for decentralised identifiers and on the same standards for verification. In addition, the Federal Council wants to reserve the right to conclude international treaties on its own (link in German) in order to facilitate the recognition and use of the e-ID abroad.
I've been tinkering with digital networks ever since I found out how to activate both telephone channels on the ISDN card for greater bandwidth. As for the analogue variety, I've been doing that since I learned to talk. Though Winterthur is my adoptive home city, my heart still bleeds red and blue.
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