Support to the development and certification of EU Digital Identity Wallets

Expected Outcome

Deliverables

In line with the objectives of the Digital Europe Programme, and to support the development of certified, production ready Wallets, the call for proposals target specifically the Large-Scale Pilots that were selected from the Digital Europe Work Programme 2023-2024 (call topic DIGITAL-2024-BESTUSE-TECH-06-TRUST). The Work programme 2025-2027 provides additional funding for the consortia selected under that call to expand the scope of their work to include the development, certification, conformance testing and issuance of EU Digital Identity Wallet by Member States. To ensure a rapid deployment of activities and to meet the regulatory issuance deadline of wallets at the end of 2026, eligible costs may be incurred by the beneficiaries of the successful proposals from the day of submission of the proposal.

Objective

In spring 2024, the Regulation establishing the European Digital Identity Framework has been adopted, introducing a step change in the cross-border application of Digital Identity ushered in by the introduction of the EU Digital Identity Wallet in all Member States by the end of 2026. Over the period 2025-2027, the priority is to complete the transition from the current organizational and technical infrastructure to the new European Digital Identity Framework.

The Commission will facilitate the new EU Digital Identity Wallet architecture and its European Trust Infrastructure, as well as promote its adoption by eco-system participants in all the Member States as well as in new domains, with a focus on business applications. This will help implement the Digital Decade goal of providing 100% of European citizens with access to digital identification. The work will build on the existing technical specifications and reference implementation, and the results of the first round of Large Scale Pilots and aim to maintain the success of the eDelivery, eSignature and eID Building Blocks which have been taken up by Public Administrations (notably flagship applications of the Commission like the Import Control System, Business Registers Interconnection System, e-Justice, EU Sign, and the Once Only Technical System (OOTS)), helping provide 100% of key public services online (another Digital Decade goal) and the Private Sector (notably providers of electronic signatures) - both as Standards and through re-use of the reference implementations. In addition, the action should contribute to other relevant policy initiatives at EU level. Supported digital service infrastructures to facilitate European cross-border digital transactions include:

• European Digital Identity and Trust Services Ecosystem Gateways: These trust infrastructures allow companies, citizens, and administrations to validate European qualified trust service providers as well as the participants of the EU Digital Identity Wallet Ecosystem and support the governance of the regulatory system.
• eID Component: Ensuring legal, organizational, semantic, and technical interoperability for secure digital operations that require cross-border identity recognition.
• EU Digital Identity Wallet: Services and infrastructure for storing and sharing identity data for natural or legal persons as well as other electronic attestation of attributes, with a focus on business applications, including the infrastructure for certification of wallets.
• eDelivery: A standards-based solution for safe and cryptographically secured data exchange over the internet, which ensures secure data and documents exchange (C2C, B2C, B2B).
• eSignature: standards-based approach for secure communication of intent in digital transactions, with the electronic signature library being reused by multiple European trust services.

These infrastructures will be defined, developed, adjusted, and maintained in collaboration with Member States. Their purpose is to enhance digital solutions across various policy domains, promote “interoperability by design,” and ensure accessibility for individuals with disabilities and older persons.

The action aims to:

• Facilitate effective implementation of the European Digital Identity Regulation.
• Provision by Member States of a harmonized EU Digital Identity Wallet by the end of 2026, delivering on their legal obligation under the European Digital Identity Regulation and on the Digital Decade Target.
• Rapid adoption of the EU Digital Identity Wallet by citizens, public institutions and businesses.
• Showcase the EU Digital Identity Wallet as a global benchmark and provide funding for countries associated to the Digital Europe Programme to implement Wallets based on the EU Digital Identity Wallet technical specifications. This funding will support international acceptance of the EU Digital Identity Wallet, particularly in areas such as travel.

Scope

The call focus on Supporting the development and certification of EU Digital Identity Wallets that includes support to the development, conformance testing of wallets and to the preparation of national certification schemes.