Finland is actively involved in the preparation of the European Digital Identity Wallet – the proposal for technical architecture can now be commented on

In the summer of 2021, the European Commission submitted a legislative proposal for the European Digital Identity Wallet, which would enable the digital use of different validated data, also in cross-border transactions. The prepared timetable is ambitious, as the Member States should have the capacity to offer the Wallet already in 2024. In practice, the change would be implemented by extending the EU regulation on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the European Single Market (eIDAS), which currently enables cross-border e-services and trust services.

The Commission has set up a working group (Toolbox Group). The aim of the working group is to produce technical specifications and preconditions that Wallet solutions and other related services should meet. So far, the working group has focused on high-level concept and architecture descriptions, but the aim is to produce precise technical specifications of, for example, the standards to be followed.

Finland is involved in both the technical specifications and the drafting of legislation. The Ministry of Finance is responsible for preparation of the European Digital Identity Wallet as a whole, and it has appointed a national coordination group for preparation of the European digital identity. The decision to appoint a coordination group and information on its activities can be found on the website of the Ministry of Finance (in Finnish). The Toolbox group responsible for technical specifications includes representatives from the Digital and Population Data Services Agency and the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom. In addition, Finland has a wide range of representatives in the use case groups preparing use cases for the Wallet.

– The Digital and Population Data Services Agency coordinates national cooperation related to technical specification of the reform (Toolbox). The aim is to ensure that Finnish actors are aware of the progress of their work at the EU level as well as that Finland's views are communicated and taken into account, says Director Riitta Partala from the Digital and Population Data Services Agency.

The Commission's proposal on technical architecture has been published for comments

The Commission has published the first proposal for the solution's technical architecture for comments on the Commission's Futurium (europa.eu) platform. Downloading and commenting on the document requires creating an account and requesting membership to the Your EU Digital Identity community. The Digital and Population Data Services Agency does not have administrative rights on the platform, so any support requests can be addressed to the Commission.

– We encourage everyone who is interested in this topic to read the proposal and comment on it. It is possible to comment directly on the Commission's platform, but we ask that you also send your comments to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency so that they can be considered in the preparation of Finland's position, says Riitta Partala.

All comments can be sent to [email protected].

Up-to-date information on the reform is available

Every two weeks, the Digital and Population Data Services Agency holds open webinars related to technical specification of the European Digital Identity Wallet (Toolbox). Send a request to [email protected] so that you will receive invitations to the webinars and up-to-date information on the progress of the reform.

The Ministry of Finance will also hold a status update on the preparation of the eIDAS Regulation on 10 March from 10.00 to 11.00. The event includes a time slot for presenting questions and comments to the people participating in the preparatory work. Register on the Ministry of Finance website (in Finnish).

Additional information:

Development Manager Juha-Pekka Myllymäki, [email protected]
Director Riitta Partala, [email protected]