Tallinn, 16/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament internal market committee is calling for E-signatures to be recognised across the EU. On Tuesday 15 October, the committee adopted the draft report of Marita Ulvskog (S&D, Sweden), which amends the European Commission's draft regulation. The rapporteur explained that, “an electronic ID should be accepted across Europe, just like a passport or national ID card”.
Currently, there is still no European system for the automatic recognition of electronic identification. This is why the future European regulation should help make it easier and safer for European citizens in different EU countries to identify themselves, sign documents and check the authenticity of online documents. The regulation will oblige member states to accept the electronic IDs from other countries if the Commission has approved their national system. The rapporteur explained that it will also make it easier for citizens to deal with public authorities when working or studying abroad.
The national authorities will not have to change their identification systems? but these will be classified according to their degree of security.
Jürgen Creutzmann (ALDE, Germany) welcomed the Parliamentary committee's approval and interprets this move as a step towards greater access to cross-border public services in Europe. He pointed out that his group had worked towards ensuring that data protection was respected, by strengthening the rules in this area. In this connection, he highlighted the example of online gaming requiring electronic ID and indicated that checking that the purchaser is aged 18 or over will suffice but his date of birth or other more precise details will not be needed.
Bolstered by her negotiating mandate, the rapporteur will now be able to begin negotiations with the Council of the EU once the latter has reached its position. This could possibly be done in November. An agreement by next spring is being advocated, in co-decision during the first reading. (MD/trans.fl)