Member States will work, on Wednesday 28 September, on the fourth version of the Czech Presidency’s compromise text on the Digital Identity Wallet (see EUROPE 13019/19) at a meeting of the EU Council Working Party on Telecommunications.
In addition to a few changes concerning certain definitions, the compromise document also returns to several central issues, starting with the offline use of the future electronic identity wallet.
In this case, the paper proposes that “a minimum set of information about the relying party and the devices used should be obtained and maintained also in case of an offline use of the Wallet, where possible in an automated or semi-automated manner, to allow intervention of a competent body when needed”.
However, discussions will need to be held on the exemption from notification for offline use, as some Member States have pointed out that “many services may not benefit from offline use of Wallets” and that the wording “should not create the impression that Wallets must be usable offline in all cases”.
In addition, the Czech Presidency of the EU Council is also returning to the issue of archiving entities. On this point, it clarifies that the regulation should not oblige national archives and memory institutions in the Member States to become qualified trust service providers.
Furthermore, the document states, these national archives and other relevant institutions should also not be considered as unqualified trust service providers when they provide their services to another public body in the framework of closed systems resulting from national law.
The document also discusses the registration of the user parties of the future Digital Identity Wallet. In this respect, the notion of notification was preferred to registration and it was clarified that the notification process is meant to be governed by EU sectoral laws or national laws in order to accommodate use cases with different requirements.
Member States should decide on the eligibility of the notifying party intending to rely on European Digital Identity Wallets. This new wording is intended to provide a “a balanced approach to notification and consequently, to approval of relying parties, while allowing for reflection of specific requirements of individual use cases”, says the Czech Presidency of the EU Council.
A number of guidelines have also been added so that, in a non-binding way, Member States can exchange information about their respective experiences and best practices, in particular in the design, development and implementation of online services where European Digital Identity Wallets will be accepted.
See the document: https://aeur.eu/f/39v (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)