The Council of the European Union adopted a ‘general approach’ on the ‘European Business Wallet’ (EBW) at the Telecommunications Council on Tuesday 9 June, thereby defining its negotiating position ahead of the opening of talks with the European Parliament, which has not yet adopted its own position (see EUROPE 13874/12).
Companies using a European Business Wallet will be able to verify the identity of others and prove their own identity digitally, create, store, and share trusted documents instantly, including verified licences, permits, and certificates, sign, timestamp, and seal documents electronically, delegate legal authority to representatives and communicate securely with other businesses or public administrations through an efficient digital channel.
The Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU introduced several flexibility mechanisms in order to win over the Member States. These provisions are intended to allow them to continue using their existing national solutions while ensuring their interoperability with the European Business Wallet, to strengthen legal certainty and to ensure higher security standards for providers of these ‘wallets’.
As regards the principle of equivalence, while digital procedures carried out by means of the European Business Wallet are, to a large extent, recognised as legally equivalent to traditional paper-based processes, the Council specifies that national administrative and procedural requirements remain applicable.
To strengthen legal certainty, the EU Council’s position also specifies that the authorisation system applicable to EBW providers is not intended to affect any power of attorney or legal mandates provided under national or Union law.
On cybersecurity, the EU Council agreed to raise the level of requirements applicable to the authorisation of providers of European Business Wallets, which will now have to undergo a risk assessment. The Commission will also have to specify, in an implementing act, the technical specifications as well as the documentation that providers will have to submit. National supervisory authorities will also see their role strengthened in the event of “systemic non-compliance” by providers of European Business Wallets. They will also have a longer period in which to examine authorisation applications, namely 60 days, compared with 30 in the initial proposal.
Germany is notably seeking the introduction of harmonised minimum security requirements applicable to EBW providers and had a statement to that effect entered in the EU Council minutes, an initiative supported by Belgium. (see EUROPE 13883/10).
Spain, for its part, submitted a statement stressing the need to guarantee the continued use of existing national solutions. This position was supported by many Member States, including Estonia, which welcomed the voluntary nature of the ‘wallet’, as well as by Poland, Austria, Slovenia, Malta, Bulgaria, Latvia, Denmark, Belgium, Slovakia and Croatia.
Italy and Luxembourg also stressed the need to “define clear criteria” for determining which undertakings will be able to provide the European Business Wallet, while Malta considered that it should be for the Member States to decide “which entities” will form part of the EBW system. (Original version in French by Ana Pisonero Hernández)