European Digital Identity Wallet Pilot Project

In 2021, the revision of the eIDAS Regulation was initiated. According to the proposal of the European Commission (hereinafter – EC), it is planned to instruct all EU member states to develop at least one highly reliable mobile eID solution, i.e.  European Digital Identity Wallet (hereinafter – EUDIW). In order to promote the implementation of the new eIDAS Regulation in practice, within the framework of the programme “Digital Europe”, the EC provided the member states with the opportunity to develop EUDIW pilot projects, at the same time also working with specific cases of sectoral use, thus showing the potential of eID also in other areas. This is one of four EU-wide pilot projects to promote the implementation of the revised eIDAS Regulation and the integration of eID into services from other sectors. In our consortium, a solution for the use of payments will be developed within the framework of the pilot project. In the EU-wide as the priority services are defined:

• Payments (from account to account);
• Digital driver’s licence;
• eHealth (electronic prescriptions);
• Educational documents/ Recognition of the professional qualification.

The Latvian State Radio and Television Center starts in the project as part of the NOBID consortium. The leading partner of the consortium is the Norwegian Digitization Agency (DigDir), and partners from Denmark, Iceland, Germany and Italy also participate in the consortium. LVRTC, VARAM, SEB bank and Riga Technical University participate in the project from the Latvian side.

In order to promote the implementation of pilot projects, the EC will develop an EUDIW prototype, according to the EDIW Architecture Reference Framework, The prototype will be handed over to the member states, which will continue their development on the basis of the prototype, or will integrate the prototype developed by the EC into their solutions. LVRTC plans to develop Latvian Digital Identity Wallet based on the eParaksts mobile application.

1. To develop the first Latvian EUDIW and the solution related to its operation, in order to demonstrate the potential of the solution within the project and to identify the aspects to be improved from the technical and organizational point of view.

2. Provide the basic functionality of the EUDIW solution: electronic identification, qualified electronic signature and stamp. During the implementation of the project, to integrate these solutions into public and private sector services, thus demonstrating the potential of the EUDIW solution.

3.In accordance with the goals set by the EC, a solution for the use of payments will be developed within the framework of the project, at the same time also showing the potential of eID in other sectors. It is expected that the payment solution developed within the framework of the pilot project will work without intermediaries, such as MasterCard, VISA, etc.

3. Provide feedback to EC experts in order to improve the description of the technical architecture of EUDIW, thus ensuring the preparation of high-quality information for eIDAS implementing acts.

Within the framework of the pilot project, LVRTC will provide the following services:

–  Development and maintenance of Latvian EDIW and the technical infrastructure related to its operation (including user registration, identification, authentication, QES).

–  Trusted service provider functions including obtaining, exchange and validation of attributes
in the wallet.

It should be taken into account that this is a research and development project, within the framework of which it is not planned to develop services that will be fully implemented in the production environment.

– Informative report on the possibilities of further use of the infrastructure created within the framework of the European Regional Development Fund project “Development of e-Identity and e-signature solutions”. The 12th task of the protocol decision attached to the report envisages participation of LVRTC in the pilot project “the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development shall ensure the participation of the state joint-stock company Latvijas Valsts radio und televīzijas centrs in the working groups of the European Commission for the development of the eIDAS proposal regarding the development and preparation of technical and architectural solutions for the unified European digital wallet for strengthening the eIDAS proposal in the legal framework and for the state joint-stock company Latvijas Valsts radio und televīzijas centrs to use the possibilities of the Digital European Program and participate in calls for projects to implement the European Unified Digital Identity Wallet pilot project solutions in accordance with the requirements of the eIDAS proposal” – the report of 03.2023 is agreed and approved by the Cabinet of Ministers,

– Implementation plan for 2021-2027 of the Digital Transformation Guidelines for the year 2023-2027. In the near future, VARAM plans to send for re-coordination (the pilot project is listed as one of the performance indicators of the plan).