go.eIDAS-Initiative launched across Europe and beyond

EU-wide recognition of notified eID means starts on 29th September 2018

The regulation EU) No 910/2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market, which is commonly known as “eIDAS-Regulation” was introduced in 2014 and has been fully in force since 1st July 2016. An important concept of the regulation is that EU-Member States may notify their national eID scheme so that it will be recognised by other member states after an in-depth peer-review process. First EU-Member States, such as Germany and Italy successfully completed the notification process and further EU-Member states, such as Spain, Luxembourg, Estonia, Croatia, Belgium, Portugal and the United Kingdom, are following. On 29th September 2018 a major milestone will be reached, as the EU-wide recognition of notified eID-schemes starts. This effectively means that the German eID card, which already has been notified on the Level of Assurance “high” in September 2017 will be recognised across Europe for identification. All other notified eID means shall be recognised in a similar manner after a transition period of one year after their formal notification.

go.eIDAS – Initiative to promote the practical implementation of the eIDAS-Regulation

Against this background, leading European associations, projects and expert organisations in the sector of eID and trust joined forces to launch the non-profit go.eIDAS-Initiative today

The main goals of the go.eIDAS-Initiative are to:

• Raise awareness for eIDAS in Europe and beyond
• Point out the benefits of eIDAS within application services and illustrate the huge trade opportunity for the EU related to pushing the eIDAS model and framework internationally
• Demonstrate the ease of use of eID and trust services
• Support the integration of eID and trust services into application services, with a special focus on small and medium enterprises in in selected sectors, such as transportation, financial services and online-platforms
• Promote the use and uptake of eIDAS in mobile environments
• Support the development of the eIDAS-Ecosystem and the internal market
• Promote interoperability among eIDAS-related solution components
• Support the creation of a sustainable network of eIDAS stakeholders

First steps and initial focus areas of this initiative comprise the creation and maintenance of localisable and extensible eIDAS-related information material, the provision of local eIDAS-related webinars and the creation and maintenance of eIDAS-related open source software.

go.eIDAS is an open initiative, which welcomes all interested organisations and individual people which are committed to the aforementioned goals. The go.eIDAS-Initiative invites all stakeholders within the eIDAS-Ecosystem, such as application providers, eID-related stakeholders, trust service providers, conformity assessment bodies, other service providers, regulatory authorities and other public sector bodies, publicly funded projects and initiatives, academic institutions and standard development organisations, whereas commercial organisations shall demonstrate reasonable pro bono aspects related to their participation.

The go.eIDAS-Initiative has been initiated by the following associations, projects and expert organisations:

• BITKOM – German Association for IT, Telecommunications and New Media (https://bitkom.org)
• Buergerservice – German Association for Citizen Services (https://buergerservice.org)
• ecsec GmbH (https://ecsec.de)
• EEMA – European Association for e-Identity and Security (https://www.eema.org)
• ETF – European Trust Foundation (https://www.europeantrustfoundation.eu/)
• Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO (https://iao.fraunhofer.de)
• FutureTrust – H2020 Research Project (https://futuretrust.eu)
• LIGHTest – H2020 Research Project (https://www.lightest.eu/)
• NorStella – Norwegian Association for Digitalisation and e-Identity (https://www.norstella.no/)
• OSI – Open Signature Initiative (https://www.opensignature.org)
• TeleTrusT – IT Security Association Germany (https://www.teletrust.de/)

“We are excited to launch the go.eIDAS-Initiative today and enjoy the forthcoming EU-wide eID recognition, which will further boost trust in Europe and beyond”, explains Jon Shamah, Chair of EEMA.

“We warmly welcome the go.eIDAS-Initiative and are looking forward to contribute to the recognition of eID and trust services towards a global reach”, adds Collin Wallis, Executive Director of the Kantara Initiative. “Since Kantara is a global ethics based ‚commons‘ non-profit organisation, which recently absorbed the assets and operations from the US public-private sector IDESG (Identity Ecosystem Steering Group), it is in a good position to assist.”

It is gratefully acknowledged that European Union supports the go.eIDAS-Initiative through the pertinent research projects FutureTrust (G.A. No. 700542) and LIGHTest (G. A. 700321).