Onfido pushes for a unitary EU regulatory framework for digital identity verification

As digital identity plays a valuable part in financial services and tech ecosystems in Europe to ensure the customer is legitimate, an integrated regulatory framework for digital ID verification is mandatory, Onfido states.

According to the company’s latest report, the existing framework is not all-inclusive and eIDAS is applicable for a small number of use cases, such as government digital identity schemes, e-signatures, and seals. The EU currently does not have a certifiable standard for digital identity providers, leaving many companies unable to certify under the eIDAS regulation.

There is no unitary agreement for member states and sectors and innovative identity verification systems are rejected, the report says. EU regulatory bodies have different standards for digital identity verification, and this segmentation affects the efficiency of AML/CFT processes.

Onfido suggests the answer would be digital identity regulation that can be applied for all digital and online use cases, across all sectors and markets, included but not limited to age verification, online healthcare, online education and online voting. A standardized framework, certifiable around predefined Levels of Assurance, and tech neutrality rules could also be part of the solution.

Digital identity verification helps companies deliver onboarding, authentication and customer re-verification in a fast and secure way, and scale their business across competitive markets. In the context of COVID-19, digitalization has been a critical component in businesses’ efforts to continue providing services.

Healthcare organizations, banks and others have switched from physical verification to digital solutions to save time and cost. This confirms the need for a harmonized regulatory framework, Onfido says, which can be applied to age verification for online gambling, verification of identities for e-Pharmacies and telemedicine, as well as car rentals, home-sharing, social media verification and e-voting, among others. By implementing a unitary framework and a joint standard, the market will be more open to innovative technology and face less uncertainty.

Article Topics

authentication  |  biometrics  |  digital identity  |  EU  |  identity verification  |  KYC  |  Onfido  |  regulation