ITU-T to recommend OSIA specifications for national digital identity systems

The Secure Identity Alliance has been qualified to provide normative references for digital identity that would be International Telecommunication Union’s Standardization Division (ITU-T) recommendations.

The qualification under Procedure A.5 of the ITU-T effectively allows the organization to officially recommend Open Standards Identity API (OSIA) specifications.

SIA notes in the announcement that OSIA is a digital public good which consists of open standard interfaces for seamless connections between the building blocks of a digital identity management ecosystem. OSIA implementations are agnostic of technologies, solutions architecture and vendors.

The reference organization qualification is the result of a rigorous assessment process carried out by ITU-T Study Group 17, its security standardization expert group. Qualification reflects SIA’s open membership and participation model, IPR (intellectual property rights) Policy, and change management process, in addition to the maturity of OSIA.

“Our mission is to unlock the full power of identity so that people, economy, and society thrive,” comments SIA Chairman Matt Cole. “In 2019 we launched the OSIA initiative to develop a framework of open standards for the interoperability of identity systems. The ITU-T qualification is a testament of the good work we have done over the last few years and represents a stepping stone in the continued collaboration with ITU-T SG-17.”

A new OSIA compliance program for digital identity technology vendors was launched at ID4Africa’s annual General Meeting this year.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  digital identity  |  digital public goods  |  identity management  |  national ID  |  OSIA (Open Standards Identity API)  |  Secure Identity Alliance  |  standards