Finland starts work on national digital identity wallet

Finland has set up a project to implement its national digital identity wallet in line with the European Union’s eEIDAS regulation which introduces the European Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet.

The project kicked off on April 26 and is should be completed by December 31, 2026. The groundwork was set up by Finland’s Ministry of Finance while the Digital and Population Data Services Agency will be in charge of the technical implementation, the government says in a press release.

The agency will have to follow rules set up by the eEIDAS 2.0 which governs electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions. According to the rulebook, each EU Member State is required to provide a digital identity wallet to its citizens by 2026 at the latest.

The EUDI Wallet will allow each European citizen to access public and private digital services with a tap on their mobile phones. The EU has set up four large-scale pilots (LSPs) for the wallets while standard-setting organizations have been busy setting up the underlying technology.

The Finish government states that conditions have been laid out for wallets to protect users, including making sure that users are the only ones who can trace how the wallet is used. The wallet will inform users who are requesting their information while customer service will be set up to assist users in case of misuse. Services that allow the use of digital wallets will be registered and supervised.

“Digital identity wallets will make it even easier for EU citizens to use services,” says Minister of Local and Regional Government Anna-Kaisa Ikonen. “In Finland, all of the stakeholders are working closely together on development. The goal is to make our wallet safe and easy to use.”

Finland currently offers electronic identification methods such as banking codes, Citizen Certificates, included in the chip of ID cards, and Mobile ID (Mobiilivarmenne) supported by local telecommunication operators.

Article Topics

digital identity  |  digital wallets  |  eIDAS  |  EU  |  EU Digital Identity Wallet  |  Finland