UK digital identity leaders call for new government to fix DIATF’s role in law

A collection of trade bodies and leaders within the UK’s digital identity ecosystem have published an open letter calling on the next government to pass a law establishing a legal foundation for the trust framework already in place.

The letter is addressed to the state’s four largest political parties, and urges them to commit to introducing legislation to support the Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF) and digital verification.

The future of digital verification was cast into doubt when the outgoing Conservative government failed to advance the Data Protection and Digital Information (DPDI) (No. 2) Bill before the dissolution of parliament.

Signatories to the letter include Yoti CEO Robin Tombs, techUK CEO Julian David, Open Identity Exchange (OIX) Chief Identity Strategist Nick Mothershaw, OneID CEO Paula Sussex, Idemia Smart Identity Director David Rennie, City of London Corporation Policy Chairman Chris Hayward, and accounting software developer Sage, among others.

They cite a reference in the Digital Identity and Attributes Consultation outcome document to an estimate that digital identity could add £800 million (roughly US$1 billion) to the UK economy annually, and a DSIT survey that shows people want verifiable identity, but need accountability and transparency to have trust in digital identity services.

“The DPDI Bill sought to establish digital identity services aligned with these criteria by providing clarity in law on the definition of a ‘digital identity’ and enabling mechanisms for secure sharing of consumer and business data needed to scale growth across the economy,” the group writes.

The Bill would have created the legal basis for the DIATF to be a cornerstone of a secure digital economy, and enabled the use of trusted data sources without the government having to develop new identity services.

Businesses have already invested in certification to the DIATF and delivering the digital identity verification products needed by individuals and other businesses. Those value of those investments has now been cast into doubt.

The next government should pass the legislation address the urgent situation, and set up “an independent and accountable regulator with clearly defined functions, duties, and powers” to oversee the system, the letter says.

Signatories also argue that the UK needs to keep up with digital ID developments in the neighboring EU, as well as countries like India and Australia.

techUK urged the UK Treasury to support the introduction of digital identity in the Kingdom on grounds it will improve anti-money laundering (AML) efforts just weeks ago.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  DIATF certification  |  digital identity  |  Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF)  |  identity verification  |  legislation  |  UK