Switzerland takes another step towards digital ID

Switzerland’s national digital identity is inching closer to reality. On Tuesday, the country’s Council of States approved the project’s regulative framework with an overwhelming majority, opening the path for the next legislative steps.

The E-ID Act will go back to the Swiss parliament’s lower house, the National Council which still needs to resolve any disagreements on individual data protection and cyber security issues, according to Swiss Info.

Data protection has been one of the major stumbling blocks in making Switzerland’s digital ID a reality. A previous proposal, which would have allowed private companies to manage Swiss citizen data, was shot down in a 2021 referendum.

The E-ID Act, known officially as the Federal Act on Electronic Identity Credentials and Other Electronic Credentials (BGEID), was unveiled in November last year. In March, the Swiss National Council greenlighted a budget of 100 million francs (US$113.3 million) for developing the digital identity system.

The new scheme promises a government-controlled system closer to self-sovereign identity (SSI), giving users more control over data. In July, a Swiss government commission recommended that e-ID data be kept exclusively in a government digital wallet. Private wallet makers will be able to store and present the electronic ID in the future so long as they comply with council regulations.

The country’s e-ID is planned to be introduced in 2026. However, the government is still debating how to proceed with its technical implementation and trust infrastructure.

The Federal Department of Justice and Police (FDJP) is due to submit a concrete proposal on the trust infrastructure by the end of the year. Meanwhile, the government has published a technical roadmap on GitHub.

Article Topics

data protection  |  digital ID  |  digital identity  |  E-ID Act  |  legislation  |  regulation  |  self-sovereign identity  |  Switzerland