Scytáles, Deutsche Telekom to develop age assurance component for EUDI

As the EU Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet has progressed, its utility as a tool for age assurance has been a point of contention.

The Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA) has argued that the EUDI Wallet is “fundamentally an identity solution” and therefore not a fit instrument for conducting age assurance.

Now, according to a release, German telecoms group Deutsche Telekom (DT) and Swedish ID specialist Scytáles have been awarded the tender to develop a specific age check component for the digital wallet mandated by the European Commission (EC).

Scytáles CEO Konstantin Papaxanthis says “being the technology provider for the EUDIW positions us as the ideal partner for creating a solution that meets all the high standards required for the EU wide age verification. We’re thrilled to have been awarded the contract by the EU, together with T-Systems, and are proud to see our technology recognized.”

EC tender documents put the estimated value of the contract for “Development, Consultancy and Support for an Age Verification Solution” at €4M and show the value of “all contracts awarded in this notice” as €1.99M.

The procurement, say the documents, “will enable users of online web services to prove their age through the presentation of an electronic attestation through a dedicated application (mobile app) in a privacy preserving manner in order to access age restricted content.”

Digital identity models miss on privacy specifics of age assurance

AVPA’s concerns center on insufficient privacy and anonymization. The age assurance trade association believes that the digital ID scheme may not meet the requirement for anonymity that comes with certain sensitive age verification use cases.

While Scytáles, which won the original contract to build the European Digital Identity Wallet, presumably qualifies as “fundamentally an identity solution” in itself, focused on ISO-compliant mobile digital identity and mobile driver’s licenses (mDL), it also has ties to the euCONSENT association of business service leaders (ABSL), of which the AVPA is a member, and which is a subcontractor to the Scytáles consortium.

The Belgium-based non-profit will provide advice on the distinct requirements for age verification that have so far made it difficult to use the EU Digital ID wallet for anonymized online age checks, and led to the need for an interim age verification app.

As commentary in Telecoms.com notes, should the EU eventually make EUDI Wallets the only accepted form of age identification, then insist that digital services require age verification, “then it has effectively mandated it for all EU citizens via the back door.”

Article Topics

age verification  |  biometrics  |  Deutsche Telekom  |  digital identity  |  digital wallets  |  EU Digital Identity Wallet  |  Scytáles  |  tender