Digital travel ID app close for EU but integration, governance questions remain

The EU needs to establish a dedicated working group of experts to ensure that the EU Digital Travel application is widely adopted and integrated with Digital Travel Credentials and the EU Digital Identity Wallet, digital security industry group Eurosmart argues in a new position paper.

The EU Digital Travel app was proposed by the European Commission in October to help smooth the transition to and use of the EU’s biometric Entry-Exit System (EES).

Clearer definitions are also needed for the “creation” and “issuance” of DTCs, Eurosmart argues in the paper. A lack of clarity could introduce challenges for setting security requirements and building governance frameworks. And the verification process should be made consistent, with requirements for verifying not just the integrity and authenticity of ID document chip data, but also its validity, as well as the authenticity of the chip or storage medium itself.

The EC’s proposal, as it stands, would give eu-LISA the role of processing personal data in support of the digital single market, which Eurosmart argues is “far beyond its original purpose focused on police and justice and processing data from criminals and non-EU citizens and nationals. This substantial change requires supplemental protection and safeguard for personal data of EU-citizens and EU-nationals and thus reconsider the supervision of eu-LISA.”

Then there is the relation between the travel app and eIDAS, which is where the integration of DTCs and EUDI Wallets arises. DTCs based on European Residence Permits should also be included in the system.

The proposal suggests a 12-month time frame for Member States to reach operational readiness from the date the Implementing Act is approved, but Eurosmart says this “seems too short.”

Target check-in experiences demoed

A video demo posted to Youtube shows a self-service flight check-in process carried out with the iGrant.io digital wallet, under the EWC’s Large Scale Pilot series. The demo depicts a person using QR codes and OTPs to receive four different credentials for Personal Identification Data (PID), PhotoID, Personal Contact Details and Student ID.

“With the requisite credentials in your data wallet, you can now experience flight check-in using identity and biometrics.”

Once the credentials are collected, the check-in process is completed by selecting the digital wallet that holds the credentials. The collection of all four credentials and the complete check-in process takes about 3 minutes in the video. A similar video depicts a hotel check-in process, which is even quicker.

A 2024 report from Goode Identity forecasts that 1.27 billion people will be using travel digital identities by 2029, and that that rate of adoption is significantly enabled by ICAO’s DTCs.

ICAO pitches biometric ‘journey pass’ to replace physical documents

Article Topics

airport biometrics  |  biometrics  |  border security  |  digital travel  |  digital travel credentials  |  EU  |  EU Digital Identity Wallet  |  EU Digital Identity Wallet Consortium (EWC)  |  eu-LISA  |  European Commission