EU and Canada agree to collaborate on digital ID mutual recognition, pilots

Representatives of the European Union and Canada emerged from the meeting of the EU-Canada Digital Partnership Council on Monday with an agreement to work together on making their respective digital IDs work in each jurisdiction. The continental bloc and the country signed a Memorandum of Understanding on “Digital Credentials, Digital Identity Wallets and Trust Services,” one of several deals to work together on emerging technologies.

The MoU refers to the Canada-EU Summit Joint Statement of June 23, 2025. That statement included a commitment by each to align their digital frameworks “to establish interoperable digital identities and digital credentials to facilitate interactions between our citizens and our businesses.”

In the wake of that statement, the Digital ID & Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC) endorsed the prospective digital trade agreement and chance for mutual recognition of digital IDs.

Now, the EU and Canada will explore the creation of a “dedicated forum for regular expert dialogue” to facilitate joint testing of credentials, including those using digital identity wallets. They will collaborate on joint use cases and pilot projects to advance cross-border interoperability, building on Canada’s new digital ID framework and the EU Digital Identity Wallet framework. The respective governments will also work together on sharing information and best practices, jointly test digital credential technologies and explore approaches to standards formation, and discuss the path to future mutual recognition, according to the MoU contained within the parties’ joint statement.

Monday’s meeting was co-chaired by Canadian Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Evan Solomon and European Commission EVP for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy Henna Virkkunen.

The parties also agreed to cooperate on AI research and adoption, standards development for the digital economy, R&D on quantum technologies and weather forecasting.

The EU and Singapore held their second Digital Partnership Council meeting last Monday, where they outlined similar plans to collaborate on digital identity interoperability.

Article Topics

Canada  |  digital ID  |  digital identity  |  digital wallets  |  EU  |  Europe  |  trust framework