Italy pushes citizens to adopt CIE as SPID digital ID is phased out

Italians who hold the electronic ID card (CIE) have been encouraged to begin activating their digital credentials on them, if they have not yet done so, before a rush for the digital ID begins. Those who are yet to register for it are also being urged to get one.

According to The Local, now is the time to get the new digital ID which the government intends to make the only credential for access to public and private sector services across the country.

The government’s plan to replace the SPID with the CIE was reiterated in January. SPID is an existing digital ID which is currently being used by nearly 40 million Italians to access services.

Although the switch from SPID to CIE is not immediate, citizens who have not yet obtained the latter are highly encouraged to do so.

Italy’s Undersecretary for Innovation, Alessio Butti, is quoted as explaining that SPID will be gradually phased out in the next two to three years, a period after which the CIE will be the single government-controlled digital ID for verification and authentication.

From early August, paper ID documents will not be accepted for travel among European Union countries, of which Italy is one, and it is feared that this could lead to a rush for the CIE at municipal offices.

The transition from the SPID to CIE also comes as Italy prepares to launch its national digital identity wallet under the EUDIW program. This could be in the form of an update to the IT-Wallet, which will reportedly soon support 200 different credentials.

Government authorities have stated that the CIE has cost and security advantages over SPID, which despite being popular with over one billion logins annually, is considered less secure given that it is run by private entities. Italian authorities say they are also looking at ways of better managing the transition, which is faced with a number of technical challenges.

While the government hopes that many citizens will continue to register for the CIE, it has introduced a measure that brings in the notion of digital proxies.

A draft decree in this regard was approved last month, and authorities say the idea is to make it possible for a citizen who does not have the CIE or SPID to access public services through a maximum of two delegated persons, Il Sole24 Ore reports.

According to the move, the person delegating must be enrolled in the population registry. The decree spells out the conditions under which these digital proxies will be issued.

In the meantime, it has been announced that Italy’s IO app has been expanding since it was launched at scale in December last year. Il Sole24 Ore states that about 10 million people have uploaded at least one of the required documents onto the app for real-world use. About 200 documents are expected to be made available on the platform.

Article Topics

Carta d’Identità Elettronica (CIE)  |  digital ID  |  government services  |  IT Wallet  |  Italy  |  SPID