EU replaces plastic and paper documents with digital identifications

The European Union's digital wallet promises to replace all paper and plastic documents, including driver's licenses and identification cards, Report informs via ERR.

In a few years, you might not even need your wallet. In the same way that a bank card can already be used on a smartphone, the EU is designing a digital solution that would allow your identification cards to also be stored on a phone.

"It is not like a plastic card that you take out of your pocket and show. With digital, it is as if I authorize another individual, an official, to identify me," Mark Erlich, the Information System Authority (RIA) expert, said.

The digital wallet can hold all of your licenses and entitlements, including your driver's license, fishing license and prescriptions. It would also provide you with more alternatives depending who you share your information with. "A traffic officer, for example, may have the right to view your ID and name if you are pulled over, yet a doorman at a bar may not need to know your address, ID, date of birth or name. He only needs to see that a person with that face is 18 years old. That is the only information he would get," Erlich explained.

EU legislators have started discussing a new version of the eIDAS regulation (electronic IDentification, Authentication and trust Services) in 2020. A week ago, a prototype app was completed and while this legislation is still in draft form, the project is currently undergoing testing.

By the end of 2025, there will be no obstacles for member states to begin implementing the system, Erlich said.