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Projects :: STORK

STORK: Secure Identity Across Borders Linked

eID - easier access to public services across the EU

Several barriers to free movement of workers still exist in the EU: for example, it is not easy to access public services while working or living in another country. The European Commission has launched a pilot project to remedy this situation with an EU-wide system for the recognition and authentication of electronic identity (eID via electronic cards or other means). It will enable businesses and citizens to securely use their national electronic identities and get help from public administrations in any Member State they live in or travel to.

The pilot project launched by the Commission aims to achieve the pan-European recognition of electronic IDs. This will be done without imposing one single solution but allowing national systems to work together.

The pilot project will test some of the services that are most useful to the many Europeans working and studying in EU countries other than their own. The participating countries will test a set of services using open standards. These include:

- a common service architecture allowing citizens to use their national eIDs to access e-Government portals across borders,

- a platform for safer online communication using eIDs for children,

- a service facilitating students’ mobility across Europe,

- use of eID for cross-border electronic delivery for citizens and businesses,

- and for testing the electronic process of address change for EU citizens that move to other Member States.

Technical solutions 

The project will develop, test and validate common specifications for national eID systems to work together. These will be made freely available. All Member States, including those not participating in the project, will be consulted on the common specifications so that the project can have a wide impact. All industries that would like to develop services for eID in the future will have equal and free access to the common specifications.
Reference materials, guidelines, manuals and educational materials will also be made available allowing the replication and implementation of solutions in other countries. A number of events, workshops and consultations will also be organised during the project.

Security

Security and privacy are serious concerns within the project.  All efforts will be made to ensure that mutual recognition of electronic identity makes identity theft extremely difficult. As authentication levels for a given application may differ across Member States, the project will develop “circles of trust” at European scale.

Impact

The project will result in the smooth cross-border operation of several key public services. The solution will be scalable to all EU Member States. It will be technology-transparent, robust, with measurable benefits, and will be implemented in such a way that it is sustainable beyond the life of the pilot.

As a building block towards the realisation of an internal market without borders, this project will save time and money with safer transactions, less fraud, better control over personal data and simplified procedures.

Last update: 25/03/2009

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