CEF eID at the eIDAS Technical Subgroup, London

London, 2016

CEF eID was discussed at the eIDAS Technical Sub Group meeting on technical requirements for implementation of eIDAS via CEF eID, 17 October 2016, from 9:30 -18.00, Aviation House, 125 Kingsway, London.

The eIDAS Technical Sub Group meeting itself consisted broadly of two segments, looking first at User Experience and secondly at the eIDAS technical specifications & other implementation issues. In light of the services CEF eID provides, the meeting's focus on UX and harmonisation was intended to explore the potential for a higher degree of consistency - in terms of visual presentation and process - when using eID to access services across borders, in order not to lose sight of the end user experience when discussing technical interoperability.

The goal of CEF eID is the connection of national eID systems at the EU level, allowing public and private entities to extend the use of their digital services to citizens from other Member States, in compliance with the eIDAS Regulation on trust services. This is done through the establishment of an eIDAS node in each Member State which facilitates the connection of national eID systems. More than twenty European countries currently have eID systems in place.

The eIDAS Technical Sub Group was delighted to welcome Tim Blyth, Delivery Manager for Verify and Polly Gannaway, User Researcher on the Verify Team from GDS, who presented on user experience. During the afternoon session, Livia Ralph, Project Manager, presented GDS’s user experience testing approach applied to service provider portals.

Experts from the European Commission presented on the harmonisation of eID access across Europe. Commission experts explained potential options for creating a more consistent user experience, including potential benefits of each, and proposed several approaches for taking the issue forward, whereby participants asked the Commission's opinions on the desirability and feasibility of harmonisation. Participants noted that while harmonisation has benefits, complete consistency in visual appearance and process faces challenges due to technical, legal and/or other constraints.  GDS also presented a case study on a ‘Discovery’ project conducted by GDS to improve the experience of creating a bank account in the UK as a Norwegian immigrant. This involved aligning identity management between Norwegian and UK banks.

Concerning eIDAS technical specifications & other implementation issues, the Subgroup endorsed the final updates of all documents.

Workshop, 2016

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