The primary focus of this call is the connection of services to the eIDAS interoperability framework for cross-border transactions in a few selected private sector areas presenting high potential volume of cross-border transactions (i.e banking, electronic/Internet payment services, other financial services, insurance and aviation).

€1.04 billion is made available for the telecommunications sector under the CEF programme for 2014-2020. Part of this funding is to be made in the form of grants allocated following competitive calls for proposals.

The second 2016 CEF Telecom Calls were launched on 12 May 2016 with a total budget of €10.5 million of which for eIdentification & eSignature proposals an indicative budget of €4.5 million is available. The deadline to apply is 15 September 2016.

The connection to the nodes in the Member States will be in the context of providing cross border services which will be able to rely on authenticated nationally supported electronic identification. In the eIDAS Interoperability Architecture, Member States are the trust anchors for all nodes and no central trust anchor is provided (e.g. via the Commission). This call builds on earlier calls. Funding for the setting up of the eIDAS node for example was provided in the 2014 eID call and the connection of public services to the node was the subject of the 2015 call.

As part of the Commission's Core Service Platform which operates to support the CEF programme, a node validator service is for testing that the connection of the node works correctly is available.

This is a great opportunity not just for the funding possibilities but also to be able to test cross-border service connections via the node and demonstrate that the integration of eID into cross-border business processes works smoothly.