eIDAS (electronic identification and trust services)
The European regulation governing electronic identification and trust services, signatures, seals, time stamps, whose 2024 revision creates a digital identity wallet for every citizen.
Regulation (EU) No 910/2014, known as eIDAS, organizes the mutual recognition of electronic identification means notified by member states and sets the regime for trust services: electronic signatures, electronic seals, time stamps, electronic registered delivery, website authentication. It distinguishes several levels, including the qualified electronic signature, which has the same legal value as a handwritten signature throughout the Union. Its revision by Regulation (EU) 2024/1183 requires each member state to offer a European digital identity wallet, allowing citizens to prove their identity and attributes, age, diploma, license, to public and private services, sharing only the information needed. For insurance the text operates at three levels. It secures remote contract purchase and signature, and the resulting proof of consent. It offers a tool against identity fraud, notably against synthetic identities and impersonation by deepfake, when verification relies on a high-level means. And it creates new critical infrastructure, whose compromise would have considerable accumulation effects.
Textbook case: a policyholder buys a 200,000 euro life policy online. By identifying with a high-level digital wallet and signing with a qualified signature, he gives the insurer enforceable proof of identity and consent, where a simple uploaded copy of an ID document could have been forged or generated.
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