The Czech government has passed an amendment to the country’s legislation on the Right to Digital Services that will enable citizens of the Czech Republic to store and use a digital version of their national identity card in a wallet on their smartphone.
The government is to launch the eDoklady digital ID card and wallet as “an important intermediate step” towards the introduction of the EU Digital Identity Wallet (EUDI) that will enable all European Union citizens to store a range of documents — including their ID card, passport, driving licence, health documentation, professional qualifications and education certificates — on their mobile device.
The eDoklady app will be compatible with the EUDI and “will provide a practical alternative for everyone who does not want to think about having to carry classic plastic cards,” the government’s Digital and Information Agency says.
“The application will be connected to the Citizen Portal, which contains encrypted information necessary for identification and verification.
“In the case of an identity card, it is both an identity and, for example, proof of age (typically for the purchase of alcohol and cigarettes).
“The application generates a QR code at the moment of inspection, which proves what is needed through a simple electronic reader.”
The amendment to the law requires central administrative authorities to accept digital eDoklady credentials from January 2024, although “we are already noticing great interest from retail chains in the possibility of digital age verification”, the Czech deputy prime minister for digitalization Ivan Bartoš says.
The Czech Republic revealed in January 2022 that it was planning to roll out mobile driving licences and digital ID cards in 2023 “at the latest”.
The EU announced in June that it would be making the EUDI wallet available free of charge to all 450 million EU citizens and the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity laid out standardisation requirements for the wallet in July.
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