Recital 19

(19) All European Digital Identity Wallets should enable users to electronically identify themselves and authenticate online and in offline mode across borders to access a wide range of public and private services. Without prejudice to Member States’ prerogatives as regards the identification of their citizens and residents, European Digital Identity Wallets can also serve the institutional needs of public administrations, international organisations and the Union’s institutions, bodies, offices and agencies. Authentication in offline mode would be important in many sectors, including in the health sector where services are often provided through face-to-face interaction and ePrescriptions should be able to rely on QR-codes or similar technologies to verify authenticity. Relying on the assurance level high with regard to electronic identification schemes European Digital Identity Wallets should benefit from the potential offered by tamper-proof solutions such as secure elements, to comply with the security requirements under this Regulation. European Digital Identity Wallets should also allow users to create and use qualified electronic signatures and seals which are accepted across the Union. Once on-boarded to a European Digital Identity Wallet, natural persons should be able to use it to sign with qualified electronic signatures, by default and free of charge, without having to go through any additional administrative procedures. Users should be able to sign or seal self-claimed assertions or attributes.To achieve simplification and cost-reduction benefits for persons and businesses across the Union, including by enabling powers of representation and e-mandates, Member States should provide European Digital Identity Wallets that rely on common standards and technical specifications to ensure seamless interoperability and to adequately increase IT security, strengthen robustness against cyber-attacks and thus significantly reduce the potential risks of ongoing digitalisation for Union citizens, residents in the Union and undertakings. Only Member States’ competent authorities can provide a high level of confidence in establishing the identity of a person and therefore provide assurance that the person claiming or asserting a particular identity is in fact the person he or she claims to be. It is therefore necessary for the provision of European Digital Identity Wallets to rely on the legal identity of Union citizens, residents in the Union or legal persons. Reliance on the legal identity should not hinder European Digital Identity Wallet users to access services under a pseudonym, where there is no legal requirement for legal identity for authentication. Trust in European Digital Identity Wallets would be enhanced if issuing and managing parties are required to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure the highest level of security that is commensurate to the risks raised for the rights and freedoms of the natural persons, in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-10 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.