EN Official Journal of the European Union L 289/18

COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION (EU) 2015/1984

of 3 November 2015

defining the circumstances, formats and procedures of notification pursuant to Article 9(5) of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market

(notified under document C(2015) 7369)

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market and repealing Directive 1999/93/EC (1), and in particular Article 9(5) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Notification of electronic identification schemes by Member States is a prerequisite of mutual recognition of electronic identification means.

(2) Cooperation on interoperability and security of electronic identification schemes requires simplified procedures. Since the cooperation between Member States referred to in Article 12(6) of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 and regulated in detail in Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2015/296 (2) already requires the use of the English language, the same solution for the purposes of the notification of electronic identification schemes should facilitate reaching interoperability and security of the schemes. However, translation of already existing documentation should not cause unreasonable burden.

(3) Schemes may involve multiple parties issuing the electronic identification means and/or multiple levels of assurance. For the sake of clarity and legal certainty, the notification of such schemes should however be a single process, with separate notification forms for each party issuing the electronic identification means and/or for each level of assurance.

(4) The organisation of electronic identification schemes varies among Member States involving public and private sector entities. Although the purpose of the notification form should be to give as precise information as possible, among others, on the various authorities or entities involved in the electronic identification process, it should not aim at listing e.g. all local municipalities when those are involved. In that case, the respective field of the notification form should identify the level of the authority or entity involved.

(5) Providing a description of electronic identification schemes prior to notification to other Member States as set out in Article 7(g) of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 is a prerequisite of mutual recognition of electronic identification means. The notification form set out in this implementing act should be used in the context of providing a description of the scheme to other Member States, in order to enable peer review as set out in Article 10(2) of Implementing Decision (EU) 2015/296.

(6) The deadline for the Commission to publish a notification, as provided for in Article 9(3) of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014, should be counted from the day when the complete form is submitted. The notification form should not be considered complete if the Commission needs to request additional information or clarification.

(7) In order to ensure uniform use of the notification form, it is appropriate for the Commission to provide guidance to the Member States in particular with regard to whether changes to the notification form may lead to re-notification.

(8) The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee referred to in Article 48 of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

Objective

Pursuant to Article 9(5) of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014, this Decision lays down the circumstances, formats and procedures of notifications of electronic identification schemes to the Commission.

Article 2

Language of notification

1. The language of notification shall be English. The notification form referred to in Article 3(1) shall be completed in English.

2. Without prejudice to paragraph 1, Member States shall not be obliged to translate supporting documents referred to in point 4.4 of the Annex where this would create an unreasonable burden.

Article 3

Notification procedure and formats

1. Notification shall be made electronically in the format compliant with the form set out in the Annex.

2. Where a scheme involves multiple responsible parties issuing the electronic identification means and/or covers multiple levels of assurance, points 3.2 and/or where appropriate 4.2 of the notification form set out in the Annex shall be completed separately for each party issuing the electronic identification means and/or for each level of assurance.

3. Where the authorities, parties, entities or bodies to be notified in the form set out in the Annex, in particular the parties managing the registration process of the unique person identification data or the parties issuing the electronic identification means, are acting under the same set of rules and using the exact same procedures, in particular where they are regional or local authorities, the following specific rules shall apply:

(a) the notification form may be filled in once in respect of all such parties;

(b) the notification form may be filled with information necessary to identify the respective functional or territorial organisation level.

4. The Commission shall confirm receipt of the notification by electronic means.

5. The Commission may request additional information or clarification in the following circumstances:

(a) the notification form is not properly filled in;

(b) there is a manifest error in the form or in the supporting documents;

(c) a description of the electronic identification scheme prior to notification was not provided to other Member States pursuant to Article 7(g) of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014.

6. Where additional information or clarification referred to in paragraph 5 is requested, the notification shall only be considered complete when such additional information or clarification is submitted to the Commission.

Article 4

Addressees

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.

Done at Brussels, 3 November 2015. For the Commission Günther OETTINGER Member of the Commission

(1) OJ L 257, 28.8.2014, p. 73.

(2) Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2015/296 of 24 February 2015 establishing procedural arrangements for cooperation between Member States on electronic identification pursuant to Article 12(7) of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market (OJ L 53, 25.2.2015, p. 14).