Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions - Action Plan on e-signatures and e-identification to facilitate the provision of cross-border public services in the Single Market
Date: 2008-11-28
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: approximation of laws, drafting of EU law, electronic signature, report, standardisation

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 28.11.2008 
COM(2008) 798 final 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL, THE 
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

Action Plan on e-signatures and e-identification to facilitate the provision of cross-
border public services in the Single Market 

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COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL, THE 
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

Action Plan on e-signatures and e-identification to facilitate the provision of cross-
border public services in the Single Market 

(Text with EEA relevance) 

1. 

1.1. 

1.2. 

Introduction .................................................................................................................. 3 

Issues addressed by the Action Plan ............................................................................ 3 

Current framework for e-signatures and e-identification at EU level.......................... 4 

1.2.1.  The e-Signatures Directive........................................................................................... 4 

1.2.2.  The i2010 e-Government Action Plan ......................................................................... 5 

1.3. 

Enhancing the cross-border interoperability of e-signatures and e-identification ....... 5 

2. 

2.1. 

Part 1: Actions to enhance the cross-border interoperability of e-Signatures.............. 6 

Qualified electronic signatures and advanced electronic signatures based on a 
qualified certificate....................................................................................................... 7 

2.2. 

Advanced electronic signatures.................................................................................... 8 

3. 

4. 

Part 2: Actions to enhance the cross-border interoperability of electronic identity... 10 

Monitoring and implementation................................................................................. 12 

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1. 

INTRODUCTION 

1.1. 

Issues addressed by the Action Plan 

In the framework of the Lisbon Strategy, the EU has committed itself to improving the legal 
and administrative environment to unlock business potential. Bringing public administrations 
on  line,  and  enabling  enterprises  and  individuals  to  communicate  electronically  with  public 
administrations  across  borders,  contributes  to  creating  an  environment  that  favours 
entrepreneurship and facilitates citizen’s contact with public authorities. 

Electronic communications are becoming increasingly important in many aspects of economic 
and  public  life.  Public  authorities  across  Europe  have  started  to  offer  electronic  access  to 
government  services.  In  doing  so  they  have  been  focusing  mostly  on  national  needs  and 
means, which has led to a complex system with different solutions. This situation carries the 
risk of creating new barriers to cross-border markets and of hampering the functioning of the 
single market for enterprises and citizens. 

Major  barriers  to  cross-border  access  to  electronic  services  of  public  administrations  are 
linked  to  the  use  of  electronic  identification  and  of  electronic  signatures.  Like  in  the  non-
digital  environment,  certain  electronic  procedures  may  require  identification  and  signatures. 
Thus  access  to  public  administrations’  electronic  procedures  often  implies  the  need  for  the 
individuals involved to identify themselves (i.e. allowing the administration to make sure that 
the persons are who they claim to be by checking their personal credentials1) and the need to 
provide an electronic signature allowing the administration to identify the signatory as well as 
to  make  sure  that  the  data  submitted  has  not  been  altered  during  transmission).  The  main 
barrier is the lack of interoperability, be it legal, technical or organisational. 

The current European Union framework offers horizontal and sectoral instruments to facilitate 
and  enhance  the  use  of  e-signatures  and  e-identification.  The  e-Signatures  Directive2 
establishes  the  legal  recognition  of  electronic  signatures  and  a  legal  framework  to  promote 
their interoperability. A number of practical, technical and organisational requirements need 
to be met to establish such interoperability. 

Furthermore, effective interoperability is also required if Member States are to comply with 
their legal obligations under other EU legislation, in particular under specific internal market 
instruments. Several internal market initiatives foresee that businesses should be able to use 
electronic  means  to  communicate  with  public  bodies,  exercise  their  rights  and  do  business 
across borders.  

The  Services  Directive  obliges  Member  States  to  ensure  by  the  end  of  20093  that  service 
providers are able to complete electronically and at a distance all procedures and formalities 

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Identification is the process of using claimed or observed attributes of an entity to deduce who the entity 
is.  The  term  “identification”  is  also  referred  to  as  entity  authentication.  (ModinisIDM  Terminology 
paper, https://www.cosic.esat.kuleuven.be/modinis-idm/twiki/bin/view.cgi/Main/GlossaryDoc. 
Directive  1999/93/EC,  OJ  L  13,  19.01.00,  p.12  and  the  Report  on  the  operation  of  e-Signatures 
Directive COM(2006)120 final. 
Article  8  of  the  Directive  2006/123/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of 
12 December 2006 on services in the internal market. The deadline for implementation of the Services 
Directive is the 28 December 2009. 

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necessary to provide a service activity. This implies, amongst other things, the possibility for 
cross-border identification of service providers and authentication of the data submitted.  

The Directives on Public Procurement4 aim to promote the development and use of electronic 
means in public purchasing procedures, with potentially substantial cost savings for business.5 
Member  States  may  regulate  the  level  of  electronic  signature  required  in  line  with  the 
obligations of the e-Signatures Directive, and may restrict the choice of contracting authorities 
to qualified signatures6.  

Electronic invoicing — the electronic transfer of invoicing information (billing and payment) 
between business partners (supplier and buyer) — is an essential part of an efficient financial 
supply chain. To accompany the creation of Single Euro Payment Area, work is under way to 
prepare an e-invoicing initiative (the European Commission has set up an expert group tasked 
with establishing a European Electronic Invoicing Framework by 2009) with further savings 
for businesses. 7 

The  objective  of  this  Action  Plan  is  therefore  to  offer  a  comprehensive  and  pragmatic 
framework  to  achieve  interoperable  e-signatures  and  e-identification,  which  will  simplify 
access  of  enterprises  and  citizens  to  cross-border  electronic  public  services.  To  achieve  this 
objective,  the  Action  Plan  focuses  on  a  number  of  practical,  organisational  and  technical 
issues, complementing the existing legal framework. 

1.2. 

Current framework for e-signatures and e-identification at EU level 

1.2.1.  The e-Signatures Directive 

The e-Signatures Directive was adopted in 1999 to promote the legal recognition of electronic 
signatures and to ensure the free circulation within the single market of e-signature products, 
equipment and services. However, a legal and technical analysis of the practical usage of e-
signatures shows that there are interoperability problems that currently limit the cross-border 
use of e-signatures. The analysis highlights the need for a more effective mutual recognition 
approach. Fragmentation due to the lack of cross-border interoperability is likely to affect e-

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Article  42(5)(b)  and  Annex  X  of  Directive  2004/18/EC  and  Article  48(5)(b)  and  Annex  XXIV  of 
Directive 2004/17/EC on public procurement.  
For  further  information,  see  the  Action  Plan  for  the  implementation  of  the  legal  framework  for 
electronic public procurement of 13 December 2004, COM(2004)841. 
When  conducting  their  procurement  online,  public  purchasers  must  be  able  to  receive  and  process 
electronic tenders across borders. Full electronic tenders are complex envelopes containing a variety of 
electronically signed documents and attestations from different sources, national origins and technical 
outlooks, including certified translations (e.g. to accept a service provider’s proof of qualification). This 
means policy-makers must organise complex electronic communications in an open circuit, i.e. where 
the  receiver  of  information  (the  public  purchaser)  does  not  previously  know  all  the  potential  senders 
(the bidders). 
In  particular,  the  Expert  Group  on  e-Invoicing  has  stated  that  electronic  invoicing  should  not  be 
hindered by disharmonious national electronic signature legislation. The scope of this horizontal action 
plan  does  not  include  assessing  the  implications  of  using  electronic  signatures  for  VAT  compliance 
(electronic signatures for invoices are referred to in Council Directive on the Common System of VAT 
2006/112  EC  (Art.  233))  and  electronic  invoicing  or  the  associated  obstacles  and  actions  needed  to 
remedy these obstacles. 

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government services in particular, which today are the largest channel of transactions using e-
signatures. 8 

1.2.2.  The i2010 e-Government Action Plan  

With regard to cross-border e-identification, there is still no Community instrument on which 
action  at  Community  level  could  be  based.  Notwithstanding  this,  the  Commission  supports 
(both  politically  and  financially)  activities  that  aim  at  finding  solutions  to  interoperable  e-
identification  at  EU  level.  In  this  regard,  the  i2010  e-Government  Action  Plan9,  adopted  by 
the  European  Commission  on  25  April  2006,  considers  interoperable  electronic  identity 
management  (eIDM)  as  one  of  the  critical  key  enablers  for  access  to  public  services.  The 
importance of interoperable eIDM has been recognised by the Member States who have made 
the clear commitment to ensure that “by 2010 European citizens and businesses will be able 
to benefit from secure and convenient electronic means, issued at local, regional or national 
levels  and  complying  with  data  protection  regulations,  to  identify  themselves  to  public 
services in their own or in any other Member State”. 

1.3. 

Enhancing the cross-border interoperability of e-signatures and e-identification 

Despite  the  existing  legal  provisions  and  the  political  commitments  taken  by  the  Member 
States  and  the  Commission,  a  more  coordinated  and  comprehensive  approach  is  needed  to 
facilitate the cross-border use of e-identification and e-signatures in practice. This is essential 
to avoid fragmentation of the single market.  

Therefore,  the  Commission  proposed  in  its  Communication  “A  single  market  for  the  21st 
century  Europe”  of  20  November  2007  to  adopt  an  Action  Plan  on  e-signatures  and  e-
authentication10.  

This  Action  Plan  aims  to  assist  Member  States  in  implementing  mutually  recognised  and 
interoperable  electronic  signatures  and  e-identification  solutions,  in  order  to  facilitate  the 
provision  of  cross-border  public  services  in  an  electronic  environment.  It  sets  out  specific 
actions  on  e-signatures  (part  1)  and  on  e-identification  (part  2).  Although  the  Action  Plan 
focuses  mainly  on  e-government  applications,  the  suggested  actions  will  also  benefit 
businesses’ applications insofar as the means to be put in place can also be used in Business to 
Business (B2B) and Business to Consumers (B2C) transactions. 

At the Spring European Council of March 2008, Heads of State or Government declared that 
it is crucial to put in place cross-border interoperable solutions for electronic signatures and e-
authentication to improve the functioning of the ‘e-Single Market’.  

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The  European  Commission  is  also  working  on  a  project  to  facilitate  the  introduction  of  electronic 
signatures  in  its  internal  and  external  exchanges.  This  project  is  called  “Electronic  Signature  Service 
Infrastructure” (ESSI). This project constitutes a key requirement for dematerialisation of the European 
Commission processes, as foreseen in “Rules for the provisions on electronic and digitised documents” 
(SEC(2005)1578 ). 
i2010  e-Government  Action  Plan:  Accelerating  e-Government  in  Europe  for  the  Benefit  of  All 
[COM(2006) 173 final]. 
E-authentication  is  understood  here  as  entity  authentication,  i.e.  e-identification.  The  term  e-
identification  is  used  in  this  document  for  the  sake  of  clear  separation  between  entity  and  data 
authentication. 

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The  Commission  will  contribute  to  developing  a  coordinated  response  to  interoperability 
issues by monitoring progress and giving guidance to Member States and stakeholders on the 
implementation of the Action Plan.  

2. 

PART  1:  ACTIONS  TO  ENHANCE  THE  CROSS-BORDER  INTEROPERABILITY  OF  E-
SIGNATURES 

The main objective of the e-Signatures Directive is to create a Community framework for the 
use  of  electronic  signatures,  allowing  the  free  flow  of  electronic  signature  products  and 
services cross-borders and ensuring a basic legal recognition of electronic signatures. 

The  Directive  addresses  three  forms  of  electronic  signatures.  The  first  one  is  the  “simple 
electronic  signature”.  This  one  has  a  wide  meaning.  It  serves  to  identify  the  signing  person 
and  to  authenticate  data.  It  can  be  as  simple  as  signing  an  e-mail  message  with  a  person’s 
name  or  using  a  PIN-code.  The  second  form  is  the  “advanced  electronic  signature”  (AES). 
This form of signature needs first to be uniquely linked to the signatory, secondly it needs to 
be  capable  to  identify  the  signatory,  thirdly  the  means  need  to  be  such  that  they  can  be 
maintained under the whole control of the signatory and fourthly it needs to be linked to the 
data in such a way that any subsequent change in the data can be detected (see Article 2.2 of 
the  Directive).  The  third  form,  a  “qualified  electronic  signature”  (QES)  consists  of  an 
advanced electronic signature based on a qualified certificate (QC) and created by a secure-
signature-creation  device.  It offers the highest level of security that the data comes from its 
purported sender and that the transmitted data have not been tampered with. 

The  general  principle  of  legal  recognition  applies  to  all  three  kinds  of  electronic  signatures 
established  by  the  Directive.  This  means  that  none  can  be  refused  purely  for  the  reason  of 
being in an electronic form (see Article 5 of the e-Signatures Directive). In addition, Article 
5.1  states  a  legal  presumption  of  equivalence  between  a  qualified  e-signature  and  a 
handwritten  signature.  The  cross-border  acceptance  of  e-signatures  applies  however  only  to 
the qualified level, as Article 4.2 establishes the free circulation of e-signature products which 
comply with the Directive (meaning in practice complying with the requirements for qualified 
signatures as laid down in the annexes to the Directive).  

Member  States  also  have  to  ensure  that  when  they  apply  additional  requirements  for  e-
signatures  used  in  the  public  sector  on  the  basis  of  Article  3.7  of  the  Directive,  such 
requirements  do  not  constitute  obstacles  for  cross-border  services,  in  line  with  the  internal 
market basis of the Directive11.  

Alongside  the  need  for  correct  implementation  of  these  obligations  of  the  e-Signatures 
Directive, a number of technical and organisational issues need to be addressed to improve the 
cross-border use of e-signatures in practice.  

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Art.  3.  7  these  additional  requirements  have  to  be  objective,  transparent,  proportional  and  non-
discriminatory and have to relate to the specific characteristics of the application concerned. 

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2.1. 

Qualified  electronic  signatures  and  advanced  electronic  signatures  based  on  a 
qualified certificate 

It  is  expected  that  the  cross-border  use  of  qualified  e-signatures  (QES)  and  advanced  e-
signatures  based  on  qualified  certificates  (AES  based  on  QC)  can  be  improved  relatively 
quickly12.  Both  types  of  signatures  benefit  from  a  clear  legal  status  under  the  e-signatures 
Directive, namely the presumption of equivalence to a handwritten signature for the QES and 
the legal obligation of Member States to mutually recognise qualified certificates. In addition, 
substantial work already exists in the field of standardisation for both types of signature (QES 
and AES based on QC). 

In practice, the main obstacle for the cross-border use of e-signatures lies in the lack of trust 
in  e-signatures  originating  from  other  Member  States,  and  difficulties  linked  to  validating 
these signatures. 

Firstly, in order to enhance trust in e-signatures from other Member States, the receiving party 
should  be  able  to  check  the  status  of  the  Certification  Service  Providers  (CSPs)  issuing 
qualified certificates in other Member States. The e-Signatures Directive (Article 3.3) requires 
Member  States  to  ensure  that  an  appropriate  system  is  set  up  to  supervise  the  Certificate 
Service Providers established in their territory that issue qualified certificates.  

Secondly,  in  order  to  validate  a  QES  or  an  AES  based  on  a  QC  originating  from  another 
Member State, a receiving party needs to check the “quality” of the signature. This means that 
the  receiving  party  has  to  be  able  to  verify  whether  the  signature  is  an  advanced  electronic 
signature  and  whether  it  is  supported  by  a  qualified  certificate  issued  by  a  supervised 
Certification  Service  Provider  (see  explanation  on  supervision  (Article  3.3)  above).  In  the 
case of a QES, it also has to be able to verify whether the signature is supported by a secure 
signature creation device.  

All this information can in principle be retrieved from the signature itself and from the content 
of  the  qualified  certificate.  At  present,  however,  it  is  difficult  to  obtain  this  information 
because  of  differences  in  the  use  of  the  existing  standards  and  practices.  These  lead  to  a 
different scope and quality of the information that can effectively be read from the received 
signature  and  certificate.  This  in  turn  creates  an  additional  burden  for  the  receiving  party, 
which may have to individually assess each signature originating from another Member State.  

The  validation  process  for  e-signatures  could  therefore  be  facilitated  by  providing  the 
receiving  party  with  the  necessary  information  on  Certification  Service  Providers  that  are 
recognised  and  supervised  at  a  national  level  and  by  providing  guidance  on  the 
implementation of the existing standards and practices to allow interoperability.  

In  order  to  prepare  the  actions  required  to  enhance  trust  and  facilitate  the  cross-border 
validation of e-signatures, the Commission is carrying out a study to analyse the requirements 
for  cross-border  use  of  electronic  signatures  (QES  and  AES  based  on  QC).  The  study 
concentrates  in  particular  on  the  supervision  model  of  the  qualified  certification  services 
providers;  the  establishment  of  a  “Trusted  List  of  supervised  qualified  Certification  Service 
Providers”; the profiles of qualified certificates issued by supervised CSPs in Member States; 
the  profile  of  the  secure  signature  creation  devices  and  the  format  of  qualified/advanced 

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Indeed  work  in  that  respect  is  already  being  considered  with  Member  States  in  the  context  of  the 
implementation of the Service Directive. 

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signatures.  The  study  is  based  on  and  takes  account  of  the  relevant  provisions  of  the  e-
Signatures  Directive,  their  national  implementation  and  the  existing  standardisation  work 
based on the Directive13.  

Actions: 

•  By  third  quarter  2009:  the  Commission  will  update  Decision  2003/511/EC14, 
establishing the list of generally recognised standards for e-signature products and 
will  analyse  the  possible  extension  of  the  decision  to  other  e-signature  products 
than  those  covered  by  the  present  Commission  Decision  (e.g.  profiles  of  the 
qualified certificates and of the secure signatures creation devices). This will help 
to  reduce  the  current  complex  standardisation  situation  and  help  stakeholders  to 
implement the standards in an interoperable way. 

•  By  second  quarter  2009:  the  Commission  will  compile  a  “Trusted  List  of 
Supervised Qualified Certification Service Providers” at European level. This list 
will  centralise  all  the  required  information  on  existing  and  supervised  qualified 
certification  service  providers  in  order  to  facilitate  the  validation  process  of  e-
signatures based on qualified certificates.  

•  By  third  quarter  2009:  the  Commission  will  establish  guidelines  and  guidance 
on common requirements to help stakeholders implement QES or AES based on 
QC in an interoperable way. 

•  Ongoing: Member States are invited to provide the necessary information to the 
Commission  on  a  regular  basis,  and  where  needed,  complete  the  steps  flowing 
from the actions on e-signatures as mentioned above. 

2.2. 

Advanced electronic signatures 

The  cross-border  use  of  advanced  electronic  signatures  (AES)  raises  interoperability  issues 
very  similar  to  those  discussed  above  for  qualified  electronic  signatures  and  advanced 
signatures  accompanied  by  a  qualified  certificate.  However,  in  practice  the  situation  with 
regard to AES is more complex, as there are currently more legal, technical and organisational 
constraints connected to AES than to QES. 

Article 2.2 of the e-Signatures Directive defines the advanced electronic signature in a generic 
way.  This  has  led  Member  States  to  use  very  diverse  technical  solutions  with  different 
security  levels.  Member  States  may  also  impose  specific  national  solutions  for  specific 
applications,  thus  creating  further  obstacles  for  the  cross-border  use  of  advanced  electronic 
signatures. 

Under  the  e-Signatures  Directive  the  AES  do  not  have  the  same  clear  legal  status  of 
equivalence to handwritten signatures as the QES. Member States are only obliged not to deny 

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In  accordance  with  the  e-Signatures  Directive,  standards  have  been  developed  by  CEN  (European 
Committee  for  Standardisation)  and  ETSI  (European  Telecommunications  Standards  Institute)  within 
EESSI (European Electronic Signature Standardisation Initiative). 
OJ L 175, 15.07.2003, p. 45. The list contains generally recognised standards for electronic signature 
products that Member States shall presume are in compliance with the requirements laid down in the e-
Signatures Directive. 

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AES legal effect purely because of their electronic form. This means that Member States have 
more  discretion  as  to  which  advanced  electronic  signature  solution  to  accept  (or  not), 
depending  on  the  specific  requirements  of  a  given  application.  Moreover,  although  in 
principle an AES from another Member State could be accepted if it fulfils the requirements of 
that  given  application,  the  variety  of  available  technical  solutions  may  render  the  practical 
acceptance of an AES difficult. 

In this context, both the validation of an AES by the receiving party and the assessment of its 
legal value or security level in a given application is a challenging task which at present often 
requires  case-by-case  assessment  and  treatment  of  the  signature  received.  To  facilitate  the 
cross-border use of AES, the necessary conditions should be created that allow the receiving 
party to trust and validate the AES originating from any other Member State, similar to QES 
and AES based on QC.  

As a first step, information on the AES currently being used in e-government applications will 
be improved. To this end, the Commission will update the existing relevant country profiles 
issued  in  2007  in  the  IDABC  study  on  the  mutual  recognition  of  e-signatures  for  e-
government applications, and make these accessible online.  

However, the variety of AES solutions that currently exist and to which different requirements 
are  applied  in  Member  States  (including  the  supervision  criteria)  makes  it  impracticable  to 
work out within the framework of this Action Plan a common policy and common criteria for 
AES. At the same time, in order to avoid multiple validation efforts in all Member States — 
which are the main obstacle to cross-border interoperability — one option may be to delegate 
verification and validation tasks to a centralised or distributed validation service mechanism, 
in an effort to gradually remove the main obstacle for interoperability of AES. 

The  Commission  will  examine  through  a  feasibility  study  the  available  options  for 
establishing such a validation mechanism at EU level. In particular, the study will look into 
the legal, technical and operational requirements of such a service, including the possible need 
for commonly defined requirement levels for different types of AES with an initial focus on 
AES used in e-government applications. If possible, the results of the feasibility study should 
also  feed  into  the  large-scale  cross-border  e-procurement  pilot  project  ‘PEPPOL’  (‘Pan 
European Public Procurement Online’) which was launched by the Commission and several 
Member States in May 2008 (as part of the Information Communication Technologies Policy 
Support Programme (ICT PSP)15 .  

In addition to the above study, the Commission will define more precisely the possible actions 
needed to promote the cross-border use of AES based on the results of ongoing work and the 
progress achieved in the deployment and cross-border recognition of QES and AES based on 
QC.  

Actions: 

•  By second quarter 2009: the Commission will update the country profiles of the 
IDABC  (Interoperable  Delivery  of  European  e-Government  Services  to  public 

15 

Part of the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme: http://ec.europa.eu/cip 

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Administrations,  Business  and  Citizens)16
signatures for e-government applications. 

  study17  on  mutual  recognition  of  e-

•  By second quarter 2009: the Commission will study the feasibility (in terms of 
legal, operational and technical requirements) of a European federated validation 
service.  Based  on  the  results  of  the  feasibility  study,  the  Commission  will 
determine if and how to implement such a validation service. 

•  By  2010:  the  Commission  will  report  on  further  actions  needed  to  facilitate  the 
cross-border  use  of  AES  based  on  the  results  of  ongoing  work  and  the  progress 
achieved in the deployment and cross-border recognition of QES and AES based 
on QC.  

•  After  results  of  the  feasibility  study  of  the  European  federated  validation 
service,  Member  States  are  invited  to  provide  the  Commission  with  all  relevant 
information  and  ensure  the  cooperation  required  for  the  implementation  of  the 
actions,  in  particular  those  necessary  for  the  creation  of  the  validation  service, 
subject to the results of the feasibility study. 

•  Member States are invited to test, subject to the outcome of the feasibility study 
on  a  European  federated  validation  service  and  to  agreement  with  the  project 
consortium,  the  validation  service  in  the  CIP18  large  scale  cross-border  e-
procurement pilot project PEPPOL (“Pan European Public Procurement Online”). 

3. 

PART  2:  ACTIONS  TO  ENHANCE  THE  CROSS-BORDER  INTEROPERABILITY  OF 
ELECTRONIC IDENTITY 

Today, Member States deploy electronic identity management (e-IDM) systems as part of the 
modernisation  of  the  delivery  of  services.  Electronic  Identity  Management  is  a  key  element 
for  the  delivery  of  any  e-services.  On  the  one  hand,  e-identification  gives  individuals  using 
electronic  procedures  the  assurance  that  no  unauthorised  use  is  made  of  their  identity  and 
personal data. On the other hand, administrations are able to make sure that the individuals are 
the persons they claim to be and have the rights  that they claim to have (e.g. to receive the 
requested service). 

Some  Member  States  already  have  in  place  e-identification  systems  for  access  to  electronic 
procedures  of  those  Member  States’  public  administrations.  However  the  technical  means 
vary greatly, even if the trend today is towards the use of electronic ID cards. 

The  means  of  e-identification  have  been  deployed  without  coordination  between  Member 
States. Yet the interoperability of e-identification solutions is a further pre-requisite for cross-

16 

17 

18 

The IDABC programme will end in December 2009. The Commission has proposed a programme on 
Interoperability Solutions for public Administrations (ISA) as a successor to the IDABC programme. 
The objective of the study (preliminary results are available, completion date of the study is 2009) is to 
analyse the requirements in terms of interoperability of electronic signatures for different e-Government 
applications and services taking into account the relevant provisions of the e-Signatures Directive and 
their  national  implementation.  The  study  should  provide  per  e-Government  application,  and  per 
Member State, the type of electronic signature legally required, and the applicable technical restrictions. 
Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme 2007-2013. 

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border  access  to  public  e-services.  Without  the  deployment  of  an  interoperable  e-
identification  mechanism  within  the  Union,  new  barriers  will  be  raised  in  practice,  thus  at 
odds  with  internal  market  instruments  which  themselves  have  been  trying  to  enhance  the 
functioning of the internal market.  

At  a  political  level,  Ministerial  Declarations  in  2005  and  200719  have  called  for  the 
deployment of an interoperable identity management system in Europe to enable citizens and 
businesses to identify themselves when required to do so by public administrations. 

Certain common actions are underway to find a solution for cross-border e-identification that 
would  be  able  to  rely  on  existing  identification  solutions.  As  in  the  case  of  e-signatures,  a 
horizontal  solution  is  sought  on  which  sectoral  applications  can  rely  and  which  would  be 
based on mutual acceptance of each other’s e-identification mechanisms. However, a number 
of issues need to be resolved to enable the cross-border use and acceptance of e-identification 
in practice. 

As  a  first  step,  under  the  already  mentioned  ICT  PSP,  a  large-scale  pilot  project  (called 
“STORK”)  addresses  specifically  the  interoperability  of  e-identification  in  public  services. 
The  STORK  pilot  project  considers  a  model  of  interoperable  electronic  identity  mutually 
recognised in all Member States, but which allows Member States to keep their systems and 
practices in place. 

The  pilot  project  will  be  a  first  step  toward  interoperability.  It  is  expected  to  demonstrate 
solutions in specific areas which could then be extended to other areas. Moreover, depending 
on the results of the pilot, the Commission will determine if and what additional actions are 
needed after the results have been delivered in 2012.20 

Actions: 

•  By end of 2009: The Commission will update the country profiles of the IDABC 
study  on  “e-ID  Interoperability  for  Pan  European  e-Government  Services”.  This 
will allow Member States and the Commission to keep up with developments in 
the use of e-ID in the Member States. 

•  By  end  of  2009:  The  Commission  will,  in  cooperation  with  Member  States, 
launch specific surveys on the use of e-ID in Member States, complementary to 
and in support of the STORK project (e.g. in support of the further development 
of common specifications for e-identification interoperability). 

•  After  the  delivery  of  results  of  the  STORK  project:  The  Commission  will 
determine if and what additional actions might be required to enable an effective 
EU wide usage of e-ID. 

19 

20 

http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/egovernment/conferences/2005/index_en.htm 
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/egovernment/docs/lisbon_2007/ministerial_declaratio
n_180907.pdf 
The  specific  areas  are:  cross-border  authentication  platform  for  electronic  services;  student  mobility; 
change  of  address;  electronic  delivery  of  documents;  safe  use  of  internet  by  children.  Currently  13 
Member States are involved plus Iceland, the project has 29 participants in total (private and public).  

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•  By 2012: Member States are invited to demonstrate solutions for the cross-border 

use of e-ID in the STORK pilot project.  

4. 

MONITORING AND IMPLEMENTATION 

The implementation of the actions in this Action Plan will ensure a horizontal and coordinated 
approach  to  facilitate  and  enhance  the  cross-border  use  of  e-government  applications  in  all 
areas of the internal market. It will contribute to a better functioning of the internal market by 
offering  a  comprehensive  approach  to  allow  businesses  and  citizens  easier  access  to  cross 
border Government services. The means to be put in place will contribute to the improvement 
of the current framework and a further convergence of technical solutions. The added value 
for  the  private  sector  lies  in  the  widespread  use  of  tools  enhancing  secure  electronic 
procedures which can also be deployed in Business to Business and Business to Consumers 
transactions.  

The  Commission  will,  in  close  cooperation  with  the  Member  States,  monitor  the 
implementation  of  the  Action  Plan;  the  aim  being  to  ensure  the  coherence  of  the  suggested 
measures,  of  the  various  legislative  requirements  at  EU  level  and  of  relevant  operational 
projects  such  as  the  CIP  pilot  projects.  In  particular,  it  will  seek  an  ongoing  dialogue  with 
Member  States  to  accompany  this  Action  Plan,  including  the  Member  State  authorities 
responsible for competitiveness and internal market policies. 

Implementation by the Commission and Member States of this Action Plan and monitoring of 
progress are part of the follow up to the Single Market Review. A year after the adoption of 
this Action Plan the Commission, together with  the Member States, will start reviewing the 
progress  achieved,  with  a  view  to  submitting  a  progress  report  to  the  Council  in  2010. 
Member States are invited to provide the Commission with all the relevant information on the 
implementation and results of the actions proposed to ensure cross-border interoperability.  

On  the  basis  of  the  progress  report  and  of  a  discussion  with  Member  States  in  the  relevant 
fora,  the  Commission  will  assess  whether  further  horizontal  and/or  sectoral  initiatives  are 
needed.  

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