What is the eIDAS regulation?
May 3, 2024
The European Union established the eIDAS regulation to provide a framework for enhancing the security, efficiency, and speed of transactions between all its member states. Since July 2014, it ensures consistent digital services while fostering genuine trust in all electronic interactions across Europe.
Let's delve into what eIDAS entails, its purpose, and the pivotal role of facial biometrics in the process.
What is the eIDAS Regulation?
eIDAS stands for electronic IDentification, Authentication, and trust Service. It facilitates securing transactions, exchanges, and digital payments between two entities in all EU member states through certificates. It serves as a cornerstone of trust, ensuring:
Secure electronic signatures
Reliable electronic seals
Certified timestamps
Web authentication certificates
Validation services
Thus, European standards for electronic identification, signatures, and seals guarantee the authenticity of all your electronic transactions, providing them with legal validity equivalent to that of paper documents.
What is the purpose of the eIDAS Regulation?
The primary goal of the eIDAS regulation is to establish a framework for digital identity and authentication. It fosters genuine trust in cross-border electronic transactions among EU member states, facilitating smoother interactions, ensuring traceability of exchanges, and simplifying online procedures. This transparency enhances market efficiency.
What evolutions are expected in the second version of the eIDAS Regulation?
eIDAS 2.0, set to come into effect soon, aims to establish a unified authentication service within the EU through the creation of a European digital identity wallet. This wallet will consolidate various documents and information, allowing for online and offline use in both public and private services. This initiative will streamline administrative and commercial procedures, offering new opportunities for businesses and bolstering customer trust. Qualified actors will be responsible for verifying the authenticity of shared information, thereby enhancing transaction security and combating fraud and identity theft.
In essence, the new version of the eIDAS regulation represents a significant step towards a unified and secure digital space within the EU, fostering exchanges while safeguarding the electronic security of citizens, businesses, and public authorities.
And the Role of Facial Biometrics in the eIDAS Regulation?
The eIDAS certificate enables trusted service providers to maximize their security levels. For instance, "qualified" electronic signatures hold the same legal value as a handwritten signature. It is within this framework that facial biometrics will play a crucial role, especially with the release of version 2.0 of the regulation.
Facial biometrics is a solution that secures remote identity verification processes, aligning with eIDAS requirements to combat online identity fraud.
The principle of facial biometrics is simple: it relies on detecting and analyzing facial features to ensure not only that the user is indeed behind their screen (liveness detection) but also that they are genuinely who they claim to be (facial comparison). Find out the 4 things to know about facial biometrics in this article.