“… the digital ID project reflects a growing trend around the world, with a number of governments embracing the mobile ID concept.”
Government officials in Greece are aiming to launch a mobile-based digital ID for citizens by Easter of 2022.
The news comes by way of Digital Governance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis in an interview on SKAI TV, in which he explained that his agency is aiming to have the bulk of the work on the project finished by the end of the first quarter. Pierrakakis added that a fully realized digital identity card, and a digital driver’s license, will be ready “surely before Easter”.
The development follows the Ministry of Digital Governance’s launch of a mobile-based COVID-19 vaccination certificate last month, which includes partial citizen ID information and can be used by citizens to gain access to stores, restaurants, gyms, and so on.
The digital credential has proven popular, and may have prompted the Greek government to accelerate its complementary digital ID efforts, further illustrating COVID-19’s dramatic effect on the acceleration of digital transformation across a number of sectors.
In any case, the digital ID project reflects a growing trend around the world, with a number of governments embracing the mobile ID concept. In the US, multiple states have been working with Apple on a forthcoming mobile driver’s licence system, while other state-level authorities in Australia and Canada have been preparing their own mobile ID projects, to name a few high-profile examples.
Like many other government authorities working on mobile ID projects elsewhere in the world, Greece’s Ministry of Digital Governance is looking to leverage mobile technology to streamline interactions between citizens and the state. The forthcoming digital ID solution will reportedly be accepted in any transaction with government agencies requiring official identification.
Sources: Kathimerini, The National Herald, The Pappas Post
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