The Nordic and Baltic Ministers of Digitalisation have announced an effort to ensure that member countries’ residents will be able to use their digital IDs across borders. That could open the door to a digital identity system such as Denmark’s MitID being used to access online services in, for example, Sweden.
“High adoption and usage of electronic identity (eID) paired with reliable population registries and strong identity governance procedures are common features for the countries in our region,” the Ministers explained in a joint statement. “These features have resulted in mature digital infrastructures. This enables seamless and secure access for residents of the region to thousands both public and private online services.”
The regional group includes Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Greenland, the Faroe Islands and Åland. Digital identity authorities in the member countries will work with their counterparts to ensure that identity matching can be performed reliably across borders.
Denmark, for one, has shown considerable enthusiasm for the effort. In a statement, that country’s minister for digitization, Marie Bjerre, noted that while there are currently various barriers preventing Danes from using the country’s mobile ID in other Nordic and Baltic countries, the new cross-border effort will see those barriers removed.
“We can, through cooperation with the Nordic and Baltic countries show the rest of Europe how we can use digital solutions in practice across national borders, for the benefit of all of us,” she said.
The Nordic and Baltic Ministers of Digitalisation’ new initiative is the latest sign of their countries’ commitment to digital and mobile ID innovation. They also comprise the members of a major consortium, dubbed “Nordic-Baltic eID”, that is working with European Union authorities on the proposed European Digital Identity Wallet.
Sources: The Local, The Nordic Council
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September 26, 2023 – by Alex Perala
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