eIDAS2: Europe boosts digital identity with new implementing acts

The European Union is moving decisively towards a unified digital future with the recent publication of the third batch of draft Implementing Acts for the eIDAS Regulation. This regulatory development, which complements previous efforts around the European Digital Identity Wallets (EUDIWallet), is essential to establish a robust and harmonised framework for electronic identification and trust services across the EU. The adoption of these Implementing Acts will mark a milestone in Europe's digital transformation, facilitating secure, interoperable and efficient electronic transactions.

What you should know:

• Progress on the eIDAS Regulation: the European Commission has published a third batch of draft Implementing Acts to boost the implementation of the eIDAS Regulation2.
• Focus on trust services: These new Implementing Acts focus on various aspects of electronic trust services, complementing the previous ones on European Digital Identity Wallets (EUDIWallet).
• Binding nature of the Acts: these Implementing Acts are legally binding and enforceable in all EU Member States.
• Interoperability and security objective: the Acts aim to ensure interoperability, security and harmonisation of trust services across the EU.
• Deadlines and public consultation: the drafts are under public consultation until 13 May 2025, with adoption expected in the second quarter of 2025.

The European Commission has just published the third batch of 12 draft Implementing Acts of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market, adopted in 2014 and amended in 2024 by Regulation (EU) 2024/1183 of 11 April 2024, as regards the establishment of the European digital identity framework (hereinafter eIDAS Regulation).

With this block of documents, the European Commission now has a total of 22 Implementing Acts as part of the set of legal-technical instruments supporting the full implementation of the eIDAS Regulation in 2027 and its Digital Identity framework, with the European Digital Identity Wallets (EUDIWallet) as the most innovative component of the new ecosystem proposed by eIDAS. In the first two deliveries of Implementation Acts, the European regulator focused on developing technical-functional issues on the EUDIWallet to ensure standardised criteria for the digital identification of the user of these wallets and the attributes associated with their identity that can be evidenced from the trusted service of issuing Electronic Attribute Statements. On this occasion, the new Implementation Acts focus on other electronic trust services.

The new Implementing Acts of the eIDAS Regulation have been published on 15 April 2025 and are open for public consultation until 13 May 2025. Once this period is completed, these legal instruments are expected to be adopted by the European Commission in the second quarter of 2025. These Implementing Acts are legally binding and directly applicable in all EU Member States. This means that, once adopted, compliance will be mandatory, and they will constitute the definitive regulatory framework to ensure the correct implementation and supervision of the qualified trust services foreseen in the eIDAS Regulation.