Government and Public Sector

Government and public sector organizations face the earliest and strictest obligations under eIDAS 2.0. Public administrations are the foundational use case for the European Digital Identity Wallet: every Member State must issue at least one wallet to its citizens and residents, and public services must be among the first to accept it. This is not an optional modernization initiative. It is a regulatory mandate with defined deadlines that are earlier than those for most private sector categories.

The mandate reflects a core objective of eIDAS 2.0: ensuring that every EU citizen can access public services digitally across all Member States using a single, standardized identity instrument. For government agencies, this means updating authentication systems, redesigning citizen-facing digital services, and establishing the infrastructure to verify wallet-presented credentials. Agencies that have already invested in national eID schemes must now plan for coexistence with the wallet during a transition period and eventual convergence.

Current digital government authentication varies widely across Member States, from national eID cards and mobile IDs to username-password systems. The EUDIW standardizes citizen authentication across all public services at a high Level of Assurance. Citizens will authenticate to government portals, submit applications, access records, and complete administrative procedures by presenting their wallet credentials. The wallet provides a consistent user experience regardless of which Member State's service the citizen is accessing.

For government IT teams, this means implementing OpenID4VC protocol support alongside existing authentication mechanisms. The transition must be managed carefully: existing national eID systems (connected through the eIDAS node network) will continue to operate during the transition period, and public services must support both channels. Authentication architecture must accommodate wallet-based PID verification, selective disclosure of specific attributes, and Qualified Electronic Signature creation for procedures requiring legally binding signatures.

The Single Digital Gateway (SDG) regulation already requires Member States to provide cross-border digital access to key public services. eIDAS 2.0 provides the identity layer that makes this fully operational. A citizen from any Member State can authenticate to another Member State's public services using their wallet, without needing a local eID or navigating unfamiliar national authentication systems. This covers services such as business registration, tax filing, social security claims, education enrollment, and residence permits.

The Once-Only Technical System (OOTS) under the SDG allows public administrations to exchange evidence across borders, reducing the burden on citizens to provide documents that are already held by other public authorities. The wallet complements OOTS by providing the verified identity anchor for cross-border evidence exchange. Government agencies must ensure their digital services are compatible with wallet-based cross-border authentication and can handle attribute requests and evidence exchange in a standardized, interoperable manner.

eIDAS 2.0 is an accelerator for digital government transformation. Beyond basic authentication, the wallet enables entirely new service delivery models. Citizens can receive official attestations (such as birth certificates, residence confirmations, or social benefit entitlements) as Electronic Attestations of Attributes directly into their wallet, where they can be reused across multiple services without re-requesting them from the issuing authority. This reduces administrative duplication and processing times.

Government agencies should also consider their role as attribute providers. Public authorities that hold authentic source data (civil registries, land registries, professional licensing bodies, educational institutions) may be required under eIDAS 2.0 to make their data available for issuance as attestations, either directly or through Qualified Trust Service Providers. This dual role, as both a relying party consuming wallet credentials and an attribute provider issuing them, requires careful planning and investment in both verification and issuance infrastructure.

The public sector faces the tightest implementation timelines under eIDAS 2.0. Member States must have at least one certified wallet available for citizens by the deadlines set in the regulation, and public services must be ready to accept it. Government agencies should prioritize implementation based on citizen impact and regulatory urgency. High-volume services, such as tax portals, social security systems, healthcare access, and education enrollment, should be the first to integrate wallet acceptance.

Implementation requires coordination across multiple levels of government. Central government IT infrastructure must support wallet verification, but regional and local government services also fall within the mandatory acceptance scope. Standardized integration components, such as shared verification libraries, common relying party registration processes, and centralized Trusted List validation services, can reduce duplication of effort across agencies. Funding from EU programs, including the Digital Europe Programme and the Recovery and Resilience Facility, may be available to support public sector wallet integration projects.

Beyond accepting wallets, Member States bear the foundational responsibility of issuing them. Each Member State must provide at least one EUDIW to its citizens and residents, free of charge for natural persons. The wallet must be certified through conformity assessment and meet the security and functionality requirements defined in the implementing acts and Architecture Reference Framework. The issuance of Person Identification Data (PID) within the wallet must meet the high Level of Assurance, requiring robust identity proofing processes.

Government agencies responsible for wallet issuance must decide on the implementation model: develop a wallet application in-house, procure from the private sector, or adopt the EU reference wallet implementation. They must also establish the PID issuance process, connecting it to authoritative identity registries (civil registries, population databases) and implementing the identity proofing workflow. Wallet lifecycle management, including updates, revocation, and support, is an ongoing operational responsibility that requires dedicated resources and governance structures.