September 2, 2024 – Madrid, ES and Manchester, UK
Digital Identity Service Providers will have easier access to the EU and UK markets as a result of a landmark mutual recognition and respect deal between two of the largest providers of conformity assessment in the sector.
The UK’s Digital Identity Systems Certification (operated by the Age Check Certification Scheme) service based in Manchester and a provider of conformity assessment under the UK’s Digital ID and Attributes Trust Framework (known as DIATF) and the EU’s Certeidas based in Madrid and a provider of conformity assessment under the Electronic Identification and Trust Services (known as eIDAS) have agreed to work together.
This means that ID service providers (IDSPs) based in the EU will be able to apply for UK Trust Framework certification with a simple top-up of their existing eIDAS certification. Vice Versa, IDSPs certified under the UK DIATF will be able to apply for eIDAS certification – including the components of a Qualified Trust Services for the new EU Digital ID wallet.
Tony Allen, CEO of the DISC service in the UK, said: “clients wanting to become certified IDSPs are required to provide objective evidence of conformity to demonstrate that they meet the requirements of the UK DIATF. That doesn’t change, but with a mutual recognition and respect agreement for the certification activities of each other, we can accept the equivalent certification and testing carried out by other suitably qualified and accredited auditors.”
Paloma Llaneza, eIDAS and eID Scheme Manager for the CerteIDAS service in Spain, said: “clients in the UK and in the EU want to work collaboratively to access each other’s markets in new and innovative ways following the UK’s exit from the EU. However, it can be expensive to apply for multiple certifications to different schemes, so we have been keen to work with a UK-based conformity assessment body to achieve this mutual recognition based on control mapping”.
There is a considerable amount of overlap between the UK DIATF and ETSI TS 119 461 (the standards underpinning policy and security requirements for trust service components providing identity proofing of trust service subjects in the EU). As accredited conformity assessment bodies, both have policies to recognise and respect other assessments so as to reduce the burden on clients having to re-prove their conformity.
This joint collaboration agreement aims to smooth the process for UK DIATF clients to enter the EU market and become trust services for the new EU DI wallet; and it aims to smooth the process for EU-based trust services to enter the UK digital identity market.
