Procure both interim system and integration with standardized identity certificates. Simultaneously. Otherwise, your e-service will not function when EU citizens come knocking on the digital door, wanting to log in.
Swedish public e-services will keep the interim solution going regarding BankID and Telia’s e-identification for the next two years. The problem is that it does not function together with EU’s regulation Eidas, which says that by September 2018, persons with EU-approved e-identifications have the right to log into other countries’ public e-services.
“Currently there is no ambition, agreement, or technical platform for linking the interim solution to Eidas. Therefore, one must procure solutions that can deal simultaneously with both the interim solution and Swedish e-identification”, says Stefan Runneberger, responsible for business development for public sectors at Nexus.
The Swedish E-identification Board has been assigned the task of advising municipalities and authorities as to what is valid for Eidas. One of the problems is that the EU countries have different ways of managing personal identity numbers, and some countries have none whatsoever. Here, Swedish authorities and municipalities simply have to accept the other Eidas country’s way of managing the unique personal identifier.
“Let us say that Estonia is early out and sets up an e-identification on EU’s list. This means that hundreds of Swedish authorities and municipalities are going to have to accept the fact that Estonian logins are going to be made to their services”, says Eva Sartorius, strategist at the Swedish E-identification Board.
In Sweden, there are 7 million e-identifications, and these cannot be replaced over one night. According to Stefan Runneberger, a gradual transition to Swedish e-identification will take place. Today there are only two organizations that have applied for approval as Swedish e-identification issuers. The cooperative organization Inera wants to issue a Swedish identification card for healthcare employees, and Huddinge municipality wants its own card for municipal employees.
“But one would anticipate that ultimately BankID will function with Swedish e-identification and will utilize the same fundamental technology that also functions with European Eidas”, says Stefan Runneberger.
Important e-identification dates to keep in mind
On September 29, 2018, Eidas is valid throughout Europe. At that time, e-identifications that are on Eidas’s list must function in other countries’ e-services, according to EU regulation.
On December 31, 2018, the interim solution regarding BankID and Telia’s e-identification will no longer be valid. At that time, the Swedish e-identification and the SAML 2.0 standard must have entirely taken over.