The future EU Digital Identity Wallet enables EU citizens and residents to prove their identity and share attributes in a secure and privacy-preserving manner. It can be used across governmental services, healthcare, banking, travel, education, and beyond. Each EU Member State will offer at least one wallet to its users, enabling seamless access to both public and private services across borders.

The wallets will allow users to access online services securely without multiple passwords, store and manage official digital documents, share verified information such as diplomas or licenses and sign documents with legally binding electronic signatures.

Trust, security and privacy first

These wallets will ensure interoperability across Europe while preserving user privacy through strong cryptography and data minimisation principles.

The new ETSI standards cover the full EU Digital Wallet ecosystem: from wallet-specific attestation profiles, certificate policies, and trust list formats, through to remote signing protocols, identity proofing, and long-term data preservation. They will ensure that the wallets protect personal data using strong security features, respect citizens privacy by minimising unnecessary data sharing and work seamlessly across borders and services.

As Nick Pope, Chair of ETSI’s Electronic Signatures and trust Infrastructures committee explains. “Our goal is to make digital interactions across Europe as easy and trustworthy as possible, whether you’re travelling, studying, working, or accessing services online. ETSI has a long expertise in electronic signatures, cyber security and trust data management. The digital wallets are at the crossroad of these technologies and benefit from our experience.”

This first set of +24 technical specifications marks an important milestone in a broader European effort supported by the European Commission and the European Economic Area (EEA).

The ETSI Technical Committee ESI will continue its work through 2026 and 2027, focusing on converting technical specifications into full European Standards, integrating feedback from large-scale pilots and early deployments, developing interoperability and conformance testing frameworks and expanding the standards portfolio to cover additional wallet components. The EUDIW is already being trialled for a range of large-scale pilot applications for governmental services businesses, banking, vehicle registration and travel.

Working together across Europe

To support ongoing collaboration, ETSI and CEN will host a joint workshop on the EU Digital Identity Framework, later this hyear, bringing together stakeholders from across the ecosystem. The workshop will be of direct interest to all those concerned with ensuring a secure digital infrastructure across Europe.