E-ID card: many measures to increase eID use in 2021
The German government wants to promote the use of the so-called online ID function of the electronic ID card.
It is doing this in a variety of ways: Firstly, the federal and state governments themselves are creating various use cases where authentication with the eID function is possible at a high level of trust.
As part of the Online Access Act, a total of 575 administrative services are to be available digitally by the end of 2022.
The federal, state and local authorities are working intensively on this and are continuously creating new services.
Dashboard provides an overview
Since the beginning of October, the so-called “OZG dashboard” has made the progress of OZG implementation and user satisfaction transparent.
The dashboard will be further expanded in a total of three stages this year and next.
The dashboard currently already has four functions: Citizens can get their own overview of which services are already available online.
These include both services that are implemented as part of the OZG and those that have been digitized outside of the OZG.
Citizens can also see which services are being planned or implemented.
Finally, the dashboard contains a list of the ten most frequently used online applications.
According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, many steps still need to be taken in a very short space of time to complete the digitalization of the administration by the end of 2022.
The dashboard makes this clear once again.
eID card for EU citizens is coming
In addition, the German government wants to expand the user group for the online ID function and is therefore introducing the eID card for EU citizens and nationals of the European Economic Area from January 1, 2021.
This means that EU citizens who live and work in Germany, for example, will also be able to use this secure form of electronic identification in future.
With the card, EU citizens will be able to open bank accounts or use e-government services via the Internet with a high level of trust.
Almost five million EU citizens in Germany can potentially benefit from the new card.
The German government wants to set standards in the Europe-wide competition of eID systems.
