Title: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

Summary and Conclusions

In this chapter an overview on existing concepts and implementations of eIDs is given. Most European countries plan to implement eIDs or have done this already. In addition the European passport is issued in some European countries since November 2005; by August 2006 most European countries plan the introduction of the new passport. 

Within this chapter five eID projects were described and analysed with respect to take up and response of the users. These projects are: 

• The European passport (large project with the application of new technologies in eIDs) 

• The FINEID (established since 1997; this is the oldest eID in Europe) 

• The Austrian “Bürgerkarte” (privacy preserving use of sector specific personal identifiers (ssPI)) 

• The Belgian ID card (high numbers of issued electronic signatures in Belgium) 

• The German “Gesundheitskarte” (example for a specialised eID solution in the e-health sector and good practice for the project planning and implementation) 

In addition innovative technological concepts were described. This includes: 

• The laser band technology used in the Italian eID (CIE) 

• Principles for eIDs developed by Niels Bjergstrom 

• Server derived IDs as a privacy enhancement basing on established electronic signatures and compliant to existing PKI 

From the analysis of the investigated projects obvious factors of success concerning the introduction of eIDs can be concluded. They are: 

• Careful planning especially concerning the purpose of the eID and the appropriate technical solution (keep it small and smart); this should include technical, formal and informal aspects of interoperability 

• Intensive laboratory and field testing of prototypes 

• Refinement of the concepts using the results of the testing phase 

• Open communication within the project including all stakeholders of the eID and external experts 

• Appropriate education and qualification of the personal involved in the project