News
New EU regulation on eIdentification (eIDAS) launched by Neelie Kroes
October 2014 by Neelie Kroes
Our regulation on eIdentification and Trust services (eIDAS), now signed into the Official Journal, offers a stable framework for secure services, and a single set of rules for the whole of Europe. This will improve convenience and confidence for every online consumer, government, and business.
It is a framework based on interoperability, risk management, and sound principles: like transparency, trust, and technology neutrality. And most of all – it enables many new transactions and interactions to be possible across borders. That is an essential ingredient to take the EU’s single market – our crown jewel – and make it work in the digital era.
We need the private sector to help us benefit from these new rules. But I also hope the EU can lead.
Today I am calling on President-elect Juncker to make that commitment: that under his mandate, every transaction with the European Commission will be possible electronically - and that he will call for other EU institutions to do the same.
Public procurement in the EU is worth trillions of euros a year: one euro in five of our GDP. Cut the bill by just one percent and you would save 20 billion euros a year. It can be done: e-Government services in Europe are set to yield savings of nearly 15 billion euros by 2020.
And for businesses and citizens it means less hassle and cost. In Estonia – for example – you can set up a limited liability company in just 18 minutes using an eID!
Today we are here to showcase some of the many applications and innovations. Not just the technology and the gadgets: but what they mean for innovation and efficiency. Enabling new businesses models and new, leaner processes.
But there are more steps on the way. We have provided the framework and that is an important first step – but just the first. It won’t work unless we use it! What happens now depends on you – governments, the private sector, users and suppliers.
So I am calling on you to innovate in new technologies, and invest in new systems. Let’s use the opportunities we have – to boost confidence, and boost our economy. Let’s make the EU the world’s safest, securest, easiest place to transact online.
