Electronic identity management for eGovernment Conceptual framework and objectives Frank Robben General manager Crossroads Bank for Social Security Strategic advisor Federal Public Service for ICT Sint-Pieterssteenweg 375 B-1040 Brussels Website:

Common conceptual framework  entity: a physical or legal person  identity: a unique number or a set of attributes of an entity that allows to know precisely who the entity is; an entity has only one identity  characteristic: a characteristic of an entity, other than an attribute determining its identity, such as a capacity, a function, a professional qualification,...; an entity can have several characteristics  mandate: a right granted by an identified entity to another identified entity to perform well- defined legal actions in her name and for her account

Common conceptual framework  authentication: the process of checking whether what is being pretended, is true; authentication can relate to identity or to a characteristic; authentication can be done based on the verification of knowledge (e.g. a password), of possession (e.g. an electronic card), of biometrical characteristics or on a combination of those  authorization: a permission to an entity to perform a defined action or to use a defined service  role: a list of authorizations related to an application  profile: a list of roles

Objectives to be reached  be able to electronically identify a physical or legal person know the relevant characteristics of a physical or legal person know that an entity has been mandated by another entity to perform a legal action  in a sufficiently certain and secure way  in as much relations as possible (C2C, C2B, C2G, B2B, B2G, …)  using open interoperability standards

Some issues to be dealt with  the means by which a physical or legal person can be identified within each country and across countries  the way identity management and characteristics management are well separated in order to guarantee the multifunctional use of identity authentication means  the quality insurance criteria for the registration procedures that are used to verify the identity, a characteristic or a mandate before linking it to authentication means  the quality insurance criteria for authentication means and their use

Some issues to be dealt with  the criteria to securely exchange identity, characteristics, mandate and authentication data in an electronic way between information systems  an organizational, functional and technical interoperability framework to exchange identity, characteristics, mandate and authentication data based on open standards  the necessary legal framework for identity, characteristics and mandate management and the implications on existing law (e.g. directives on privacy protection and electronic signatures)

Proposed method  to work out a common conceptual framework, a common vision and common basic principles  to translate these principles in common, measurable objectives  to ask every Member State to develop an action plan to achieve these objectives  to elaborate an architecture and guidebooks to implement the principles  to create a forum for the exchange of best practices