One day, maybe in the not too distant future, Europeans needing medical assistance when away from home could be able to gain secure access to their health records online; students could register for a foreign university from the comfort of their bedroom; and a company bidding for a contract in a different country could be able to sign the paperwork without needing paper or post. The technology already exists, but the agreements to let it happen remain elusive.

Neelie Kroes, the European commissioner for the digital agenda, made proposals on 4 June last year to introduce a standardised system of electronic signatures and compatibility requirements for electronic identification. She said that this represented one of the most important steps in joining up the single market. “People and businesses should be able to transact within a borderless digital single market. That is the value of the internet,” she said. Since then, things have become rather more complicated.

All EU member states – which, along with the European Parliament, must approve the draft legislation before it can become law – say that they agree with the proposal in principle. However, many have raised concerns about how to get there. The transfer of personal data across borders remains one of the most sensitive subjects.

One of the biggest difficulties to reaching a deal is that countries have very different electronic identification systems – when they have any system at all. Countries that have established sophisticated systems with high levels of security are reluctant to make their systems compatible with systems that are not as secure.

The proposed regulation stops short of requiring electronic IDs to be harmonised. Instead it merely calls for “mutual recognition”; the systems can be different, but an individual using an e-ID in one country should find that it works in another.

However, this is where the problem lies. Several countries, including France and Sweden, say that there should be harmonised “minimum security levels” included in the legislation. The definition of a minimum level of security, they said, would prevent a national system with high levels of security being compromised by a weaker system in another member state.

Culture clash

Pat Rabbitte, Ireland’s communications minister, who is leading the Council of Ministers’ work on the issue while Ireland holds the rotating presidency during the first half of this year, described the problem as one of “different cultures”. When it comes to the ease with which individuals can formally identify themselves online, “member states are in different stages of development”, he said.

“In Germany, they have an e-signature, an e-ID system that is very well progressed,” Rabbitte said. Germany has made “considerable progress and investment” in its system and is reluctant to contemplate “changing that system and going back to drawing board”. He added: “Other member states have not progressed nearly so far. There are significant discrepancies, but we have to have clarity for legal transactions. Interoperability is absolutely crucial.”

Most member states have insisted that systems need to be technology-neutral. Many have raised concerns about the costs involved in establishing systems, as well as about potential clashes with legislative proposals on data protection and cyber-security.

Rabbitte said that the legislation was one of the most important pieces of work to be tackled by Ireland during its Council presidency. Irish officials have organised ten working-party meetings during their six-month term. The issue will next be discussed at ministerial level on 6-7 June, when Irish officials have set the target of agreeing a general approach.

Rabbitte was reluctant to promise a breakthrough: “The first step is Council consensus, but there is an awful lot of work to be done before that,” he said. “We intend to have a report that shows tangible progress at the end of the presidency.”

Marita Ulvskog, a Swedish centre-left MEP, is leading the European Parliament’s work on the subject in the committee on industry, research and energy. A vote is expected on 9 July.

The data debate

e-signatures

Mostly used by business, an e-signature is the electronic equivalent of a handwritten signature. It allows documents to be signed online.

e-identification

E-ID systems enable people to prove their identity online, often using cards or smartphones. E-ID cards exist in Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain. Other forms of electronic identification are in operation in Austria, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Slovenia.

The road to cross-border transactions

E-signature legislation dates back to a European Commission proposal on e-commerce in 1997. A directive that sought to establish a legal framework for the first time came into force at the beginning of 2000. The Commission says that member states interpreted the rules differently, meaning that electronic transactions between different countries are still mostly “impossible”.

The Commission’s proposed regulation consists of two parts. For e-signatures, it would introduce a harmonised system with common rules throughout the European Union. Its plan for e-identification, which has never been the subject of EU legislation, does not go that far. It simply wants “mutual recognition”. This has caused dissent among member states, however, because some countries are prepared to accept mutual recognition only when there are common levels of data security.

An impact assessment carried out by the Commission before it made its proposal last year suggested that people were reluctant to use electronic signatures and identification systems because of a lack of confidence in the technology. The study found that people often had the “impression that there are fewer legal safeguards than with physical interaction”.

The Commission’s assessment also found that there were significant problems of inter-operability, with different countries using different technology, and a lack of legal certainty when operating across borders. “This creates cross-border barriers, a consequent lack of trust and a fragmented market,” the study said.

The Commission has sought to stave off criticism that it is meddling in the affairs of national governments on such a sensitive issue. Officials have been eager to emphasise that the legislation would not make it mandatory for member states to introduce electronic ID schemes, but would ensure only that where systems did exist, and where notified to the Commission, they would have to be compatible with each other. There would be no centralised EU database and it would not lead to any new exchanges of data between member states.

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