Moving towards a comprehensive legal framework for electronic identification as a trust service in the European Union

This paper explores avenues for the creation of a legal framework for electronic identification, specifically by tying this into the future development of the European eSignatures Directive. It builds on the observation that the eSignature Directive has largely been unable to support an internal market for certification service providers, partially because it insufficiently considers the essential link between e-signatures and ancillary services. Electronic identification is one of these ancillary services. The current review of the Directive is an opportunity to remedy this issue. Based on this idea, this paper examines the possibility of creating a comprehensive framework for trust services, that would also include electronic identification services.