Reactions to the EU Business Wallet proposal

The Business Wallets will unlock at least EUR 150 billion in annual savings by enabling businesses to efficiently communicate with customers, suppliers, business partners, and public administrations.

We at Findynet are excited about the clear vision of fully digital and automated interactions between businesses and governments across Europe.

The proposed EU Business Wallets are versatile communication tools. They can be used to issue, store, share, and request digital credentials. They can also transmit and receive electronic documents and data through a new qualified electronic registered delivery service.

The Business Wallets can be automated and integrated into the core business systems. The public sector bodies must accept documents and notifications sent from a Business Wallet. This paves the way for fully digital and automated interaction between businesses and the public sector.

The providers of EU Business Wallets must be European companies – not subject to control by entities outside of Europe. A company using a Business Wallet will get a European Unique Identifier and will be registered in the European Digital Directory. Unlike the current eIDAS legislation, however, the proposed regulation explicitly leaves the door open for the EU Business Wallets to interact with the world outside Europe.

In our Feedback on the Call for Evidence, earlier this year, we focused on the following key messages:

• Focus on credentials, not wallets
• Prioritise flexibility and innovation
• Regulate the public sector
• Enable accountable authorities
• Provide a legal framework, not software design

We’re happy to see that many of these aspects have been addressed in the proposed legislation. The legislation lists some key features that the EU Business Wallets support without mandating specific implementation details.

The trust framework is centralized and based on the EU Commission as the root of trust. Hopefully, this will evolve into a more federated approach during the proposal’s processing.

There are clear requirements for all public sector bodies to enable information exchange using the Business Wallets. To do so, all public sector bodies will need to have their own EU Business Wallets. This is a huge step forward in enabling digital interactions. When public sector organizations must receive digital credentials from businesses, they also get the capability to issue digital credentials to both people and companies.

Below are some illustrative use cases for EU Business Wallets. (Source: Staff Working Document accompanying the Proposal.)