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Regulation (EU) 2024/1183 established the European Digital Identity Framework and requires every Member State to make at least one European Digital Identity Wallet available. The deadline depends on the entry into force of the European Commission’s implementing acts and falls at the end of December 2026. In July 2026 the Commission updated the applicable standards and technical specifications.
The legal framework and the deadline for Member States
Regulation (EU) 2024/1183 amends Regulation (EU) No 910/2014, known as the eIDAS Regulation (electronic IDentification, Authentication and trust Services), and introduces the European Digital Identity Framework. Article 5a provides that each Member State shall provide at least one European Digital Identity Wallet within twenty-four months of the entry into force of the implementing acts referred to in that article. Since the first package of implementing acts was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 4 December 2024 and entered into force twenty days later, the twenty-four month period falls at the end of December 2026.
According to the European Commission’s own description, the wallet is intended to provide a safe, reliable and privacy-respecting means of digital identification, and every Member State must make it available to citizens, residents and businesses. Implementation rests on a set of common rules aimed at interoperability between national wallets and at their acceptance by registered relying parties across the European Union.
The first package of implementing acts of December 2024
On 4 December 2024 the European Commission adopted five implementing regulations on the core functionalities and the certification of the wallets. Four of them lay down uniform standards, specifications and procedures for technical functionalities, including the data formats required for the cross-border use of digital documents and the measures intended to ensure reliability and security. The fifth builds the certification framework for the wallets.
The five acts concern, respectively, personal identification data and electronic attestations of attributes (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2977), integrity and core functionalities (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2979), the trust framework (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2980), certification (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2981) and the protocols and interfaces to be supported (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2982). All were published in the Official Journal on 4 December 2024 and entered into force twenty days later.
Registration of relying parties, the list of certified wallets and security breaches
A second group of four implementing regulations was published in the Official Journal on 7 May 2025 and entered into force twenty days later. These acts govern the registration of wallet-relying parties (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/848), the submission to the Commission of information for the list of certified European Digital Identity Wallets (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/849), reactions to security breaches of the wallets (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/847) and cross-border identity matching for natural persons (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/846).
With this second package the implementing framework covers not only the functions of the wallet but also the ecosystem around it: who may request data from a wallet and on what conditions they must register, how the list of certified wallets is compiled, and which procedures apply where security is compromised.
The July 2026 update of applicable standards and specifications
On 15 July 2026 the European Commission adopted Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1731, amending Implementing Regulations (EU) 2024/2977, (EU) 2024/2979, (EU) 2024/2980 and (EU) 2024/2982 as regards applicable standards and specifications. The act entered into force on 11 August 2026 and affects the four regulations covering personal identification data, core functionalities, the trust framework, and protocols and interfaces. The revision therefore concerns the technical core on which Member States are developing their respective wallets, a few months before the deadline for making them available.
Alongside its regulatory work, the European Commission continues to run the Large Scale Pilots, which test the different use cases of the wallet in real-world settings, and publishes the reference technical specifications together with materials for issuers of attestations and for service providers intending to accept the wallet.
Outlook
The timetable set by Regulation (EU) 2024/1183 places at the end of December 2026 the point at which every Member State must make at least one wallet available. The national steps of development, certification and entry into service remain to be completed, and they depend on the application of the specifications updated in July 2026 and on the timetable of each administration. At European level the list of certified wallets and the registers of relying parties remain to be consolidated, while the practical extension of use cases, from public services to attestations of attributes issued by private bodies, will depend on the individual sectors and issuers involved.
In dialogue with the 2030 Agenda
Goal 9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure: the European Digital Identity Wallet is conceived as a common identification infrastructure, based on uniform technical specifications and on interoperability requirements between Member States.
Goal 10. Reduced Inequalities: the availability of a means of digital identification for citizens, residents and businesses affects the conditions of access to online services, including in cross-border situations.
Goal 16. Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions: the European Digital Identity Framework sets rules on certification, registration of relying parties and handling of security breaches, elements that bear on the reliability of the institutions issuing and recognising identity.
Sources
- European Commission, EU Digital Identity Wallet milestone reached as Commission adopts implementing regulations, 4 December 2024
- European Commission, European Commission adopts new round of EU Digital Identity Wallet implementing regulations, 7 May 2025
- Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1731 of 15 July 2026
- European Commission, The European Digital Identity Regulation, collection of implementing acts
- European Commission, What are the Large Scale Pilot Projects
- European Commission, Electronic identification
