— Based on the justification for the draft amendment, which is to introduce a European digital identity wallet, one may suspect that we will have to say goodbye to mObywatel, said Paweł Makowiec from cyberdefence24.pl in an interview with PAP. He also noted that the documents published by the Ministry of Digital Affairs do not clearly indicate that mObywatel will be phased out, but they only contain terms indicating this. Therefore, we should wait for the position of the Ministry of Digitization on this matter.
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mObywatel application. The ministry announces a “transition period”
On Thursday, the Ministry of Digital Affairs published a draft amendment to the Act on Trust Services and Electronic Identification. The Ministry said that the aim of the amendment is to adapt national regulations to the EU eIDAS 2.0 regulation, which obliges EU Member States to provide a European digital identity wallet. It also reported that mObywatel application solutions, established on the basis of national regulations, are “fundamentally different” from the requirements for the European Digital Identity Wallet established, among others, in the provisions of the eIDAS regulation. It was also reported that “it is not possible to adapt the existing mObywatel application to the requirements specified for the European digital identity wallet and, therefore, it is necessary to develop a completely new solution, including a new application.”
The document also states that two applications, i.e. mObywatel and the European Digital Identity Wallet, are to be maintained simultaneously “during the transitional period”.
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According to Paweł Makowiec, these announcements may cause consternation, among others: because the Ministry of Digital Affairs strongly promotes mObywatel, providing regular information about new users and new services available in the application.
The issue of the future migration of mObywatel users to the European digital identity wallet may also raise doubts in a situation when – as the ministry announces – there will be no data flow between applications.
The expert also wonders what the transfer of individual mObywatel modules will look like, such as mCitizen, ePayments, student ID, etc. He pointed out that it is currently unknown what will happen to the mObywatel Junior version and whether a “European junior digital identity wallet” will be created.
— I hope that the ministry already has some preliminary action plan. I can't imagine having a draft bill on the digital identity wallet prepared and not having at least an outline of what the transfer of individual functionalities of mObywatel to the new application will look like. This is indicated by the mention of the transition period, said Paweł Makowiec.
Currently, the mObywatel application has 11 million users, who – since December last year — an AI virtual assistant can help you find the right applications and forms. The operation of mObywatela is regulated, among others, by: Act on the mObywatel application of 2023 According to the website info.mobywatel.gov.pl, the ministry is currently working on including in the application, among others: maps of shelters, honorary blood donor ID and Central Pension Information.
According to the European Commission on its website, a digital identity wallet is a mobile application that will allow EU residents to securely identify themselves when using public and private services, as well as store and display digital documents, such as mobile driving licenses. The EU eIDAS 2.0 regulation on this matter entered into force in May 2024 and assumes that by December this year. European countries will implement wallets.
