Scraps EUR 5 million capital requirement for eID providers
Italy’s Council of State, the country’s highest administrative court, has spoiled the launch of SPID, the country’s new eID solution, launched on 15 March. Nine days later, the court upheld an earlier ruling that a EUR 5 million capital requirement for eID service providers is an unreasonable impediment to small and medium-sized service providers.
The Consiglio di Stato does however agree that eID service providers need to prove their organisational, technical and financial reliability.
The case was originally filed by Assoprovider, an association of small and medium-sized telecom and Internet service providers, representing some 200 companies. In a statement, the association welcomed the decision to cancel the financial requirement ‘with great satisfaction’.
The regional court of Lazio sided with Assoprovider in 2014. The Italian government lodged an appeal, taking the case to the Council of State.
Accredited
SPID (Sistema Pubblico di Identità Digitale) was launched on 15 March by Agenzia per l'Italia Digitale (AGID) - the country’s Agency for the Digitalisation of the Public Sector. At a press conference that day, AGID announced the first three accredited eID service providers, InfoCert, an Italian IT service provider specialised in digital certificates, the partly government-owned Poste Italiana and TIM, a subsidiary of Telecom Italia.
Users of SPID will be able to access a wide range of eGovernment services, including the tax authority, social security services (INPS) and national work-related insurance service (INAIL). SPID also provides access to eGovernment services provided by the cities of Florence, Venice and Lecce, and 10 regions, including Tuscany, Liguria, Lazio and Umbra. According to AGID, all of Italy’s public administrations will be able to offer SPID services within one year.
SPID combines a username and a password to authenticate and identify citizens and business. It also allows for the use of one time passwords, and will later add the use of smart cards.