The
international Porvoo Group supports the deployment of electronic
identity in Europe
The Porvoo Group is an international cooperative network whose
primary goal is to promote a trans-national, interoperable electronic
identity, based on PKI technology (Public Key Infrastructure)
and electronic ID cards, in order to help ensure secure public
and private sector e-transactions in Europe. The Group also promotes
the introduction of interoperable certificates and technical specifications,
the mutual, cross-border acceptance of authentication mechanisms,
as well as cross-border, on-line access to administrative services.
As its name suggests, the Porvoo Group was established in Porvoo,
Finland. Following the joint initiative by one of the eEurope
Smart Card Charter chairmen and the Director General of the Finnish
Population Register Centre, the founding meeting took place at
Hotel Haikko Manor in the spring of 2002 during the international
conference held in conjunction with the Public Identity Project
of the Smart Card Charter operating under the eEurope 2002 programme.
The Group consists of governmental representatives from European
countries; representatives from the private sector, the European
Commission and the UN have also attended the seminars. The number
of participating member countries has steadily increased and even
countries outside Europe have joined the Group. At present, some
30 countries from Europe, the United States and Asia have representatives
in the Group. In the seminars the number of participants has been
even as high as about 100 persons.
The Porvoo Group meets twice a year
The Porvoo Group's two-day seminars are held every 6 months. In
the seminars, there has always been a comprehensive presentation
by the hosting country about the situation of the Information
Society and the electronic identity in that hosting country. In
addition, the participating countries present their country updates;
furthermore, the seminars have discussed “Best practices”,
presented on-going PKI projects, followed the progress of standardisation
and the preparation for the biometric passports, discussed various
studies concerning the EU Directive governing electronic signatures,
etc.
The Group is pro-active
The Porvoo Group is a pro-active, European-level electronic identity
“interest group”, widely recognised as a significant
and relevant contributor to informed public dialogue in this area.
Amongst its other activities, the Group has issued or initiated
the following recommendations:
• A letter of request sent to the European Commission in
order to update the Driving License Directive to allow an electronic
identity chip to be included on driving licenses.
• Has started discussions concerning the legal aspects of
electronic identity and identification and authentication functions
carrying out a study on the European Cross-Border Authentication
Legislative Environment and the need, if any, for the EU to regulate
the interoperable European electronic identity. The study recommends
using the Directive governing electronic signatures as a common
legislative solution.
• Has recognised the important developments underway in
the field “Biometrics in Passports and in the future also
in ID cards” and has expressed its immediate need from the
electronic ID card perspective for an international standard template
for fingerprint minutiae. This position has already been communicated
to the CEN/ISSS (European Committee for Standardization/ Information
Society Standardization System) Biometric
Focus Group.
The
permanent secretariat coordinates the function of the Group
The joint Chairs of the Porvoo Group are Project Director, Mr
Tapio Aaltonen from the Ministry of the Interior of Finland,
Senior Supervisor, Ms Heidi Laine from the Certificate Services
of the Finnish Population Register Centre, Mr Jan van Arkel,
from the Netherlands, one of the Porvoo Group founders and the
former eEurope Smart Card Charter chairman as well as the Chairperson
of the Organising Committee of the member country hosting the
next Porvoo Group seminar.
The Finnish Population Register Centre constitutes the permanent
secretariat of the Group. This secretariat manages the communications
between seminars and jointly organises them together with the
hosting country organisation. The secretariat also handles media
relations pertaining to the seminars together with the hosting
country organisation.
Additional information is available on the Internet:
http://www.vaestorekisterikeskus.fi/en
- Electronic Identity - Porvoo Group
http://www.fineid.fi/en
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