Bosnia and Herzegovina launches national digital ID app

Citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) can now access a digital version of their ID card, driver’s license, and passport thanks to the country’s newly launched digital identity app, e-IDDEEA.

The state-issued digital identity and qualified electronic signature (QES) platform was introduced by the Agency for Identification Documents, Registers and Data Exchange (IDDEEA) of Bosnia and is fully aligned with the eIDAS regulation.

The government has ambitious plans to attract over half a million users within the first year, accounting for more than 17 percent of its 2.9 million population.

“We have delivered a fully functional, citizen-centric, and secure digital identity that brings us closer to the European digital identity ecosystem and lays the foundation for future cross-border interoperability,” says IDDEEA BiH Director Almir Badnjević.

The project was funded by Europe’s EU4DigitalSME fund and the government of Germany. The creator of the digital ID wallet is Croatia-based Identyum. The project is a “tiny cog” in preparing the Balkan country to be more technologically similar to the EU, the company’s CEO Robert Ilijaš told Biometric Update in an interview last year.

Identyum has previously said that users will be able to tap their physical identity card on their mobile phone and conduct a biometric liveness check. Users, however, are currently instructed to activate their qualified electronic signature (QES) in one of IDDEEA’s registration offices and register on the app.

Aside from accessing digital documents, BiH citizens will be able to check for traffic fines, penalties and other administrative procedures, including requests submitted to public institutions. The app is also integrated with public and private sector services, such as major banks and telecom operators, the agency explains in a release.

The app is compliant with the BiH Law on Electronic Signature and IDDEEA’s Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), which is compliant with eIDAS.