Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications

There are no technical obstacles for electronic identification to be incorporated into the new ID cards that are to be issued after 2016, said the Deputy Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Valery Borissov at IDC’s information security conference.

Unlike the identification codes and numbers currently used, which are provided by various administrations, the electronic identifier has the highest level of security and protection of personal data in compliance with the European regulation that is in force as of July 2014. Pursuant to the Electronic Identification Bill the unique code will be provided to each Bulgarian citizen or a permanent foreign resident over aged 14 and above and will be valid for 3 years. The identifier will be composed after a complex combination of the personal identification number, the three names in Bulgarian and in Latin, and the birth date. “Extracting these personal data the other way around – from the electronic identifier, is extremely difficult, especially when only the identifier holder will have the PIN number”, added the Deputy Minister.

The public consultations on the new bill will start in a few days and chances are high that in the spring the bill will be adopted by the National Assembly. The Deputy Minister recalled that as a result of a pilot project of the Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications the concept and methodology for the electronic identification were created, as well as a register of the electronic identification certificates. Now the Electronic Governance Act, the Electronic Trade Act, and the Electronic Communications and Signature Act are to be amended.

In two to six months the administrative systems can be adapted to use the administrative services with electronic identification, speculated Valery Borissov.