Interview with Dr Dobnikar, DG for e-Government, SI - speaker at Smithers Pira's Security Printing
12 January 2011
1. How did you become involved with the STORK programme?
Slovenia has had the legal framework for e-identities since 2000, when the act on e-signature had been adopted. In 2001 the Governmental Centre for Informatics established a Certification Service Provider by starting initially with the issuing of digital certificates for public administration followed by the service for the private sector and citizens the following year. In 2005 due to the organisation changes in our government the above mentioned CPS moved from the Governmental Centre for Informatics to the newly established Ministry of Public Administration.
Nowadays there are five Certificate Service Providers (CSPs) delivering certificates to the public in Slovenia that are registered with the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology. Most of them are declared as qualified certification authorities issuing the qualified certificates.
Our experts from the Ministry of Public Administration are active members of the different expert groups within the European Commission dealing with e-identities (within the former IDABC programme and present ISA, former i2010 eGov Subgroup and its ad hoc group for e-identities as well as some others). Through this collaboration we have become acquainted with the CIP ICT PSP programme and the e-ID project which today is better known as STORK. Since we had been very well aware about the interoperability problems on e-identities when dealing with cross-border e-services we were interested to join the project and consortium. As a small country we have been an active partner in STORK from its very beginning, although due to limited resources we had not taken any leading role in its work packages. We have implemented the necessary infrastructure and are currently involved in two piloting services to test the STORK solutions, i.e. e-delivery and Change of address as well as the new dealing with ECAS integration.
2. What is the situation in Slovenia in terms of launching a national e-ID card?
The national eID cards have not been introduced yet. Slovenian national eID project officially started in February 2003 by establishing the project group, however, the project was later suspended. It was restarted again in 2007 with the aim of integrating the eID card with the health insurance card. All the necessary legislation regarding the introduction of such an eID card has already been adopted but unfortunately the project was suspended again with no clear intensions for further development. It is anticipated that the project will roll-out again.
As the Certification Service Provider at the Ministry of Public Administration in 2011 we plan to introduce the secure signature creation devices (abb. SSCD) as a mandatory device for the qualified digital certificates for citizens and private sector. A further important step towards usability and dissemination of modern E-Government services is to bring this technology closer to the users. For this reason we plan to offer also mobile qualified digital certificates.
3. What, in your opinion, is the most important feature of an ID card?
It has to be at a high security level, but at the same time user-focused. If the rollout process and usage is too complicated then it will not be widely accepted. The users must be confident with the employed technology. And it should not be too expensive.
4. How do you see the future for Europe in terms of interoperability and applications of e-ID cards?
Due to the diversity of eID solutions in EU countries there is no possibility of any strong harmonisation of this technology. Based on STORK experiences we believe that the STORK solution is the key element for the cross-border services. Even at the national level we plan to develop central authentication and e-signature system that will be built up on the STORK concepts.
5. Why did you decide to speak at Security Printing 2011 and what do you expect to gain from attending the conference?
We are convinced that the problem of cross-border e-services is not limited to the European Union countries. It is also important for the neighbouring countries and from the Slovenian perspective for the whole eastern-south Europe. STORK members and its deliverables are a good source for e-ID know-how in general. Besides that STORK efforts will result also in open specifications and tools for the implementation. STORK's inclusion in the ISA program offers a great potential for its sustainability even after its completion in June 2011. Security Printing 2011 will offer a good opportunity for the dissemination of gained knowledge and experience which is vital for STORK acceptance and its recognition.