EU Identity Cards

National identity cards are identity documents issued to citizens of most European Union and European Economic Area (EEA) member states, with the exception of Denmark and Ireland (which however issues an equivalent passport card). A new common identity card model harmonized the various formats in use from 2 August 2021 and older ID cards are currently being phased out according to EU Regulation 2019/1157.

As of 2021, there are approximately 200 million national identity cards in use in the EU/EEA. They are compulsory in 15 countries, voluntary in 11 countries and in 5 countries they are semi-compulsory (possession of some ID is required).

Citizens holding a national identity card, which states citizenship of an EEA member state or Switzerland, can use it as an identity document within their home country, and as a travel document to exercise the right of free movement in the EEA and Switzerland.
However, identity cards that do not state citizenship of an EEA member state or Switzerland, including residence permits or residence cards issued to non-citizens, are not valid as travel documents within the EEA and Switzerland.

Use

Travel document

As an alternative to presenting a passport, EEA and Swiss citizens are entitled to use a valid national identity card as a stand-alone travel document to exercise their right of free movement in the European Economic Area and Switzerland. National identity card ownership in most EU countries and Switzerland is much more widespread than passport ownership.

When travelling within the Nordic Passport Union, no identity documentation is legally required by Nordic citizens. When travelling within the Common Travel Area (UK and Ireland), other valid identity documentation (such as a driving licence) is often sufficient for Irish and British citizens.

As of 2024, Denmark is the only state that does not issue identity cards that are valid as travel documents in the EEA member states and Switzerland. Strictly speaking, it is not necessary for an EEA or Swiss citizen to possess a valid national identity card or passport to enter the EEA and Switzerland. In theory, if an EEA or Swiss citizen can prove their nationality by any other means (e.g. by presenting an expired national identity card or passport, or a citizenship certificate), they must be permitted to enter the EEA and Switzerland. An EEA or Swiss citizen who is unable to demonstrate their nationality satisfactorily must, nonetheless, be given 'every reasonable opportunity' to obtain the necessary documents or to have them delivered within a reasonable period of time.Practical Handbook for Border Guards, Part II, section I, point 2.9
C (2019) 7131

Additionally, EEA and Swiss citizens can enter the following countries and territories outside the EEA and Switzerland on the basis of their national identity cards alone, without the need to present a passport to the border authorities:

Turkey allows citizens of Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Switzerland using a national identity card for short-term visits.

Similarly, Egypt allows citizens of Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, and Portugal to enter using a national identity card for short-term visits.

Anguilla, Dominica, Saint Lucia, Mauritius, Guernsey and Jersey allow citizens of France to enter using a national ID card.

Gambia allows citizens of Belgium to enter using a national ID card.

Greenland allows Nordic citizens to use any identification document containing a photo.

The United Kingdom and the Crown Dependencies allows EU, EEA and Swiss citizens to use national identity cards for entry if they have rights under the Withdrawal Agreement, which applies generally to EU/EFTA citizens residing in the UK before Brexit. Under the Brexit withdrawal agreement, the United Kingdom has an option to cease accepting identity cards that do not comply with ICAO biometric specifications after 31 December 2025.

According to their local laws, Swedish and Finnish citizens cannot leave their country directly for a non-EU/EFTA country with only their ID cards.

Additional checks for some citizens

At the external border crossing points of the Schengen Area, if a traveller presents a travel document without a machine readable zone and the border guard has 'doubt about his/her identity', the traveller may be requested to undergo a more in-depth 'second line' check. In practice, this means that Greek or Italian citizens who present an old-format paper Greek or Italian identity card could be subject to additional checks and delay when entering/leaving the Schengen Area.

With effect from 7 April 2017, it is mandatory for border guards in the Schengen Area to check on a systematic basis the travel documents of all EEA and Swiss citizens crossing external borders against relevant databases. Until 7 April 2017, border guards in the Schengen Area were only obliged to perform a 'rapid' and 'straightforward' visual check for signs of falsification and tampering, and were not obliged to use technical devices – such as document scanners, UV light and magnifiers – when EEA and Swiss citizens presented their passports or national identity cards at external border checkpoints. They were not legally obliged to check the passports/national identity cards of EEA and Swiss citizens against a database of lost/stolen/invalidated travel documents (and, if they did so, they could only perform a 'rapid' and 'straightforward' database check, and could only check to see if the traveller was on a database containing persons of interest on a strictly 'non-systematic' basis where such a threat was 'genuine', 'present' and 'sufficiently serious').

According to statistics published by Frontex, in 2015 the top 6 EU member states whose national identity cards were falsified and detected at external border crossing points of the Schengen Area were Italy, Spain, Belgium, Greece, France and Romania. These countries remained the top 6 in 2016.

Identification document

;Usage in own country
There are varying rules on domestic usage of identity documents. Some countries demand the usage of the national identity card or a passport. Other countries allow usage of other documents like driver's licences.

In eleven countries, e.g. Austria, Finland, Sweden and Iceland, national identity cards are fully voluntary and not needed by everyone, as identity documents like driving licences are accepted domestically. In these countries only a minority have a national identity card, since a majority use a passport or driving licence for identification purposes and do not need more identity documents. Similarly, the Irish Passport Card is voluntary.

However, even in those EEA countries that impose a national identity card requirement on their citizens, it is generally not required to carry the identity cards at all times.

;Usage outside own country
EEA and Swiss citizens exercising their right of free movement in another EEA member state or Switzerland are entitled to use their national identity card as an identification document when dealing not just with government authorities, but also with private sector service providers. For example, where a supermarket in the Netherlands refuses to accept a German national identity card as proof of age when a German citizen attempts to purchase an age-restricted product and insists on the production of a Dutch-issued passport or driving licence or other identity document, the supermarket would, in effect, be discriminating against this individual on this basis of their nationality in the provision of a service, thereby contravening the prohibition in Art 20(2) of Directive 2006/123/EC of discriminatory treatment relating to the nationality of a service recipient in the conditions of access to a service which are made available to the public at large by a service provider. In those EEA countries whose citizens are required by law to obtain a national identity card, only a minority have a passport, since it is not needed for travelling across much of Europe.

;Usage in third countries
National identity cards are often accepted in other parts of the world for unofficial identification purposes (such as age verification in commercial establishments that serve or sell alcohol, or checking in at hotels) and sometimes for official purposes such as proof of identity and nationality to authorities (especially machine-readable cards).

Electronic identity cards (eID)

As of 2024, all EU/EEA countries (except Denmark) issue national identity cards with an electronic identity (eID) function, either through incorporating an EMV (contact chip) or, most commonly, through a RFID/NFC (contactless) function. The regulation dictates that the eID functions must be logically or physically separate from the ICAO biometric function of the card.

Digital signature applications can be used which enables the bearer to authenticate themselves digitally using their identity card. Consequently, they can authenticate documents to satisfy any third party that the document's not been altered after being digitally signed, as well as to identify the identity card holder. This application uses a registered certificate in conjunction with public/private key pairs so these enhanced cards do not necessarily have to participate in online transactions. This can be achieved by using an EMV smartcard reader paired with a computer, or by NFC (by mobile phone or PC) for the contactless variants.

A growing number of EU countries have introduced dedicated mobile apps, linked to state registries, that replace physical identity cards. In 2024, the EU passed regulations aimed at standardising electronic identities also through mobile wallets.

Common design and security features

European Union standards from 2006

On 4 December 2006, all European Union member states agreed to adopt common designs and minimum security standards for national identity cards that were in the draft resolution of 15 November 2006: This included laminated paper core cards and cards made of a synthetic substrate. The standard specified minimum biographical information (including doc. no., validity, signature), machine readability and ICAO conformity.

EU Regulations from April 2017 revising the Schengen Borders Code, introduced systematic checks of travel documents of EU, EEA and Swiss citizens against relevant databases when entering and leaving the Schengen Area, and states that all member states should phase out national identity cards which are not machine-readable.

New European Union standards from 2019

In 2019, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union adopted a new regulation with a new common format of identity cards. The purpose of the regulation was to replace and harmonize the various identity card models currently in use in Europe. The regulation began to apply to the European Union (EU) on 2 August 2021 and the European Economic Area (EEA) from 1 February 2024.

As of June 2024, all EU/EEA countries issue national ID cards which are compliant with the 2019 legislation.

However, the regulation was declared invalid by the European Court of Justice in March 2024 as it had been adopted on an incorrect legal basis. It remains temporarily in force until, at the latest, 31 December 2026 so that the Council may adopt a new regulation on the correct legal basis.

According to the EU law, Member States (including EEA States, with exceptions), should issue identity cards according to Regulation (EU) 2019/1157 which states that :
* Identity cards shall be produced in ID-1 format and shall contain a machine-readable zone (MRZ).
* Security standards shall be based on ICAO Document 9303.
* The document shall bear the title 'Identity card' in the official language and in at least one other official language of the institutions of the Union.
* It shall contain the two-letter country code of the Member State issuing the card, printed in negative in a blue rectangle and encircled by 12 yellow stars (EU Flag) on the front side. (Requirement of the EU flag does not apply in Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein)
* It shall include a highly secure storage medium which shall contain a facial image of the holder of the card and two fingerprints in interoperable digital formats. The storage medium shall have sufficient capacity and capability to guarantee the integrity, the authenticity and the confidentiality of the data. The data stored shall be accessible in contactless form and secured as provided for in Implementing Decision (European Union) C(2018) 7767.
* Identity cards shall have a minimum period of validity of 5 years and a maximum period of validity of 10 years. But Member States may provide for a period of validity of less than 5 years for minors and more than 10 years for persons aged 70 and above.
* Identity cards which do not meet the new requirements shall cease to be valid at their expiry or by 3 August 2031.
* Identity cards which do not meet the minimum security standards or which do not include a functional MRZ shall cease to be valid at their expiry or by 3 August 2026.
* Identity cards of persons aged 70 and above at 2 August 2021, which meet the minimum security standards and which have a functional MRZ shall cease to be valid at their expiry.

Article 16 states that this Regulation shall apply from 2 August 2021.

File:New Austrian ID Card (2021).png, Austrian identity card
File:New Belgian ID (2021) (front).png, Belgian identity card
File:Nederlandse identiteitskaart 2021-II (Voorkant).jpg, Dutch identity card
File:Spanish ID card (front side).webp, Spanish identity card

For several member countries the new requirements do not mean that the design or features of the existing cards change much, since they mostly fulfil the requirements already. For some this means a large redesign. A visible change for all countries is the country code inside the EU flag.

ICAO/EU identity cards have an identifying initial character of either A,C or I. in the MRZ on the obverse side. All EU/EEA identity cards have the initial identifying characters ID or I< except Italy, Ireland, Cyprus and Norway. , Croatia uses IO. However, Italy and Norway use the initial character C for their identity cards. Irish passport cards, which are not identity cards, have the initial identifying characters IP in common with the United States passport card.

Cyprus began issuing identity cards conforming to the harmonised requirements as early as August 2020, becoming the first country to implement the new standard, followed by Malta the same month. Implementation throughout the member states progressed gradually and was completed when Portugal and Bulgaria implemented the new standards in June 2024. In 2019, the EU estimated that around 80 million ID cards in circulation were not machine-readable, and will therefore expire in 2026.

Cards issued by EEA states

As a result of the EEA agreement, in February 2024, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein became bound by Regulation 2019/1157 with some special provisions, including the lack of a requirement of an EU flag. Norwegian identity cards have been compliant with the regulation since July 2021. Liechtenstein began issuing biometric EU-standard ID cards in January 2024. Iceland began to issue new EU-standard ID cards in March 2024, the first in the world to use the new additional ICAO 9303 format with a vertical format. Identity cards issued by EEA states are equally as valid as EU identity cards within the EU and EFTA.

Non-compliant identity cards

Denmark, Ireland and Switzerland do not issue national identity cards compliant to the EU Regulation 2019/1157, for different reasons outlined below.

Danish identity cards are issued by municipalities, each having their own design, and are not accepted as valid travel documents outside Denmark. They were launched in 2017, replacing previous 'Youth Cards'. Since 2018 the nationality of the cardholder has been included, which briefly allowed the card to be used for travel to Sweden. However, in September 2019, Swedish authorities explicitly banned Danish municipal identity cards from being used for entry, due to their low level of security. Danish municipal ID cards are mostly only valid for proof of age requirements. In 2021, the Danish Ministry of Interior concluded that more secure national ID cards were not on the agenda due to costs.

Ireland does not issue identity cards, but issues an almost functionally equivalent passport card on an optional basis only to those who have an Irish passport booklet. Recital 14 of the EU Regulation states that it does not apply to Irish passport cards because they do not serve identification purposes in the issuing member state. Irish passport cards nevertheless follow the ICAO 9303 standard and are biometrically compliant but do not contain the EU flag. However, the name of the European Union does appear on them.

Swiss ID cards are not subject to the EU Regulation; however, they are machine-readable but do not contain biometric data. Nevertheless, Swiss ID cards are valid for travel across the EU and EEA due to bilateral agreements and the Schengen acquis.

Overview of national identity cards

Member states issue a variety of national identity cards with differing technical specifications and according to differing issuing procedures. In most member states, cards can be issued abroad through the country's respective consulates.State of play concerning the electronic identity cards in the EU Member States
(Council of the European Union, 2010)

See also

* Passports of the European Union
* European driving licence
* European Health Insurance Card
* Citizenship of the European Union
* Visa requirements for European Union citizens
* Schengen Area
* European Economic Area
* European Free Trade Association
* List of national identity card policies by country
* Identity document
* Internal passport

Notes

References

External links

National identity cards in PRADO (The Council of the European Union Public Register of Authentic Travel and Identity Documents Online)

{{identity cards, state=collapsed

European Economic Area
Authentication methods
International travel documents
European Economic Area