France selects IDEMIA for the National Digital ID Program

The updated French national eID card (CNIe) was launched in August 2021, and will enable French citizens to complete online transactions using their smartphone. Citizens will receive an authentication request on their smartphone. They will then place their CNIe on the back of their phone, which will communicate using Near-Field Communication technology. The mobile app will securely read and authenticate the personal data held in the card’s chip. Citizens will need to provide their consent before authentication.

The digital ID system will be issued with a First Level security certificate from the French IT agency, ANSSI, and will therefore comply with the EU eIDAS regulations; Substantial and High 1. The system will protect citizens’ identity data, and will ensure that only the authorized citizen has control over it.

“As a French company, we are extremely proud to work on the national digital ID program. The new CNIe with its highly-secure chip is a great example of combining a physical ID document with a digital ID to securely access online services,” said Pierre Lelièvre, IDEMIA Senior Vice President Digital ID The FranceConnect platform, which underpins the program, has already attracted over 28 million users and 900 service providers. French citizens will soon be able to securely access these services using their new digital ID.

“Our mission is to create and offer a user-friendly means of electronic identification that facilitates and protects the online transfer of citizen identity data, so that transactions cannot be centralized or traced, ” said Valérie Peneau, General Government Inspector and Director of the France Identité Numérique program

IDEMIA’s expertise is helping bring about substantial digital ID changes that are currently underway. Having successfully implemented over 135 online and offline identification programs across the world, IDEMIA meets governments’ needs for securer and agile citizen databases, ID documents and online authentication of citizens’ identity.

IDEMIA, the global leader in Augmented Identity, provides a trusted environment enabling citizens and consumers alike to perform their daily critical activities (such as pay, connect and travel), in the physical as well as digital space.

Securing our identity has become mission critical in the world we live in today. By standing for Augmented Identity, an identity that ensures privacy and trust and guarantees secure, authenticated and verifiable transactions, we reinvent the way we think, produce, use and protect one of our greatest assets - our identity - whether for individuals or for objects, whenever and wherever security matters.