Credentials
An EUDI Wallet credential is a digitally issued, verifiable statement of fact about a person — such as their identity, a qualification, an entitlement, or a status — that is:
- issued by an accountable authority (public or private),
- held and controlled by the individual in their EU Digital Identity Wallet, and
- presented by that individual, at their own discretion, to any party that needs to verify the fact.
A credential is the digital counterpart of a physical document of proof (ID card, driver's license, diploma, membership card). It serves the same purpose and carries legal recognition under the eIDAS 2.0 Regulation, but can be verified instantly and reliably without contacting the issuer.
Legal Categories
eIDAS 2.0 distinguishes credential categories by who may issue them and how much legal weight they carry:
| Category | Full Name | Issuer | Legal Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| PID | Person Identification Data | Designated national authority | The foundational identity credential (name, date of birth, etc.); anchors trust for everything else |
| EAA | Electronic Attestation of Attributes | Any qualified public or private attestation provider | Legally recognized proof of any attribute (diploma, membership, entitlement) |
| QEAA | Qualified EAA | Qualified Trust Service Provider (QTSP), under strict supervision | Highest evidentiary strength |
| PUB-EAA | EAA issued by a public sector body | Government body | Recognized EU-wide without additional qualification |
The paradigm shift from paper-based proofs and IDs
The trust triangle has long existed in the analog world: issuer (authority) → holder (citizen) → verifier (case worker, checkout). But credential are not just "a scanned physical card as a PDF". They are equivalents and digitize this whole model. It is a new primitive that preserves analog properties (offline presentation, unobservability) and adds digital ones ( data minimization, cryptographic verifiability, revocability).
Analog equivalents
National ID card ≈ PID
Driver's license, official certificate from a register ≈ PuB-EAA
Membership/loyalty card ≈ EAA
Notarized/qualified certified document ≈ QEAA
Where they differ – and why that makes the difference
| Property | Physical proof | Credential |
|---|---|---|
| Selective disclosure | No – an ID card reveals name, address, and date of birth when proving age | Yes – only "≥18" without the date of birth |
| Unobservability | Issuer does not learn about the presentation | Same (unlike federated login) |
| Forgery/copying | Physical security features, copyable | Cryptographic signature + key binding against replay/transfer |
| Revocation | Hard to invalidate mid-life | Status/revocation mechanisms (e.g. Token Status List) |
| Verification | Visual (hologram, features) | Signature chain to the trust anchor |
| Correlatability | Card number as a tracking feature | Reducible (batch issuance, salted disclosures) |