Concerns Regarding eIDAS Review and Recent Compromise on Article 45 and Related Recital 32 – Contradictory Wording

Statements / Open Letters · August 16, 2023

As the eIDAS 2.0 trilogue moves into its final technical negotiations, ESD identifies contradictory wording in Recital 32 that risks undermining the intended function of Qualified Website Authentication Certificates (QWACs). ESD calls for the legislation to preserve their core purpose — authenticating websites and reliably identifying the entities behind them — and proposes concrete drafting changes to ensure that this objective is reflected consistently in Recital 32 and Article 45. The intervention also seeks clear wording requiring browsers to provide a user-friendly display of certified identity information.