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The French Government has announced citizens will be able to verify their identity when accessing secure online services by scanning their updated Carte Nationale d’Identité Électronique (CNIE) eID card with their NFC-enabled smartphone.

The French government has announced introducing the functionality in order to enable holders of the new CNIE card to tap it on their mobile device in response to an authentication request made by any of 900 service providers connected to the FranceConnect platform.

The French government began a limited rollout of the new CNIE electronic identity cards in March 2021 before launching them nationally in August. The card contains a contactless chip that stores a holder’s biometric data, including a photograph and two fingerprints, as well as an authenticating seal in the form of a QR code.

The system will comply with the European Union’s eIDAS regulations, will protect citizens’ identity and will ensure that only the authorized citizen has control over it. The French government introduced the Alicem digital identity service that enables citizens to use NFC passport reading to enrol themselves onto the system in October 2019.

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