EUDI Wallet biometric compromise draws privacy concerns

https://www.biometricupdate.com/202606/eudi-wallet-biometric-compromise-draws-privacy-concerns

Publish Date: 2026-06-23 11:47:00

EU member states have reached a compromise on a contentious biometric requirement for the European Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallets. Under an agreement struck on June 18th, individual EU member states will be allowed, but not required, to let users opt out of including a biometric facial image in their digital ID wallet.

The agreement resolves a standoff between the European Commission, which had pushed for mandatory portrait images, and a bloc of member states that objected on privacy grounds. Digital rights advocates, however, say the compromise falls short of protecting citizens and could pressure people into sharing sensitive biometric data whether they want to or not – potentially creating a backlash against the digital ID scheme.

“If they are pressured and forced to use it, I think we’ll just create a pushback from society and people will simply not use this in situations where it might actually be useful for them,” Thomas Lohninger, executive director of digital rights group Epicenter.works, told Biometric Update.

The EUDI Wallet is set to offer residents and businesses in EU countries a means to safely identify themselves online and access public and private services across the bloc. Although they are not mandatory, European countries must offer a digital ID wallet to their citizens by the end of 2026.

The European Commission has been seeking to make facial images mandatory for the EUDI Wallet through Implementing Acts that set the technical rules for wallets’ core functionalities, including specifications for Person Identification Data (PID). The plan, however, has caused a rift among Member States participating in the eIDAS Committee, which is tasked with drafting and voting on the Implementing Acts.

The issue was finally settled at a Committee meeting on June 18th, where the two sides agreed on the amended version of the rule, which is now set to be formally adopted. According to the rule, EU member states can choose to make…

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