CROSS-BORDER WORKING GROUP
Around the globe countries and continents are taking practical steps towards digital identity infrastructure. Alongside these government initiatives standards bodies and working groups have been mapping a landscape for interoperability and scalability beyond borders.
The “Wallet” is emerging as a new citizen and customer channel replacing apps with more connected digital services. However, unlike payments, the international rules and technical specifications don’t yet exist to enable identity and data sharing beyond the enterprise or seamlessly across borders.
In early 2024 representatives from Japan and Australia formed a Cross-Border Working Group to explore the technical, legal, and commercial requirements to enable seamless and interoperable digital identity and data sharing.
The founding Cross-Border Working Group organisations include Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. (DNP), MUFG, Meeco, ConnectID, NAB and CBA.
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Australia is an important and growing market for Japan. Post Covid, Japan is now the fourth most-visited overseas destination for Australians, strengthening the existing ties between the two countries.
The Japan-Australia Economic Partnership Agreement (JAEPA) was established in 2014, and over the past decade there has been a steady increase in trade, tourism, education exchange and investment. In October 2022 the Japanese government relaxed the border rules to welcome visa-free entry from South Korea, USA, Hong Kong, Australia, and Singapore.
This introduced a new digital process, where many of the immigration and entry requirements could be achieved ahead of arrival to streamline border entry. This digital approach between Japan and Australia showcased the opportunity for an extensive range of cross border digital experiences, which would require a trusted digital identity as the foundation.
Exploring and validating these use cases is the focus for the Cross Border Working Group.
BERLIN, JUNE 2024
In June 2024, representatives from the Cross-Border Working Group, showcased the preliminary results of the collaboration at the European Identity and Cloud (EIC) Conference. This included delegates from DNP, ConnectID, Meeco, NAB and MUFG.
In the lead up to the EIC 2024 event, DNP published a press release outlining initial verification testing that was undertaken and validated the Working Group’s proposed use cases. Alongside this, Meeco published a blogpost that reinforced the current need for interoperable digital identity verification and how the timing is now for Japan and Australia to work closely together.
The growing interest in global interoperability resulted in this session being popular and well attended. On this basis KuppingerCole generously decided to publish the entire presentation on their website which is available to the public here:
The continued growth in global trade and e-commerce, remote working and travel means that global interoperability is front of mind for public and private sector organisations looking to provide privacy and convenience to their citizens and customers. The emerging form factor to make this possible is digital wallets. The Cross-Border Working Group focused on two possible use cases that utilise a digital wallet:
1
A Japanese national relocates to Australia and uses Japanese bank issued verifiable data to set up a bank account, rent a property and prepare for life in Australia.
2
An Australian national travels to Japan and uses Australian bank issued verifiable data to book and participate in an event or experience in Japan.
As part of the technical validation for these use cases, the Cross-Border Working Group focused on existing global standards, interoperability efforts and ways to bridge trust frameworks. The findings led to the following considerations and learnings:
Adopting standards such as those published by the OpenID Foundation to enable interoperability across systems.
Existing PoCs, including the Global Assured Identity Network (GAIN) provide important foundations for an interoperable network for high-trust identity assurance.
The importance of developing scheme rules that can evolve to enable cross-border use cases.
The challenges associated with working across legal jurisdictions.
Considering customer challenges and needs including different languages, user experience expectations and cultural awareness.
Managing legal and commercial challenges along the way.
The importance of sandbox environments to learn, demonstrate, and improve systems to help de-risk the move to production.
The value of collaboration and co-operation when developing a common profile.
The most significant body of work is coming from the European Union with the introduction of eIDAS 2, and the promise to provide every EU resident with a Digital Identity Wallet by 2027.
In May 2024 the associated regulation was passed with the final technical specification due for publication in November 2024. This will provide clarity on an approach that could be adopted in other parts of the world.
However, will this new channel be won by the major operating systems from Google and Apple, building on familiar user experience? Or, will important initiatives such as the Open Wallet Foundation and the vision for a digitally connected European Union create the benchmarks for interoperable and scalable services?
To enable technical interoperability, it is important that a credential issued by an organisation in one country can be verified by an organisation in another country. Borrowing from all these perspectives, the Cross-Border Working Group settled on an approach that could fulfil the following criteria:
Taking these criteria into consideration the following High-Level Profile was used to prove technical interoperability.
Profile
High Assurance Interoperability Profile
Credential Format
SD-JWT VC
Schema
Connect ID (plus eKYC, EU PID)
Issuance
OpenID Connect, OpenID for Verifiable Credential Issuance
Verification
OpenID for Verifiable Presentation
Trust Mechanism
OpenID Federation (ConnectID)
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Participant roles and flow of data collaboration between Japan-Australia
DNP is dedicated to creating a world where individuals can safely and securely use their digital identities. By constructing secure networks, standardising processes, and utilising advanced authentication and security technologies, DNP aims to be the Trust Anchor in Digital Identity.
Meeco provides enterprise infrastructure for the personal data economy. Enabling organisations to build verified trust into every digital journey and empowering customers to securely share verifiable data and assets, Meeco helps you create new value, meet data privacy obligations and mitigate fraud.
ConnectID® enables individuals to verify themselves using trusted, known organisations. ConnectID the secure transfer of data without seeing or storing personal information.
MUFG's services encompass a wide range of financial services on a global scale. MUFG is spearheading multiple initiatives aimed at offering authentication services via Decentralised Identity in Metaverse spaces, inter-company workflows and the finance sector.
NAB is one of the four largest banking institutions in Australia. NAB are focused on tackling some of the biggest challenges facing their business and community. They currently undertake climate action, support affordable and specialist housing and back Indigenous businesses.
As one of the four largest banking institutions in Australia, CBA's strategy is to build tomorrow's bank today for their customers. They are committed to supporting their customers, investing in their communities and providing strength and stability for the broader economy.
Different digital identity schemes have specific rules determining who can participate in the network and the obligations on those participants. The Cross-Border Working Group will explore the key points required to ensure that global participants have confidence in the system.
Compensation for service providers delivering the infrastructure is a key part of the commercialisation model. The Cross-Border Working Group will compare the different models and outline how international alignment can be achieved.
