EUDI Wallet: the vocabulary explained simply (PID, QEAA, selective disclosure)

In short: the European Digital Identity Wallet (EUDI Wallet) is arriving with its own vocabulary, often in English and full of acronyms. PID, EAA, QEAA, issuer, relying party, selective disclosure: behind these terms lie simple ideas. This glossary gives you, term by term, a clear definition of each building block of the wallet, so you understand what is being talked about before you prepare your journeys.

‍

The eIDAS 2.0 regulation, officially Regulation (EU) 2024/1183, introduces a European Digital Identity Wallet, or EUDI Wallet (European Digital Identity Wallet). Every European citizen will be able to store and present their identity data and various supporting documents in it, from their smartphone, anywhere in the Union.

‍

The problem, when you first discover the subject, is the jargon. Official documents and technical articles pile up acronyms without always explaining them. Yet understanding this vocabulary is the prerequisite for knowing what the wallet will change, concretely, in your onboarding journeys. Here are the key terms, defined simply.

‍

The building blocks of the wallet

The Wallet

‍

The Wallet, or European Digital Identity Wallet, is an application on the citizen's smartphone. It works like a real physical wallet: instead of storing an identity card, a vehicle registration document or a plastic student card, the user stores their digital equivalents, verifiable and signed.

‍

The central idea is user control: the user decides what to share, with whom, and when. Nothing leaves the wallet without their consent. The wallet is provided free of charge by each Member State (or by an entity it mandates) and must reach a high level of assurance (see below).

‍

The PID (Person Identification Data)

‍

The PID, for Person Identification Data, refers to the person's basic identity data: surname, first name, date of birth, and, depending on the case, place of birth, nationality or national identifier.

What gives the PID its value is its origin: it is issued by the State (or an authority it designates), from official registers. It is the digital equivalent, in the wallet, of what a national identity card proves today. The PID is the first building block placed in the wallet, the one that answers the question "who are you?".

‍

The EAA and the QEAA (attestations of attributes)

‍

Once the basic identity is in place, the wallet can host other supporting documents. They are called electronic attestations of attributes, or EAA (Electronic Attestation of Attributes).

‍

An attribute is a specific characteristic of the person: an address, a diploma, a driving licence, a professional capacity, an entitlement to a reduced fare. An EAA is therefore a digital and verifiable proof of an attribute, stored in the wallet next to the PID.

‍

The QEAA (Qualified Electronic Attestation of Attributes) is its reinforced version: it is a qualified attestation, issued by a qualified trust service provider, subject to strict requirements and supervised. Concretely, a QEAA offers reinforced legal value and level of trust compared with a standard EAA. The distinction matters: depending on the use case, a company may require a qualified attestation rather than a simple attestation.

‍

The issuer

‍

The issuer is the trusted entity that delivers the PID or the attestations in the wallet. For the PID, it is the State or the authority it designates. For a diploma attestation, it will be, for example, the institution or the ministry concerned; for a proof of address, the authorised body.

‍

The issuer takes responsibility for the accuracy of what it delivers. It is the issuer that applies the cryptographic signature to the attestation, which makes it verifiable thereafter.

‍

The relying party

‍

The relying party is the company or service that receives and verifies the attributes presented by the wallet. This is the role your organisation will play when a customer arrives with their European wallet.

A bank verifying the identity of a new customer, a telecom operator checking age and address, a rental company verifying a driving licence: all are relying parties. Their work is no longer to collect and scrutinise a document, but to ask precisely for the attributes they need, then to verify that the proof received is authentic.

‍

Selective disclosure

‍

This is one of the most concrete contributions of the wallet. Selective disclosure consists in sharing only the attribute that is strictly necessary, without revealing the rest.

‍

The classic example: proving that you are of age without revealing your exact date of birth. The wallet answers "yes, this person is over 18" without transmitting the day, month and year of birth. Likewise, you can prove that you reside in a given country without disclosing your full address.

‍

This logic directly serves data minimisation: the company receives only what is useful to it, and the citizen limits their exposure. The proof remains cryptographically verified: even reduced to a single attribute, it stays reliable, because the issuer's signature proves the authenticity and integrity of the data shared.

‍

The high level of assurance (Level of Assurance high)

‍

eIDAS defines levels of assurance for electronic identification means, which measure the degree of confidence that a person really is who they claim to be. The European wallet must reach the most demanding level: the "high" level of assurance (Level of Assurance high).

‍

This level implies strict identity verification processes when the wallet is created and strong security requirements. In practice, a proof of identity from the wallet comes with a level of reliability far higher than that of a photo of a document sent by a customer.

‍

Added to this is cross-border interoperability: a wallet issued in one Member State must be recognised and verifiable in all the others. A citizen of one Union country will be able to identify themselves with a service located in another country, without any additional steps.

‍

Why this vocabulary matters to you

‍

These terms are not mere regulatory curiosities: they shape how your onboarding journeys are going to evolve.

‍

On the company side, you will most often be a relying party. Your role will consist in asking for the right attributes (PID, EAA or QEAA depending on the level of proof required), verifying their signature and processing the response. Selective disclosure forces you to rethink your forms: instead of collecting as much information as possible "just in case", you ask precisely for what you need, no more and no less. It is a change of mindset as much as a technical one.

‍

Mastering this vocabulary also makes it possible to talk to the right people and to frame your projects: knowing how to distinguish an EAA from a QEAA, or understanding what the high level of assurance implies, avoids misunderstandings when defining your requirements. To go further on the concrete steps, see our guide eIDAS 2.0: how to prepare.

‍

Finally, one thing must be kept in mind: the wallet brings a reliable proof of identity, but on its own it does not answer every risk question. Knowing that an identity is authentic does not tell you whether the behaviour is suspicious, whether the device is questionable, whether the company opposite is genuinely solvent, or who its beneficial owners are. The vocabulary of the wallet describes one building block of trust, to be integrated into a wider control chain.

‍

In conclusion

‍

Behind the acronyms of the EUDI Wallet lie accessible notions: the PID for the basic identity issued by the State, the EAA and QEAA for attestations of attributes, the issuer that delivers and signs, the relying party that receives and verifies, selective disclosure to share only what is necessary, and the high level of assurance that guarantees the reliability of the whole.

‍

Understanding this vocabulary already means starting to prepare your journeys. The European wallet does not replace an overall risk management strategy: it becomes one building block of trust within it, to be combined with fraud detection, business checks and creditworthiness analysis.

‍

Sources: Regulation (EU) 2024/1183 of 11 April 2024 (eIDAS 2.0), European Digital Identity Wallet; European Commission, European Digital Identity Wallet, Architecture and Reference Framework (ARF).

‍