Portuguese ID Card

As of 2014, over 45% of cardholders have activated their digital certificates.​

 This project is also supported by actions such as a very active website www.cartaodecidada​o.pt​

 Th​​ere’s more.

​The Portuguese ID Card supports biometric authentication, when necessary, as fingerprints are safely stored in the microprocessor of the card.

The match on card mechanism allows biometric authentication without any central biometric database. This is strictly forbidden in Portugal.

​Biometric credentials never leave the smart card, meaning that they remain protected at all times.
It is the card’s processor which carries out the check and answers yes or no to the question: does the fingerprint presented correspond to the one stored in the card?

Beyond the citizen card

​Portugal is a fascinating case in point for State modernization.

When Portugal decided a few years ago to speed up the implementation of its e-Government plan and to drastically cut bureaucracy, its aim was to transform the public sector into a collaborative, inclusive body, and place Portugal as one of the leaders in terms of service quality for citizens and companies.

The goals of a more citizen-centric society have rarely been asserted with such strength from the outset, with such a comprehensive understanding of the issues.

Portugal and State modernization – 15 years ago

At the beginning of the last decade, Portugal was still an extremely centralized country, with rifts between local and central authorities which were difficult to bridge. Portuguese ID Card

The internet had made massive inroads with the country’s elite, but few citizens were making the effort to access the internet or online services. Portuguese ID Card

So the challenge to modernize the state using digital means, and bringing citizens and public authorities closer together through digital communication channels, strengthening social cohesion, seemed an insurmountable one.

It seemed that the country would have to wait for the change to be made by the next generation, more up-to-date on new communication methods. Portuguese ID Card

Bold statements for a new vision

Yet, Portugal made the following bold commitments:

• Administrative bodies are too partitioned? Cross-functionality will be a priority.
• The general public is very wary of change? The benefits of this change will initially be concrete and visible, before being transferred to the digital environment. Portuguese ID Card
• Back offices set too many constraints and impair the service quality of public authorities? The new organization will be completely rebuilt based around citizens’ needs, pushing the citizen-centric eGovernment vision as far as possible without impairing administrative efficiency.​

​​Simplex and Simplex+ modernization programs

​​Simplex

Between 2006 and 2011, more than 1,000 measures of administrative and legislative simplification and e-government were successfully implemented in the so-called Simplex program, the name of the state modernization initiative.

2 examples:

• the Citizen Card launched 10 years ago replacing 5 documents
• the Citizen Shop providing a one-stop-shop for public administration and many private services as well. In 2017, there were 533 Citizen Shops, offering approximately 200 public services.

Overall they had a very positive impact on the lives of citizens and businesses and reduced administrative costs. The execution rate of the program was always in excess of 80%.

Some of the program’s measures were singled out and obtained international awards, both from the United Nations (2018 report – see page 39) and the European Commission. Portuguese ID Card

Simplex+

SIMPLEX +, the new program, has a cross-cutting nature, covering all the domains where the state is actively present. It has also preserved its common approach to the various aspects of simplification, but it addresses new challenges in a new era. Portuguese ID Card

Simplex+ is also remarkable in many respects.

• First, it is more participatory, co-produced and done with full transparency and accountability.
• It’s stimulating innovation – to invite innovators to look at central administration. a ‘startup simplex’ competition was launched in 2017. It’s aimed at rewarding innovative ideas for products and services that will simplify the interactions of citizens and businesses with public services.
• Finally, the Simplex program takes the drive towards simplification beyond the boundaries of public services by including measures such as the “simpler opening of a bank account” that require a collaboration between the public and private sectors. Portuguese ID Card

The result?

Between 2016 and 2018, Portugal has jumped 9 places in the United Nations e-Government Development Index (EGDI). Portuguese ID Card

Lessons from the Portuguese experience

At a time when secure digital identity is considered as a key for digital service uptake and digital dividends​, it is worth drawing lessons from the Portuguese experience:​

• • Permanence – successful transformation and uptake of the new system are built on unchanging fundamentals and it all takes time.
  • Guidance -If things are changing, however, change need to be explained. Guidance will need to be offered, and it will be important to ensure positive feedback in order to foster peoples’ trust.
  • Next, it’s important to provide something highly visible – like citizen spots and citizen cards– to encourage uptake before going virtual. This is especially true in areas where digital technology hasn’t yet reached enough people.