Swiss e-ID - The new law, an overview of the digital identity solution

The Swiss e-ID is a national solution with a focus on data protection and self-determination.

The EU solution (EUDI Wallet) is based on the eIDAS 2.0 Regulation and creates a uniform Europe-wide framework for digital identities. Both systems are intended to be interoperable in the future.

Following the adoption of the e-ID Act in the referendum on 28 September 2025, the project is now in the implementation phase. The introduction is planned for the third quarter of 2026 at the earliest, initially with a pilot phase.

The Swiss e-ID is not mandatory for individuals or companies. It is entirely voluntary, meaning citizens can choose whether or not to obtain and use the digital identity card. However, authorities performing public tasks must accept the e-ID for electronic identification purposes. Organisations performing such public tasks must also accept the e-ID.

The organisations need to plan from technical, operational and legal perspectives. Companies and public authorities can issue digital credentials for their services directly in the Swiyu Wallet. These are immediately available to customers. Find more information here. 

With PXL Ident, PXL Vision will provide and manage the e-ID. Customers will be able to configure which identification methods should be supported for their use case. This means businesses can support 100% of users, whether they have a Swiss e-ID or not.

This question can only be answered in the context of end-to-end integration for a specific customer use case.

PXL Vision's approach is to offer a hybrid solution that provides users with various identification methods to maximise conversion rates. This ensures that, if a selected identification method cannot be completed, an orchestrated solution will use fallback options. The flow follows the pattern of app > browser > Swiyu app, which is the same as we use today. Given the expected coexistence of different methods, we currently consider this to be a promising conversion-focused solution until a high adoption rate enables us to develop a direct app-to-app solution.

As this question is not directly related to the topic of e-ID integration with PXL Vision, we can only answer it based on our understanding and with reservations. From the outset, there are no plans for Swiss e-ID to use NFC technology. However, the architecture and legal framework are explicitly technology-neutral, meaning that NFC and other contactless validation methods could be integrated in the future.

Initially, we will focus on verifying Swiss e-ID in order to expand our online identity verification methods, drive up conversion rates and make onboarding easier and more secure for users. 

However, issuing or managing self-issued credentials is not currently part of our roadmap. Although we recognise the potential of this area and have ideas for future development, these plans are not yet detailed and will require more time to design and align with specific use cases and regulatory requirements.

If you have particular needs or scenarios in mind for self-issued certificates, we would be happy to discuss these further as we develop our roadmap.

These attributes are defined in the e-ID Law. 

Swiss e-ID law: An e-ID contains the following personal identification data: official surname, first names, date of birth, gender, place of birth, nationality and a facial image obtained from either the Information System for Identity Documents (ISA) or the Central Migration Information System (ZEMIS). This data is held in official state registers, to which fedpol has access in accordance with Article 11, paragraph 3. If a verifier requests proof, the holder may provide them with all or some of this data.

Each relying party must define the intended use of digital identity wallets, including specifying the data to be requested from users.

In addition to personal identification data, an e-ID contains additional information. This includes the following: the AHV number (social security number); the e-ID number; the date of issue; the expiry date; details of the identity document used in the issuance process, particularly the type, number and validity period of the document; and details of the issuance process (these are regulated in more detail at ordinance level).

According to our current plans, the integration will take place within the existing PXL Ident API. The configuration will be expanded to include e-ID wallets and the relevant identifiers for the relying parties. The standard output formats will also be updated to include data read from the wallets. Our goal is to minimise the effort required of our customers and to continue offering individual support from our project managers.