Electronic wallet use begins in Macedonia on Thursday, with ID cards and driving licenses moving to mobile phones

Citizens in Macedonia will be able to use their identity cards and driving licenses on their phones, as the official rollout of the “electronic wallet” begins on Thursday.

The application will be officially presented on Wednesday, October 28. Minister of Digital Transformation Stefan Andonovski described it as a secure platform that enables users to better protect their personal data.

According to him, citizens will no longer be required to show all the information contained on their plastic documents whenever they need to identify themselves at a bank, bar or other venue.

“Users will be able to decide for themselves which data they want to share, and this will be done securely. The information will be transmitted through a QR code created for one-time use. The code is scanned, and the data is transferred to the other person only after your approval. After 10 to 15 seconds, the QR code expires and cannot be used again. We have paid particular attention to security,” Andonovski said.

The minister stressed that the electronic wallet represents the first step toward creating the European digital wallet, which aims to fully digitize documents.

“This is a very good start, as the basic data from identity cards and driving licenses will be accessible to citizens. I hope that, alongside the development of the mobile wallet, we will also add other services, capabilities and documents,” Andonovski said before the panel “Prerequisites and challenges for the accelerated digitalization of the private sector” began.