ZetesConfidens, Zetes' business unit dedicated to the securisation of digital transactions, has been selected by the Belgian Authorities to provide digital trust services for the Digital COVID Certificate (DCC). Belgium's DCC was launched on June 16th via a mobile application that can be used by any Belgian citizen to travel around Europe. Voted by the European Parliament earlier this year, the aim of the Digital COVID Certificate is to provide a common solution to all EU citizens to allow them to easily prove their health status. As from July 1st, the DCC will be mandatory for anyone wishing to enter an EU country. As for any proof of identity, data correctness and tamper proofing are centre stage. With the ZetesConfidens Trust Services the content of each individual certificate, encoded in a QR code, is electronically signed so that no fake information can be spread. The principle is similar to that of ePassports. In both documents, personal data is protected and, when read, the information is guaranteed authentic and originated from a trusted party. This method allows a correct usage of the Belgian DCC when travelling Europe.The Zetes solution also enables the Belgian government to significantly reduce the dimensions of the QR code which allows optimal readability of the DCC certificate regardless of form factor (smartphones and others). Given the extremely short deadlines Member States had to deal with, the implementation needed to happen very quickly. A challenge ZetesConfidens was able to address due to its available PKI infrastructure. The setup was completed in less than a week. This allowed Belgium to be accepted on the European gateway, which has been put in place to exchange trust information of the DCC among Member States. The gateway is essential to ensure interoperability, so that DCCs can be verified across the EU, whatever the issuing country.Ronny Depoortere, Senior VP of Zetes People ID, declares: "We are very happy to be involved in this project, which confirms our role as a key partner for the Belgian authorities for all their ID schemes. The ZetesConfidens business unit was created in 2018 and its QTSP status has allowed it to deliver qualified trust services for both the Belgian eID and the Belgian epassport, two documents which are also being produced by Zetes. We are looking forward to assisting any other EU country that is still in the process of completing its DCC solution or external countries that are willing to comply with the EU requirements. Our DCC offering ranges from QR code issuing, over trust services and a Digital Health Pass application, to a verification solution."
ZetesConfidens provides digital trust services for Belgium
