From 2025, Slovaks will also be able to use electronic versions of the two basic and most used documents – the ID card and the driving licence. This follows from the draft amendment to the Road Traffic Act, which also amends the ID Card Act. The amendment was approved on Wednesday by members of the National Council of the Slovak Republic.
“In this context, the changes in the law create the basic legislative prerequisites for the creation of digital versions in mobile devices, as well as for their verification by control authorities,” the Interior Ministry explained the reasons for the legislative amendment.
The possibility to create digital versions of both cards should not change the established processes of issuing physical documents in any way. “The prerequisite for the creation of digital versions of both cards will be their issuance in physical form first. From a legal perspective, the digital versions are defined in the draft law as parallels, which means that they are literal copies of physical documents, which also entails any grounds of invalidity or inability to use them,” the ministry added.
In the first stage, the digital versions of both documents would only be used for police checks, except at border controls where international regulations require documents to meet the given physical prerequisites. “In practice, this option will mainly be used for checks carried out by riot, traffic and railway police patrols,” the ministry explained. In the next phases of the project, it is planned to extend the functionalities and accessibility for third parties.
The Ministry of the Interior responded that the amendment, in line with the government’s priorities in the field of digitisation, improves and simplifies citizens’ access to state services.
Source: TASR
