On the way to the "DeutschlandID": What's next for the BundID

The previously little-known BundID plays a central role in the digitalization of administration in Germany: the federal user account is to be used in all federal states in future and "developed into a DeutschlandID". This is stipulated in paragraph 12 of the Online Access Act, which means that citizens will use the BundID to log in to online services provided by the administration nationwide in future. According to the federal government's "Digital Administration Dashboard", 5.1 million users currently have a BundID account.

But what exactly is meant by the further development of DeutschlandID? A central project is "the integration of bidirectional communication", as the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) announced at the request of c't. Applicants and authorities should therefore be able to exchange application-related messages with each other. For example, authorities should be able to ask questions about an application and citizens should be able to provide additional information.

BundID mailbox as fax successor

That sounds obvious, but BundID does not yet offer such a function. At the moment, the user account only contains a mailbox in which messages from authorities can be sent to – However, citizens cannot reply there and must contact the authority by other means. According to the BMI, bidirectional communication is "planned for 2025". According to the BMI, another function, the "status monitor", is already available to interested authorities. Applicants can use it to find out the current processing status of their application at the click of a button.

The BundID has not yet been introduced throughout Germany. According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, nine federal states use the BundID exclusively: "Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia have switched off their state accounts in favor of the BundID. Saarland immediately connected to BundID without a previous service account."

1600 online services are connected

The fact that a federal state uses BundID does not mean that applicants can use the account to log in to all online services of the respective federal state and its municipalities. The authorities must first integrate the user account into their services. According to the BMI, 1609 online services and administration portals are currently connected to BundID – Last May, there were 1,200. The BMI does not know how many services there are nationwide: a spokesperson said that no statement could be made as the services and portals are the responsibility of the federal states.

According to the BMI, it is not yet clear when the BundID will be renamed "DeutschlandID". A change of name would involve "considerable effort, including financial, and is therefore only planned following the functional developments", said a spokesperson.

An interface to the planned EUDI wallet is also on the BundID roadmap. This is a smartphone app that citizens should also be able to use to log in to online administrative services in accordance with EU requirements. With the interface, "all developed online services that integrate or have already integrated the BundID will also be able to connect to the EUDI Wallet", explained the BMI.

(cwo)