Why European Digital Identity Platforms Matter for Digital Sovereignty

Every time a European citizen logs in or accesses a public service on systems under non-European jurisdiction, issues surrounding European digital sovereignty become concrete and real.

It is well known that, in the European Union, more than 80% of digital products, services, infrastructure, and intellectual property currently depend on non-EU countries. Aware of the risks this poses, European institutions have pushed for a thorough review of regulations with a view to promoting digital sovereignty. These changes, in turn, have already led to significant migrations toward European technology providers.

And while digital sovereignty requires action on multiple levels, identity platforms play a prominent role because they are the ones that effectively enable and safeguard a multitude of fundamental rights in today’s digital world.

Below, we discuss why IAM systems subject to European regulation are essential for digital sovereignty and the role of Soffid as a trusted European provider.

Digital Identity: Why Your IAM Platform’s Jurisdiction Isn’t Just a Technical Detail

What if changes to a foreign provider’s terms and conditions leave an organization outside the scope of the GDPR? Or what if geopolitical tensions with a non-EU country disrupt authentication services? These scenarios demonstrate that digital sovereignty has very real consequences and can hang by a thread when the wrong platform is chosen.

An IAM system can be understood as an organization’s “master key.” And if that key is located outside Europe, issues such as regulatory compliance or operational continuity can be compromised.

At the same time, digital identity has now become a necessary intermediary between individuals and access to their rights. In other words, in practice, if identity platforms fail, access to many services (healthcare, education, government services, etc.) also fails, and a multitude of transactions essential to today’s society come to a standstill. In this sense, the decision regarding the IAM provider and its origin is by no means trivial.

The Role of Certified European Providers in Achieving Digital Sovereignty

European identity platforms enable organizations to take control of a system as critical to compliance and security as identity. First, because they operate under EU regulations, they can:

• Provide assurances regarding the legality of an organization’s operations within the European legal framework.

• Play a critical role in ensuring business continuity.
• Facilitate (or complicate) regulatory compliance within the IAM environment in a digital ecosystem.

These advantages are amplified when the provider holds trusted security certifications. This is the case with the Common Criteria standard, which stands out for validating that a platform has passed rigorous and independent assessments of its security in a broad sense (code, architecture, cryptographic key management, and development processes).

Soffid: European Infrastructure for Digital Sovereignty

Soffid occupies a unique position in the European identity management ecosystem: developed and managed in Europe, the platform has also been adopted by EU institutions and public agencies that have already prioritized digital sovereignty and compliance guarantees, such as the Council of the European Union and the General Intervention Office of the State Administration, among others.

In addition, the platform holds ENS certifications at the HIGH level and Common Criteria EAL2 + ALC CCL, and has been recognized in reports by Gartner and KuppingerCole, which position Soffid as a key player in the European IAM sector.

Soffid is the concrete solution for organizations that need to govern access within the EU regulatory framework with verifiable guarantees.

Would you like to evaluate how Soffid can strengthen your organization’s digital sovereignty? Tell us about your environment, and we’ll show you how it works in practice.

Contact our team