France to let citizens generate digital ID by scanning physical eID card with NFC smartphone

French citizens will soon be able to generate and store certified digital identification documents in a mobile app by scanning their physical Carte Nationale d’Identité Électronique (CNIE) eID card with their NFC smartphone.

The Digital Identify Guarantee Service (SGIN) application will make it possible to use the civil status data of the card digitally to prove one’s identity in the digital world, and to have access to dedicated uses, including in the physical world, the French government’s interdepartmental digital identity programme says.

The launch of the SGIN digital ID service was officially announced in a decree authorised by the French President Emmanuel Macron last week.