m.Uslugi to be launched end of October — will plastic ID cards and licences become history?
Ministry says rollout will be gradual as institutions adapt; app could later store diplomas and certificates.
The Government's Ministry of Digital Transformation will present the mobile platform m.Uslugi at the end of October, offering citizens the option to store a digital version of their ID card and driver's licence on their phones, Minister Stefan Andonovski said.
Ministry expects gradual acceptance by public institutions
Andonovski told the television programme "360 Stepeni" on MRT 1 that the rollout will be gradual because some institutions — notably the Ministry of Interior — need time to adapt their technology and procedures before they can accept digital documents.
“I am aware that this process will take time. But our task as the Ministry of Digital Transformation is to open these topics, to push them forward, and citizens by using [the service] will direct all institutions to accept them,” Andonovski said. He added that the Ministry does not expect the Ministry of Interior to recognise digital IDs and driving licences immediately on day one, because “they need to be technologically ready to be able to accept them.”
To illustrate how adoption can begin outside the state sector, Andonovski cited a Polish example where the application was used for two years primarily by private businesses — nightclubs, alcohol vendors and even as part of driving licence applications — before public authorities began to accept it.
The minister said several thousand citizens tried a demo version of m.Uslugi and that roughly 200 suggestions or issues were reported during the testing phase. Those findings, he said, and agreements with the Ministry of Interior on the protocol for exchanging and storing personal data delayed the final launch but were necessary.
Andonovski also described the project as a “super-application” intended to host more than identity documents: “The idea is not only the ID card and driver's licence, the idea is that tomorrow we can also have diplomas and certificates, extracts that are used more often, attached in electronic form in the application so you can present them when needed,” he said.
Photo: press material from the event
