EU - CEF - Hosted Virtual Identity Provider for the Austrian eID system

In regard to the eIDAS interoperability architecture, Austria is a middleware country. This means a Pan-European Proxy Service (PEPS) is not provided as a central service by Austria. Instead, service providers have to install and deploy for their services a so-called Virtual Identity Provider (VIDP), a middleware being able to provide authentication means for Austrian citizens using their national eID, either as citizen card or mobile phone signature. This MW approach thus requires additional effort and costs at service providers. Even though this decentralized approach is somewhat “absorbed” by installing a centrally hosted VIDP at the S-PEPS of each Member State, during the STORK project and the eIDAS expert group discussions several Member States raised concerns, in particular regarding: 1) Interoperability 2) Security 3) Liability 4) Cost and complexity