The Industrial Upside of EBW

What started pretty much as an effort to get identification credentials issued to citizens (needed in countries without ID-services by banks) is now - thanks to mandatory general-purposes EBWs for public sector units (who can be against fast action here?) -  moving to the opportunity identity building organisation wallets bring to industry and global trade. Where the macro-economic growth is coming from.

Deep and eloquent insight by Carsten Stöcker: 

It shows how a harmonised, verifiable legal-entity identity enables secure B2B and B2G interactions, automated compliance, interoperability across data spaces, and trusted supply-chain operations, strengthen cyber-security, and unlock large-scale efficiency gains across all sectors.

The EBW extends the eIDAS 2.0 framework to organisations, introduces a unified European Unique Identifier (EUID) for all entities, and integrates secure communication (QERDS), mandate management, and qualified signatures/seals.

It supports Digital Product Passports (DPPs), Industry 4.0, Data Spaces, and Trusted Industrial AI. The EBW is being validated and shaped in the WE BUILD Large-Scale Pilot, where Spherity and Bundesanzeiger Verlag are among the strongest contributors.

Regulatory and Identity Foundations

• New EU Regulation extending eIDAS 2.0 to organisations ensures a uniform, cross-border legal-entity identity layer for all Member States.
• Use of the European Unique Identifier (EUID) as the mandatory legal-entity identifier avoids new costs and enables Single Market scale.
• Public authorities must accept the EBW; adoption remains voluntary for private sector companies.
• EWB consists of issuer, holder, and verifier features (Relying Party Service).

Core Digital Capabilities

• Full support for identification, authentication, qualified signatures and seals, storage of verified credentials, and trusted digital interactions.
• Cloud based (or on-premise), multi trust domain solution for microenterprises, sole traders, self-employed, SMEs, corporates, partnerships and Public Sector Bodies.
• Qualified Electronic Registered Delivery Service (QERDS, formerly eDelivery in eIDAS 1.0) becomes the standard secure communication channel for B2B/B2G exchanges, backed by strong legal effect.
• The overall credential used to establish the identity of a legal person is the “European Business Wallet owner identification data” based on the EUID.
• Wallet Unit Attestation describes the components of the European Business Wallet unit or allows for their authentication and validation. EBW providers are required to generate and sign this attestation for each European Business Wallet unit.

Multi-user, Mandates, Delegation, and Multi-User Access

• Allows the creation of multiple user accounts — including employee, director, system, machine, and agent identities — under the legal entity.
• The EBW includes a full mandate-management system, aligned with the EU digital Power of Attorney (PoA).
• Access control supports human and system actors, using roles, verified attributes, PoA scope, sectoral policies, and relying-party certificates for automated processes.
• Built-in auditability, revocation, conflict-checking and real-time validation of mandates.

Simplification, Automation, and Cross-Border Scale

• Expected €150 billion annual savings from reduced friction, streamlined compliance and “document-free” Single Market interactions.
• Automated KYB, supplier onboarding, customs/VAT checks, licence retrieval, and reporting under the Once-Only Principle.

EBW in Digital Product Passports and Industry 4.0

• The EBW provides the verifiable identity and credential layer for Digital Product Passports (DPPs).
• It signs conformity declarations, secures sustainability and traceability data, and reduces supplier fraud.
• Supports future integration with owners’ assets, agentic systems, and machine identities.

Data Spaces and Advanced Digital Infrastructure

• Stable, cross-domain legal-entity identity solves fragmentation for data-sharing ecosystems.
• Policy-driven access via licences, permits, certificates and roles.
• Interoperability across mobility, energy, manufacturing, chemicals, and public services.

Security and Zero-Trust

• Every interaction uses cryptographic validation, qualified trust services, and end-to-end encrypted QERDS.
• Strong protection against forged companies, fake documents, and cross-border fraud.

Trusted Industrial AI

• The EBW becomes the foundation for Trusted Industrial AI by providing verifiable identity, delegation, provenance and auditability for AI systems and agentic automation.

WE BUILD Large-Scale Pilot

• 180+ organisations in 26+ countries test 13 EBW use cases across KYB, banking, data spaces, supply chains, and mandate management."