The Spanish Government supports the National Electronic Identity Card with an additional €14 million investment that adds to the approx. €43 million already dedicated to the promotion of the National Electronic Identity Card.

On 13 March 2009, the Cabinet approved an agreement authorising the extension, adjustment of annuities and the change in the actions provided for in the agreement, signed on 4 June 2007, between the State Secretariat for Telecommunications and for the Information Society and the business public entity Red.es in order to support the deployment of the National Electronic Identity Card (DNI Electrónico in Spanish).

Measures of great importance are adopted through this agreement as a National Electronic Identity Card will allow citizens to interact online with businesses, Public Administrations and individuals using a secure electronic identification and signatures. That hence contributes to creating new opportunities, rendering more competitive the Spanish economy and favouring innovation in products and services related to digital identity and signature.

Those actions intend to highly increase the use of eID and encourage the development of services, applications and studies to identify obstacles and incentives for the broader use of the National Electronic Identity Card (eID).

The actions provided for in the agreement for the promotion of the National Electronic Identity Card are divided into three categories:

• maximising the use of the electronic identity card as a tool for information security in society, comprising actions for information dissemination, training and support to encourage citizens to use it.
• offering reliable services and applications thus also encouraging the use of electronic identity card.
• aiming at the project's management and the production of studies to identify barriers and incentives for the adoption of the eID card.

The official press release of the State Secretariat for Telecommunications and for the Information Society concludes that: "The National Electronic Identity Card is proving to be an opportunity to accelerate the implementation of the Information Society in Spain and to place it among the world's most advanced in the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for the benefit of all citizens." Presently, 9 million eID cards have already been distributed in Spain.

Further information:

• Full official press release - Website of Avanza2  (in Spanish)

• Website of the Spanish National Electronic Identity Card (in Spanish)