The dematerialized ticket is yes, the identity document is no for the moment. A questioning of a user gave rise to a surprising exchange with the SNCF Wednesday evening. Originally, a question: does the railway company accept a dematerialized identity card available on the government application France identity as proof of identity?
Since the deployment in August 2021 of new smart ID cards, several thousand citizens have been able to test this service that allows you to load this ID on your phone, via the application provided for this purpose. The service is to be generalized to all holders of an electronic identity card in the coming months, but is still in the test phase, with a few thousand users.
This is followed by an exchange with the official TGV Inoui account, which explains to the user that "all subscribers must present their ticket and the original of a photo ID".
Insistent, the user explains to the SNCF that this dematerialized title has the same value as the original, since it is authenticated by the State. He is told that he must have his "physical ID" with him during the trip for the check.
That's when the Twitter account of the France Identity application enters the discussion, explaining to the company that it is indeed a legal way to prove its identity, supported by the law. Yes, but for TGV Inoui, it's still not enough.
But we are the official application of the ID card (and now the driver's license) đ
Our pm are open at your disposal
â France Identity (@france_identite) May 17, 2023
Two camps are therefore opposed: on the one hand the administration which defends the admissibility of the identity document it has issued, and on the other, the SNCF, for which the physical identity document must prevail.
Only physical documents accepted "to fight fraud"
Contacted by Le Parisien, the SNCF confirms Thursday afternoon that "only the physical identity documents listed in the conditions are accepted for the sakeof anti-fraud". These include identity cards, passports, and driving licences.
However, as specified in a decree of September 4, 2017, "any document containing the surname, first name(s), date and place of birth as well as a photograph" of the person may be sufficient to prove his identity if he does not have one of the officially listed documents.
For the moment, there is no question for SNCF to recognize electronic identity cards presented by users via the France Identity application. "Any evolution requires a period of work to adapt our procedures, in particular the training of our agents", justifies to the Parisian SNCF, which assures, however, that "this may be brought to evolve again with the development of new dematerialized solutions recognized by the State".
France Identity, a service to dematerialize procedures related to identity documents
The France Identity service, launched in beta version in May 2022, allows holders of a new format identity card to obtain a dematerialized version on the application, thanks to a secure identification system through a chip present in the card. It remains optional and complementary to the permits that remain physically issued to each citizen who requests it.
It is via this same application that an experiment will be launched in the RhĂ´ne, Hauts-de-Seine and Eure-et-Loir by the end of the year for the driving license, before a generalization to the whole France early 2024. According to the service's website, it is also to be extended to passports and residence permits from next year.
Read alsoWhat will be used for the new application where you will find your identity card?
France identity already allows its users to generate "single-use" credentials for administrations and companies, in particular in order to limit photocopies. The recipient of the proof can then check the validity of the document online.
Among the next planned features, there is also that of majority control: it will be possible for users to prove via the application that they are of age, without revealing their personal data to the person who carries out the control, for example in case of purchase of tobacco or alcohol. Finally, a power of attorney system must be developed so that users can allow a third party to recover a package.