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ISO/IEC 18013-5

ISO/IEC 18013-5 is the international standard for a mobile driving licence: it defines how a credential is stored on a phone and presented to a reader in person, including when neither device has a network connection.

The standard specifies two presentation channels, offline over Bluetooth or NFC straight to a nearby reader and online to a remote relying party, both encrypted end to end so the holder controls exactly which fields are shared and the reader can confirm the response came from the phone presenting it. A reader requesting an age check, for instance, receives only a yes-or-no answer rather than the full date of birth, because the standard's data model lets a holder disclose individual elements rather than the whole document. Although it was written for driving licences, the underlying data model generalises to any credential: the mdoc format carries the same offline/proximity model for attributes beyond a licence, such as a professional qualification or an employee badge. The offline channel matters in practice wherever connectivity cannot be assumed, a border checkpoint, a rural fuel station, or a venue with poor signal, since the credential and the reader can complete the exchange over a direct radio link with no round trip to a server. The EUDI ARF names ISO/IEC 18013-5 alongside SD-JWT VC as a format wallets must support, which is why HAIP profiles it as a credential format too, and why a wallet built for the EUDI ecosystem has to implement both presentation flows rather than choosing one. Several EU member states' mobile driving licence pilots already issue mdoc credentials conformant with this standard ahead of the wider EUDI Wallet rollout.

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Does ISO/IEC 18013-5 only apply to driving licences?

No. It was written for mobile driving licences, but its data model and presentation protocols generalise to any credential presented offline or online to a reader. The mdoc format reuses this model for attributes beyond a licence, which is why the EUDI ARF names ISO/IEC 18013-5 as a credential format wallets must support, not only as a driving licence standard.

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