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PID

PID, Person Identification Data, is the government-issued identity credential at the core of every EUDI Wallet: the set of attributes, such as name, date of birth and a unique identifier, that a member state issues to a citizen as the anchor for everything else in the wallet.

PID is issued by a PID Provider designated by a member state, after an identity check at the highest level of assurance that state offers, which is why other parties can build on it: an attestation about a diploma or a professional registration means little unless the person presenting it is the person it was issued to, and PID is what establishes that. The ARF Annex 3.01 fixes the minimum attribute set: family name, given name, birth date, and a unique and persistent identifier assigned by the issuing member state, with nationality and other attributes optional depending on the national scheme. In use it is presented selectively like any other credential: a verifier asking only whether the holder is over 18 receives that answer and not the date of birth behind it. The ARF specifies PID in both the SD-JWT VC and the ISO mdoc format, so a wallet can present it to readers built for either. Because PID sits at the root of trust for the whole wallet, most member states expect a citizen to hold one valid PID at a time, reissued when it expires or the underlying registry data changes, and revoked through the same status list mechanism used for other attestations. Many other credentials the wallet can hold, such as a qualified electronic attestation of attributes about a professional qualification, are only issued once the requesting party has confirmed the applicant's PID, so a weak or forged PID would undermine every attestation built on top of it. That is why PID issuance stays with a small number of designated providers rather than the open registration model relying parties use.

Can a citizen hold more than one PID at the same time?

Not normally. Because every other credential in the wallet, from a driving licence to a professional attestation, can rely on PID as proof the wallet belongs to a specific person, member states expect one valid PID per citizen. It is reissued when it expires or when the underlying registry data changes, and old copies are revoked so only the current one remains usable.

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