AKD and the Ministry of the Interior, together with project partners the Finnish Border Guard, Finnair, the Finnish Immigration Service, the Finnish Police, and Finnavia, are participating in the one-year pilot project Digital Travel Credentials (DTC). In addition to the Finnish-Croatian pilot project, another one is being implemented between the Netherlands and Canada. The results and experiences gained will support the digital identity policy package of the European Commission.

The pilot project implemented by Finland and Croatia is financed by the Directorate General for Migration and Internal Affairs of the European Commission in the amount of 2.3 million euros. The ultimate goal is to facilitate travel and improve passenger safety through the latest technology.

AKD and MUP experts developed system components for creating and storing a digital travel credential, including the functionality of submitting a request for creating and storing DTC in the Certilia mobile wallet, and they also implemented integration with the border control system.

Croatian citizens will be among the first in the European Union to be able to test a digital travel credential. The digital travel credential allows citizens to announce their arrival in the country of destination in advance, which will significantly reduce the time spent at border crossings. For travel to visa-restricted countries, DTC will enable eVISA enrollment, which will also simplify checks and procedures.

Activating the digital passport service is simple. Citizens need to add the Digital Travel Credential (DTC) to the existing Certilia application, which can be downloaded online or installed with student support at any police department or station that performs administrative tasks. It is necessary to have an electronic identity card registered in the Certilia mobile application in order to activate the digital passport.

To ensure that the integrity and authenticity can be verified at the same level of security as an electronic passport, the DTC approach is based on a 'hybrid' concept, in which the travel credential in digital format will consist of a virtual component containing a digital representation of the bearer's identity and one physical component that is securely connected to the virtual component.

With the implementation of this pilot project, we are once again elevating Croatia in the fields of a single digital market, internet security, digital science and innovation, and a global interoperable travel document solution based on ICAO standards.

About AKD

AKD is a company of special interest to the Republic of Croatia that develops modern IT solutions in the field of identity and security and provides services to the banking sector and the fintech industry. The company is on the list of trusted service providers of the European Commission and is one of the most regulated companies in the EU. With the national project of a new identity card and ID mobile application, it enabled citizens to legally sign electronically via mobile phones and tablets, and it also developed a solution for electronic identity and trust services called Certilia, which stands out for its quality and technology and is also unique in the EU.