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| The French Ministry for the Economy, Finance and
Industry is steering the purchasing card project
for the French civil service. |
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Sésame Vitale |
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| The development of public terminals... |
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F. Béraud |
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| ...and procurement cards for
municipalities are just two of the tools aimed at cutting costs
in the State sector. |
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A new generation of cards - CNIE (Carte nationale d'Identité
Electronique : eID card), Carte Vitale 2 (social security
& health card), CVQ (cards issued by municipal services), purchasing
cards, - currently being standardised - contribute to modernising
relations between the French public and their State-run services (central
government, municipalities, hospitals, EPIC-business services, etc.).
Such cards do away with paper operations and transactions, and make
it possible to carry out administrative procedures remotely via a
computer (connected to a card reader) or interactive terminal. The
advantages include time savings, improved service quality and, above
all, a significant reduction in costs.
All these administrative cards will operate in a manner similar to
that of the CB bankcard and its three fundamental principles: identification,
authentication and transaction. They will eventually include contactless
technology and will benefit from the IAS (Identification / Authentication
/ eSignature) platform. This Europe-wide project is being steered
in France by the ADAE (Agence pour le développement de l'administration
électronique : Agency for the Development of eAdministration)
jointly with the German civil service. The aim is to define the specifications
for this IAS platform with a view to developing a common standard
for all cards.
"This standard will enable interoperability when accessing all
remote national or local, State or administrative services",
explained Jacques Sauret, Director of ADAE. "We are keeping the
European Commission and Member States informed of our work and we
have agreed with our German partners to release the card standards
as soon as they are finalised to any other interested countries (United
Kingdom, Italy, Belgium, etc.), as well as to the European and international
standardisation bodies. An approval process for the cards and readers
is also currently being drawn up. With its expertise and ISO 17025
certification for card and terminal approvals, Cartes Bancaires could,
of course, be one of the entities authorised for issuing this type
approval to manufacturers."
With the development of remote services, the CB bankcard will undoubtedly
play an even greater role. "The French Ministry for the Economy,
Finance and Industry views positively its use for remote payments
in the public sector," pointed out Jacques Sauret. "Within
this context, we have defined the terms for an inter-sectorial security
policy that the banking sector has just adopted."
Another advance in the area of security: the CNIE (eID card) issued
by the French Ministry for the Interior. "This card will provide
remote access to all government services via a future Internet portal,
"www.monservicepublic.com",
that will be used, among other services, for filing tax declarations,
accessing personal tax accounts, applying for state housing, or ordering
a birth certificate", explained Jacques Sauret.
The first eID cards and the Carte Vitale 2 social services cards will
be issued in November 2006. |
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