SpearIT has served as lead technical and compliance architect for GReID, Greece's first national electronic identification (eID) scheme, from eID architecture to EU-wide notification.
The engagement covered the technical foundation of the eID means, the end-to-end authentication architecture, the identity proofing mechanism and the overarching governance framework.
SpearIT also steered the scheme through every stage of the eIDAS notification process: preparing the pre-notification, producing the technical and legal evidence for the peer review and providing coordination to the peer review group and to the Greek authorities throughout it, carrying the scheme through to final notification.
GReID is Greece's mobile-native, hardware-bound national eID, delivered through the GOV.GR Wallet app and notified at Levels of Assurance Substantial and High under the eIDAS Regulation.
SpearIT was engaged by the Ministry of Digital Governance and Artificial Intelligence to architect a national eID scheme from the ground up, requiring institutional and technical design, functional, security and interoperability testing, as well as undergoing peer review and achieving EU-wide notification within 2026, in a highly fragmented and complex national landscape with multiple stakeholders.
The engagement covered several parallel workstreams:
GReID supports all three Levels of Assurance (LoA) foreseen by the eIDAS Regulation, namely LoA Low, Substantial, and High. All eID means are issued by the Hellenic Public Administration Root Certification Authority (HPARCA/APED).
With regard to the characteristics of the eID means:
On November 4, 2026, GReID was notified at the cross-border level at LoA Substantial and High, while LoA Low is only operated at the national level.
Relying parties are required to classify their provided services across the 3 LoAs, while citizens can obtain only one instance of an eID in total, at one of the 3 available LoAs. The core principle is that a higher LoA satisfies any lower LoA.
All Greek citizens aged 12 years or older who hold a valid Greek ID card or Greek passport and Personal Number can apply for GReID. The new, NFC-based Greek ID card and Greek passport are leveraged for the identity proofing process required in order to issue GReID.
Depending on the chosen LoA, identity proofing can be performed completely remotely and automatically or through physical presence, by booking an appointment at one of the 1000+ Citizen Service Centers (CSC/KEP) across the Greek territory.
The eID means employ asymmetric, hardware-backed cryptography and require a modern smartphone with the GOV.GR Wallet app installed.
The result is a modern, non-shareable credential enabling secure authentication to online services and, especially at LoA High, enables obtaining a qualified electronic signature (QES) certificate for legally binding signatures for electronic document signing.
GReID is now included among the notified eID schemes in the EU, which currently total 26 out of 27, and is expected to launch publicly in early 2027.
GReID is intended to replace the legacy, knowledge-based TAXISnet credentials with a cryptographic, multifactor authentication-protected credential bound to the citizen's smartphone.
This gives Greek citizens a significantly more secure and modern method to access public online services.
Additionally, GReID allows Greek citizens to access public services in every other Member State (e.g. enrolling at a foreign university, registering a residence, filing with a foreign tax authority) using their Greek national eID, with no foreign registration step and no parallel credential. Conversely, the reverse also applies, allowing citizens of other Member States to access Greek public services using their own national eID means, recognised in Greece on the strength of their home country's notification.
An eID scheme notified at LoA Substantial or High is one of the few pieces of public digital infrastructure that other Member States are legally obliged to recognise. It is also the foundation on which the European Digital Identity Wallet (EUDIW) is built, providing the path to issuing the person identification data (PID) and onboarding the citizen to the EUDIW.
Moreover, the Greek eID in conjunction with the Once-Only Technical System (OOTS) and the Single Digital Gateway (SDG) Regulation eliminates the need for physical paperwork and repetitive data submission for citizens across the EU, lowering friction in online administrative procedures.
