Personal identification — ISO-compliant driving licence — Part 5: Mobile driving licence (mDL) application

Note

Descriptive sheet written by us: ISO/IEC 18013-5:2021 defines the mobile driving licence (mDL) interfaces between the holder's device and the reader, and between the reader and the issuing authority.

Summary

Purpose

Standard ISO/IEC 18013-5:2021 defines the interfaces of a driving licence on a mobile device (mobile driving licence, mDL): between the holder’s device and the reader, and between the reader and the issuing authority’s infrastructure. It allows a third party to obtain the data, bind them to their holder, authenticate their origin and verify their integrity § 2. Objet et champ d'application (résumé officiel ISO, traduit). It is a paid standard: the site publishes only a sheet written by us, without reproducing the text FICHE — ISO/IEC 18013-5:2021 (mDL / format et protocole « mdoc »).

For eIDAS 2, its relevance goes beyond the driving licence. It defines the “mdoc” format and a presentation protocol that the implementing acts take up for PID and attestations § 3. Parties utiles pour eIDAS 2 Annex Annex II.

Who it applies to

The standard itself imposes nothing. It is made mandatory by reference § 4. Actes eIDAS qui la citent. Annex II to Implementing Regulation 2024/2982 makes clauses 4.1, 4.2, 5 and 6 of specification ETSI TS 119 472-2 V1.2.1 applicable, with adaptations; it is clause 5 of that specification, as thus adapted, that defines the ISO/IEC-mdoc profile based on ISO/IEC 18013-5 Annex II ETSI TS 119 472-2 V1.2.1. These acts concern:

• PID providers, who encode PID in the ISO/IEC-mdoc format in accordance with the annex to Implementing Regulation 2024/2977 Annex. This format refers, through Annex II to Implementing Regulation 2024/2979, to specification ETSI TS 119 472-1, itself based on the structures of the standard Annex II ETSI TS 119 472-1 V1.2.1, § 6.1 General requirements;
• wallet providers, whose solutions support the presentation of attributes to relying parties in accordance with Annex II to Implementing Regulation 2024/2982 Art. 5(1);
• relying parties, attestation providers and wallet units, also covered by the requirements of that annex Annex II.

Key points

• An “ISO/IEC-mdoc” profile. This presentation profile is based on ISO/IEC 18013-5 for transmission without API mediation, and on Annex C of ISO/IEC 18013-7 for API-mediated transmission Annex II.
• No server retrieval. The mode of the standard in which data are retrieved from a server is not supported Annex II.
• Registration certificate in the request. The relying party’s request carries its registration certificate (euWrprc) Annex II.
• Key in the secure device. For PID in the mdoc format, the public key contained in the security object corresponds to a private key stored in the wallet secure cryptographic device (WSCD) Annex.
• A known limitation. The 2021 edition does not specify how to include transactional data in an mdoc request: additional specifications are needed Annex II.
• Attestations too. Specification ETSI TS 119 472-1 builds its “ISO/IEC-mdoc” implementation of attestations on the data structures of the standard ETSI TS 119 472-1 V1.2.1, § 6.1 General requirements.
• A revision under way. The 2nd edition is at draft stage (DIS); the 2021 edition remains the one cited § 1. Identification.

Passages of the acts that relate to it

• Annex II: ISO/IEC-mdoc profile, support, request and response requirements.
• Annex: encoding of PID in the ISO/IEC-mdoc format (section 4.1), by reference.
• These annexes were replaced by Implementing Regulation 2026/1731 Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1731; the site cites the consolidated versions that incorporate it.

Links

• Detailed sheet, with the table of the parts of the standard relevant to eIDAS 2 § 3. Parties utiles pour eIDAS 2 and the list of acts that cite it § 4. Actes eIDAS qui la citent.
• Related standards: ISO/IEC 18013-7 ISO/IEC TS 18013-7:2025 and ISO/IEC 23220 ISO/IEC 23220 (Parts 1-4, 6); TS 23220-2:2026.
• ETSI specification for attestations ETSI TS 119 472-1 V1.2.1.
• Learning path: step 3, the European wallet.

Paid standard: available for purchase from ISO or, in Belgium, from NBN § 1. Identification. Written by Asphalia.