Yes, small businesses can integrate the EUDI Wallet into their services. There is no rule that limits EUDI Wallet integration to large corporations or public institutions. The European Digital Identity framework, established by Regulation (EU) 2024/1183 amending Regulation (EU) 910/2014, is designed to be open to both public and private sector organisations of any size. The sections below walk through the most practical questions small businesses are asking right now.
Do small businesses have to accept the EUDI Wallet?
Small businesses are not automatically required to accept the EUDI Wallet. Under eIDAS 2.0, two separate acceptance obligations apply at different points in time, and they cover different types of organisations.
From 24 December 2026, public sector bodies must accept notified wallets for online services that require electronic identification. From 24 December 2027, Article 5f of eIDAS 2.0 introduces an acceptance obligation for certain regulated private sector entities where strong user authentication is legally or contractually required. The sectors covered include banking and financial services, healthcare, telecoms, energy, transport, education, social security, drinking water, postal services, digital infrastructure, and digital services. Very large online platforms fall under a separate provision of Article 5f, where the obligation applies when the platform requires user authentication, on the voluntary request of the user and for the minimum necessary data.
Importantly, micro and small enterprises are exempt from the private sector obligation under Article 5f. The exemption applies to organisations with fewer than 50 employees and an annual turnover or balance sheet total of no more than 10 million euros. Most small businesses will therefore fall outside the mandatory scope entirely.
For businesses that are not subject to a mandatory obligation, EUDI Wallet acceptance is voluntary. The more relevant question is whether doing so would benefit your customers and simplify your processes. As wallet adoption develops across Europe, with Member States legally required to make wallets available to citizens by 24 December 2026, offering wallet-based verification could become a genuine competitive advantage. National rollout and practical interoperability will develop in phases, and the practical market rollout will reflect that progression.
What can small businesses actually use the EUDI Wallet for?
Small businesses can use the EUDI Wallet for any process that currently requires customers to prove who they are or share specific personal information. The wallet allows users to share verified data selectively through selective disclosure, meaning a customer can prove their age, nationality, or professional qualification without sharing their full identity document.
Here are some practical use cases that are relevant for small businesses:
- Age verification for products or services with legal age restrictions, using selective disclosure of an attribute such as “over 18” without revealing the customer’s date of birth
- Customer onboarding where identity confirmation is needed to open an account or start a service
- Professional credential checks, for example, verifying that a client or contractor holds a specific qualification, noting that recognition of professional qualifications remains governed by Directive 2005/36/EC
- Reducing paperwork by accepting digitally verified attestations instead of physical copies
- Cross-border services where verifying the identity of customers from other EU Member States would otherwise be complex. The EUDI Wallet framework is designed so that a certified wallet from one Member State can be used with a registered relying party in another, though national registration requirements and sector-specific legislation continue to apply
The key benefit for small businesses is that the wallet delivers pre-verified, tamper-evident attestations. When a relying party receives a presentation, it can verify the issuer’s signature against the relevant national trusted list, check the revocation status using the issuer’s status information, and validate the wallet unit attestation to confirm that the presenting wallet runs on a certified wallet solution. This reduces the effort needed to validate what customers tell you and lowers the risk of fraud in situations where identity matters.
How does EUDI Wallet integration technically work for a small business?
EUDI Wallet integration works by connecting your service to the wallet ecosystem through standardised protocols that allow you to request and receive verified attestations from a user’s wallet. You do not need to build this from scratch. The underlying architecture is based on open standards, including OID4VP for presentation and OID4VCI for issuance, and the EU has made reference implementations publicly available through the Architecture and Reference Framework (ARF).
In practical terms, the process for a small business looks like this:
- Define what data you need. Decide which attributes you want to request from the wallet, such as age confirmation, name, or a professional credential.
- Register as a relying party. Under CIR (EU) 2025/848, adopted on 6 May 2025, your organisation must register with the national authority of the Member State where you are established before you can request wallet data. Registration is per intended use: you specify which attributes and attestations you will request, and the wallet checks incoming requests against that registered scope.
- Implement the request flow. Using available SDKs or APIs, you integrate a wallet request into your website, app, or onboarding process. The user receives a request on their wallet, reviews what is being asked, and approves the share. Each approval is a separate decision by the user.
- Process the verified attestation. Once the user approves, your system receives the verified attestation and can act on it. Note that as a relying party you must have your own legal basis under the GDPR for processing the data you receive. For identity verification in regulated contexts, that basis is typically a legal obligation rather than consent.
A relying party does not choose a wallet provider. Your organisation must be able to accept every relevant notified wallet, regardless of which Member State issued it or which provider operates it. A supplier that processes wallet data on your behalf does not become the relying party as a result. The registration obligation rests with the organisation that delivers the service to the end user.
You do not need to become a technical expert in digital identity standards to make this work. The ID Connector is an integration that lets relying parties accept every certified European wallet, whatever Member State issued it, for identification, login and qualified signing. EUDI Wallet acceptance comes first; the same interface also carries other IDs, such as national eIDs, bank IDs and identity documents, inside and outside the EU.
What does EUDI Wallet integration cost for a small business?
The cost of EUDI Wallet integration for a small business depends on how you approach it. Building a custom integration from the ground up requires development resources familiar with verifiable credentials, the eIDAS 2.0 trust framework, and the registration process under CIR (EU) 2025/848. Using an existing platform or service provider typically results in lower and more predictable costs.
There is no single price for EUDI Wallet integration, but the main cost categories to consider are:
- Development or platform fees for connecting your service to the wallet ecosystem
- Relying party registration, which involves administrative steps that vary depending on your country and sector, as registration is handled through national frameworks under CIR (EU) 2025/848
- Ongoing transaction or verification costs if you use a managed service that charges per verification
- Internal time and effort for scoping requirements, testing, and training staff
For many small businesses, the most cost-effective route is to work with a provider that already has the wallet infrastructure in place. This avoids the need to build and maintain complex technical components internally. The investment is often comparable to other identity verification tools already in use, and the long-term savings from reduced manual checks and faster onboarding can offset the initial effort.
When should a small business start preparing for the EUDI Wallet?
Small businesses should start preparing now, even though the national rollout of EUDI Wallets across Europe is still developing. Member States are legally required to make wallets available to citizens and residents by 24 December 2026. That is a legal deadline, not a predicted launch date, and it does not mean that every national wallet will reach the same level of maturity on that date, or that every cross-border use case will be fully operational throughout Europe from that moment. Certification, notification, and operational interoperability will continue to develop in phases.
Large-scale pilots tested real-world functionality across multiple sectors between April 2023 and 2025. The EWC consortium covered Digital Travel Credentials, payments, and organisational digital identity. POTENTIAL covered government services, bank account opening, SIM registration, mobile driving licences, remote qualified signing, and e-prescriptions. NOBID focused on payments. DC4EU covered education and social security. A second wave of pilots started in 2025, with WE BUILD addressing business wallets and payments, and APTITUDE covering travel, ticketing, vehicle registration, and payments. The infrastructure is moving from pilot toward production.
Businesses that understand the basics now, map out where wallet-based verification could fit their processes, and begin conversations with implementation partners will be in a much stronger position as their customers start expecting wallet support as a standard option.
The practical starting point is a strategic review: which of your current identity or document processes are friction-heavy, which carry compliance risk, and which could be simplified if customers could share verified attestations directly from their wallet. From that review, a phased approach becomes much easier to plan.
How TrustTech helps small businesses with EUDI Wallet integration
TrustTech makes EUDI Wallet integration accessible for organisations that do not have a dedicated digital identity team. The ID Connector is an integration that lets relying parties accept every certified European wallet, whatever Member State issued it, for identification, login and qualified signing. EUDI Wallet acceptance comes first; the same interface also carries other IDs, such as national eIDs, bank IDs and identity documents, inside and outside the EU.
Here is what the ID Connector delivers for small businesses:
- Wallet acceptance built on eIDAS 2.0 standards, so you do not need to build from scratch or manage the underlying protocol complexity
- Verification against national trusted lists, combined in the EU List of Trusted Lists, so that issuer signatures are checked automatically
- Revocation status checks and wallet unit attestation validation, so that each presentation is assessed against all three relevant verification steps
- Scope management aligned with your registered intended use under CIR (EU) 2025/848, so that attribute requests stay within the boundaries you registered
- Reusable identity flows that allow your customers to share verified attestations across interactions without repeated manual steps
- Support for regulated sectors, including financial services and healthcare, where compliance requirements are more demanding
Get in touch with TrustTech to discuss what EUDI Wallet integration could look like for your organisation.