The citizen’s card as a citizenship document

The citizen’s card will be the new identity card for Portuguese citizens. It will be multifunctional, practical and secure.

As an identity document it will make it possible to:  a) Visually identify its holder in person; b) Virtually Identify its holder and authenticate his/her intervention in electronic acts.

Its multifunctionality will enable its holder to interact with different public and private services, irrespective of the place he/she is in and the means of communication he/she uses.

It will also be a practical document that combines and replaces the existing taxpayer card, National Health Service user’s card, Social Security card and voter’s card.

As a secure document it will employ:

a) physical security measures that make it difficult to usurp the holder’s identity;

b) electronic security measures that make it impossible to breach the holder’s privacy, by preventing access to any of his/her personal data without his/her express consent.

The citizen’s card as a modernising project

The citizen’s card project forms part of the Public Administration modernisation policy, set out in the XVII Constitutional Government’s Political Programme. Given its multiple goals – simplifying, combining various cards in one, security, and dematerialisation – it is one of the main catalysts for the modernisation strategy. 

The following strategic modernisation objectives are associated with the card:

• Make identifying people more secure;
• Bring the civil system for identifying Portuguese citizens into line with European Union requirements;
• Make people’s lives easier by physically combining various cards;
• Foster the use of electronic services, using digital authentication and signature mechanisms;
• Improve the way in which public services are provided, by aligning organisational and technological modernisation processes;
• Rationalise resources, means and costs for the State, citizens and businesses;
• Foster Portugal’s competitivity, by reengineering and simplifying processes and procedures.

The Citizen’s Card as a technological project The Citizen’s Card is an integral part of the scientific and technological development project laid out in the XVII Constitutional Government’s Political Programme. It is one of the main drivers behind the implementation of the “electronic government” principles:

• Improve the accessibility of public services, by reducing barriers and diversifying means of access and making them cheaper;
• Integrate services, by providing means and resources that promote: the sharing of data and information; the integration of applications; interoperability between systems; and cooperation between different bodies;
• Simplify administrative processes and procedures, by adapting them to the demands of the latest technologies, such as the need for effectiveness and speed;
• Fulfil people’s needs, by supplying them with information in an understandable and useful way and doing away with bureaucratic barriers and obstacles to the provision of high quality public services;
• Manage databases prudently, while ensuring their reliability and security, with respect for citizens’ rights, freedoms and guarantees.

The Citizen’s Card as a guarantee of the holder’s rights in the digital world

The Citizen’s Card project seeks to guarantee citizens’ rights concerning the collection, storage and computerised treatment of information about personal data, particularly when it comes to the development of e-commerce and e-transactions.

• The Citizen’s Card will not contain any data about its holder’s tax, health or social security situation. As is the case at present, information about the holder will be kept separately at each of the bodies that are involved in the project.
• The electronic component of the Card will not make it possible to reconstruct any facet of the holder’s life.
• The Card will guarantee its holder’s privacy, by not permitting access to any of his/her personal data without his/her express consent.