Electronic driving licences will be introduced in Austria in spring 2021, reports the online edition of the Austrian daily Der Standard. Through an application, driving licences issued in physical form may be saved to mobile phones and used also in an electronic form. Electronic driving licences can already be used in Norway and South-Korea as the e-versions of the driving licences protected against copying and counterfeiting.
In autumn 2020, the European Union also examined the possibility of introducing electronic driving licences. The transport ministers of the Member States agreed that digital driving licences are needed as the future will be paper-free. The next step may be the digitalisation of passports and other personal documents. Also, in Hungary, according to the information provided by the Ministry of Interior, using the electronic signature that has been available free of charge since 13 February 2020 for those who have an e-identity card, contracts with a value up to 50 million forints can be signed with a certified signature.
The Hungarian Office for Translation and Attestation (OFFI) is also adapting to providing e-certified translations of digital or digitalised civil registration documents. In the collection of studies entitled Certified Translation as a Public Duty published by OFFI, the project development adviser to OFFI’s CEO shared his forward-looking thoughts in the essay “E-Administration and E-Certified translation in the 21st Century”. OFFI Ltd developed electronically certified translation, its first digital, paper-free product in November 2017. Its aim is to facilitate matters that can or must be administered electronically. Customers may order the necessary documents from far away without visiting our offices and then submit electronically the e-certified translation to the authority or court acting in their matter.
OFFI Ltd developed its electronic products at its own initiative, adapting to Act CCXXII of 2015 on the General Rules of Electronic Administration and Trust Services (the E-administration Act). These products are accepted by organisations providing electronic administration.
OFFI’s digitalisation strategy focusses on continuously adapting to e-administration. E-technical translations are produced for authorities and certain ministries. They are provided with an electronic company seal that guarantees that the translation has been prepared by OFFI Ltd and the text of the translation has not changed since it was signed, complying with the criterion of integrity.
Electronically certified translations are paper-free certified translations in an entirely electronic format. E-certified translations can be ordered when a customer has an electronically certified document, which they either send to us electronically or – similarly to the practice of the courts’ handling electronic submissions – hand over to us in person on a data carrier. When the origin of the document has been checked and the verification has been recorded, the document enters OFFI’s workflow. At the end of the process, the customer receives a collection file signed and certified by an organisational stamp that includes the document submitted and its certified translation, complying with the security requirements specified by law.
Several elements guarantee the security of e-translation: the certification of the translation informs us that it was made by an organisation authorised by law to prepare certified translations and the content of the file has not changed since it was signed. The certification of the dossier guarantees that the original file and its translation in the dossier belong together, thus excluding the possibility of attaching the translation to another document. The procedure does not affect the authenticity of the file containing the text to be translated as that depends on the original signature and its certification.
As for now, the electronic driving licence mentioned in the article of Der Standard still exists simultaneously with the physically issued paper document, so, if needed, a certified translation of the physical copy can be provided. However, the future seems to be for paper-free solutions.
(Source of the picture: e-szemelyi.hu )
