<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Estonia has created of itself the image of an e-state that is being supported with novel ICT-solutions, the perhaps most renowned of which is e-residency. However, created as a governmental start-up in the national best interest, e-residency could be of marginal relevance in light of global digital identity management. Purely national digital identity or an e-residency grants its holder several rights unknown to, or at least unapplied in a majority of the EU Member States and in the world more generally. But currently it lies on a vacillating legal pedestal which has resulted in copious administrative issues and proposed legal amendments already during its first year of implementation. Concerns, such as the administrative capacity of Estonia to handle potentially 10 million customers of national e-services, arise due to contingent legal footing. On this basis, efficiency of e-residency is critically analysed from the perspective of an autoschediastic regulatory framework presuming high-level administrative competence yet leaving the scope and limits of the functions of the public authorities legally unfurnished and isolated from the EU legal space.</p></abstract>

Estonia has created of itself the image of an e-state that is being supported with novel ICT-solutions, the perhaps most renowned of which is e-residency. However, created as a governmental start-up in the national best interest, e-residency could be of marginal relevance in light of global digital identity management. Purely national digital identity or an e-residency grants its holder several rights unknown to, or at least unapplied in a majority of the EU Member States and in the world more generally. But currently it lies on a vacillating legal pedestal which has resulted in copious administrative issues and proposed legal amendments already during its first year of implementation. Concerns, such as the administrative capacity of Estonia to handle potentially 10 million customers of national e-services, arise due to contingent legal footing. On this basis, efficiency of e-residency is critically analysed from the perspective of an autoschediastic regulatory framework presuming high-level administrative competence yet leaving the scope and limits of the functions of the public authorities legally unfurnished and isolated from the EU legal space.

Legal Impediments in the EU to New Technologies in the Example of E-Residency

Jean Monnet Professor of European Law; Director of Tallinn Law School Tallinn University of Technology, School of Law (Estonia)

Tallinn University of Technology, School of Law (Estonia)

Baltic Journal of Law & Politics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Legal Impediments in the EU to New Technologies in the Example of E-Residency"}

Estonia has created of itself the image of an e-state that is being supported with novel ICT-solutions, the perhaps most renowned of which is e-residency....

Legal Impediments in the EU to New Technologies in the Example of E-Residency

Published Online: Feb 29, 2016

Page range: 71 - 90

Received: Nov 11, 2015

Accepted: Dec 28, 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/bjlp-2015-0019

Keywords
E-residency, Digital Single Market, digital identity management, e-governance, ICT-enabled services, governmental start-up

© 2015 Tanel Kerikmäe et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Legal Impediments in the EU to New Technologies in the Example of E-Residency

Published Online: Feb 29, 2016

Page range: 71 - 90

Received: Nov 11, 2015

Accepted: Dec 28, 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/bjlp-2015-0019

KeywordsE-residency, Digital Single Market, digital identity management, e-governance, ICT-enabled services, governmental start-up

© 2015 Tanel Kerikmäe et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
E-residency, Digital Single Market, digital identity management, e-governance, ICT-enabled services, governmental start-up