Short BIO

Norberto Andrade is a Scientific Officer at the European Commission, working at the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS, Spain). His work is currently focussed on the analysis of the various legal aspects of electronic identity in the European Union.

He is also a legal researcher at the Law Department of the European University Institute (EUI, Italy).  Norberto graduated in Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon, and holds a Master’s degree in International Relations and European Studies from the Central European University (CEU, Hungary), and a Master’s degree in Research from the European University Institute. Previously he worked as a legal expert in the field of telecommunications at the External Relations Department of the Portuguese Regulatory Authority for Communications (ANACOM, Portugal).

 

CPCP Conference 2012

Hosting of the CPDP2012 panel 'eIDentity en Identity management'

 

CPDP Conference 2011 presentation

Towards a European eID regulatory framework: The Legal Gaps, Barriers and Challenges of constructing a legal framework for the protection and management of electronic identities

Electronic Identity (eID) is a key driver for the growth of the EU economy and the completion of the Single Digital Market. Despite the proliferation of identity management systems, the various political declarations and initiatives in this area, the plethora of research projects and the wide array of advanced eID technologies, the creation of an encompassing, interoperable, pan-European eID scheme has not yet been accomplished. One fundamental reason for such state-of-affairs is the inadequacy of the current EU legal framework.

In this context, the paper identifies a number of legal gaps and barriers in the EU legal framework that are arguably hindering the creation of a full-fledged pan European eID. Through such examination, the article underlines that an appropriate regulation regarding eID on a European level is lacking. Current EU law does not yet present a specific and appropriate legal framework for the management of digital identities, regulating the latter through principles, rules and concepts "borrowed" from different EU legal instruments.

After identifying the legal gaps and barriers that current EU law poses to eID, the article presents a number of legal proposals aimed at embedding electronic identity into the EU regulatory framework: the principle of user-centricity and the principle of identity portability, as well as more detailed rules on the use of pseudonymity, anonymity and multiple digital identities.

 

Online publications

1. Andrade, Norberto Nuno Gomes de. Human Genetic Manipulation and the Right to Identity: The Contradictions of Human Rights Law in Regulating the Human Genome, SCRIPT-ed, Vol. 7, No. 3, December 2010. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1726130

2. Andrade, Norberto Nuno Gomes de. Striking a Balance between Property and Personality: the Case of the Avatars, Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, Vol. 1, No. 3, 2009. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1703082

3. Andrade, Norberto Nuno Gomes de. Technology and Metaphors: From Cyberspace to Ambient Intelligence, Observatorio (OBS), Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 121-146, 2010. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1703090