Relying party (RP)

A relying party checks someone's digital identity, signature or certificate under eIDAS; wallet-relying parties must register to use the EUDI Wallet.

A relying party (RP) - also called a verifier or service provider - is a natural or legal person that relies on someone else's electronic identification means or trust service in order to provide services. This is eIDAS's own definition; examples include the webshop accepting a wallet presentation, the counterparty validating a qualified signature, and the bank checking a certificate. It consumes electronic identification means and trust services, while the issuer and the QTSP produce them. The same term is also used outside eIDAS, for example as "relying party" in OpenID Connect or as "verifier" in other verifiable-credential systems, where it plays the equivalent role of checking someone else's assertion.

Under eIDAS 2, a relying party that wants to request data from the EUDI Wallet is called a wallet-relying party (RP). It must first register with a national registrar, declaring the data it intends to request and the purpose for doing so; under Article 5b(3) it may then only request the data it declared at that registration, and the wallet checks this using a separate access certificate. The registration process, the two types of certificate involved and the deadlines by which wallets and relying parties must accept and support this are covered under wallet-relying party registration. Wallets themselves are expected to become available to users from the end of 2026. In the Netherlands, the Wdo separately requires public bodies (bestuursorganen) and designated entities in specific sectors to accept admitted ('toegelaten') electronic identification means, including DigiD, alongside the EUDI Wallet obligations that follow directly from eIDAS 2.