As many as 299 Moldovan citizens have electronic identity cards, four of which have the period of validity expired (according to the situation on March 14 this year). The citizens with an electronic identity card cannot concomitantly hold a classical identity card.

In a response to an inquiry made by IPN News Agency, the Public Service Agency said the issuing of electronic identity cards in the Republic of Moldova started in March 2014. A number of 450 electronic identity cards have been issued since then.

The electronic identity card with the period of validity of ten years is issued at the request of the citizen of the Republic of Moldova who is not under a legal protection measure in the form of tutelage and who lives on the territory of the Republic of Moldova.

The electronic identity card contains the holder’s personal data, the electronic signature and public key certificates. These are introduced in the electronic data storage medium. The chip of the electronic identity card contains two applications. The ICAO application enables to identify the owner of the document also in the case of ordinary travel documents, doubling this way the visual personal data. The PKI application contains public key certificates that enable to use the electronic governmental services MSign, MPass, MPay and others.

The period of validity of the public key certificates is set by the certification service provider in accordance with the legal provisions on digital signature and electronic document. When this expires, at the applicant’s request, new certificates are issued based on the set tariffs. The expiry of the period of validity of the public key certificates and/or the damaging of the electronic data storage medium do not influence the validity of the electronic document.

In the Republic of Moldova, there were put into circulation two third-generation models of electronic identity cards.

The applications for issuing an electronic identity card of the citizens of the Republic of Moldova and for issuing public key certificates are submitted in person by the applicant to any multifunctional center of the Public Service Agency.

An electronic identity card with public key certificates valid for a period of a year costs 700 lei if the document is issued in 30 calendar days and 880 lei if this is issued in 15 calendar days.