RE: Publication of the National Technical Specification for Digital Credentials and Digital Trust Services (Canada)

Hello CCG community,

Following up on last week's announcement of the publication of the National Technical Specification and the upcoming pilot testing, I am sharing details on the official call for participation that was sent out earlier today by the Standards Council of Canada (SCC):

The SCC is now actively recruiting a broad representation of stakeholders from industry, academia, government and civil society to participate in our initiative to develop standards and conformity assessment tools for digital credentials and digital trust services in Canada. This initiative is a partnership between the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) and the Government of Canada that aims to develop tools that establish trust, enable national and international interoperability, and mitigate risks of platform capture and industry fragmentation.

Now that the Technical Specification (DGSI/TS 115<https://scc.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a999e8fc1725a0cf643996a32&id=3182caaaa9&e=61ef681aee>) is published by the Digital Governance Standards Institute, SCC will begin testing that it is well-suited for its purpose by piloting a prototype conformity assessment scheme.

The Technical Specification specifies a methodology for testing and criteria to be achieved to claim a system's compliance in issuing, managing, storing, presenting or verifying machine-readable digital credentials.

To learn more and sign-up, please see the press release here:

English: https://www.scc.ca/en/news-events/news/2023/standards-council-canada-recruiting-participants-for-digital-credentials-digital-trust-services

French: https://www.scc.ca/fr/nouvelles-et-activites/nouvelles/2023/le-ccn-cherche-des-representantes-et-representants-dans-le-domaine-des-identifiants-et-des-services


Paul Jackson
(he | him / il | lui)

Director, Technology and Innovation
Office of the Chief Information Officer
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat / Government of Canada
Paul.Jackson@tbs-sct.gc.ca<mailto:Paul.Jackson@tbs-sct.gc.ca> / Tel: 613-791-7902

Directeur, Technologie et innovation
Bureau du dirigeant principal de l'information
Secrétariat du Conseil du Trésor du Canada / Gouvernement du Canada
Paul.Jackson@tbs-sct.gc.ca<mailto:Paul.Jackson@tbs-sct.gc.ca> / Tél : 613-791-7902

Do not hesitate to reply in the official language of your choice. / N'hésitez pas à répondre dans la langue officielle de votre choix.

From: Jackson, Paul
Sent: Tuesday, May 2, 2023 2:42 PM
To: public-credentials@w3.org
Subject: Publication of the National Technical Specification for Digital Credentials and Digital Trust Services (Canada)


UNCLASSIFIED / NON CLASSIFIÉ

Hello CCG community,

Earlier today the Canadian National Technical Specification for Digital Credentials and Digital Trust Services was published. Thank you to those of you that participated in the special W3C CCG Meeting on this topic in mid-January and for providing comments during the public review period held in January/February.

News release: https://dgc-cgn.org/digital-governance-standards-institute-publishes-technical-specification-for-digital-credentials-and-digital-trust-services/
National Technical Specification: https://dgc-cgn.org/standards/find-a-standard/standards-in-digital-credentials/digital-credentials/


The Standards Council of Canada will now use this National Technical Specification to pilot test the certification of product and services, with Conformance Assessment Bodies and product/service providers. There will also be an Observation Committee for other stakeholders who are interested in observing the pilot testing and to provide feedback. The pilot testing is expected to take place from June to October/November 2023 and there has already been a strong response from Conformance Assessment Bodies in a recent call to participate in the pilot testing. We will soon be doing callouts to product/service providers and for participation on the Observation Committee. This pilot testing will inform the development of a full-scale conformity assessment and accreditation program for digital credentials and digital trust services (https://www.scc.ca/en/flagship/digital-credentials). This project has the following goals:

  *   Ensuring digital credentials and digital trust services are interoperable, so they can be seamlessly used across Canada and with trading partners;
  *   Making it easier for individuals and organizations to know which digital credentials and digital trust services they can trust;
  *   Enabling individuals and organizations to use the trusted wallet of their choice across Canada and with trading partners; and
  *   Enabling innovation and fair competition in the digital credentials space.

If you are interested in participating in the pilot testing as a Conformance Assessment Body, a product/service provider or as a member of the Observation Committee, please contact: accreditation@scc.ca<mailto:accreditation@scc.ca>

Paul Jackson
(he | him / il | lui)

Director, Technology and Innovation
Office of the Chief Information Officer
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat / Government of Canada
Paul.Jackson@tbs-sct.gc.ca<mailto:Paul.Jackson@tbs-sct.gc.ca> / Tel: 613-791-7902

Directeur, Technologie et innovation
Bureau du dirigeant principal de l'information
Secrétariat du Conseil du Trésor du Canada / Gouvernement du Canada
Paul.Jackson@tbs-sct.gc.ca<mailto:Paul.Jackson@tbs-sct.gc.ca> / Tél : 613-791-7902

Do not hesitate to reply in the official language of your choice. / N'hésitez pas à répondre dans la langue officielle de votre choix.