March the 29th, 2024 – The Croatian digital passport is here, making the Republic of Croatia among the first nations in the world to get them.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, quicker and more border crossing processes, the possibility to announce your arrival at a given destination and maximum security and reliability are just some of the advantages of using a digital travel credential (DTC). This project is currently being tested in both Croatia and Finland.
The ultimate goal of the pilot project is to facilitate travel and improve passenger safety through the latest technological solutions, and in addition to the Finnish-Croatian project partnership, another international pilot project between the Netherlands and Canada is currently being implemented, according to N1.
the croatian digital passport is among the first in the world
On the Croatian side, this pilot is carried out by AKD, which established a system for the creation and use of DTC, and the Ministry of the Interior (MUP), which established a system and installed the necessary equipment for conducting DTC control at Zagreb’s Dr. Franjo Tuđman International Airport. That has been done for outgoing flights to and from countries outside the Schengen zone.
Croatian citizens were thus among the first in the world to get to test out this new digital travel credential, developed on the basis of the specification of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). Given that it is based on a so-called hybrid concept that combines a travel credential in digital form, as well as a physical component associated with it, the Croatian digital passport guarantees the highest possible level of security.
What can be done with a croatian digital passport?
DTC is a digital version of a physical passport on a smartphone that allows people to announce their arrival at a certain destination in advance and thus significantly reduces the waiting times at borders. It also enables faster and simpler border crossing procedures.
MUP and AKD are currently inviting citizens to download the Certilia mobile app, download their mobile identity, add a valid passport or eOI to their Croatian wallet and become part of this interesting project. By March the 15th, 2024, more than 14,000 travel documents had been added to the Certilia mobile wallet, and testers and participants sent over 600 travel announcements to third countries from Certilia to Croatian border control.
As a reminder, AKD and MUP are participating in the implementation of the DTC project with their partners. These are the Finnish Border Guard, Finnair, the Finnish Immigration Service, the Finnish Police and Finnavia. The project is worth a massive 2.3 million euros and is being financed by the Directorate General for Migration and Internal Affairs of the European Commission (EC).
The total budget for the implementation of the DTC pilot project in Croatia amounts to 1.1 million euros, of which 95 percent (1.04 million euros) has been financed by EU funds, and the rest by Croatia’s own funds. This pilot project is thus another in a series of successful Croatian solutions in the field of a single digital market, internet security, digital science and innovation, and a global interoperable travel document solution based on ICAO standards.
