Bhutan Adds NDI-Based Digital Consent to Land Transactions

Bhutan’s National Land Commission Secretariat has launched a digital consent management module for land transactions, built on the country’s National Digital Identity platform so that parties can verify their identity and provide secure online consent before a transaction proceeds. The system requires consent from all relevant parties before any land transaction can move forward, replacing a paper-based process in which forged signatures and unauthorized transactions were possible.

The module integrates with Bhutan NDI, the national digital identity system, to confirm who is granting consent. When a land transaction is initiated, the parties are asked to verify their identity through NDI and approve the transaction online, giving a property owner assurance that a deal involving their land cannot proceed without their explicit, identity-verified agreement. The design targets a specific vulnerability in the previous workflow, where a signature on paper could be forged and a transaction pushed through without the owner’s knowledge.

“With this new consent management model, the system is expected to significantly reduce fraud cases,” said Tshering Zam, deputy chief land registrar at the National Land Commission Secretariat, framing the digital consent step as the safeguard against unauthorized transfers. For people who do not have NDI access, staff at local land record offices can assist with providing consent, keeping the process available to residents who are not enrolled in the digital identity system.

The land-consent module is the latest application built on Bhutan’s digital identity, which the country has positioned as a foundation for citizen-facing services. Bhutan NDI is a self-sovereign identity system that lets holders control their own data and present verifiable credentials, and the government has been integrating the NDI wallet with other systems such as the passport service for electronic know-your-customer applications. The system has also been the subject of infrastructure changes at the ledger level as the country scales it.

The consent system will run as a three-month pilot in Thimphu, Paro, and Phuentshogling before a nationwide rollout. The secretariat introduced the module alongside DrukRef23, a satellite-based surveying upgrade that accounts for two decades of tectonic movement to produce more accurate geospatial data than the system it replaces.

Sources: Bhutan Broadcasting Service

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By the ID Tech Editorial Team