By Dr. Nizar Ben Neji, ICT Expert and Strategist & Former Minister of Communication Technologies of Tunisia (2021-2024)
Tunisia introduced E-Houwiya on August 2, 2022, to deploy a state-recognized nationwide digital identity system, legally equivalent to face-to-face identification and compliant with international standards in the field.
As a key architect of Tunisia’s digital transformation, I had the privilege of leading the design and implementation of E-Houwiya, Tunisia’s national digital identity system. During my tenure as Minister of Communication Technologies, I worked closely with key stakeholders to establish E-Houwiya as a cornerstone of Tunisia’s 2025 digital strategy.
E-Houwiya is now open to the banking sector, marking a significant milestone in Tunisia’s journey toward financial inclusion. By integrating with digital banking and fintech services, E-Houwiya enables unbanked populations to securely access bank accounts, mobile payments, and financial services, fostering broader participation in the digital economy. This initiative not only strengthens security and compliance with KYC (Know Your Customer) regulations, published on February 28, 2025 by the Central Bank of Tunisia, but also streamlines remote onboarding, ensuring greater accessibility to financial services for all citizens, particularly those in underserved areas.
As of March 2025, the total number of mobile-id subscribers in Tunisia reached 200,000 citizens, including over 15,000 of Tunisians living abroad. The E-Houwiya ID was designed to be a simple, fast, and secure way of proving online the claimed identity, and it is mainly integrated in the digital procedures to:
- Easily onboard citizens: easily create and update online accounts,
- Safely log in with at least two authentication factors,
- Digitally sign transactions and documents,
- Prove the consent and approve actions in various self-service administrative procedures,
- Prove eligibility online (such as age verification),
- Autofill information in online forms for faster transactions: data retrieved from official sources and filled automatically (name, birth date, postal address, phone number, etc) to save time and to avoid errors in form-filling,
- Approve wire transfers and ensure secure processing of financial transactions.
Issuing Process and Cost
The issuing process and overall operation of E-Houwiya system are the responsibility of the ICT department and its affiliated entities, namely the National Digital Certification Agency, the National Computer Center, and all local telecom operators. The E-Houwiya ID is personal and private, and it is issued after confirming the individual’s identity with certainty, either physically at the operator’s office or online through a visual interview.
The E-Houwiya ID comprises a combination of techniques used to identify citizens in the digital world, linked to the national ID number and issued only to holders of a physical ID (over age 18). It can be requested and renewed online, with a validity period of three years. A personal X.509 certificate and digital signing crypto keys are generated the first time the citizen got his digital ID and later only that person will be able to use from then on. The Digital signature made with the E-Houwiya ID is considered as a fully qualified mobile signature, legally valid and equivalent to a handwritten signature.
The E-Houwiya ID is free of charge, because to encourage adoption of digital IDs, the cost of issuing it should be equal or less than the cost of issuing the physical ID card it digitally represents. In addition, the identification process via the digital ID is also free of charge and the price of all other ID’s functions like digital signature are affordable and, in some cases, provided for free too.
E-Houwiya as SSO for E-Government
The identification of citizens online requires a secure, scalable, and unique way of authentication since people have too often to repeat registering at the government services and repeatedly sharing data about themselves when creating online accounts. On one hand, people must memorise and keep secure several user credentials to not be victim of identity theft and on the other hand, they must continuously update their personal contact information in each government website to keep their online accounts secure, active, and functional over the time. E-Houwiya was developed as an inclusive, accessible, and centralized authentication system, enabling users to easily log in to all government portals online. It serves as a fast-track access to various digital portals, including E-Bawaba, E-CNAM, E-People, E-CNSS, Madrassati, and many others.
In Tunisia, there is no legal obligation to possess a digital identity. However, more and more public and private entities are using E-Houwiya for access to their online services and in the near future, without the national digital identity, the citizen will not be able to fully benefit from the available online services.
E-Houwiya is considered a key enabler and facilitator essential for better serving citizens online across various sectors, as we provide thousands of services to millions of people every day. To ensure its success, this new digital ID system must quickly reach critical mass and a large user base. Achieving this high level of scalability is crucial to prevent failure and ensure its continuous sustainability.
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March 19, 2025 – by Dr. Nizar Ben Neji
