Papua New Guinea Begins Drafting Digital ID and Verifiable Credentials Bill

Papua New Guinea’s Department of Information and Communications Technology has begun drafting legislation to underpin the country’s national digital identity program. Acting Minister for Information and Communications Technology Peter Tsiamalili Jr announced that work has started on a Digital Identity and Verifiable Credentials Bill following the endorsement of the National Digital ID Policy by the National Executive Council.

The bill is intended to give a legal foundation to SevisPass, the national digital identity, alongside SevisWallet, which stores and presents credentials on a mobile device, and SevisDEx, the secure data exchange that moves identity information between government and private systems with the holder’s consent.

“We are moving from policy to implementation,” Tsiamalili said. “SevisPass will verify identity. SevisWallet will hold and present trusted credentials. SevisDEx will enable secure, consent-based data exchange.” The minister framed the program around inclusion, saying every Papua New Guinean deserves secure access to digital services that recognize who they are and what they have achieved.

Alongside the drafting work, the ministry said all relying partners are expected to align their systems with the digital ID infrastructure by July, in time for rollout. That covers banks and financial institutions, mobile network operators and telecommunications carriers, government agencies, education institutions, and professional bodies. The use cases the ministry highlighted include electronic know your customer checks, SIM registration, driver’s licenses, education records, and superannuation records, each of which is meant to be issued, held, and presented as a verifiable credential through the Sevis stack.

The legislation follows steady expansion of the program. Papua New Guinea launched SevisPass and SevisWallet on TECH5 biometric infrastructure in November 2025 and has since extended the system into the superannuation sector and made digital ID mandatory for government procurement. A dedicated statute would give the program a clearer legal anchor for issuance, credentialing, and the cross-sector data flows it depends on.

Sources: Papua New Guinea Department of ICT

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By the ID Tech Editorial Team