In September 2025, Swiss voters approved the federal act on the electronic identity. As a result, 2026 brings a government E-ID, issued by the Confederation, voluntary to use and free of charge. For SMEs with a website or an online service, now is the time to look closely: where does an E-ID login add real value, and where is it simply unnecessary?
What is the government E-ID?
The E-ID is a digital, state-verified proof of identity. It is managed through the federal «swiyu» app and builds on the principle of verifiable credentials. Users decide for themselves which details they share, for example, only their age rather than their full date of birth.
Important for operators: the E-ID does not replace existing logins on its own. It is an additional, especially trustworthy way to identify a person unambiguously.
What changes for SMEs?
For most websites, nothing changes in the short term: a contact form or a simple online shop needs no E-ID. It becomes relevant wherever you have to verify an identity today and currently solve that awkwardly via an ID copy, video ident or an in-person appointment.
- Age verification for age-restricted products or content
- Registration in sectors with due-diligence obligations (finance, healthcare, fiduciary)
- Access to customer portals holding sensitive data
- Contracts where the identity must be legally established beyond doubt
When is an E-ID login worth it on your website?
As a rule of thumb: if identity verification is a manual, expensive or error-prone step in your process today, the E-ID can automate it, faster for your customers and cheaper for you. If, on the other hand, you do not strictly need to identify anyone, a classic login is usually the more pragmatic choice.
An E-ID login can also be a trust signal: it shows that you take data protection and data minimisation seriously, an argument that resonates with privacy-conscious Swiss customers in particular.
How we integrate the E-ID
Technically, you act as a so-called verifier: your website requests a credential through the swiyu ecosystem, the person confirms it in their wallet, and you receive exactly the verified details you need, nothing more. We implement this flow with data minimisation in mind and in line with the revDSG and GDPR, embedded into your existing application.
Read more about the technical implementation on our E-ID page, or see the service overview under Swiss E-ID integration. If you would like to check whether an E-ID login is worth it for your service, we are happy to clarify that in a short initial call.
The government E-ID is not mandatory for every website. For SMEs that verify identities today, it is a concrete lever to simplify processes and build trust. Those who plan early will be ready the moment the E-ID is widely available.