The Standards Council of Canada (SCC) and the Government of Canada have partnered to foster consensus standards and conformity assessment tools for digital credentials and digital trust services in Canada. 

These tools are intended to establish trust, enable national and international interoperability, and mitigate risks of platform capture and industry fragmentation.

The work follows a four-phase approach with ongoing opportunities for consultation and feedback from national and international stakeholders.

Project overview

What gaps will the accreditation program address?

Foster standardization for the future digital credential ecosystem	Establish a baseline for trust	Enable interoperability across jurisdictions and economic sectors	Mitigate risks of vendor lock-in, ecosystem fragmentation, and platform capture

 
What is SCC’s role, and how can I get involved?

SCC is ensuring the project includes many opportunities for government bodies, standards development organizations, certification bodies, and developers of digital credentials and digital trust products and services to be involved.

Phase 2 involves the collaboration of a broad range of experts to develop the national technical specification, and public consultations allow for even more feedback and input.

The national technical specification under development is available for review and input on GitHub. As this is a public initiative using an open-source methodology, feedback provided via the GitHub repository is welcome. The Digital Governance Council (formerly CIO Strategy Council) is conducting a supplementary official public review of the draft where stakeholders can review and provide feedback on the proposed Technical Specification. The public review was initiated on January 9, 2023 and has been extended until February 3, 2023. The draft will be available on the Digital Governance Council's website and through their social media channels.  

Phase 3 is an opportunity for certification bodies and developers of digital credentials and digital trust services to test the Technical Specification in a pilot certification process. To identify pilot participants SCC will issue a call for interest for product developers and conformity assessment bodies accredited to or interested in the SCC Accreditation Program for Product, Process, and Service Certification Bodies. SCC oversees the pilot conformity assessment process based on accreditation requirements and the technical specification criteria. 

During the pilot, to increase the opportunity for input from interested parties, SCC will establish an observation committee. This will involve government and industry representatives who are not directly involved in the pilot but who which to gain early insight into the TS impacts and use cases. The committee will be a forum for information sharing information. Committee members will have an opportunity to contribute to the report on the pilot outcomes.

Finally, you may get involved during Phase 4 where stakeholders will be needed to support the development of standards to address gaps identified during the pilot. The full-scale program will incorporate a certification scheme comprising one or more National Standards of Canada, international standards, and potentially other normative documents that together support digital credentials trust and interoperability. SCC will partner with stakeholders in the creation of this scheme.

Get involved in the pilot conformity assessment program

The pilot conformity assessment program, Phase 3 of the project, began in May 2023. If you are interested in participating in the pilot or joining the observation committee, please sign-up by May 25, 2023. If you sign-up after this day, you may still be able to participate, but it is not a guarantee.

Is SCC considering international regulations or standards?

Where appropriate, the accreditation program will identify interprovincial and international requirements for digital credentials and digital trust services. This will support digital credential interoperability for Canadians who do business, travel, or live abroad.

What is the standardization system?

The standardization system involves standards development organizations and conformity assessment bodies accredited by SCC to ensure that they follow internationally recognized standards for criteria such as transparency, fairness, competence, and more. Standards and other requirements documents, such as technical specifications, can be used to support accreditation programs, which support market and public policy needs. What’s more, this system is internationally integrated through SCC’s network of mutual agreements between accreditation bodies around the world.

What is a technical specification?

A technical specification is a document developed without using the full consensus process normally associated with a National Standard of Canada. It is usually intended for situations where the technology, or a related aspect such as the regulatory environment, is undergoing rapid change and where speed of delivery, rather than full consensus, is of paramount importance. 

As part of Phase 2 of this project, a national technical specification for digital credentials and digital trust services is being developed by a committee of volunteer technical experts coordinated by the Digital Governance Standards (formerly CIO Strategy Council), an SCC-accredited Standards Development Organization. The development process involves input from industry, governments, academia, civil society, and public consultation.