ISO 18013-5/7
Mobile Driving Licence (mDL) Standard
What is ISO 18013-5?
ISO 18013-5 defines the international standard for mobile driving licences (mDL). It specifies how driving licence data is encoded using CBOR, signed with COSE, and verified through a Mobile Security Object (MSO). The standard enables in-person verification via NFC or QR code, with selective disclosure allowing holders to share only the attributes needed for a given interaction.
What is ISO 18013-7?
ISO 18013-7 extends the mDL standard to online and remote verification scenarios. While Part 5 focuses on proximity presentation (NFC, BLE), Part 7 defines how mDL credentials can be presented over the internet using OID4VP and related protocols. This is critical for use cases like online age verification, remote identity proofing, and digital government services.
How BaseID Implements It
BaseID provides comprehensive mDL support through dedicated crates:
- baseid-mdl: Full ISO 18013-5 implementation including CBOR document encoding, MSO construction and validation, COSE signing (ES256, ES384, EdDSA), and selective disclosure of individual data elements.
- baseid-mdl-online: ISO 18013-7 online presentation flows, integrating mDL verification with OID4VP for remote use cases.
- baseid-crypto: Underlying cryptographic operations including COSE key management and signature algorithms required by the mDL specification.
Technical Details
CBOR Encoding
Compact Binary Object Representation for efficient credential encoding on constrained devices.
MSO
Mobile Security Object containing digests of each data element, enabling per-element selective disclosure.
COSE Signing
CBOR Object Signing and Encryption for tamper-evident credential integrity.
Namespaces
Data elements organized by namespace (e.g., org.iso.18013.5.1) for domain separation.
Adoption
ISO 18013-5 mDL is being adopted worldwide:
- European Union: Mandated as one of two credential formats for EUDIW under eIDAS 2.0.
- Australia: Queensland has launched a live mDL, with New South Wales piloting.
- United States: Multiple states (Utah, Colorado, Arizona, Louisiana, and others) have launched or are piloting mDL programs.
- Canada: Several provinces are evaluating mDL as part of provincial digital ID programs.
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