With one click, citizens from today have the possibility to give their consent through the Gov.gr Wallet for the digital extraction and disposal of their data.

In fact, the first application of the provision of consent concerns the conclusion of a vehicle insurance policy, which was presented by the ministers of Digital Governance, Dimitris Papastergiou and Infrastructure and Transport Christos Staikouras, the Deputy Minister of National Economy and Finance Christos Dimas, as well as the president of the Association of Insurance Companies of Greece , Alexandros Sarrigeorgiou, at a press conference held at the Ministry of Digital Governance.

With the new Gov.gr Wallet digital service, citizens will give their explicit consent for the provision of their necessary data to public and private bodies. In this way, they will trade directly and easily, allowing the extraction and disposal of their specific, case-by-case data.

In this way, the everyday life of citizens is greatly facilitated, as they will be able to complete procedures from their mobile phone, without having to circulate documents, neither paper nor digital.

In the case of concluding a vehicle insurance policy, the process is accelerated for the insurance companies as well, as they will receive with absolute security and validity the necessary data of the citizen and the vehicle to be insured, by drawing from the public registers that are already registered.

It is pointed out that the citizen will give his consent at every step of the process both for the extraction of his data and for their provision to the insurance company with which he has chosen to contract.

More specifically, the process will be as follows:

• Initially the citizen will contact the insurance company with which he wishes to conclude a vehicle insurance contract.

• The insurance company, after registering the citizen’s desire to use the new digital service through Gov.gr Wallet, requests the basic information to start the process. These details are the tax identification number, the citizen’s name and the registration number of the vehicle he wishes to insure and is in his possession.

• He will then receive a push notification on his mobile phone from Gov.gr Wallet through which he will be informed that the specific company and for the specific purpose he has requested, requests the availability of his necessary information, i.e. vehicle license, license driving and owner details.

• The citizen, if he wishes to continue, will first give his consent for the “extraction and display” of his data to be transmitted and then check their correctness.

• Then, he will grant or not his consent for the transmission of these data to the information system of the insurance company.

Alternatively, citizens will be able to grant their consent beyond the Gov.gr Wallet through an application that will be developed for this purpose on gov.gr.

It is worth noting that at a later stage the service will be extended to other transactions of citizens with public and private entities, including car leasing, signing a contract with energy and telecommunications providers, as well as registering at nurseries.

“Our commitment to a state that respects the citizen and wants to gain their trust is put into practice every day, with services like this one that comes to abolish certificates, papers and unnecessary visits or sending documents” said the Minister of Digital Governance, Dimitris Papastergiou and he added that “it is not only the service that we presented today that is important, but it is mainly that it is the basis for how we see the next day in the communication of the citizen with the state. How the abolition of certificates, which we have already talked about and already legislated for, can technically be implemented. The start is today with the consent for the conclusion of an insurance policy through Gov.gr Wallet. Citizens gain time, respectively both insurance companies and the Greek State save valuable resources, while the transparency of procedures is enhanced. In the new digital Greece, we are moving into a new era, the era of data circulation and not documents for the completion of procedures and transactions, with the aim of improving the lives of citizens and businesses every day. This is what is requested by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the expectation of society as a whole from the Ministry of Digital Governance”.

For his part, the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Christos Staikouras emphasized that “the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport was the first to sign a Memorandum of Cooperation with the Ministry of Digital Governance, in January 2020. With a joint and coordinated effort, will, plan and vision , we have managed to complete many projects. Today we take another important step. In fact, in an extremely critical field directly related to road safety. That of vehicle insurance. The new digital service allows owners to proceed, easily and quickly, with the insurance of their vehicles, through the electronic provision of vehicle details to the insurance companies. We hope that the operation of the new service, in addition to the convenience of citizens, will also contribute to the increase of the insurance rate of vehicles, an issue that has been plaguing the Greek market for a long time, with serious consequences for people and companies, especially when accidents occur ». Mr. Staikouras underlined that “in the same direction, we are working with all the co-competent ministries, in order to complete the puzzle of digital services, which offer the public administration a valuable database. Really valuable, not only because it simplifies services, but also because it provides us with accurate and quality information, which is necessary for sound decision-making, formulation and implementation of effective policies.”

The Deputy Minister of National Economy and Finance, Christos Dimas, spoke about “a very important reform that for the first time unites the data bases of the state”. “In this way, we will deal with the problem of uninsured vehicles in total, we will check the unpaid traffic fees and we will identify the vehicles that have not passed the KTEO technical inspection. In other words, we will no longer wait for a random, on-site traffic control to impose the fine, but this will be activated automatically, after the regular, electronic cross-checking of data that will be carried out.

In addition, by cross-referencing vehicle data, we believe that we will have fewer accidents than the absence of technical control, so we will also contribute substantially to this great social issue of traffic accidents and to the improvement of road safety. This fact will have a significant impact on the protection of the environment, in particular on the reduction of pollutant emissions from uncontrolled vehicles. We are, of course, also contributing to the increase in State revenues, due to the increase in the number of insurance policies, but also the increase we expect from the payment of traffic fees. Also, with the law in question, cases in the courts are significantly reduced, as uninsured vehicles will be significantly reduced. Meanwhile, the law-abiding and consistent citizen will feel that the state is finally working in this field and does not turn a blind eye to lawlessness through his absence”.

At the same time, the president of the Association of Insurance Companies of Greece, Alexandros Sarrigeorgiou, stated that “the electronic access of insurance companies to information and data of the vehicle registration license and driver’s license, which will be done with the consent of the customer in order to take out vehicle insurance, is an important step in the direction of improving the services we offer to our insured. Procedures will become faster and more efficient, reducing bureaucracy and enhancing transparency and competitiveness.”

Note that the service is implemented by the National Technology and Research Infrastructure Network (EDYTE SA – GRNET), a body of the Ministry of Digital Governance, while the required data will be obtained through the Interoperability Center of the General Secretariat of Information Systems and Digital Governance.