In addition to regular identification of a person, an ID-card can also be used for establishing one's identity in electronic environment and for giving one's digital signature.
Within Europe (except Belarus, Russia, Ukraine and United Kingdom)[2][3] as well as French overseas territories, Georgia and Tunisia (on organized tours only)[4] the Estonian ID-card can be used by the citizens of Estonia as a travel document.
[5] With the Estonian ID-card the citizen will receive a personal @eesti.ee e-mail address, which is used by the state to send important information.
The Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) on 25 September 2018 introduced the newest version of Estonia's ID-card, featuring additional security elements and a contactless interface.
[6] The Estonian ID-cards are used in health care, electronic banking, signing contracts, public transit, encrypting email and voting.
[8]: 52 (and e-resident's digital identity card) From its introduction in 2002 until now, the core electronic functionality provided by the Estonian ID-card has stayed the same.
This provides a method to reset PIN codes in the event the cardholder forgets them, generate new keys, write new certificates, and even reinstall the whole smart card applet if needed.
[13] The card's compatibility with standard X.509 and TLS infrastructure by providing a client certificate to each person has made it a convenient means of identification for use of web-based government services in Estonia (see e-Government).
Web commentary columns of some Estonian newspapers, most notably Eesti Päevaleht, used to support ID-card based authentication for comments.
[14] Larger cities in Estonia, such as Tallinn and Tartu, have arrangements making it possible for residents to purchase "virtual" transportation tickets linked to their ID-cards.
[15] Customers also have the option of requesting e-mail or SMS notification alerting them when the ticket is about to expire, or of setting up automatic renewal through internet banking services.
Since Estonia's accession to the European Union (EU) in 2004, Estonian citizens who possess an Estonian identity card have been able to use it as an international travel document, in lieu of a passport, for travel within the European Economic Area, as well as the French overseas departments and territories, Andorra, San Marino, Monaco, Vatican City, Northern Cyprus, and Georgia.
However, non-Estonian citizens resident in Estonia are unable to use their Estonian identity cards as an international travel document.
[20] The incident resulted in a litigation process as the ID-card manufacturer Gemalto failed to inform the Estonian state about the vulnerability in a timely manner.
In particular, in some cases, contrary to the security requirements, the ID-card manufacturer Gemalto had generated private keys outside the chip.