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This part of the iSHARE Scheme is considered normative and is therefore compliant with RFC 2119.

This chapter summarises the responsibilities and functional requirements per role:


One requirement to any legal entity fulfilling a role is that they MUST provide a unique identifier.


Adhering roles

Please refer to the detailed Operation descriptions for what criteria need to be met to be admitted to the iSHARE network.

Service Consumer

The Service Consumer-role is fulfilled by a legal entity that consumes a service, such as data, as provided by a Service Provider. 

A Service Consumer can be represented by a machine (its system) or a human, fittingly called the Machine Service Consumer and the Human Service Consumer.

The functional requirements applicable to Service Consumers are as follows:

  • iSHARE adherence is REQUIRED. 

Service Provider

The Service Provider-role is fulfilled by a legal entity that provides a service, such as data, for consumption by a Service Consumer.

The functional requirements applicable to Service Providers are as follows:

Entitled Party

The Entitled Party-role is fulfilled by a legal entity that has one or more rights to a service provided by a Service Provider, for example to data. These rights, or entitlements, are established in a legal relation between the Entitled Party and the Service Provider.

The Entitled Party- and Service Consumer-roles can be fulfilled by the same entity - i.e. a legal entity that consumes a service based on its own entitlements to this service - but this is not necessary. Legal entities that are entitled to a service can delegate other entities to consume this service on its behalf: the legal entity consuming the service, then, does so on the basis of another entity's entitlements. In such use cases, as always, the Service Consumer consumes a Service Provider's service on the basis of the Entitled Party's entitlements, but the Service Consumer-role is fulfilled by another entity than the Entitled Party-role.

The functional requirements applicable to Entitled Parties are as follows:

  • iSHARE adherence is REQUIRED.


Certified roles

In line with guiding principle 3, iSHARE utilises the Afsprakenstelsel elektronische toegangsdiensten as a building block for certifying Identity Providers, Identity Brokers, and Authorization Registries. Therefore, to  become an iSHARE certified party, a legal entity MUST (first) be admitted to the Afsprakenstelsel elektronische toegangsdiensten (in the relevant role). The relevant roles include:

Please refer to the detailed Operation descriptions for what (other) criteria need to be met to be admitted to the iSHARE network.

Identity Provider

The Identity Provider-role is fulfilled by a legal entity whose tooling identifies and authenticates humans (and specifically, Human Service Consumers representing Service Consumers). An Identity Provider: 

  • Provides identifiers for humans;
  • Issues credentials (i.e. a password or electronic keycard) to humans;
  • Can hold information on authorisations of humans representing a Service Consumer;
    i.e. information indicating which humans are authorised to act on a Service Consumer's behalf.
  • Can, on the basis of this information, identify and authenticate humans for Service Providers and determine whether the human representing a legal entity is authorised to take delivery of a service. 
  • Can confirm whether this is the case to the Service Provider. 

As a result, Service Providers can outsource identification and authentication to an Identity Provider instead of implementing their own tooling. 

The functional requirements applicable to Identity Providers are as follows:

Identity Broker

Different humans might hold identifiers at different Identity Providers. Also, Service Providers might need to connect to several Identity Providers. To make sure Service Providers do not need a relation with each Identity Provider individually, an Identity Broker is introduced. The Identity Broker-role is fulfilled by a legal entity that provides Service Providers access to different Identity Providers, and that offers humans the option to choose with which Identity Provider to identify and authenticate themselves throughout the iSHARE Scheme.

As a result, if Service Providers choose to outsource identification and authentication to more than one Identity Provider, they can connect to an Identity Broker instead of to several Identity Providers.

The functional requirements applicable to Identity Brokers are as follows:

  • All responsibilities and functional requirements applicable to Afsprakenstelsel elektronische toegangsdiensten role Herkenningsmakelaar.

  • iSHARE certification is REQUIRED;
  • All user interfaces available in an iSHARE context MUST comply with the iSHARE's user interface requirements.

Authorization Registry

The Authorization Registry-role is fulfilled by a legal entity who provides solutions for adhering parties for the storage of delegation- and authorisation information. An Authorization Registry: 

  • Can hold information on delegations to Service Consumers;
    i.e. information indicating what parts of the rights of an Entitled Party are delegated to a Service Consumer.
  • Can check, on the basis of this information, whether a machine representing a legal entity is authorised to take delivery of a service;
  • Can confirm whether this is the case to the Service Provider. 

As a result, Adhering Parties can outsource tasks concerning the management of authorisation and delegation information to an Authorization Registry instead of implementing their own tooling.

The functional requirements applicable to Authorization Registries are as follows:

  • All responsibilities and functional requirements applicable to Afsprakenstelsel elektronische toegangsdiensten role Machtigingenregister.

  • iSHARE certification is REQUIRED.
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