eUICCs (aka eSIM) allow “over the air” provisioning for the first subscription with a telecommunications operator, as well as subsequent subscription changes from one operator to another, without the need to physically change the SIM card.
GSMA Compliance Program
The GSMA compliance program defines a 3-step testing and certification process for an eUICC to enter the RSP (Remote SIM provisioning) ecosystem, applicable to both M2Ms and Consumer Device solutions.
Source: GSMA
Applus+ services to achieve GSMA compliance
Applus+ Laboratories is recognized by different schemes to support clients in their certification needs according to the GSMA Compliance program. Specifically, we can cover the requirements for ‘security assurance by design' and ‘functional and interoperable’ steps.
Step 1: eUICC security assurance by design
For IC/hardware platform vendors
Applus+ is an ITSEF facility accredited by the Spanish Certification Body, CCN, to conduct Common Criteria Security evaluation. GSMA requires all the IC/hardware platform to be certified following Common Criteria scheme.
For eUICC software developers
There are currently three alternative evaluation approaches in order to meet compliance requirements:
An independent security evaluation scheme for evaluating embedded UICC (eUICC) against the provisions of PP-0089 and PP-0100. The scheme is based on the Common Criteria methodology, optimized for GSMA-compliant eUICCs. GSMA owns the scheme but it is operated by Trust CB.
GSMA also accepts official Common Criteria Certificates as a proof of compliance for eSIM. The evaluation must follow the eUICC consumer device or eUICC M2M protection profiles.
GSMA released this methodology as an interim option until the official GSMA eSA was in place. It is a second-party evaluation conducted by a recognized security lab. Both methodologies will coexist until January 2022, when only eSA will be accepted.
Step 3: eUICC functional and interoperable testing
Applus+ is also accredited for conducting functional and interoperability testing for GlobalPlatform Certification, the last step for eUICC compliance with GSMA requirements. In this case, we can offer official Type Approval and debug sessions.
Note: Because Applus+ Laboratories is accredited as a third party laboratory by several evaluation and certification schemes, and in order to guarantee its impartiality, Applus+ engineers are never involved in actual product development or solutions implementation. Our independent evaluations are not accredited and their aim is to provide evaluation results to vendors who are seeking to understand the level of security of their products, despite no certificacion scheme is available yet.