Does Uruguay & Paraguay have mandatory Digital id that's either legally compulsory or functionally compulsory?

1. Uruguay: compulsory physical ID, ambitious digital ecosystem

Uruguay’s national identity card is legally compulsory for all residents — including foreign residents and children from 45 days old — and the country issues a secure physical ID that has been the foundation for digital authentication efforts ^{[1] [6]}. At the same time, Uruguay’s government digital agency AGESIC has developed ID Uruguay and a digital signature platform that are being used domestically and extended in pilots across borders with Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, enabling digital authentication and signature validation for many public services ^{[2] [3]}. Public reporting describes digital credentials becoming valid proofs of identity across government and private services in Uruguay, and Uruguay positions its broker model to expand interoperability regionally, but none of the cited sources state that Uruguay’s national law forces citizens to adopt the digital ID in place of the physical card ^{[7] [8]}.

2. Uruguay: functionally compulsory? Evidence is mixed and incomplete

While digital IDs in Uruguay are positioned as full alternatives for many transactions and interoperability projects aim to make them practical essentials for cross‑border digital services, the sources do not show legislation that converts the digital credential into a legally compulsory requirement for accessing basic services — only that digital authentication is being rolled out and promoted ^{[7] [3] [2]}. One report notes digital documents can serve across institutions with the physical card still being required in at least some contexts (for example, election administration cited in one source), which suggests strong encouragement and practical incentives to adopt digital IDs without an explicit universal legal mandate in the available material ^[8].

3. Paraguay: legal recognition of digital credentials, civil society alarm

Paraguay passed Law No. 7177/2023 to establish a legal basis for recognising government‑issued digital identity credentials, and reporting says digital IDs derived from the national identity card and driver’s licences are now accepted as legal equivalents — a formal recognition that empowers digital use in principle ^[4]. However, a Paraguayan NGO (TEDIC) has publicly raised concerns that these digital IDs and mobile driving licences are being issued without adequate regulation, warning of privacy and human‑rights risks and noting structural issues such as the concentration of civil document issuance within police agencies that raise governance concerns ^[4]. The sources therefore document legal recognition and rapid adoption but also critique the regulatory framework; they do not document a clear statutory duty for individuals to hold or use a digital ID.

4. Paraguay: does “accepted as legal equivalent” create de facto compulsion?

Acceptance of digital credentials as legal equivalents can create market and administrative pressure — employers, banks and some e‑government services may prefer digital authentication — and regional interoperability projects aim to make cross‑border digital access routine, which could increase the functional necessity of digital IDs ^{[7] [9] [5]}. Nevertheless, the supplied reporting stops short of proving that Paraguayan law or everyday administrative practice forces everyone to use digital IDs or makes them impossible to carry out core civic functions without them; instead it documents legal recognition, rollout and civil‑society warnings about regulation and oversight ^[4].

5. Bottom line and limits of available reporting

Based on the provided reporting, Uruguay legally requires a national identity card for all residents but does not appear to have a documented law making a digital ID itself mandatory; Uruguay’s digital ID ecosystem is influential and increasingly necessary for many online interactions but the sources do not show a universal legal compulsion to use it ^{[1] [2] [3]}. Paraguay’s law recognises digital credentials and treats them as legal equivalents, which enhances their practical reach, yet the evidence in these sources documents regulatory gaps and NGO concerns rather than a clear legal or fully enforced functional compulsion for every resident to adopt a digital ID ^[4]. The available material does not include definitive statutory texts or exhaustive administrative rules, so this analysis is limited to published reporting and NGO commentary in the supplied sources ^{[4] [7]}.