Which two ways exist to verify a subject's attributes during registration?

Attributes are verified either with evidence (documents or objects from a reliable source) or with technical processes such as e-mail verification, an SMS code to the mobile number or a letter with an activation code.

The two families answer different questions:

• Evidence (Beweismittel) answers "is this claim true?" An identity document proves the name and date of birth, a diploma proves a qualification.
• Technical processes answer "does the subject control this channel?" Sending a code to the claimed e-mail address, phone number or postal address proves that the person can read that mailbox, that phone or that letterbox, which is a reasonable proxy for the address being theirs.

Most real registrations combine both. The SwissPass example does: it checks the name, date of birth and address against records (evidence-type verification) and confirms the e-mail address through an activation link (technical process).