HomeInsightsElectronic signatures, seals and trust services become valid throughout EU.

As of 1 July 2016, people, businesses and public administrations can carry out convenient, secure and legally valid electronic transactions across borders.  EU rules on electronic signatures, electronic seals, time stamps, electronic delivery service and website authentication, as well as electronic documents, now apply directly across the 28 Member States.  An electronic signature is now recognised in the same way as a written one, right across the EU.  The European Commission says that cross-border digital transactions are now “more convenient and more secure in a Digital Single Market”.

Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of the European Union on the electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market, or the eIDAS Regulation (910/2014/EU), was adopted on 23 July 2014.   The Regulation lays down conditions for the mutual recognition of electronic identification; sets rules for trust services, in particular for electronic transactions; and creates a legal framework for electronic signatures, seals and time stamps, electronic documents, as well as for electronic registered delivery services and certificate services for website authentication.

The eIDAS Regulation requires Member States to recognise, under certain conditions, means of electronic identification of natural and legal persons falling under another Member State’s electronic identification scheme that has been notified to the Commission.  It is up to Member States to choose whether they want to notify all, some or none of the electronic identification schemes used at national level.

The new rules only cover cross-border aspects of electronic identification.  Issuing the means of electronic identification remains a matter for Member States.

The E-Signatures Directive (1999/93/EC), the legal instrument preceding eIDAS, was repealed as of 1 July 2016.  Under the new eIDAS Directive, an e-signature can now only be used by a natural person to “sign”, i.e. mainly to express consent on the data the e-signature is put, while the e-seal can only be used by a legal person to ensure the origin and integrity of the data to which it is linked.  This is different to the E-Signatures Directive where the e-signature was defined as a means for authentication.

As for trust services, under the eIDAS Regulation each Member State has to establish, maintain and publish a list of qualified trust service providers and the qualified trust services provided by them.  These lists have a constitutive effect as of 1 July 2016.  This means that a provider/service will be qualified only if it appears in the Trusted Lists.  To prove their status, all qualified trust service providers can use the EU trust mark logo, which tells users that they can trust a certain service online to carry out their online transactions in a safe, convenient and secure way.  To read the Commission’s press release in full and for a link to the eIDAS Regulation, click here.

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