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method-signatureelectronic-signature
Khera Mezioud
Khera Mezioud

Reputation: 19

Qualified electronic signature

Can someone help me with the qualified electronic signature and make me a graph to understand the different interactions please ?

I try to set up a qualified electronic signature in my company but I can't understand the process

Thank you!!!!

Upvotes: 0

Views: 744

Answers (1)

fox918
fox918

Reputation: 189

The usual way of using exercising a qualified electronic signature (QES) is signing a PDF. Technically this is accomplished by using a certificate to create a digital signature of the document.

However a QES is the electronic equivalent of the handwritten signature, therefore you cannot use any certificate to sign the document. Usually for a document to be signed and binding according to QES it must fullfill the following requirements:

  • Signed using a certificate that was provided to the person by a trusted provider
  • Signed by a certificate of a trusted provider on behalf of the person

The key words here is trusted provider. To be a trusted provider, you must fullfill the legal requirements to be so (eIDAS in europe or ZertES in switzerland). Usually it is not desirable for a company to go through all this hassle to be a trusted provider just to sign documents electronically.

There are however commercial trusted providers offering both ways, eg. providing personal certificates to all your employees with which they can sign documents according to the QES requirements and providers that sell (online-)platforms where users can sign documents according to the QES requirements. Most of the platform providers also provide an API through which their services can be accessed.

Just to name a few providers:

  • DocuSign
  • Skribble
  • QuoVadis

Please be aware that this not only a technical matter but also a matter of your jurisdiction and of the planned usage of the electronic signatures. The legal weight and therefore costs associated with the QES might make it worthwhile to discuss with your legal department, wether you really need QES or maybe another form of electronic signature (eg. the advanced electronic signature) might be sufficient.

Beware that this is a very simplified answer and it cuts quite a few corners in order to be readable and understandable for humans. (I am not a lawyer)

Upvotes: 3

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