electronic signature

The legal liability of contracts is an important social commodity. This also applies to contracts being entered digitally via the internet. If the contracting parties agree on the contents of the contract they declare their will with a signature. If a contract is being concluded like this it cannot be denied again. For this purpose, writing mediums suitable for the creation of contract documents are being used tradi­tionally.  Those writing mediums ensure counterfeit protection of the content and durability of the signature. The created documents are permanent.

Digitally concluded contracts require the same degree of legal liability. As a technical tool for digital document authen­ticity digital certifi­cates are being used, which are required to generate an electronic signature. In order to obtain legal oblig­ation according to the legis­lator, the issuing author­ities and the technology used must comply with legal require­ments. For this purpose, the European Union has formu­lated a regulation on electronic identi­fi­cation and trust services for electronic trans­ac­tions in the internal market (eIDAS).

Diverse trust services are centered around electronic signa­tures, electronic seals, electronic time stamps and services for the delivery of electronic regis­tered mail. Legis­lation requires that all trust services comply with the require­ments of eIDAS. The Federal Network Agency and the BSI are respon­sible for national appli­cation in Germany.

In order to verify that a trust service meets the require­ments of eIDAS, SRC is accredited by the German Accred­i­tation Body DAkkS. The proof of conformity developed in cooper­ation with SRC causes the Federal Network Agency to list the audited trust service in the Trusted Service List (TSL).

For the certi­fi­cation of products in accor­dance with the require­ments of the eIDAS Regulation, the Federal Network Agency has desig­nated SRC as a private certi­fi­cation body.