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Electronic signature

Qualified and advanced electronic signatures

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What is an electronic signature?

While a digital signature describes a cryptographic procedure and its technical implementation and generation, an electronic signature is legal. The EU eIDAS Regulation defines in Article 3 No. 10 electronic signatures as "data in electronic form which are attached to or logically associated with other electronic data and which are used by the signatory to sign." Although digital and electronic signatures are often synonyms, they differ in technical implementation, technological standards, and legal and geographical acceptance.

 

Ideally, a digital signature should:

  • comply with the legal requirements of the EU regulation eIDAS or the Swiss federal law ZertES,
  • use an electronic certificate
  • include the identity of the signatory to guarantee authenticity,
  • and prove that the document has not been altered after the signature has been affixed (integrity)

Provided these requirements are met, a digital signature is called an electronic signature in this context. Therefore, three different types of electronic signatures have become established in the European legal area based on the EU regulation eIDAS and the Swiss federal law ZertES.

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Types of electronic signature

Qualified electronic signature

The qualified electronic signature is a digital signature with a legal basis according to EU Regulation eIDAS and Swiss Federal Law ZertES.

Only the qualified electronic signature is equivalent to the handwritten signature. It guarantees the integrity of a digital document and the authenticity of the person signing it in the long term.

It has a very high probative value and liability, is equal to the handwritten signature before the law, and can be verified via validators.

Examples of these legally recognized validation options are the Validator of the Swiss Federal Administration or the DSS Demonstration WebApp of the European Commission.

Offered in the Swisscom Trust Services product portfolio.

Advanced electronic signature

The advanced electronic signature is a digital signature without a legal basis.

According to the EU Regulation eIDAS, an advanced signature enables unique identification and assignment of the signatory (non-repudiation and authenticity) and the detection of a subsequent change on an already signed digital document (integrity).

This type of signature has a high probative value. Still, a lower liability, as there are no legally recognized validation options, and the legislator allows broad scope for the design of the advanced signature.

Offered in the Swisscom Trust Services product portfolio.

Simple electronic signature

The simple electronic signature is a digital signature with deficient liability and probative value - it is usually based on simple processing in an application (e.g., ERP, CRM, etc.) without the involvement of any official trust services. There is no legal basis for this type of signature or defined requirements for its creation.

Not offered in the Swisscom Trust Services product portfolio.

Qualified electronic signature

The qualified electronic signature is a digital signature with a legal basis according to EU Regulation eIDAS and Swiss Federal Law ZertES.

Only the qualified electronic signature is equivalent to the handwritten signature. It guarantees the integrity of a digital document and the authenticity of the person signing it in the long term.

It has a very high probative value and liability, is equal to the handwritten signature before the law, and can be verified via validators.

Examples of these legally recognized validation options are the Validator of the Swiss Federal Administration or the DSS Demonstration WebApp of the European Commission.

Offered in the Swisscom Trust Services product portfolio.

Advanced electronic signature

The advanced electronic signature is a digital signature without a legal basis.

According to the EU Regulation eIDAS, an advanced signature enables unique identification and assignment of the signatory (non-repudiation and authenticity) and the detection of a subsequent change on an already signed digital document (integrity).

This type of signature has a high probative value. Still, a lower liability, as there are no legally recognized validation options, and the legislator allows broad scope for the design of the advanced signature.

Offered in the Swisscom Trust Services product portfolio.

Simple electronic signature

The simple electronic signature is a digital signature with deficient liability and probative value - it is usually based on simple processing in an application (e.g., ERP, CRM, etc.) without the involvement of any official trust services. There is no legal basis for this type of signature or defined requirements for its creation.

Not offered in the Swisscom Trust Services product portfolio.

How to sign a contract electronically

Digital contract creation

1. Contract preparation

A person creates a digital contract and wants to sign it electronically. Personal signatures such as qualified and advanced electronic signatures are suitable for this.

Electronic identification

2. One-time identification and registration

To use an electronic signature, the person goes through a one-time identification process and legitimizes his identity with his valid identification document (ID card or passport). In addition, the person's preferred authentication solution is registered as a future means of release for the signature.

Signature request in signature solution

3. Signature request in signature solution

The person provides the digital contract in a signature solution and triggers a signature request.

In the background, a hash value of the document is created and exchanged between the signature solution and the trust service Swisscom Trust Services. In the process, Swisscom checks whether a valid identity of the person is registered, issues a short-lived signature certificate and an electronic time stamp on the document hash, and returns it to the signature solution.

Signature approval and authentication

4. Signatur approval and authentication

The person confirms the electronic signature with the registered approval means (authentication solution) on his mobile phone.

Contract electronically signed

5. Contract electronically signed

After the successful signature process, the electronically signed contract is displayed to the person in the signature solutions and can be processed further.

The electronic signature contains the time stamp and the short-lived signature certificate. These components provide information about the person signing and the time of the signature on the digital contract. This makes long-term verification possible, and the contract is thus legally valid.

Our product portfolio for your electronic signature solution

Our embedded remote signature platform provides partners with a variety of legally valid electronic signatures, seals, and timestamps for Switzerland and Europe. Additionally, we offer a comprehensive selection of identification and approval methods through a broker, which can be tailored to integrate seamlessly into your use case of an electronic signature workflow.