POLICIES:: eSignature :: Action Plan
European Action Plan on e-signatures and e-identification
The Action Plan seeks a EU-wide solution to cross-border use of online public services. It is committed to quick delivery and results.
The European Parliament and the Council adopted in December 1999 Directive 1999/93/EC on a Community framework for electronic signatures. The purpose of the Directive was to establish a legal framework for e-signatures and for certification service providers in the internal market.
The Commission concluded in 2006, in a report, on the operation of the Directive that the general principles were transposed in all Member States but acknowledged problems with the mutual recognition and cross-border interoperability of e-signatures. The Commission committed to address the legal, technical and standardisation related causes of these problems.
In November 2008, the Commission adopted as a follow-up, the Action Plan on e-signatures and e-identification aiming at removing interoperability barriers by increasing trust and ease of usage of e-signatures and e-identification.
Þ Click here for details on the main undertakings of the Action Plan.
Why an Action Plan for both e-signature and e-identification?
E-signatures transpose in the electronic world, the rich semantics of
handwritten signatures. Because a signature is a symbolic representation of an
individual, there is a strong intertwining between electronic signatures,
authentication and identification which is the keystone of Directive 1999/93/EC.
Article 1.1 of the Directive defines an e-signature as data in electronic form
logically associated with other electronic data and which serve as a method of
authentication. Article 1.2 states further that an ‘advanced’ signature is an
e-signature capable of identifying the signatory. The intertwining is reinforced
by the reliance of e-signature and e-identification on the same technology. The
Directive also contains trust building instruments equally suitable for
identification. Therefore, both are best addressed simultaneously.
Furthermore, e-ID cards, usually enabled with a signature function, are already
or will be in the short term deployed in most EU Member States. Although the
identification systems are national, the embedded signatures should work across
borders reaping the benefits of the cross border legal recognition of
e-signatures.
Last updated: 06.8.2009