eSignature, Digital Signature Services (DSS) and JAdES demonstrated at DigitALL Public 2021
From 20-22 April 2021, the DigitALL Public conference explored the crucial role of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Building Blocks and interoperability solutions in digitally interconnecting Europe during the last EU budget cycle.
DigitALL Public welcomed inspiring interventions, testimonials and received insights from more than 200 speakers in 56 dedicated sessions. More than 1500 digital enthusiasts connected from 33 countries, clearly demonstrating the interest in the question of how Building Blocks and interoperability solutions make our lives better.
In a (virtual) parallel session, the team behind the CEF eSignature Building Block organised a showcase of its DSS Library, an open software library used for the creation and verification of interoperable and secure electronic signatures in-line with the European Standards.
Electronic signatures building cross-border trust
Following an introduction to the CEF eSignature Building Block, including electronic signatures and digital signature concepts and standards, a live coding session looked at JAdES digital signature creation, validation and augmentation.
The eSignature building block helps public administrations and businesses to accelerate the creation and verification of electronic signatures in-line with the provisions of the eIDAS Regulation on authentication and trust services in the internal market.
The CEF eSignature building block consists of several services managed by the European Commission. These include:
- The Digital Signature Services (DSS) open-source library for the creation and validation of e-signatures.
- The Trusted List Manager, which helps the Member States' Trusted List Scheme Operators (TLSOs) create and edit a Trusted List in a standard, machine-readable format.
- Technical specifications and associated standards (maintained by ETSI), which outline the requirements laid out by the eIDAS Regulation in regard to e-signatures and e-seals.
- Signature Conformance Testing (maintained by ETSI), to help service providers and public administrations test interoperability and conformity of their e-signature solution.
ETSI published the JAdES standard ( ETSI TS 119 182-1 version 1.1.1) in March of this year (2021-03). JAdES is a brand new standard, and although very recent, has already been implemented in the DSS Library - one of the first implementation of this new international standard.
This session provided an overview of what electronic signatures are, the standards that make them interoperable and how this relates to the legal framework established by the eIDAS Regulation.
This event then offered a live coding session, allowing stakeholders to try out their skills, with the support of experts from the eSignature Building Block team. Participants learned how to:
- Configure a new workspace, showing practically how quickly one can start building a solution with the DSS Library;
- Tailor the DSS to particular needs (the session hosts selected particular modules of DSS, and one format in particular: JAdES);
- Use the JAdES format to show how a JAdES signature can be created, validated and augmented, referring to the concepts of digital signatures presented earlier;
- Modify the default DSS validation policy to demonstrate how the way DSS validates signatures can be configured to suit a particular business case (further demonstrating the flexibility of the DSS Library).
Only recordings from the DigitALL Public main stage are public. So take a moment to see the ‘aftermove’ and recordings form the event main stage.
You can visit the European Commission’s CEF Digital platform to learn more about the eSignature Building Block and deploy it in your project or organisation.
One of the biggest challenges facing healthcare institutions today is making patients' information readily available without compromising their privacy.
Portugal's São João University Hospital Center is trying to do just that. Its patients' clinical records date back to 1959, amounting to a pile of documents (15,000 metres) almost twice as high as Mount Everest.
The Clinical Records Repository project
Officials at São João University Hospital Center were acutely aware that clinical records in different formats and not always available in real-time made it harder to diagnose diseases and treat patients accordingly. The Clinical Records Repository project enabled healthcare professionals to access their patients' clinical history in a digital format.
The project was implemented by the São João University Hospital Center, in partnership with the Portuguese Directorate-General of Books, Archives and Libraries (DGLAB), which was a co-promoter of the project. The aim was to identify and adopt best practices regarding digitization and digital preservation of clinical records, creating a blueprint that other healthcare institutions could follow.
The Clinical Records Repository was powered by RODA, an open-source technology developed by KEEP SOLUTIONS that implements the principles and specifications promoted by the European Commission’s eArchiving Building Block.
Implementing RODA
The São João University Hospital Center and KEEP SOLUTIONS worked together to develop a solution that met the needs of the projects. All the implementation work benefited from the different stakeholders' expertise, particularly the DGLAB, the co-promoter of the project, and INESC TEC (Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering, Technology and Science), one of the project's consultants.
The support provided by the eArchiving Building Block
RODA is a digital repository developed by KEEP SOLUTIONS in cooperation with DGLAB, capable of incorporating, preserving, and providing access to all kinds of digital material produced by large public and private organizations. Its feature list covers all the functional units of the OAIS (Open Archival Information System) reference model, allowing the incorporated information to remain authentic and accessible over time. This solution implements the specifications and requirements defined by the eArchiving Building Block, an essential tool for the adoption and promotion of good digital preservation practices in Europe.
What is the eArchiving Building Block
eArchiving provides core specifications, software, training, and knowledge to help public and private organisations preserve and reuse information over the long term. Following international standards and specifications for digital packaging information enables organisations to transmit documents and data across borders for short-, medium- and long-term storage (and subsequent access and reuse), regardless of the platform they use. Having a standard set of open specifications for packaging and archiving digital information promotes transparency and confidence among all participants in the information lifecycle. With eArchiving, digital archival systems can implement reusable modular components compliant with various national legal backgrounds.
The project's impact on the daily activities of São João University Hospital Center
The most obvious benefit of the project is that clinicians are now able to access patient information 24/7. With the new system, it is now possible for several doctors to access the same patient file simultaneously, which would be infeasible with a paper document. Once a patient's clinical record produced on paper is available on the repository, it does not need to be physically recorded, filed, or requested again. This positively impacts the care clinicians are able to provide their patients, on the functioning of the hospital’s archival service and other administrative services. It is also important to note the project's impact on staff morale. It brought a change in how the hospital operates, which involved training and capacity building of human resources.
The processing and filing of documents was conducted according to international standards and good practices. The preparation, digitalization, and quality control of clinical records were meticulously carried out to insure the outcome would not be compromised.
How can CEF help you?
At the Connecting Europe Facility, we give you access to free tools, support, and funding to build your digital services. Below, some of the other Building Blocks you might be interested in.
Supports EU-wide cross-border public services using blockchain technology
Facilitates the preservation, migration, reuse, and trust of your information
Exchanges data and documents securely and reliably.
DigitALL Public: How the CEF Building Blocks and interoperability solutions have transformed Europe
From 20-22 April 2021, the DigitALL Public conference offered a unique virtual platform to learn how interoperability solutions and Building Blocks have – and will continue to – power Europe’s digital transformation.
This event included inspiring interventions, testimonials and received insights from more than 200 speakers in 56 dedicated sessions. More than 1500 digital enthusiasts connected from 33 countries, clearly demonstrating the interest in the question of how Building Blocks and interoperability solutions can make our lives better.
You can now consult the recordings of the main stage sessions. Follow the DigitALL public playlist on the Connecting Europe YouTube channel.
This event offered inspiring insights into lessons learned, the importance of innovation and co-creation, shed light on key policy developments in the digital domain and the value of the 2020 Berlin Declaration on Digital Society and Value-based Digital Government.
Why learning from our successes & challenges is so important to make lives better
This conference has clearly demonstrated that reuse of CEF Building Blocks and ISA² solutions has concretely supported Europe’s digital transition, fostered innovation and built secure interoperability.
In the last couple of years, the CEF Digital and ISA² programmes have contributed significantly to inter-connecting national IT landscapes and digitalising the public sector.
In the words of European Commissioner for Budget and Administration, Johannes Hahn "The CEF Digital and ISA² programmes – hand-in-hand between the Commission and EU Member States – have been working throughout the last EU budget cycle to create a more digital Europe – developing and connecting technology that has a positive impact on society."
Click the image to watch Day 1
Why innovation and co-creation are essential to succeed in the digital decade
The public sector must accelerate and become an early adopter of emerging technologies. We learned how governments need to involve citizens and the private sector in the (co)creation of public services in order to be more user-centric.
In the words of CEO and Co-Founder of PUBLIC, Daniel Korski "We’re moving from an era of government IT, e-government to an era of GovTech!".
Click the image to watch the speech
How your work fits into today’s policy context and makes our lives better
The need for trustworthy digital technologies has never been greater. Over the last few years, the European Commission has put a lot of effort into making Europe fit for the digital age. For actors in the digital economy and a digital public sector to be able to cooperate across borders, you need common, EU-wide technical standards, so IT systems in different countries are compatible.
In the words of digital strategist Nils McGrath "it’s all about evidence exchange, it’s all about making the user journey simpler for the citizen or the business”.
Click the image to watch the session
The Berlin Declaration, shaping our digital era
Europe has shown that our values must define the digital world we want. The 2020 Berlin Declaration is the latest political call from EU countries to make digital transition a values-based transition.
In the words of Cláudia Gonçalves Barroso, head of unit at the administrative modernisation agency in Portugal, "Digital government is about technology, everybody knows that but everybody knows that most of all it’s about governance and people, it’s about collaboration".
Click the image to watch the session
The speeches and testimonials made during this event have highlighted the value of the CEF Building Blocks in digitalising services in Europe. Visit CEF Digital to learn how you can start to use one or more Building Blocks in your project or organisation.
Sweden, France and Malta pre-notifiy eID schemes
Europe's interconnected network of national electronic IDs, or the eIDAS network, is set to grow, with three further countries – Sweden, France and Malta pre-notifying their eID schemes. First Sweden with its national eID scheme (Svensk elegitimation) in December 2020, followed by France with “FranceConnect+/ The Digital Identity La Poste” and Malta with it’s Maltese eID card and e-residence documents in March 2021 that have taken this first step towards a fully notified scheme under the eIDAS Regulation. Notification means that these eIDs will be “mutually recognised” across Europe by, with other EU countries allowing their use to access their public services.
Before the schemes are formally notified they will undergo a peer review carried out by experts from other EU countries to ensure the schemes’ interoperability and security. When this is successfully completed, the official notification is published in the Official Journal of the European Union. Adaptations to public services in the other Member States’ are then to be made in the following 12 months so users can identify themselves using the newly notified schemes. Currently, there are 14 Member States that have notified eID schemes under the regulation (Belgium, Czechia, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, Croatia, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia).
A full overview of the eID schemes pre-notified and notified under eIDAS can be found here.
The Swedish scheme
The Swedish eID scheme, provided by the Agency for Digital Government (“DIGG”), consists of an infrastructure “Svensk e-legitimation” (Swedish eID) that is built on a legal framework, contractual agreement structure, supervisory regime and technical infrastructure.
Traditionally in Sweden, public authorities have not issued ID documents. BankID is the issuer of eID means with the largest number of users in Sweden, which after several years and corresponding to regulatory developments was joined by Freja eID+ in August 2018 and EFOS, which is issued by the Swedish Social Insurance Agency and can be used only by public servants.
Freja eID+ is a mobile application. Bank ID also comes in a mobile application (Mobile BankID) form as well as BankID on a smartcard or a BankID soft token. BankID can be used to provide in-person identity proofing or remotely through an online bank. EFOS comes in the form of an identity card including a chip and a photo and can be used for in-person identity proofing by public servants.
eServices are widely used in the Swedish society and there are currently around 4, 000 eServices available accepting eIDs from the issuers carrying the Swedish eID trust mark in both the public and private sector. Services provided by the public sector are wide ranging from tax, healthcare, insurance to informing the municipality of a fireplace installation, financial services such as internet banking and the payment service Swish as well as for public eServices such as for the Swedish Tax Agency, The Swedish Social Insurance Agency and the public eHealth service “Vårdguiden”.
The French scheme
The French scheme, provided by the Interministerial Digital Direction (“DINUM”), consists of FranceConnect+ and La Poste. La Poste is the leading identity provider in France and FranceConnect+ is a federator of digital identity providers that has the objective to be recognised by all administrations and certain private sector regulated actors, enabling French or European users to be recognised when carrying out online procedures.
Users of the French eID scheme must enter their User ID and Password to authenticate as demonstrated in the below visual.
Over 700 online procedures are currently available through the use of FranceConnect including tax, citizenship, health, transportation, family and energy procedures.
The Maltese scheme
The Maltese scheme, managed by the Identity Malta Agency (IMA), is based on two electronic identification means – the Maltese eID card and the e-residence documents. Both are smart card-based solutions and can be used for authentication and electronic signing. The Maltese eID card is issued to citizens of Malta and the e-residence document is issued to foreign nationals residing in Malta. Both means are issued by an eIDAS certified qualified trust services provider (QTSP) – the IMA - and can be used to log into a web portal that enables access to other sites; the web portal is currently used by Malta to access eGovernment services.
The web portal is part of the modernization of Malta’s eID in 2020, which also included the introduction of a dashboard. Both the portal and dashboard are accessible on Malta’s eID government site (https://eid.gov.mt) and are integrated with online government services allowing both citizens and residents to authenticate themselves. The modernization of eID in Malta further includes enhanced security features and a new page on the website that allow eID users to adjust privacy and security related features.
To access the services offered on Malta’s eID government site, users can authenticate by provide their ID number and password or by using their eID card.
To keep track of the progress of France, Sweden and Malta’s eID schemes as they go through the steps to become notified under the eIDAS Regulation, you can join our eID user community here or tune in to our news updates on the CEF eID building block site.
Update: eTranslation makes general text engines available in five languages
The CEF eTranslation Building Block is making new general text engines available in five languages: German, Estonian, Finnish, Hungarian and Polish.
In addition to the general improvement brought about by more data, better data filtering and adjustments to the machine learning processes, a specific processing step now helps to handle long sentences better.
Very long sentences are difficult for neutral machine translation, which may at times drop sections or repeat others.
These long sentences are now intelligently divided before translation and recombined afterwards into a coherent text.
This improvement will move on to all eTranslation engines as they are upgraded.
What is eTranslation?
eTranslation is an automated translation tool available to translate text excerpts or complete documents. It is also a Building Block you can integrate into your digital systems, if you need to embed them with translation capabilities.