European Commission's Third Countries Trusted Lists (TCTL) Programme: What You Need to Know

The Third Countries AdES LOTL (TC AdES LOTL) - A stepping stone towards the mutual recognition of Qualified Trust Services between the EU and Third Countries 

With the implementation of the eIDAS Regulation by the EU/EEA Member States, the Union has established a very successful ecosystem and governance regarding Qualified Trust Services for many years. This success story triggered the interest of many Third Countries to replicate the European Trust Scheme. The European Commission continuously receives requests to assist these countries in aligning their Trust Scheme with the European one, with the ultimate goal of reaching an absolute alignment on legal and technical grounds to trigger Article 14 of the Regulation (EU) N°910/2014, commonly known as eIDAS Regulation. This article can be used to establish a mutual recognition of Qualified Trust Services between the Union and each Third Country that fulfills specific legal and technical criteria. This is the reason for announcing European Commission's TCTL Programme - a programme that defines a roadmap, technical standards and prerequisites to provide a transparent and solid process that will lead to an International Agreement under Article 14.

DG DIGIT, in collaboration with DG CNECT, issued circa two years ago the technical specifications of the Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) to facilitate, from the technical perspective, the inclusion of Third Countries ' Trusted Lists, including information on their national Trust Services, into a dedicated List of Trusted List, similar to the European Union List of Trusted Lists (EU LOTL). Considering that negotiations regarding an international agreement might last many months or years, the Commission decided to implement and maintain the Third Countries AdES LOTL to facilitate the validation of electronic signatures and seals supported by certificates issued by trust service providers established in Thrd Countries. This comprehensive list includes all relevant information necessary to interpret the content of Third Countries trusted lists in compliance with the EU's requirements and best practices for validating advanced electronic signatures and seals. The EU also acknowledges the demand for voluntary-based recognition of Third Country trust services, particularly for the recognition of electronic signatures and seals in the context of eIDAS Art. 27 & 37. Including a Third Country into the Third Countries AdES LOTL can be seen as the stepping stone towards the final inclusion of this country into the Third Countries List of Trusted Lists (TC LOTL) following the conclusion of an International Agreement. Ukraine was a frontrunner for its involvement in this list, being the first to be included in it. This collaboration with the European Commission is the first step towards expanding the list to many other countries.

Under the TCTL Programme, the European Commission has conducted a technical assessment of the legal and technical aspects of the Ukrainian electronic signatures. It has verified, checked, and vouched for all elements of conformity, ensuring that Ukraine meets all prerequisites for being part of the trusted list. 

In the context of this milestone, new documentation is published in the eIDAS Dashboard dedicated to the International Pilot section:

• Version 2.2 of MRA element’s specification, usage and XSD (ZIP archive), which enables relying parties to understand the syntax and semantic of the TC AdES LOTL. 
• Signature applicability rules which enable relying parties to determine whether an electronic signature or seal fits in the recognition scheme established by the TC AdES LOTL. 
• The EC provides a report containing all relevant information about the validity of the scheme behind the inclusion of Third Countries on this list.

All the above material can be found in the following link.

In addition, the Digital Europe Programme provides a set of tools to accompany the TC AdES LOTL:

• TheThird Countries Trusted Lists Browser.
• The Digital Signature Service (DSS) library supports, since its version version 5.11.1, the interpretation of the content of the TC AdES LOTL.
• The DSS Cookbook provides a detailed guide on how to configure it for electronic signatures and seals validation. 

The European Commission's commitment to provide comprehensive and effective tools to validate electronic signatures and seals is a significant step towards a more secure, global and seamless digital future. 

To find out more about the actions taken by the European Commission to move towards alignment of trust services with Third Countries, interested parties can attend the EC-3rd Countries Trust Services Forum to be held on June 12th, 2023, from 09:00 to 17:30 (CET) in Brussels in a hybrid mode. 

If you would like to attend the event, please register using the form below:

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