Brussels, 04/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - On 4 June 2012, the European Commission unveiled a draft regulation on electronic signatures and electronic identification to ensure and facilitate safe international sales online in Europe. The new directive follows on from the Single Market Act, filling in gaps in the previous 1999 directive. The new rules will ensure people and businesses can use their own national electronic identification schemes (e-IDs) to access public services in other EU countries where e-IDs are available. It also creates an internal market for eSignatures and related online trust services across borders, by ensuring these services will work across borders and have the same legal status as traditional paper based processes. This will give full effect to the major potential savings of eProcurement. European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes said “People and businesses should be able to transact within a borderless Digital Single Market, that is the value of Internet. Legal certainty and trust is also essential, so a more comprehensive eSignatures and eIdentification Regulation is needed”.
Both elements of the Regulation - e-ID and eSignatures - will create a predictable regulatory environment to enable secure and seamless electronic interactions between businesses, citizens and public authorities. This will increase the effectiveness of public and private online services, eBusiness and electronic commerce in the EU. All countries in the EU have legal frameworks for eSignatures; however these diverge and make it de facto impossible to conduct cross-border electronic transactions. The same holds true for trust services like time stamping, electronic seals and delivery, and website authentication, which lack European interoperability. Therefore, this regulation proposes common rules and practices for these services. For e-ID, the regulation provides for legal certainty by the mutual recognition and acceptance principle in which member states accept national e-IDs which have been officially notified to the Commission. It is not obligatory for member states to register their national e-IDs, but the Commission hopes that many member states will chose to do this. Member states wishing to take part in the pan-European system will have to provide the same e-ID rules for everyone officially registered in the EU, whether from its own country or elsewhere. The Commission says that the regulation 1) will not force member states to introduce ID cards, electronic ID cards or any other form of electronic identification and will not require individuals to hold ID cards of any type; 2) will not introduce any form of European ID cards or a European database of any type, and 3) will not allow or introduce any sharing of personal information with third parties. (IL/transl.fl)