Brussels, 04/12/2008 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has adopted a Community action plan aimed at stimulating the crossborder use of electronic signature and identification solutions. At the present time, the main obstacle lies in the lack of interoperability of existing national systems. An assessment of the action plan will take place in 2010.
There are three kinds of electronic signature: - light electronic signature that allows identification of the signer and allows data to be authenticated; - advanced electronic signature that meets certain additional criteria (exclusive checks on the signer, possibility of detecting any later change in the document signed); - and qualified electronic signature, which is an advanced electronic signature based on a qualified certificate and which is created by a secure-signature-creation-device. In the case of qualified electronic signatures, the Commission will draw up a European list of certification service providers in order to facilitate the validation exercise. In the case of advanced electronic signatures, it will study the feasibility of a European validation service.
The action plan provides, moreover, for studies to be launched on the use of digital identification which, in member states, often takes the form of electronic identity cards. These inquiries will complete the work carried out as part of the STORK project responsible for specifically studying interoperability and electronic identification in public services. For more information, see: http: //euro-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM: 2008: 0798: FIN: EN/PDF (M.B./transl.jl)