eIDAS

What is eIDAS?

eIDAS stands for electronic IDentification, Authentication and trust Services. It is an EU regulation, adopted in 2014 and applied in all member states since 2016. It sets one legal framework for electronic identification and for trust services such as electronic signatures. Because the rules are the same everywhere, a qualified electronic signature from one member state is valid in all the others.

What eIDAS covers

Electronic identification

• Cross-border recognition: member states recognize each other's notified national eID schemes, so citizens can use their own eID for public services elsewhere in the EU.

• Assurance levels: low, substantial and high, depending on how strictly an identity is checked.

Trust services

• Electronic signatures: a person's agreement with a document, in three levels.

• Electronic seals: the same for an organization. A seal shows where a document comes from and that it hasn't changed.

• Timestamps: proof that a document existed in a given form at a given time.

• Website authentication: certificates that link a website to the organization behind it.

• Electronic registered delivery: sending data with proof of sending and receipt.

Qualified trust service providers

• Supervision: a qualified trust service provider (QTSP) is supervised by a national authority.

• EU trust lists: every QTSP is listed in a public register, so you can check who it is.

• Qualified certificates: only a QTSP can issue the certificates behind a qualified signature or seal.

Three levels of electronic signature

Simple

Any electronic sign of agreement, such as a typed name or a checkbox. Easy to use, but it proves little on its own.

Advanced

Uniquely linked to the signer and able to identify them. It also shows whether the document changed after signing.

Qualified

An advanced signature based on a qualified certificate and made with a qualified signature creation device. It has the same legal effect as a handwritten signature in every member state.

eIDAS 2.0 and the European Digital Identity Wallet

eIDAS 2.0 was adopted as Regulation (EU) 2024/1183 and entered into force on 20 May 2024. It updates the original regulation and introduces the European Digital Identity Wallet: a digital wallet in which citizens keep their identity data and share it with public and private services. Every member state must offer such a wallet by the end of 2026. The three signature levels stay the same.

What this means for your software

If your software lets people sign contracts, approve documents or prove who they are, eIDAS determines what that proof is worth. Choose the level per process. A simple signature is often enough for an internal approval. Where a document legally has to be signed by hand, only a qualified signature takes its place. For that you work with a qualified trust service provider; you don't build that part yourself.

We added eIDAS-compliant electronic signatures to an existing document signing platform that we reviewed and rebuilt.

You can read more about the regulation and its updates on the European Commission's eIDAS page.