The Directive is required to be in force in all member states by
19th July this year (although in the UK it has already been
implemented in part by the Electronic Communications Act). The
Directive aims to harmonise legal recognition of electronic
signatures in the EU so that they can be used efficiently in cross
border transactions. This, it is hoped, will further facilitate the
development of e-business in Europe.
Mr Liikanen, when addressing the European Electronic Signatures
Standardisation Initiative (EESSI) in Brussels on Tuesday, called
for practical business solutions to be developed by the private
sector (in co-operation with public authorities) that are compliant
with the Directive. He added, “this requires the promotion of
standards and best practices, as well as further interoperability
tests and common criteria for the certification and testing of
security enhancing software.”
The Electronic Communications Act differs from the Directive.
The Directive defines the requirements for electronic signature
certificates and certification services so as to ensure minimum
levels of security and allow their free movement throughout the
Internal Market. Among its main elements, it provides that an
electronic signature cannot be legally discriminated against on the
sole ground that it is electronic. If a certificate and the service
provider as well as the signature product used meet a set of
specific requirements, any resulting electronic signature will be
as legally valid as a hand-written one.
However, under the UK Act, Ministers are only given the power to
make delegated legislation to remove any restrictions in other
legislation which prevent use of electronic communications in place
of paper. This is not the same as removing all restrictions on the
form of signatures. Accordingly, relaxation of the rules on
signatures is being done in a piecemeal fashion.
