On Friday the
European Commission published a progress report on a Directive of
1999 that created a Community framework for electronic
signatures.
Signing an email message by typing your name is a form of
electronic signature; but the focus of the Commission's concern is
the low take-up of more secure signatures, notably digital
signatures that use Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) – a variety of
signature described in the Directive as an 'advanced electronic
signature'.
“I am not fully satisfied with the take-up of electronic
signatures in Europe,” said Information Society and Media
Commissioner Viviane Reding. “Much work still has to be done in
particular to make signatures work across borders.”
Digital signatures – unlike simpler forms of electronic
signature – apply a seal to an electronic document that allows the
recipient to be certain of the identity of the sender and they can
also confirm that the document has not been tampered with since it
was signed.
The Commission saw that such signatures would be useful in
encouraging trade in goods and services via the internet and in
1999 pushed through its Directive setting up a Community framework
for electronic signatures. This has now been implemented in all the
25 Member States.
However, a progress report into the operation of the Directive
has revealed that the market for advanced electronic signatures
backed by 'qualified certificates' from so-called Certification
Service Providers has been much slower to take off than
expected.
The Commission says the reason appears to be largely economic.
According to the report, “service providers have little incentive
to develop multi-application electronic signature and prefer to
offer solutions for their own services, for instance, solutions
developed by the banking sector. This slows down the process of
developing interoperable solutions.”
But the report is optimistic, explaining that the growing use of
electronic ID cards is likely to drive demand in the future. An
electronic ID card can be used both as an identification document
and to provide online access to public services for citizens. In
most cases, these ID cards will serve to identify the holder and
authenticate the signature, as well as enabling the holder to
sign.
The use of electronic signatures in e-government services, such
as online income tax returns, and in electronic public procurement
and ID management are also likely to be influential, according to
the report.
The report concludes that the Directive has introduced legal
certainty with respect to the general admissibility of electronic
signatures and continues to provide, for the moment, a valid basis
for electronic signatures in the internal market.
But the Commission is keen to further encourage the development
of e-signatures services and applications.
It plans to encourage further standardisation work in order to
promote the interoperability of e-signature systems within and
across borders and the use of all kinds of technologies for
qualified electronic signature in the single market.
It intends to hold a series of meetings with EU Member State
experts and stakeholders to consider possible complementary
measures, to address, where appropriate: any differences among
national laws transposing the e-signatures Directive that could
fragment the single market, any clarifications needed in specific
articles of the e-signatures Directive and any technical and
standardisation work needed to improve the cross-border
interoperability of e-signature systems.
The Commission also plans to prepare a report on standards for
electronic signatures in 2006 to see whether further regulatory
measures by the EU could be required.
