eIDAS (electronic IDentification, Authentication and trust Services) is the regulation on e-identification and e-transactions effective in the European Union, which was adopted by the European Parliament and the Council on 23 July 2014.
The purpose of the eIDAS regulation is to simplify the international use of digital services: it is possible to guarantee the comparability of trust services if the same requirements, codes of conduct and principles apply to all service providers and public institutions.
The Estonian name of the regulation is long: “e-identimise ja e-tehingute jaoks vajalike usaldusteenuste kohta siseturul ja millega tunnistatakse kehtetuks direktiiv 1999/93/EÜ”.
What should you know about the eIDAS regulation and digital signatures:
Pursuant to the regulation, all Estonian state and local government institutions and private companies who provide public services must recognise digital signatures from all EU members as of 1 July 2016. Similarly, other public sector institutions of EU Member States must accept digital signatures provided by Estonian citizens. Digital signatures of EU citizens that are equal with nationally used digital signatures must be accepted.
All electronic signatures are not equivalent to handwritten signatures, i.e. digital signatures. Read more about the levels of electronic signatures and the differences between the digital signature formats .ddoc and .asice.
Requirements for assurance levels established by the eIDAS regulation.
