e-Estonia

Estonia is internationally recognized as an E-state: we have implemented digital signing and e-services, e-government and Digilugu patient portal, e-school, e-voting and much more. In this section you can find a simple summary of various digital solutions available in Estonia.

Last updated articles

  • Web eID development version (1.0.0-RC2)
    30.06.2021

    We would like to notify you that we have disclosed a new Web eID development version (1.0.0-RC2) and are welcoming pilot users. We have also changed the schedule of disclosing Web eID. We plan to…

Trust services

Trust services: What are they?

Trust service means an electronic service that helps various parties make binding decisions. The exact requirements and conditions of each trust service and the aspects of signing and stamping are determined by the eIDAS.

Trust services: authentication services

The Information System Authority (RIA) provides a central authentication service to the public sector and providers of public services, which allows the owners of e-services to authenticate national and transnational users with various means of identification.

Trust services: timestamping service

The timestamping service makes it possible to prove that certain data existed at a certain moment. There are two timestamp service providers in Estonia and RIA also mediates the timestamping service to persons who perform public functions.

eIDAS, i.e. regulation on e-identification and e-transactions

eIDAS (electronic IDentification, Authentication and trust Services) is the regulation on e-identification and e-transactions effective in the European Union, which is aimed at simplifying of the use of cross-border e-services.

Digital Signature Gateway Service and DigiDocService

Provision of the DigiDoc Service web service will end in October 2020.

Trust services: validity confirmation service and OCSP

The purpose of the validity confirmation service, i.e. OCSP (Online Certificate Status Protocol), is to make it possible to ask about the status of certificates in real time.

Eesti.ee

State Portal eesti.ee

All information about you has been divided into convenient and logical topics in the eesti.ee web environment. This way, you can access the right information quickly and conveniently.

General

Cyber security

In an internet-based world, national borders have no protective role: cybercriminals cannot be prevented from “entering”, and legislation in the country of destination will be of little help if the bad guy has not even…

E-voting and e-elections

Did you know that Estonia is the first country in the world to implement e-voting in a nationwide election?

Foreign nationals residing in Estonia and their documents

From 2011, all foreign nationals who reside permanently in Estonia must hold an ID-card or residence permit card.

Digital documents: ID-card, digital ID, residence permit card and e-Resident digital ID

Digital documents (ID-card, digital ID, e-Resident's digital ID, etc.) enable identification of the user in electronic channels.

Digital signing

Digital signing and electronic signatures

In Estonia, the term “digital signature” (i.e. digi-signature, digital signing, etc.) refers only to a signature that is legally valid and legally equivalent to a handwritten signature.

Validity of the certificates of the ID-card

You can see whether your ID-card certificates are valid when you open DigiDoc4. An ID-card cannot be used for electronic acts without valid certificates, e.g. you cannot log in to your bank or sign documents digitally!

Is it possible to create a legally valid digital signature with other programs?

Several programs (Microsoft Word, Open Office, Adobe Acrobat, Thunderbird) offer the possibility of digital signing. Unfortunately, if the timestamping service has not been used to sign them, these signatures may not be equal to a…