Electronic Signature

An electronic signature is essentially the equivalent of a hand-written signature, with data in electronic form being attached to other electronic subject data (Invoice, Payment slip, Contract, etc) as a means of authentication.
Electronic signature is not just a 'picture' of the hand written signature. It is a digital signature that uses a cryptographic transformation of the data to allow the recipient of the data to prove the origin and integrity of the subject data.
In addition to this digital signature the electronic signature also has user authentication via digital certificate, smart card or a biometric method.

Increasingly, electronic signatures are being accorded the same legality as hand-written ones. The European Commission e-sign Directive (1999/93/EC) was a step in this direction, as was the June 2000, U.S. government E-sign bill.

On 28 November 2008 the European Commission adopted an 'Action Plan on e-signatures and e-identification to facilitate the provision of cross-border public services in the Single Market' (COM(2008) 798).

On 22nd December 2009, the European Commission issued a standardization mandate on electronic signatures (M/460) for the definition of a rationalized standardization framework.

ETSI activity on electronic signatures is coordinated by technical committee Electronic Signatures and Infrastructures (ESI).
 
ETSI ESI is the committee dealing with electronic signatures (signature format, certificates, CSPs, trusted list) and ancillary services (Registered email, Time-Stamping, Long-term document preservation).

Their activity covers signature creation and verification based on advanced electronic signatures such as CAdES (CMS Advanced Electronic Signatures), XAdES (XML Advanced Electronic Signatures), PAdES (PDF Advanced Electronic Signatures), and ASiC (Associated Signature Container).  ESI also deals with cryptographic suites, trust service providers supporting e-signatures (e.g. certification authorities, time-stamping authorities), trust application providers (e.g. Registered Emails (REM) providers, Information preservation providers), and Trust-service Status List (TSL). TSL is defined to enhance the confidence of parties relying on certificates or other services related to electronic signatures since they have access to information that will allow them to know whether a given Trust Service Provider was operating under the approval of any recognized scheme at the time of providing their services and of any dependent transaction that took place.

In order to prove interoperability of implementations and enhance standards robustness, ETSI is running regular CAdES/XAdES PlugtestsTM events. Other PlugtestsTM events on PAdES, ASiC, and Registered Emails will enhance testing activities.

Latest ESI activities on:
http://portal.etsi.org/esi/esi_activities.asp

The following is a list of published and frequently downloaded standards. Please use the ETSI Work Programme to find further related standards.