Electronic signatures: The European draft directive on a common framework for electronic signatures

Computer Law and Security Report

Volumn 15, Issue 2, 1999, Pages 106-112

  Dumortier, Jos ^a,b   Van Eecke, Patrick ^a,b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF LEUVEN   (Belgium)

^b Interdisc Ctr Law Info Technol   (Belgium)

Author keywords

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EID: 84979844365     PISSN: 02673649     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/s0267-3649(99)80022-3     Document Type: Article

References (22)

1. O.J. 23 September 1998, C 325/04-11.
2. The proposed directive is based on article 57 (2) concerning the freedom of establishment, Article 66 on the freedom to provide services and Article 100 A relating to approximation of laws, of the Treaty of Rome.The legislative procedure laid down in Article 189b of the Treaty is being followed.
3. ISO has defined digital signature as "data appended to, or a cryptographic transformation of, a data unit that allows the recipient of that data to prove the source and integrity of the data unit. It protects against forgery, even by the recipient" (ISO 7498-2).
4. As an example, one can refer to Article 13 of Title IX of the Belgian Commercial Code, which states that a company always acts through its managers and administrators.
5. Ryan, C., Company Law, § 36A: "(1) Under the law of England and Wales the following provisions have effect with respect to the execution of documents by a company. (2) A document is executed by a company by the affixing of its common seal (...)"; also: Mayson, French & Ryan on Company Law, 1996-97 edition, Blackstone Press, p. 584.
6. Ryan, C., Company Law, § 36A: "(1) Under the law of England and Wales the following provisions have effect with respect to the execution of documents by a company. (2) A document is executed by a company by the affixing of its common seal (...)"; also: Mayson, French & Ryan on Company Law, 1996-97 edition, Blackstone Press, p. 584.
7. One example is the Californian product "PenOp"; see: .
8. See for an excellent overview the recent CEN/ISSS report Survey of Standards-related For a and Consortia, Brussels, October 1998,146 p.
9. This has however recently changed, with the publication of the excellent study of Harmt Schepel and Josef Falke: H. Schepel en J. Falke, The Legal Status of Standards in the Member States of the EC and the EFTA Comparative Report, Bremen, Zentrum für Europäische Rechtspolitik, 1998.
10. Bundesgesetzblatt, 1, 1997,p. 1870.
11. At the time of writing this article the further development of the German regulatory framework for digital signatures is in the hands of the federal telecommunications supervisory authority and the federal information security agency BSI (Bunesamt für Informationssicherheit). Besides the two 'Massnahmenkataloge', further 'specifications' are developed for certificates, signatures, exchange formats, time stamps, repositories, signature components, user infrastructure, parallel and iterative signatures, a validity model for digital signatures, etc. .
12. C. Kuner in Electronic Information Policy and Law Report, Vol. 3, 1998, p. 8.
13. The specifications aim mainly at establishing interoperability in the public sector: .
14. These are also considerations to take into account in the discussion of a possible Community legal instrument in this area.
15. A. Reisen, "Signaturgesetz und Verordnung. Die ersten Schritte ".The document can be downloaded from the BSI Web site: .
16. Delega al Governo per il conferimento di funzioni e compiti alle regioni ed enti locali, per la riforma della Pubblica Amministrazione e per Ia semplificazione amministrativa - Law 59 of 15 March 1997, Supplemento Ordinario alia Gazzetta Ufficiale della Republica Italiana n.63 del 17 March 1997; see: for an English translation of the text. A decree of 10 November 1997 sets the criteria and methods to be used, and a draft decree on the technical rules lays down the specific technical requirements for electronic documents.
17. Delega al Governo per il conferimento di funzioni e compiti alle regioni ed enti locali, per la riforma della Pubblica Amministrazione e per Ia semplificazione amministrativa - Law 59 of 15 March 1997, Supplemento Ordinario alia Gazzetta Ufficiale della Republica Italiana n.63 del 17 March 1997; see: for an English translation of the text. A decree of 10 November 1997 sets the criteria and methods to be used, and a draft decree on the technical rules lays down the specific technical requirements for electronic documents.
18. MDW-report Elektronisch verrichten van rechtshandelingen, report of the Uls-commission to the Dutch Minister of Justice, March 1998.
19. .
20. J. Bizer, "Beweissicherheit im elektronischen Rechtsverkehr", in A. Haratsch, D. Kugelmann and U. Repkewitz, Herausforderungen an das Recht der Informationsgesellschaft, Stuttgart, Boorberg Verlag, 1996, p. 160, writes "Beweissicherheit im Rechtsverkehr wird nicht über eine rein formale rechtliche Gleichstellung von eigenhändiger Unterschrift und Signatur erreicht."
21. Report from COREPER (13198/98) on 18 November 1998.
22. COM(1998)297final; this original version is available on the Internet at: .