eIDAS trust services

eIDAS trust services give legal standing to the building blocks of trust in European electronic exchanges.

Definition

The European eIDAS regulation (electronic IDentification, Authentication and trust Services) establishes a common framework for electronic identification and trust services.

A trust service is an electronic service, usually provided for payment, that creates, verifies or preserves electronic evidence so as to give it legal standing across the EU internal market.

The main services

eIDAS covers in particular:

• electronic signatures (for natural persons);
• electronic seals (for legal persons);
• electronic timestamps attesting a date and time;
• electronic registered delivery;
• website authentication (certificates).

Each service comes in a standard version and a qualified version subject to stricter requirements.

Providers and trust lists

These services are delivered by trust service providers (TSP). When audited and supervised by a national body, they become qualified (QTSP) and are listed on national trusted lists published by Member States.

For electronic invoicing, these services supply the seals and timestamps that guarantee the authenticity of origin and the integrity of invoice content.