Maintaining Document Authenticity: Verification and Long-Term Archiving of Electronic Signatures
Electronic signatures bring many benefits, but how do you ensure their validity in the long term? What if you need to verify the validity of an electronic signature on a contract in 10 years? How to archive electronically signed documents so that they are safely stored in the future? If you are interested in the issue of long-term archiving of electronically signed documents and its challenges, I invite you to my presentation at the #ITAPA conference. I look forward to your participation!
Verifying the validity of electronic signatures determines whether a contract will hold up in practice — especially in court. It’s not enough to have a document “signed”; you need to know whether the signature is truly valid and from an authorized person. Long-term verifiability is also important, so that documents aren’t undermined by obsolete technology or an expired certificate. For contracts that establish rights and obligations, a qualified electronic signature is used in particular, which in the EU has the legal weight of a handwritten signature and is often mandatory in the public sector. If the recipient does not verify the validity of the signature, the court will do it for them — and the consequences can be severe. Practice shows that improperly signed documents lead to rejected lawsuits, suspended proceedings, or annulled decisions. Common issues include a non-verifiable signature, improperly executed authorization, or a signature by an unauthorized person.Why electronic signature verification is crucial
