{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-decision-2015-1506/introduction",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-decision-2015-1506/introduction.json",
  "legislation": "eudn/2015/1506",
  "legislation_title": "Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2015/1506 of 8 September 2015 laying down specifications relating to formats of advanced electronic signatures and advanced seals to be recognised by public sector bodies pursuant to Articles 27(5) and 37(5) of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market (Text with EEA relevance)",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-decision-2015-1506",
  "path": "introduction",
  "kind": "introduction",
  "number": null,
  "heading": "Introductory text",
  "text": "Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2015/1506\nof 8 September 2015\nlaying down specifications relating to formats of advanced electronic signatures and advanced seals to be recognised by public sector bodies pursuant to Articles 27(5) and 37(5) of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market\n(Text with EEA relevance)\nTHE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,\nHaving regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,\nHaving regard to Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market and repealing Directive 1999/93/EC, and in particular Article 27(5) and 37(5) thereof,\nWhereas:\n(1)\nMember States need to put in place the necessary technical means allowing them to process electronically signed documents that are required when using an online service offered by, or on behalf of, a public sector body.\n(2)\nRegulation (EU) No 910/2014 obliges Member States requiring an advanced electronic signature or seal for the use of an online service offered by, or on behalf of, a public sector body, to recognise advanced electronic signatures and seals, advanced electronic signatures and seals based on a qualified certificate and qualified electronic signatures and seals in specific formats, or alternative formats validated pursuant to specific reference methods.\n(3)\nTo define the specific formats and reference methods, existing practices, standards and Union legal acts should be taken into account.\n(4)\nCommission Implementing Decision 2014/148/EU has defined a number of the most common advanced electronic signature formats to be supported technically by the Member States, where advanced electronic signatures are required for an online administrative procedure. Establishing the reference formats aims at facilitating the cross-border validation of electronic signatures and at improving the cross-border interoperability of electronic procedures.\n(5)\nThe standards listed in the Annex to this Decision are the existing standards for formats of advanced electronic signatures. Due to the ongoing revision by the standardisation bodies of the long term archival forms of the referenced formats, standards detailing long-term archiving are excluded from the scope of this Decision. When the new version of the referenced standards is available, references to the standards and the clauses on long term archiving will be revised.\n(6)\nAdvanced electronic signatures and advanced electronic seals are similar from the technical point of view. Therefore, the standards for formats of advanced electronic signatures should apply mutatis mutandis to formats for advanced electronic seals.\n(7)\nWhere other electronic signature or seal formats than those commonly technically supported are used to sign or seal, validation means that allow the electronic signatures or seals to be verified across borders should be provided. In order to allow the receiving Member States to be able to rely on those validation tools of another Member State, it is necessary to provide easily accessible information on those validation tools by including the information in the electronic documents, in the electronic signatures or in the electronic document containers.\n(8)\nWhere electronic signature or seal validation possibilities suitable for automated processing are available in a Member State's public services, such validation possibilities should be made available and provided to the receiving Member State. Nonetheless, this Decision should not impede the application of Articles 27(1) and (2) and 37(1) and (2) of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 when the automated processing of validation possibilities for alternative methods is not possible.\n(9)\nIn order to provide for comparable requirements for validation and to increase trust in the validation possibilities provided by Member States for other electronic signature or seal formats than those commonly supported, the requirements set out in this Decision for the validation tools, draw from the requirements for the validation of qualified electronic signatures and seals referred to in Articles 32 and 40 of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014.\n(10)\nThe measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee established by Article 48 of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014,\nHAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:",
  "extent": "E+W+S+N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f1",
      "text": "OJ L 257, 28.8.2014, p. 73."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f2",
      "text": "Commission Implementing Decision 2014/148/EU of 17 March 2014 amending Decision 2011/130/EU establishing minimum requirements for the cross-border processing of documents signed electronically by competent authorities under Directive 2006/123/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on services in the internal market (OJ L 80, 19.3.2014, p. 7)."
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudn/2015/1506/introduction",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-11-01T15:14:15.052692+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}