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Electronic Signatures
On May 3, 2023, Order No. 5108/2023 was published in Diário da República. In particular, it deals with the issue of qualified electronic signature certificates in which the holder, natural person, represents a legal person.
Thus, with this Order, the National Security Office established the rules on the information to be included in these certificates. It also did so under Article 6 of Decree-Law No 12/2021 to facilitate its interpretation.
In addition, it also clarified how qualified Trust Service Providers (CSPs) should issue them. Furthermore, this was already possible by Article 3(2)(a) of the same diploma.
"The affixing of a qualified electronic signature to an electronic document shall be equivalent to the signature of documents with written form on paper media and shall create the presumption that the person who has submitted the qualified electronic signature is the holder of the electronic signature or is a representative, with sufficient powers, of the legal person concerned."
First of all, the Order determines that the PQSC may only issue these certificates to the legal representative with sufficient powers to, alone, enforce and bind the legal person.
For this purpose, the PQSC must confirm that the applicant has those powers. Similarly, in issuing, it clearly guarantees the information of the documents that served as a legal basis — in particular those concerning the rights of representation of the holder. In practice, the certificate shall itself identify the legal representative of the organisation. Therefore, users no longer have to submit documents proving such powers.
Thus, when someone signs an electronic document with this certificate, they do not need to add additional proof of their binding powers. In fact, it is assumed that the FPSC has already validated this condition before the issue.
DigitalSign, as Qualified Trust Services Provider, under Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July, commonly referred to as the EIDAS Regulation, provides digital representation certificates as defined by Decision No 5108/2023.
