Do you support qualified e-signatures (eIDAS)?

The eIDAS hierarchy

eIDAS (Regulation (EU) 910/2014) defines three levels of electronic signatures:

1. Simple electronic signature (SES) — any digital mark indicating intent. Low legal weight.
2. Advanced electronic signature (AdES) — uniquely linked to the signer, capable of identifying the signer, created with means under their sole control, linked to the data such that modification is detectable. PAdES advanced (via DocuSign) meets this.
3. Qualified electronic signature (QES) — AdES created by a qualified signature-creation device using a qualified certificate from a Qualified Trust Service Provider (QTSP). Equivalent legal weight to a handwritten signature across the EU.

What we provide

DocuSign’s PAdES advanced integration gets us to level 2 (AdES). Documents signed through our integration are cryptographically bound, identity-verified, and meet AdES requirements.

For most regulated document workflows, AdES is sufficient. EU member states accept AdES for contracts, regulatory submissions, and most commercial agreements. Specific contexts where AdES is genuinely insufficient are narrower than vendors sometimes suggest.

Where qualified signatures are genuinely required

• Public-sector interactions with government agencies in specific EU member states (Italy, Germany, Spain all have QES-required interactions).
• Specific legal acts (transferring real estate, notarial acts, certain financial contracts) where national law specifies QES.
• Cross-border EU legal acts where parties want the equivalent-to-handwritten legal weight.

For these contexts, customers run a specialized QES tool alongside our DMS. Examples: Italian firma digitale via Aruba, Infocert, or other Italian QTSPs; German qualified signing via D-Trust; Spanish QES via DNIe smart cards.

The practical pattern

The governed document lives in our DMS. When a QES is needed, the document is extracted, signed via the specialized QES tool, and the QES-signed PDF returns to the DMS for ongoing governance. The audit log records the extraction and re-ingest events.

Customers with heavy QES workloads sometimes find this hybrid cumbersome and invest in more integrated QES tooling. For customers with occasional QES needs, the hybrid is practical.