25 October 2017 will remain a historic date for the European Parliament. For the first time, a European Union legislative act (in this case a revision of legislation on security of gas supply) was signed electronically.
And 25 October 2017 will remain a historic date for Luxembourg EIG LuxTrust, as it was the supplier of the smart card used to produce the electronic signature, the only one to have legal effect equivalent to a handwritten signature.
This European first shows to what extent the company, specialising in digital identity and trust services since 2003, has become a major player in this segment in just over a decade. Initially set up as an interest group, in 2005 LuxTrust became a separate limited liability company, owned mainly by the State (over 41%) and the national credit and investment company (over 22%). The remaining capital comes from a pool of banks (BCEE, Bil, Post, BGL BNP Paribas, Banque Raiffeisen), the Chamber of Commerce, the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, the national certification and accreditation body and the national motor vehicle corporation.
Under eIDAS
“The electronic signature will become the norm,” explained Pascal Rogiest, CEO of LuxTrust. “This is a new way of doing business that will speed up business procedures, improve the level of service and save paper, time and money while maintaining security and trust.”
Implementing solutions based on the highest international standards in terms of digital trust, LuxTrust is one of the first companies in Europe to offer a time stamping service (integration of the exact time and date at the time of the electronic signature of the document) in compliance with the eIDAS EU Regulation on electronic identification and trust services, in force since July 2016.
Moreover, the company’s electronic time stamping service is currently used by the European Commission to date its electronic communications on social networks.
LuxTrust is also qualified to affix the electronic seal, the equivalent of the electronic signature, but reserved only for companies. Furthermore, the State of Luxembourg uses it for the distribution of the electronic version of the Official Gazette, since there is no longer a paper version.
(Photo: © European Union 2017 – Source: EP)