Qualified certificate

A qualified certificate is the eIDAS PKI certificate underpinning a QES, giving electronic signatures and seals the highest level of legal assurance.

A qualified certificate is a PKI certificate issued by a QTSP that meets the eIDAS annexes (I for signatures, III for seals, IV for website authentication) and underpins a qualified electronic signature (QES) or seal. It binds a verified identity to a public key and states that it is qualified. Certificates for signatures are issued only to natural persons; those for seals are issued to legal persons, while a website authentication certificate can go to either: Annex IV covers a natural person (name or a clearly marked pseudonym) as well as a legal person, even if in practice organisations are the usual holders. The identity is established through identity verification.

Qualified certificates for signatures underpin a QES together with a QSCD that holds the signing key; those for seals underpin qualified seals. Their issuance, management and revocation follow ETSI EN 319 411 policies; status is checked via CRL or OCSP. A certificate only counts as qualified if its issuing QTSP appears on the EU Trusted List.

Frequently asked questions
Public key infrastructure (PKI) Qualified trust service provider (QTSP) Qualified electronic signature (QES) Identity verification Signature validation Qualified signature creation device (QSCD) EU Trusted List Qualified website authentication certificate (QWAC) Remote signing
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