Qualified electronic signature (QES)

A qualified electronic signature (QES) is the highest eIDAS signature level, legally equal to a handwritten signature EU-wide. Learn how it works.

A qualified electronic signature is an advanced electronic signature that is created with a qualified signature creation device and based on a qualified certificate issued by a QTSP. It is the highest of the three signature levels under eIDAS: above the basic electronic signature and the advanced electronic signature. A QES is typically required or advisable where strong evidence of signer identity and document integrity matters, for example high-value contracts, employment agreements or regulatory filings.

A QES has the same legal effect as a handwritten signature and is recognised in every EU member state. This legal equivalence does not override national form requirements: some legal acts, such as notarial deeds or wills, still require a notary or another specific form and cannot be completed with a QES alone. Cleverbase issues qualified certificates after face-to-face-equivalent identity verification and lets users sign remotely: the private key is protected in a certified HSM and the user authorises each signature with strong authentication (remote signing).

Under Article 5a(5)(g) of eIDAS 2, a wallet must offer all natural persons the ability to sign with a qualified electronic signature by default and free of charge; member states may take proportionate measures to keep that free use to non-professional purposes, but the limitation is theirs to make, not a condition built into the right. Member states must make an EUDI Wallet available by the end of 2026, and several have already launched one ahead of that deadline. This sits alongside the QTSP-based signing methods already available today.