eIDAS & electronic signature glossary
Plain-language definitions of the standards, signature levels and trust concepts behind electronic signature validation in the EU.
AdES
A signature uniquely linked to the signer that detects any later change.
ASiC-E
A ZIP container bundling several files with their signatures.
ASiC-S
A ZIP container for a single signed file.
CAdES
Advanced electronic signatures over arbitrary binary data, based on CMS.
eIDAS
The EU regulation that gives electronic signatures legal status across all member states.
JAdES
Advanced electronic signatures for JSON, based on JWS.
KRX
A Hungarian ZIP-based container that can hold several signed documents.
LOTL
The master list that points to every member state's trusted list.
PAdES
Advanced electronic signatures embedded inside a PDF document.
QES
The only signature level legally equal to a handwritten signature across the EU.
Qualified timestamp
Cryptographic proof, from a qualified provider, that data existed at a point in time.
XAdES
Advanced electronic signatures for XML documents.