Germany is a full participant in the EU eIDAS framework, with a mature market for qualified certificates used across public administration, banking and the notarial sector.
Supervisory authority
Qualified trust services in Germany are overseen by Bundesnetzagentur (BNetzA), which maintains the national trusted list referenced by the EU List of Trusted Lists.
Notable qualified trust service providers
- D-Trust (Bundesdruckerei)
- Bundesnotarkammer
This is not an exhaustive list — the authoritative, always-current set of qualified providers is Germany's national trusted list, indexed by the EU LOTL. Sealium validates against the live list, so new providers are recognised automatically.
How to validate Germany signatures
Send the document to the Sealium API and it resolves Germany's trusted list automatically, returning each signature's eIDAS level, signer, certificate chain, revocation status and timestamps as a structured report — no per-country configuration required.
Frequently asked questions
Is an electronic signature legally valid in Germany?
Yes. As an EU participant in the eIDAS framework, Germany recognises electronic signatures, and a qualified electronic signature (QES) has the same legal effect as a handwritten one. Germany's qualified providers are published on its national trusted list, which is indexed by the EU List of Trusted Lists.
Who publishes Germany's trusted list?
Germany's trusted list is published under the supervision of Bundesnetzagentur (BNetzA) and referenced by the EU List of Trusted Lists.
How do I validate a Germany electronic signature?
Check the signature against Germany's national trusted list (via the EU LOTL): verify integrity, build the certificate chain, check revocation and any timestamp, and read the eIDAS level. Sealium does all of this in one /v1/validate API call and returns a structured report.
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