The Clubhouse Talk on Wednesday evenings, the „TaxTech Roundtable“, is steadily establishing itself as a regular meeting place for experts in the fields of taxation, financial accounting and bookkeeping. It was precisely at this event a few weeks ago that three specialists with an interest in digital signatures came together: Hendrik Siemes, Sales Manager at d.velop AG, who is on the road promoting the topic to businesses. Philipp Kühn, a solicitor/counsel at Ebner Stolz, specialising in IT law and data protection law. And Paul Liese, Managing Director of hsp. The three of them spontaneously agreed to host a livestream to dispel myths and answer questions.
According to Philipp Kühn, the myth begins with the very term „digital signature“. At the start of the livestream, the legal expert refers to the eIDAS Regulation, which governs this area at EU level. It does not refer to ‘digital signatures’, but to ‘electronic signatures’. The legislation recognises three levels of these electronic signatures:
- Electronic signature: This is also often referred to as a „simple electronic signature“. This level has the lowest security and technical requirements.
- Advanced electronic signature: At this level, the security and technical requirements are higher. This also increases the level of trust in the signature.
- Qualified electronic signature: The highest level of electronic signatures imposes the most stringent requirements, but consequently also offers the highest level of evidential value.
Simple, flexible, easy to understand
From his day-to-day work, Hendrik Siemes knows what users expect from electronic signatures. The implementation should therefore be technically flexible. Whether on a tablet, smartphone, PC or Mac – it should be possible to sign documents anywhere. Furthermore, the issue of evidential value is always a key consideration. Who signed the document? When was the document signed?
However, what many people do not initially realise is the need to archive digital documents. This is because documents signed in analogue form can simply be filed away and stored under lock and key. Yet the law also requires many digital documents to be archived securely, for example to protect them from tampering or deletion.
Personal responsibility in legal matters
Siemes points out that two US companies dominate the market for electronic signatures. However, these are not fully EU-compliant, as they have not developed their products specifically for the EU market. German law firms should not blindly rely on existing solutions simply for the sake of convenience. Ultimately, every company that works with electronic signatures is responsible for ensuring legal certainty.
In this context, Philipp Kühn dispels the myth that a digital photograph of a hand-signed document is more secure than a simple electronic signature. Kühn points out that a digital image of a signed document provides no evidence whatsoever as to who signed it. Using image-editing software, such a photograph can be forged in a matter of minutes.
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Definitely only with the right hardware
But how does a qualified electronic signature work? What hardware do I, as a user, need to create a qualified electronic signature? Hendrik Siemes lists two options here that are well established on the market.
Option 1 – hardware-based: This option comprises three components that are required. The user needs a server, a card reader and a signature card containing their digital identity. Disadvantage: With this option, the user is restricted to a specific location.
Option 2 – remote signing: This option requires only a single device, such as a smartphone or laptop. Using this device, the user accesses their digital identity via a web browser; this identity is stored with a trust service provider. These providers work in partnership with software companies that carry out the necessary identity verification.
Implementation within the law firm
The question remains: what is stopping a law firm from introducing electronic signatures? Decision-makers should ask themselves what benefits an immediate switch to electronic signatures would bring to their day-to-day work. Hendrik Siemes then advises law firms to look at various providers and assess which of them offers a wide range of options.
At this point, Siemes points out that law firms can undergo training to become so-called ‘identifiers’. Trained identifiers are authorised to verify the identity of individuals on the spot, i.e. to create a digital identity, for example on a computer at the firm’s offices. Such a procedure takes only a few minutes, but will save many times that amount of time in future and strengthen the partnership between the law firm and its clients.
You can listen to further insights here on our Opti.Cast podcast:
Or watch the recording of the livestream here:
Clubhouse chat: Follow Paul Liese
Would you like to join the Clubhouse discussion, the TaxTech session? Every Wednesday from 8 pm, you can listen in and join the conversation. Simply follow Paul Liese on Clubhouse, and you’ll be notified of the dates in good time so you can join the room. You can find further tips on digitalisation here.
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