eIDAS

The EU regulation on electronic identification and trust services (910/2014), creating common rules for electronic signatures, seals and timestamps across the EU. eIDAS defines three levels of electronic signatures — simple (SES), advanced (AES) and qualified (QES) — and establishes that a signature cannot be denied legal effect solely because it is electronic. The regulation has been updated by eIDAS 2.0, which among other things introduces a European digital identity wallet. For SMEs, eIDAS means documents such as employment contracts can be validly signed digitally.