The last few decades have seen more countries adopt a democratic form of government than ever before in history. For the most part though, citizens do not directly participate in day-to-day governance but rather elect representatives like Members of Parliament or Senators to do that in their stead. These MPs decide on the issues that are most relevant to society and then these issues are debated on and legislation may follow.

The European healthcare market is currently worth over USD 2 trillion. This figure is only expected to rise further as populations age, not only in the EU but in countries around the world. The cost of healthcare varies greatly and has even given rise to a new industry – medical tourism. Even within the EU, healthcare standards and costs vary greatly. While some of the factors that make healthcare more expensive (like the number of skilled practitioners or wages) cannot be changed overnight, there are certain other inefficiencies which can be removed.

This article describes a model that could enable an electronically signed document to be printed out and used as an original in legal proceedings, in compliance with the eIDAS regulation.

PSD2 breaks up the ways in which banks do their business, by forcing them to open up their APIs. By doing so, PSD2 challenges the way in which data was traditionally secured in banks.

The eIDAS Regulation creates a pan European market for electronic Trust Services (eTS). This includes things like electronic signatures and seals, electronic service delivery, website authentication and time stamps. The major thrust of the Regulation is towards ensuring that these mechanisms, when used, get the same legal status as conventional paper-based alternatives - across borders, throughout the EU.

The Payment Service Directive 2 (PSD2) allows non-banks to provide payment services which before were reserved for banks only. The market of services initiating a payment transaction or getting information about account balance will grow, and will also be open for new business models and technologies. The Directive and its implementation standards require all transactions to be handled through secure channels and all data shall be protected regarding authenticity and integrity.

In Part 1 of our series exploring the wide footprint of the eIDAS regulation, we looked things like PSD2, the European Citizen’s Initiative and the eHealth Governance Initiative. However, these are just a few examples of the many applications of the eIDAS mechanisms. In this part, we look at some other interesting applications including Social Security and the prevention of Money Laundering.

The eIDAS regulation is a key foundational stone in the creation of the pan-European Digital Single Market. It provides the essential elements to build a robust and secure electronic identification system and reliable trust services. Without the tools that eIDAS enables, a number of other EU directives and initiatives would not be able to function effectively - or at all.

 eSeal - solution for legal persons

The eIDAS regulation introduced Electronic Seals as a solution for legal entities, allowing them to protect authenticity and integrity of electronic documents and data. An Electronic Seal is based on the same technology as an Electronic Signature and also can be Advanced and Qualified. A Qualified Electronic Seal is verified with Qualified Certificate.