What is eIDAS?

What does the name stand for?

Electronic identification, authentication and trust services. It is a clumsy name, and a fair warning that the law covers more than just signatures.

‘Trust services’ is the phrase eIDAS uses for digital services you need to be able to rely on. Electronic signatures are one of them. The others are electronic seals, which are like a company stamp rather than a personal signature. Time stamps, which prove a document existed at a certain moment. Registered delivery, which proves something was sent and received. And website certificates, which prove a website is really who it says it is.

What does eIDAS actually do?

Two things.

The first is about being valid. Article 25(1) says a court cannot throw out a signature just because it is electronic, or because it is not the strongest kind. A basic electronic signature is still a signature.

The second is about the strongest kind of signature. Article 25(2) says a qualified electronic signature counts exactly the same as signing by hand. That applies in every EU country, which is the whole point. Before eIDAS, each country had its own rules, so a signature accepted in France might not be accepted in Germany.

eIDAS also sets up the system behind those strongest signatures. The companies allowed to issue them are called qualified trust service providers. Each EU country checks its own and publishes a list of approved ones, called a trusted list.

What are the three levels of electronic signature?

This is the part of eIDAS people refer to most. The three levels are simple, advanced and qualified. The difference between them is how much they prove about who actually signed.

Stronger does not always mean better. Most everyday contracts are signed with a basic electronic signature, and that is fine. Qualified signatures cost more and take longer, because the person signing has to prove who they are first. For a fuller comparison, see Types of electronic signature: which method should you use? and What is a qualified electronic signature?.

Does eIDAS apply in the UK?

Part of it does. When the UK left the EU, eIDAS was copied into UK law under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, then changed by a set of regulations in 2019. The Information Commissioner’s Office calls the result the UK eIDAS Regulations.

Those changes cut the law roughly in half. The part about digital ID was dropped, because it was about EU countries accepting each other’s national ID schemes and the UK is no longer in that club. The part about signatures, seals, time stamps and the rest was kept, and still applies here.

The Information Commissioner’s Office checks UK providers and keeps the UK trusted list.

One thing to watch. UK law accepts approved providers based in the EU, but the EU does not automatically accept UK ones. It only works in one direction. See Do UK electronic signatures work in the EU? for what that means in practice.

One common misunderstanding is worth clearing up. eIDAS is not the main UK law on electronic signatures. That is the Electronic Communications Act 2000, together with ordinary case law and the Law Commission’s 2019 report.

What is eIDAS 2 and the EU Digital Identity Wallet?

eIDAS 2 is the nickname for a newer law, Regulation (EU) 2024/1183, which updated the original. It was agreed on 11 April 2024 and came into force on 20 May 2024.

Its big idea is the EU Digital Identity Wallet. Every EU country has to offer people and businesses at least one of these by the end of 2026. It is an app that holds official proof of who you are. You can use it to prove one thing about yourself, such as your age or a qualification, without handing over a whole passport or driving licence.

This is important for signatures because proving who you are is the slow, expensive part of getting a qualified signature. If someone already has verified ID in a wallet, that step gets much easier.

Two things to bear in mind. Countries are moving at different speeds, and in early 2026 some had wallets running while others had not said when theirs would arrive. And private companies do not have to accept the wallet until around the end of 2027.

Does eIDAS apply to businesses outside the EU?

Not directly, but it can still affect them.

Any business that signs contracts with EU customers or partners may run into it, because the other side can ask for a particular level of signature. A US or UK company signing with an EU government body may be asked for a qualified signature, which means using an approved provider based in the EU.

That is why the big e-signature platforms all offer qualified signatures, even though most of their customers never need one.