European cooperation: electronic signing and identification

At the 10th CNUE Futuroloy Forum in Rome, European notaries presented their views on electronic signatures and electronic client identification. In many countries, for example, it is already possible to sign deeds digitally.

The Futurology Forum is organized annually by the New Technologies Working Group of the Council of Notaries of Europe (CNUE). The working group consists of IT professionals and (candidate) notaries from the European Union. Fifteen notaries met in Rome for two days. Notary Martin Beenen and Bastiaan Kers, IT and Process Optimization Manager at the KNB, formed the Dutch delegation.

Usable
It's striking that there are many technological initiatives in various European countries, and that in many countries, documents are signed digitally and digital identification is used. It's important that these various initiatives can collaborate sufficiently with each other so that signatures and identification can be used everywhere.

Revision of European regulation
With electronic signatures and electronic client identification, the level of reliability is particularly important. The 2014 eIDAS Regulation already allows for the digital signing of documents, but in the proposal to revise this regulation, the European Commission wants to oblige Member States to provide citizens with a European digital identity, the so-called European Digital Wallet.

Interest
For notaries, it is important that identification security is ensured at a high level, whether or not based on biometric features. The Royal Netherlands Bar Association (KNB) has explicitly emphasized this point several times in its lobbying efforts at the European level, including through the publication below and voting recommendations to relevant Members of the European Parliament.