With an electronic seal, it is possible for a group of people to apply a company stamp or an official seal to an electronic document in a way that is eIDAS-compliant (and thus valid throughout Europe)

Signatur Portal

Learn more about the use of seals in our Signature Portal.

You can also use a seal in combination with a simple signature to increase the evidential value in workflowsMore information about our Signature Portal

The important difference to the qualified signature is that the seal is issued to a legal entity, for example, an authority or a company, and no 2FA is required by the user.

The sealing process with remote sealing and with the signature card can thus be fully automated in workflows and processes. A qualified seal can be used as a smart card (seal card), HSM, or as remote seal with our software. For a deeper insight into the electronic seal, also visit
https://seccommerce.com/elektronisches-siegel-signatur-eidas.

Content

  1. Variants of a Seal
  2. Special Features of the Signature Image
  3. Application Areas
  4. Application Scenarios
  5. Case 1: Direct-Seal Website
  6. Case 2: Automatic Sealing
  7. Case 3: Signature with a simple electronic signature with automatic sealing at the end of the workflow
  8. Case 4: Sealing as an action in a workflow in the Signature Portal
  9. Product Comparison

Variants of a Seal

Qualified Seal ID

The “Qualified Seal ID” is a software certificate that can be purchased directly through us or D-Trust. It is a software certificate that can then be securely created and stored on our server for use. More information can be found on the following page of D-Trust.

The Qualified Seal ID offers the following advantages:

  • low one-time costs
  • No transaction costs at the trust center
  • Management of the seal certificate directly in your Signature Portal Server.

    • With a qualified certificate = Green check in Adobe during signature verification


Sealing via a remote signature server of a trust center (validated trust service)

The remote seal is a qualified remote seal and is security-wise on a similar level as the advanced or qualified remote signature. The crucial difference is that no 2-factor authentication like with the Qualified Electronic Signature is required. Also, no physical signature card or seal card is required anymore.

D-Trust Qualified Remote Seal

For qualified sealing, you can use our SecPKI Server (SecSign ID Server). You operate the SecPKI Server in your own data center or a data center of your choice.
Thus, all files remain on your server until they are signed and further processed.

Swisscom Electronic Seal

Sealing with the Smartcard/Seal Card

D-Trust Seal Cards: Qualified Electronic Seals

Simply insert the seal card into a card reader. Connect to the SecPKI Server and the sealing can begin immediately. You can automate sealing with the card like with all other variants mentioned above or through the GUI of the signature and seal portal. The cards are very efficient, but if a higher volume of seals is needed, multiple cards can be connected to the SecPKI Server.

Special Features of the Signature Image

The signature annotation plays a special role in sealing. A seal certificate is not issued to a natural person but to a legal entity, for example, a company. The signature annotation can then contain only a reference to the legal entity or also contain information that can be attributed to a natural person -> For example, the natural person who placed the seal in the PDF could be listed on the signature annotation.

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In our software, it is freely configurable what the seal should look like and which users are allowed to access it. Furthermore, it can be configured that it is always logged which (authenticated) person actually used the seal, even without it being stated in the signature annotation.

Process of a simple electronic signature and an automatic seal

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Application Areas

Especially in the fields of law, banking, federal and security agencies, citizen services offices, e-commerce, FinTechs, industries, and especially in ministries, seals are used to secure evidential value. Often in combination with other levels of signature or a 2-factor authentication. The main purpose of the electronic seal is to secure the proof of origin and the integrity of the sent document.

Application Scenarios

In our Signature Portal, there is more than one way to seal. For different requirements, we offer various scenarios for sealing. From direct sealing at the push of a button to fully automated sealing, everything is possible. We have a comprehensive API that allows us to work with almost all systems. Below we present a few use cases on how electronic sealing can be realized.

Case 1: Sealing via Direct-Seal Website

The following very popular example shows sealing by a user and the website of the Signature Portal.
Here, only authenticated and authorized users may access the seal and use it.

To insert a seal on a document, first select the field “Sign with remote seal” (also available as non-remote seal) on the dashboard:

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After clicking the “Sign with remote seal” button, the page for selecting the PDF document to be sealed follows. Click here on the “Add file” button or drag the desired document into the area.

After selecting the document (“Add file”), the document is uploaded by pressing the “Upload” button.

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In the next step, a dialog appears. Now the position on the document for the seal must be selected. The signature annotation can be placed manually via “Drag & Drop”. To do this, click with the left mouse button on the dark “Add signature” button, hold it down and drag the seal to the desired position on the PDF page. Only when the correct position has been found, release the left mouse button – the seal has now been successfully placed.

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After the seal has been placed in the desired position, click on the dark “Qualify electronically seal” button.

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After performing the above steps, you can download your document sealed. This completes the sealing process successfully.

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Case 2: Automatic Sealing via API with Keyword Positioning

Do you have files that should be sealed automatically without user interaction? Here, we often talk about batch or mass signatures. With our solution, you can go different ways.

  • Files passed over a REST API
  • Files are passed to the server through a monitored network / server directory, and it writes the finished signed files to an output directory

Another special feature of our solution is that you have different variants to insert a visible signature note, the so-called signature annotation, into the document.

  • A: Via a position statement
  • B: Via signature annotation form fields
  • C: Via keywords (Case C is used here in this case two)

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Sealing via the API in this case is an automated process. So, for example, certain announcements can be automatically sealed by our server before sending or publishing. Here, a signature annotation is placed on the PDF through keyword positioning in the document.


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Case 3: Signature with a simple electronic signature followed by automatic sealing at the end of the workflow

In this case, a simple electronic signature is used for signing. So that the signed PDF documents are still protected from alteration and everyone can see that they were created with your Signature Portal, all files that were part of the workflow and the workflow logs are automatically sealed at the end of the workflow.

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Case 4: Sealing as an Action in a Workflow in the Signature Portal

When you create a workflow, you can combine users with different actions (signature levels) in a workflow. For example, you could say that in a workflow X participants should sign with a Simple Signature or qualified signature, and one user should apply a seal. We want to show exactly this case in this popular example.

First, the document to be sealed must be uploaded under “Create a new workflow”.

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If necessary, an order can be established.
Furthermore, it is possible to make the signature annotation editable by the participants. Next, a user must be entered. This user can also be the workflow creator himself.


To now seal electronically in a qualified manner, the option “Qual. Electronic Seal” (1) must be selected under Action. Then, the participant is saved. If you also want a qualified electronic signature on the document, perform the same steps but select “Qualified Remote Signature” for the corresponding user as the action.

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In the next step, the seal must now be positioned on the document (2). Finally, the workflow can now be started (3).

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Product Comparison

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