How can companies sign documents online?
- How can companies sign documents online?
- What is EDS?
- Varieties of EDS
- The procedure for signing documents using EDS
Many organizations are moving to electronic document management to reduce the amount of paperwork. Since 2002, a law has been in effect in the country, according to which documentation certified by an electronic digital signature has the same legal force as a paper medium. It is important that after the document is signed with the help of an EDS, changes cannot be made to its content. This is an effective way to protect documents from fraud or accidental errors.
If the original data was changed intentionally or accidentally, the digital signature becomes invalid, as it corresponds to the original state of the document. Thus, a fake is guaranteed to be detected, which means that the likelihood of such a negative phenomenon is practically zero!
What is EDS?
An electronic digital signature (EDS) of a document is a certain sequence of cryptographic symbols. EDS is an analogue of an ordinary signature, having equal legal force, and is designed to certify the authenticity of an electronic document, as well as its compliance with a similar document on paper.
An electronic digital signature has two levels of protection. To create an EDS, a special private key is used, which is a unique sequence of characters. To control the authenticity of an electronic signature, a public key is used, which is used together with a private key. It is impossible to forge a signature without knowing the private key, therefore only the owner himself can put the correct signature on an electronic document.
The use of a digital signature does not present any difficulties and special skills. When ordering an EDS, the client receives a digital medium containing a unique secret key. It is personal information that is not subject to disclosure. It is this sequence of characters that you will use to encrypt electronic documents and generate a digital signature.
EDS varieties
Depending on the degree of protection, an electronic signature can be of two types:
- Simple.
- Reinforced (qualified).
A company can obtain one or more digital signature certificates. In many cases, a simple EDS can be used to certify documents, but its scope is limited. It is important for a business entity to have a qualified electronic signature for legal entities. Its scope is very broad. Since January 1, 2014, innovations have come into force to improve security in the organization of paperless document flow. Only an enhanced signature can be used to certify reports that companies submit electronically. It has a higher degree of protection than a simple one and allows you to better protect important documents.
Business entities use a qualified electronic signature for legal entities when contacting state or municipal authorities to receive certain services. When sending documents, a qualified electronic signature confirms legally significant actions, the applicant's consent to the processing of his personal data.
Being an electronic analogue of a handwritten signature, a qualified ES is required to provide notarized documents.
The need for a qualified electronic signature for a legal entity arises when participating in electronic trading as an organizer or supplier, to certify financial statements, exchange business documents in electronic form. The use of a qualified electronic signature reduces the time and financial costs of document management, ensures a high level of data protection, and simplifies the resolution of conflict situations between the parties to the correspondence.
The procedure for signing documents using EDS
EDS can be used from a computer or other device with Internet access. To work with an electronic signature certificate, the CryptoPro plugin must be installed on it.
Any document can be certified with an electronic digital signature. To do this, the owner of the certificate needs to go through a browser to a special electronic document management service and download the documents that need to be signed. They can be in any format. After downloading, you need to select an EDS certificate that will be used for certification. Next, you need to click on the button "Sign the document", which leads to the creation of a separate file with the extension. sig. This file is saved to your browser downloads folder. After signing the document, it can be downloaded and sent electronically by email.
EDS is a modern and reliable way to protect confidential data and documents from counterfeiting, so a business owner should take a closer look at this option. You can consult A4 Law firm specialists at any time on any issues related to the use of digital signatures.
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