This project will specify and develop a set of tools to perform the required
interoperability tests of the e-signature related products and services in Europe.
Once finished the tools specified, developed and verified within it will be offered
for both: Manufacturer self-assessment of conformance with the Directive Annexes,
and accredited laboratories or other govermment designated organisations for CSP
accreditation.
The main objectives of the project are:
> To specify the infrastructure and tools to perform the required interoperability
tests of the e-signature related products and services in Europe.
> To develop a set of tools to allow industries and organisations -aiming to
provide these products and services to the market- to know any potential
problem that may arise in the interoperation with other manufacturers or
CSPs, complying with the electronic signature European Directive.
> To validate the suitability of these tools through its evaluation by some of
the most relevant manufacturers of PKI products in EUROPE, partners of this consortium.
It is also the intention of this project consortium to interchange information with the relevant standarisation bodies, in order
to both:
> Get contributions for the user and standards requirements during the specification
phase.
> Disseminate the project results and tools to get feedback for the specification
results, and its conformance to publicly available standards, during the verification phase.
The tools will focus mainly two interoperability areas:
> Syntax and encoding of electronically signed documents (including "e-signature tokens").
> Format and content of Qualified Certificates.
Since at this time there is no agreement on the format of e-signatures, the developed tools will be flexible enough
to support the verification of those most widely published formats, i.e. ETSI (whichextends the
IETF format), ISO, IETF, EDIFACT and XML.