When is a qualified electronic signature required?

Only when a law requires it. The qualified electronic signature (QES) is the one level that eIDAS treats as the equivalent of a handwritten signature across the EU, but EU law leaves it to each country to decide which documents need a particular form. Most business agreements need no QES at all. Here are the EU rule, national laws that require one, cases where even a QES is not enough, and how to get one.

What a QES is, in brief

A QES is an advanced electronic signature created by a qualified signature creation device and based on a qualified certificate (Article 3(12) of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014, eIDAS). The certificate is issued by a qualified trust service provider, which must verify your identity first (Article 24). Under Article 25(2) a QES has the equivalent legal effect of a handwritten signature, and under Article 24a, added in 2024, a QES based on a qualified certificate issued in one Member State is recognised as qualified in all the others. Our guide to eIDAS signature levels compares it with the simple and advanced levels.

What EU law leaves to national law

eIDAS does not list the documents that need a QES. Article 2(3) says the regulation does not affect Union or national law on the conclusion and validity of contracts, other obligations relating to form, or sector-specific form requirements, and recital 49 confirms that national law defines the legal effect of electronic signatures, apart from the equivalence of the QES. So the answer comes from the law that governs the document. One EU-wide rule concerns public services: for cross-border use of an online public service, a Member State may not ask for a signature at a higher level than the QES (Article 27(3)).

When national law requires a QES

The most common trigger is a statutory written form requirement. Several Member States tie the electronic equivalent of written form to a QES. Some examples, each under its own national law:

• Germany. Written form can be replaced by electronic form unless the law says otherwise (§ 126(3) of the Civil Code, BGB), and electronic form requires the issuer's name and a QES (§ 126a BGB). A consumer credit agreement, for instance, must be concluded in writing (§ 492(1) BGB), so if it is signed electronically it needs a QES.
• Austria. A QES meets the legal requirement of written form under § 886 of the General Civil Code (ABGB); other form rules, such as those that involve a notary or a lawyer, are unaffected (§ 4(1) of the Signature and Trust Services Act, SVG).
• Poland. Written form needs a handwritten signature (Article 78 of the Civil Code), and its electronic equivalent, the electronic form, is met by a declaration in electronic form bearing a QES (Article 78¹). Polish law also has a lighter "documentary form", met by any document that allows the person making the declaration to be identified (Article 77²).
• Italy. The agreements in Article 1350, points 1 to 12, of the Civil Code, such as transfers of ownership of immovable property, must be signed with a qualified or digital signature when made electronically, on pain of nullity, unless the signature is authenticated (Article 21(2-bis) of the Digital Administration Code). For other documents that need written form, an advanced signature also satisfies it (Article 20(1-bis)).

Courts and public bodies

Procedural rules can call for a QES too. In German civil proceedings, an electronic document filed with the court must carry the QES of the person responsible for it, or be signed by that person and sent through a secure transmission route (§ 130a(3) of the Code of Civil Procedure, ZPO). Public bodies often specify the signature they accept, so check the instructions of each procedure.

When a QES helps even if it is not required

Outside form requirements, a QES makes a disputed signature easier to rely on:

• France. The reliability of an electronic signature process is presumed, until proven otherwise, when it uses a QES (Article 1367 of the Civil Code and Article 1 of Decree No 2017-1416).
• Germany. The apparent authenticity of a declaration with a QES, checked under Article 32 eIDAS, can only be shaken by facts raising serious doubt that the person responsible made it (§ 371a(1) ZPO).
• Italy. The use of a qualified signature device is presumed to be attributable to its holder, unless the holder proves otherwise (Article 20(1-ter) of the Digital Administration Code).

When even a QES is not enough

• Germany. A contract to transfer or acquire ownership of land must be notarially recorded (§ 311b(1) BGB). Terminating an employment relationship and giving a guarantee require written form with electronic form expressly excluded (§ 623 and § 766 BGB).
• Austria. Wills cannot be made in electronic form, and some family and inheritance declarations, as well as guarantees given outside a trade or profession, are valid in electronic form only with a notary's or lawyer's confirmation (§ 4(2) SVG).
• France. The rule that lets a contract requiring writing be made electronically (Article 1174 of the Civil Code) does not apply to private deeds on family law and succession, except certain agreements countersigned by lawyers and filed with a notary (Article 1175).
• Ireland. The Electronic Commerce Act 2000 says its rules on electronic writing and signatures are without prejudice to the law on wills, trusts and enduring powers of attorney, or on affidavits and sworn declarations (section 10).

How to tell whether your document needs one

1. Identify the law that governs the document, or the country and authority where it will be filed.
2. Check whether that law requires written form, a handwritten signature, a notary or a specific filing method for this type of document.
3. If written form is required, check how that country accepts electronic form: some accept an advanced signature, others only a QES.
4. If nothing is required, choose the level by risk: who the counterparty is, what is at stake and what you would need to prove.
5. When in doubt, ask a lawyer qualified in that country.

How to get a QES

A QES comes from a qualified trust service provider. You can find one in the EU/EEA Trusted List Browser, which lists by country the providers of qualified certificates for electronic signatures. The provider verifies your identity, for example in person, with a European Digital Identity Wallet or a notified electronic identity at assurance level high, or with another method confirmed by a conformity assessment body (Article 24(1a)), and then issues the certificate on a smart card, a USB token or a remote signing service. Some e-signature platforms also offer QES as an add-on.

DOCUJET and the QES

DOCUJET does not offer qualified electronic signatures. Where the law requires a QES, you need a qualified trust service provider listed in the EU trusted lists, not DOCUJET. For the many documents with no such requirement, DOCUJET provides the simple electronic signature on every plan and, from Business, the advanced electronic signature (AES) with identity verification. From Starter upwards the signed document also receives a qualified electronic seal and a qualified time stamp from Namirial. The seal protects the document; it is not the signer's signature and does not turn it into a QES, as our comparison of digital and electronic signatures explains.

Sources: eIDAS, Articles 2, 3, 25, 27 and recital 49; Regulation (EU) 2024/1183, Articles 24 and 24a; BGB § 126, § 126a, § 311b, § 492, § 623, § 766; ZPO § 130a, § 371a; SVG, § 4 (Austria); Polish Civil Code, consolidated text 2026; Digital Administration Code, Civil Code, Article 1350 (Italy); Code civil Article 1174, Article 1175, Article 1367, Decree 2017-1416; Electronic Commerce Act 2000 (Ireland); EU/EEA Trusted List Browser.

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