DS CWA 14365-2:2004

Guide on the Use of Electronic Signatures - Part 2: Protection Profile for Software Signature Creation Devices

Scope

Directive 1999/93/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 1999 on a community
framework for electronic signatures [Dir.1999/93/EC] – referred to as the Directive in the remainder of this
document – established a legal framework for electronic signatures and certification-services in order to
contribute to their legal recognition. It is laid down in article 5.1 that electronic signatures fulfilling certain
quality metrics – so called qualified electronic signatures – satisfy the requirements of handwritten signatures.
In article 5.2 a residual provision is given where general electronic signatures are not denied legal
effectiveness and admissibility as evidence in legal proceedings, even if the quality metrics of qualified
electronic signatures are not met.
This CWA contains in a normative Annex a Protection Profile (PP) for a Signature Creation Device (SCDev)
suitable for such general electronic signatures. The SCDev-PP follows the provision of the Common Criteria
(CC) [ISO 15408]. It is based on the [SSCD PP] that has been developed as a standard for devices that are
capable of creating qualified electronic signatures. A comparison between the [SSCD PP] and the SCDev PP
is given, which points out the main differences.