Signature Act (Austria)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Basic data
Title: Signature law
Long title: Federal Law on Electronic
Signatures
Abbreviation: SigG
Type: Federal law
Scope: Republic of Austria
Legal matter: Commercial administrative law
Date of law: August 19, 1999
Federal Law Gazette I No. 190/1999
Effective date: January 1, 2000
Last change: BGBl. I No. 75/2010
Expiration date: June 30, 2016
Please note the note on the applicable legal version !

The Austrian Signature Act (SigG) regulates the legal framework for the creation and use of electronic signatures as well as for the provision of certification services.

Austria was the first country to implement the EC Directive 1999/93 / EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of December 13, 1999 on a common framework for electronic signatures.

The signature law was specified in more detail in the signature ordinance 2008 (SigV 2008). The Signature Act differentiated between the (simple) electronic signature and the secure electronic signature , which essentially corresponds to the qualified electronic signature in Germany.

The Confirmation Agency Ordinance lays down criteria for determining the suitability of confirmation bodies. With the ordinance BGBl. II No. 31/2000 the suitability of the association "Center for Secure Information Technology - Austria (A-SIT)" as a confirmation body was determined. Rundfunk und Telekom Regulierungs-GmbH (RTR) is responsible for overseeing the providers of certification services and compliance with the statutory regulations on electronic signatures .

Amendment 2008

On January 1, 2008, an amendment to the Signature Act came into force, which among other things made the following changes:

  1. Essential provisions are only to be applied to providers of qualified certificates or qualified time stamp services. The only exceptions are the license-free certification services (Section 6 (1)), the provisions on data protection (Section 22) and the recognition of foreign certificates (Section 24).
  2. The term advanced electronic signature is defined explicitly (in accordance with the European Directive) and the term secure electronic signature is replaced by qualified electronic signature . The term secure signature creation unit is also included in the definitions.
  3. Signatories can not only be natural but also legal persons. However, qualified certificates can only be issued to natural persons; thus only natural persons can issue qualified electronic signatures.
  4. In addition to an official photo ID, other equivalent methods are also permitted for identifying persons, e.g. B. the identification via RSa letter or the recourse to identification already made in the past by a photo ID.

The aim of the amendment is to clarify and simplify the regulations in order to make the market more attractive for certification service providers and thus to promote the spread of electronic signatures; "Over-implementations" of the European directive should be eliminated.

Expires in 2016

The Signature Act and the Signature Ordinance expired on June 30, 2016.

Since then, the eIDAS-VO and the legal acts adopted on its basis (in particular the European implementing acts and the Signature and Trust Services Act , Federal Law Gazette I No. 50/2016 ) have been applied.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from September 22, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.signatur.rtr.at
  2. ↑ http://www.parlament.gv.at/PG/DE/XXIII/I/I_00293/fname_090058.pdf#search=%22signaturgesetz%22
  3. ↑ § 20 SVG.
  4. ↑ Federal Act on Electronic Signatures and Trust Services for Electronic Transactions (Signature and Trust Services Act - SVG) as amended