the electronic signature creation data used for electronic signature creation cannot, with reasonable assurance, be derived and the electronic signature is reliably protected against forgery using currently available technology;

Member States whose competent authorities use other electronic signature formats than those commonly supported, may have implemented validation means that allow their signatures to be verified also across borders.

In this House we have very strict rules that we must have original signatures for amendments to be tabled, but a whole bunch of my colleagues were held up in transit yesterday, did not arrive until after 19.00 and were therefore unable to sign amendments that had been circulated by the Campaign for Parliamentary Reform, amongst others.

Since this January, here in this House, the President of the Council said that there must, in Europe, be no tolerance for intolerance, our intention, at the Council, should be to say that there must be no tolerance for ignorance, be it for ignorance of one’s own signature, ignorance of what it means to be a community of peace, freedom, democracy and solidarity, or ignorance of the work of the members of the Convention and ignorance of the common political goals of the EU.

Whereas in order to contribute to the general acceptance of electronic authentication methods it has to be ensured that electronic signatures can be used as evidence in legal proceedings in all Member States; whereas the legal recognition of electronic signatures should be based upon objective criteria and not be linked to authorisation of the certification-service-provider involved; whereas national law governs the use of electronic documents and electronic signatures; whereas this Directive is without prejudice to the power of a national court to make a ruling regarding conformity with the requirements of this Directive and does not ...[+++] affect national rules regarding the unfettered judicial consideration of evidence;

Whereas in order to contribute to the general acceptance of electronic authentication methods it has to be ensured that electronic signatures can be used as evidence in legal proceedings in all Member States; whereas the legal recognition of electronic signatures should be based upon objective criteria and not be linked to authorisation of the certification-service-provider involved; whereas national law governs the fields in which electronic documents and electronic signatures can be used ; whereas this Directive is without prejudice to the power of a national court to make a ruling regarding conformity with the requirements of this ...[+++]Directive and does not affect national rules regarding the unfettered judicial consideration of evidence;