Alternative advanced electronic seal validation methods
Article 4
1. Member States requiring an advanced electronic seal or an advanced electronic seal based on a qualified certificate in accordance with Article 37(1) and (2) of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014, shall recognise formats of advanced electronic seals other than those referred to in Article 3 of this Regulation, where: (a) the Member State in which the trust service provider used by the creator of the seal is established offers other Member States seal validation methods for those formats; and (b) those validation methods shall be carried out in accordance with paragraph 2. 2. The validation methods for alternative seal formats shall fulfil all the following conditions: (a) be, where possible, suitable for automated processing; (b) allow other Member States to validate the received electronic seal online, free of charge; (c) provide clear, comprehensive, easily understandable and accessible instructions to perform the validation; (d) be indicated in the sealed document, in the electronic seal or in the electronic document container; and (e) confirm the validity of an advanced electronic seal provided that: — the certificate that supports the advanced electronic seal was valid at the time of sealing, — where the advanced electronic seal is supported by a qualified certificate, the qualified certificate that supports the advanced electronic seal was, at the time of sealing, a qualified certificate for electronic seal in compliance with Annex III to Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 and issued by a qualified trust service provider, — the seal validation data corresponds to the data provided to the relying party, — the unique set of data representing the creator of the seal is correctly provided to the relying party, — if a pseudonym was used at the time of sealing, the use of any pseudonym is clearly indicated to the relying party, — where the advanced electronic seal is created by a qualified electronic seal creation device, the use of any such device is clearly indicated to the relying party, — the integrity of the sealed data has not been compromised, — the requirements set out in Article 36 of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 were met at the time of sealing, and — the system used for validating the advanced electronic seal provides to the relying party the correct result of the validation process and allows the relying party to detect any security relevant issues. 3. The indication referred to in paragraph 2, point (d) shall enable relying parties to easily access the complete specifications of the seal validation method, free of charge.