Qualified electronic signature (QES): what it is, how to get one

A qualified electronic signature (QES) is the highest level of electronic signature under the EU’s eIDAS Regulation and the only one with the same legal effect as a handwritten signature. You get one from a qualified trust service provider, which checks your identity, issues a qualified certificate in your name and creates the signature on a certified device.

What is a qualified electronic signature (QES)?

A QES is the top of the three electronic signature levels in the eIDAS Regulation (EU) No 910/2014, as updated by eIDAS 2.0 (Regulation (EU) 2024/1183, in force since 20 May 2024). Article 3(12) defines it as:

An advanced electronic signature that is created by a qualified electronic signature creation device, and which is based on a qualified certificate for electronic signatures.

So a QES is an advanced electronic signature with two extra building blocks:

1. A qualified certificate: an electronic certificate that ties the signature to your verified identity. Only a qualified trust service provider (QTSP) can issue it, and only after checking who you are.
2. A qualified signature creation device (QSCD): certified hardware that creates the signature and protects your signing key. It can be a smart card, a USB token or the chip on a national ID card. Far more often today it is a remote QSCD: the key sits in a hardware security module at the provider, and you release each signature with two factors, such as a PIN plus a confirmation on your phone.

The legal payoff is in Article 25 eIDAS: a QES has the equivalent legal effect of a handwritten signature (Art. 25(2)), and a QES based on a qualified certificate from one member state is recognised as a QES in every other member state (Art. 25(3)). That makes it the only electronic signature that can replace a wet signature where national law requires written form and allows the electronic form.

QES is an EU and EEA concept. Switzerland has its own qualified signature under a separate law, and outside Europe a QES has no special legal status: it is simply a very well-evidenced electronic signature.

Qualified electronic signature example

A company in Germany hires someone on a fixed-term contract. German law (§14(4) TzBfG) requires the fixed term to be agreed in writing, and a scanned or typed signature is not enough. HR sends the contract with QES as the signature type. The new employee confirms their identity with their national eID or a qualified provider and authorises the signature on their phone. The signed PDF now carries a qualified signature that satisfies the written form requirement under §126a BGB. No printing, no post.

How to get a qualified electronic signature

You cannot create a QES on your own. Every QES comes from a QTSP, either directly or through an e-signature platform that connects to one. It takes four steps.

1. Choose a qualified trust service provider

Only providers listed as qualified on a national trusted list may issue qualified certificates. You can check any provider in the EU’s trusted list browser. The provider does not have to be based in your country: thanks to Art. 25(3), a QES from a Belgian or Estonian QTSP counts in Germany or Austria too. In practice, most people never pick a QTSP on their own. They sign through a platform that has integrated several and choose one of its qualified methods while signing.

2. Verify your identity

The QTSP must verify your identity with a high level of confidence. Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1566 now sets common standards for this, including for remote identification. Common options are:

• Video identification: a live or automated video call where you show your ID and pass a liveness check.
• In person: at a provider’s office, a partner shop or the post office (in Germany often PostIdent).
• Bank identification: your bank confirms the identity it verified when you opened your account.
• National eID: for example ID Austria, the German ID card’s online function, itsme in Belgium or Smart-ID in the Baltic states.
• EU Digital Identity Wallet: from late 2026, member states roll out EU Digital Identity Wallets that can be used for qualified signatures.

With a long-term certificate you identify once, and the certificate is then usually valid for one to three years. With a one-shot certificate, the provider issues a fresh certificate for a single signing session that expires within minutes, and the identity check is part of that session. Many e-signature platforms use one-shot certificates, because signers then need no account with the provider beforehand.

3. Get your certificate and sign

The QTSP issues a qualified certificate in your name, linked to a signing key that usually stays on its servers, so nothing is installed on your device. Each time you sign, you release the key with a PIN plus a second factor, such as an SMS code or an app confirmation, and the signature is embedded in the document (for PDFs in the PAdES format).

A signature made while the certificate was valid stays valid after the certificate expires, as long as it can still be verified.

What does a qualified electronic signature cost?

A QES usually costs money, because a QTSP has to verify identities and run certified infrastructure. Prices depend on the provider, the volume and the identification method. As of October 2026:

• D-Trust sign-me (German QTSP): a QES costs 5 coins. Coins come in packages of 100 for €34.90 or 500 for €139.90 including VAT, which works out at roughly €1.40 to €1.75 per signature. Registering with the German eID is free, while video identification costs 50 coins, according to the sign-me price list.
• E-signature platforms that bundle QES usually charge per signature or include a quota in paid plans. Expect anything from around €1 to several euros per signature, sometimes plus a one-time identification fee.

Two ways to sign with a QES at no cost:

• National eIDs: some states give citizens QES-capable eIDs. ID Austria, for example, is free for Austrian citizens.
• EU Digital Identity Wallet: under Art. 5a(5)(g) of eIDAS 2.0, people can create a QES with their wallet free of charge. Member states may limit free use to non-professional purposes.

When do you need a qualified electronic signature?

Most contracts don’t need a QES. In most EU countries, contracts are valid without any particular form, and a simple electronic signature or an advanced one is enough. You need a QES when the law requires written form and allows the electronic form to replace it. Which documents those are is decided by national law, not by eIDAS (Recital 49).

Germany

Under §126(3) BGB, statutory written form can be replaced by electronic form unless the law says otherwise, and §126a BGB defines electronic form as a document carrying the issuer’s name and their QES. Typical cases where a QES works:

• Fixed-term employment contracts: the fixed-term clause needs written form (§14(4) TzBfG). A wet signature or a QES works. The LAG Berlin-Brandenburg ruled in 2022 (23 Sa 1133/21) that a scanned signature made the fixed term invalid. A reform to drop this written form requirement from 2027 is planned but not law as of October 2026.
• Consumer credit agreements (§492 BGB): written form, which the electronic form with QES can replace.

Where a QES is not enough, because the law excludes the electronic form or requires a notary:

• Terminations of employment and termination agreements (§623 BGB)
• Guarantees (Bürgschaft) given by non-merchants (§766 BGB)
• Wills, which must be handwritten or made before a notary (§2247 BGB)
• Notarial deeds such as property purchases (§311b BGB) or transfers of GmbH shares (§15 GmbHG)

Since 1 January 2025, the Bureaucracy Relief Act IV (BEG IV) has lowered some requirements to text form, so these no longer need a QES: the written statement of essential employment terms under the Nachweisgesetz (except in sectors listed in §2a SchwarzArbG, such as construction and hospitality) and commercial leases for more than one year.

Austria

Under §4 of the Austrian Signature and Trust Services Act (SVG), a QES fulfils the written form requirement of §886 ABGB. Exceptions include wills and other declarations of last will, certain family and inheritance law declarations that need a notarial or lawyer’s confirmation, and guarantees given by consumers.

Other situations where a QES makes sense

Even when the law doesn’t require it, many companies choose QES for:

• High-value or sensitive contracts, such as large supply agreements, IP licences or M&A documents, where the strongest proof of who signed is worth the extra step.
• Cross-border contracts within the EU, because a QES is recognised as a QES in every member state.
• Public-sector filings and tenders where an authority asks for a QES. For cross-border online public services, member states may not demand a higher level than QES (Art. 27(3) eIDAS).

Form rules are national, so whether an electronic signature is legally binding for a given document depends on the country.

QES vs AES vs SES: what’s the difference?

All three levels are defined in eIDAS. They differ in how the signer is identified, how the signature is created and what legal effect it has.

How to verify a qualified electronic signature

A QES can be checked by anyone who receives the signed file. There are three common ways:

1. EU DSS validator: upload the signed file to the European Commission’s free DSS demo validator. A valid QES shows the indication TOTAL_PASSED and the qualification QESig in the report.
2. Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader: open the PDF and look at the signature panel. Acrobat checks the certificate chain against its copy of the EU trusted lists and shows whether the signature is valid and whether it is EU qualified.
3. EU trusted list: look up the issuer of the signing certificate in the trusted list browser to confirm it was a qualified provider at the time of signing.

What a valid result means: the document hasn’t changed since signing, the certificate was valid and qualified at the time of signing, and it was issued by a QTSP on a trusted list.

For contracts you keep for ten years or more, check that your signing tool adds a qualified timestamp and long-term validation data (for PDFs the PAdES B-LT or B-LTA profile), so the signature stays verifiable after the certificate expires.

Is a QES valid outside the EU?

The special legal effect of a QES applies in the EU and EEA only. Switzerland has its own qualified signature under ZertES, and under Art. 14 para. 2bis of the Swiss Code of Obligations it equals a handwritten signature only together with a qualified timestamp. EU and Swiss qualified signatures are not automatically recognised by each other, so a Swiss contract that needs written form needs a ZertES-qualified signature.

In the UK there are no qualified providers on the UK trusted list as of mid-2026, and in the US the ESIGN Act has no signature levels. In both, a QES is simply a strong electronic signature with good evidence of who signed.

QES and the EU Digital Identity Wallet

eIDAS 2.0 requires every member state to offer an EU Digital Identity Wallet by 24 December 2026, and it lets people create a QES free of charge for non-professional use. As of October 2026 not every country will make the deadline (Germany plans 2 January 2027), so QES through the EUDI Wallet is still a plan in most countries.

Qualified electronic signatures in fynk

Qualified signatures in fynk are included in every plan, the Free plan too:

1. Sign in to fynk and drag and drop your document.
2. Choose Qualified (QES) as the signature type and click Start signing.
3. Signers pick a qualified provider or national eID and confirm on their phone. You get reminders, an audit trail and a signed PDF marked QES.

Signers choose from qualified providers and national eIDs across Europe, filtered by country. Some work with no prior registration, because the provider verifies the signer during signing.

The full list, with who each method suits, is in the signature method directory:

Frequently asked questions

• Is a QES the same as a digital signature?

  Not quite. A digital signature is the cryptographic technology: a certificate and a key that seal a document so changes show. A QES uses that technology, but it also needs a qualified certificate from a qualified trust service provider, a verified identity and a certified signing device. Every QES is a digital signature, but most digital signatures are not qualified.

• Is a qualified electronic signature legally binding?

  Yes. Under eIDAS, no electronic signature may be denied legal effect just because it is electronic (Art. 25(1)). A QES goes further: it has the same legal effect as a handwritten signature (Art. 25(2)) and is recognised in all EU member states (Art. 25(3)). If something goes wrong, a qualified provider is presumed at fault and has to prove otherwise (Art. 13).

• How can I get a qualified electronic signature for free?

  Some national eIDs let citizens create a QES at no cost, for example ID Austria. The EU Digital Identity Wallets that member states roll out from late 2026 also let people create qualified signatures free of charge, at least for non-professional use. Otherwise, a QES usually costs money per signature.

• Is a DocuSign signature a qualified electronic signature?

  Not automatically. A signature from DocuSign or any other platform is a QES only if it was created with a qualified certificate from a qualified trust service provider, on a qualified signature creation device, after the signer's identity was verified. Platforms offer QES only when the sender chooses that level. You can check the result with the EU DSS validator or in Adobe Acrobat.

• How long is a qualified certificate valid?

  Long-term qualified certificates are usually valid for one to three years. One-shot certificates, which many e-signature platforms use, are issued for a single signing session and expire within minutes. A signature made while the certificate was valid stays valid afterwards, especially if it carries a timestamp and long-term validation data.