Introduction


Security and legal safety are constant business requirements regardless of the means of communications. In electronic transactions, policy frameworks conveyed by service providers can be used to delimit the usages for which an electronic transaction or an electronic signature might be used. Policy-driven limitations have been mandated in prevailing standards in areas like, e.g., electronic signatures. A widely used type of such policy limitations can be found in the area of electronic signatures such as certificate polices, for example that a Certification Authority (CA) is typically required to make available to subscribers and relying parties.

Trading partners involved in online business transactions often use policy further to provide notices of limitations to the usage of electronic signatures in transaction contexts. Examples of transaction-based policy constraints might include such limitations as roles undertaken to carry out a certain process.

Signature policies might be used to denote information on the validation and verification of an electronic signature. Additional content includes transaction-specific limitations and constrains that could be interesting for the end users and relying parties with regard to a transaction.

In large transactions that use electronic signatures, signature polices can be used to convey signature-specific information possibly acting under a role. This chapter argues that signature policies can, therefore, become a means to convey certain conditions in a transaction such as role-specific constraints with a view to enhance trust and legal safety.

An application example of this approach can be sought in the area of electronic invoices. Electronic invoices are addressed in the Council Directive 2001/115/EC of December 20, 2001, amending Directive 77/388/EEC with a view to simplifying, modernizing, and harmonizing the conditions laid down for invoicing with respect to value-added tax. Introducing certain policy limitations to roles and transactions can further enhance the functionality described in this directive. The added value for the end user can include greater legal safety with respect to the transaction involved and the validation data thereof.

The remainder of this chapter discusses the common concepts of signature policies, and sets out an example based on electronic invoices.




Social and Economic Transformation in the Digital Era
Social and Economic Transformation in the Digital Era
ISBN: 1591402670
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 198

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