The Civil Code deems electronic signatures to be equal to their written counterparts, if they are based on a qualified certificate. In turn the Telecommunications Act stipulates functional requirements which a provider of qualified certificates needs to satisfy in order to operate securely. Such a party is also referred to as a certification service provider.
Regulations
A certification service provider that provides qualified certificates to the public has a duty to register with OPTA. Such a certification service provider must present documents which reveal that he satisfies the legal requirements. Once registered, OPTA is responsible for monitoring certification service providers. Are they still in compliance with the relevant legal requirements? OPTA may take action if it appears that a certification service provider does not satisfy those legal requirements.
All those certification service providers that have registered with OPTA are listed in the latter’s public register.
Disclaimer
In principle, it should not be concluded from the fact that a certification service provider is registered with OPTA, that the certification service provider in question satisfies the relevant legal requirements. It must be emphatically noted that registration with OPTA does not mean that the latter warrants the quality of the services provided by a certification service provider. For this reason OPTA cannot accept any liability for loss which occurs pursuant or in relation to the fact that some other party nevertheless accords such weight to registration.