Timestamping service | SwissSign

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A data security specialist by Swiss Post

Timestamping service

With SwissSign’s timestamp service, companies can support the legal validity and conformity of their electronic documents. Timestamps confirm the existence of electronic data and documents, and thus their integrity, at a specific point in time. As an officially recognised provider of certification services, SwissSign meets the requirements placed on what is known as a ‘timestamp authority’ (TSA) that are stipulated in the Swiss Federal Act on Electronic Signatures (ESigA) and is therefore also authorised to issue ‘qualified timestamps’.

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How you benefit

You ensure the integrity of your electronic documents.

Product features

  • Standardised interface according to the RFC 3161 standard

  • Various libraries for addressing the interface are available online

Typical use cases

  • Records management and digital archiving: Timestamps are used as part of the solutions for records management to show that no changes have been made to documents in the archive. Swiss law (the Swiss Business Records Ordinance, AccO) also refers explicitly to timestamps in this context.

  • Ensuring evidentiary value: However, time stamps are also used to confirm the existence of documents at a specific point in time. This is relevant for observing deadlines, creating intellectual property and many other uses.

  • Qualified electronic signature: A QES is the equivalent of a handwritten signature – according to Swiss law, however, only if it also has a qualified timestamp. This ensures that the signature was provided at a time when the related qualified certificate was valid.

Good to know: All qualified electronic signatures provided as part of the SwissSign signature service are automatically time-stamped.

How you benefit

  • Timestamps confirm the ‘integrity’ of electronic documents. If the document is subsequently changed, the timestamp is no longer valid.

  • When a timestamp is obtained for a document, it remains in the customer’s secure environment; only a unique identifier (‘hash value’) is sent to the service.

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    All data stored in Switzerland.

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    Free online identity verification 24/7.

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    Data protection based on the FADP and the GDPR.

Contact us

We would be happy to prepare a non-binding quotation for you. Please call us on +41 848 77 66 55 or use the contact form.

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A data security specialist
by Swiss Post

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