In short: An electronic seal is applied by an organisation, not a person. Under Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 (eIDAS), a qualified electronic seal gives your documents a legal presumption of integrity and correct origin. To create an electronic seal you obtain a qualified certificate for a legal person, choose the right assurance level, and apply the seal to each document, ideally with a qualified timestamp so it can be validated for years.
Invoices, certificates, statements and bulk documents rarely need a named individual to sign them. What they need is proof that they genuinely come from your organisation and have not been tampered with in transit. That is exactly what an electronic seal is designed to do. In this guide we explain what a seal is, when to use one, and how to create an electronic seal that a recipient anywhere in the EU can trust and validate.
What an electronic seal is, and how it differs from a signature
Under eIDAS, an electronic signature is linked to a natural person, while an electronic seal is linked to a legal person, that is, a company, authority or other organisation. A signature says 'this individual approved this document'. A seal says 'this organisation issued this document and vouches for its integrity'. The two are complementary rather than interchangeable.
As with signatures, seals come in three assurance levels: a simple electronic seal, an advanced electronic seal, and a qualified electronic seal. A qualified electronic seal is created with a qualified certificate for electronic seals and a qualified seal creation device. Under Article 35 of eIDAS it enjoys a legal presumption of the integrity of the data and the correctness of the origin, which is why it is the level most organisations choose when the stakes are high.
When organisations use an electronic seal
A seal is the right tool whenever the sender is the organisation itself rather than a specific employee. Typical use cases include:
- High-volume invoices and account statements, where individual signatures would be impractical.
- Official certificates, diplomas, permits and confirmations issued in your organisation's name.
- System-generated documents and automated output that must prove untampered origin.
- Delivery notes, contracts and reports where recipients need assurance the file was not altered after issue.
In each case the goal is the same: give recipients a reliable way to confirm origin and integrity without having to trust the transport channel or the email it arrived in.
How to create an electronic seal, step by step
The practical process to create an electronic seal is straightforward once the underlying trust components are in place. A typical path looks like this:
- Confirm your organisation's identity with a qualified trust service provider, which verifies the legal person before issuing a certificate.
- Obtain a qualified certificate for electronic seals issued to your organisation rather than to an individual.
- Decide the assurance level you need: a qualified electronic seal for regulated or cross-border documents, or an advanced seal for lower-risk internal use.
- Integrate the seal into your document workflow or signing platform so it can be applied automatically to each file.
- Apply the seal in the PAdES format for PDFs, and add a qualified electronic timestamp so the exact time of sealing is provable.
- Capture validation data so the sealed document can still be verified long after issue.
Once this is set up, you can create an electronic seal on a single document or on thousands in a batch, using the same trusted credential each time.
Choosing the right seal level and keeping it verifiable
The level you need depends on the legal weight the document must carry. For invoices exchanged within a trusted supply chain, an advanced seal may be enough. For documents that must be recognised across borders or hold up as evidence, a qualified electronic seal is the safer choice, because its qualified certificate traces back to a provider on an EU Trusted List and its presumption of integrity applies throughout the Union.
Whatever level you create an electronic seal at, long-term verifiability matters. Pairing the seal with a qualified timestamp and embedding validation material means a recipient can still confirm the seal years later, even after the original certificate has expired. This is what turns a sealed file from a momentary check into durable, archivable proof.
How primesign helps
primesign operates as a qualified trust service provider under eIDAS, so when you create an electronic seal with primesign it is backed by qualified certificates, qualified timestamps and validation that recipients across the EU can trust.
Whether you need to seal one certificate or automate sealing across high volumes of invoices, our seal and server products let you create an electronic seal that stays verifiable over the long term.
Want to give every document your organisation issues provable origin and integrity when you create an electronic seal?