Is a qualified electronic signature recognised across the EU?

Yes. Under Article 25(3) of the eIDAS Regulation, a qualified electronic signature based on a qualified certificate issued in one Member State is recognised as a qualified electronic signature in all other Member States.

This mutual recognition applies automatically — without additional verification, bilateral agreements or any action by the parties involved. A contract signed with an Austrian qualified certificate is as much a QES in Germany, France or Poland as it is in the country of issue.

Here's how cross-border recognition works:

• EU Trusted Lists: Every Member State maintains a public list of its qualified trust service providers. Together these lists form the European trust infrastructure.
• Automatic validation: Verification tools such as Adobe Acrobat Reader draw on the EU Trusted List and recognise qualified signatures as trustworthy with no configuration.
• One provider for all markets: Because recognition is automatic, a single listed trust service provider covers every EU market.
• Limit: national form requirements: What is recognised is the signature level, not automatically the formal validity of the transaction. Exclusion catalogues differ between Germany and Austria.
• Limit: third countries: eIDAS does not apply outside the EEA. Switzerland, for example, is governed by ZertES and signatures there are assessed under Swiss law.
• Long-term validation: Cross-border contracts should be signed in PAdES format with embedded validation data so verification works regardless of location.

As an EU-based qualified trust service provider, primesign covers every Member State through a single integration. For software vendors, integrators and OEM partners that means one connection rather than many national providers, with identical legal effect in each target market.